After graduating from the University of Virginia, Professor Kuyk worked as a newspaper reporter in Richmond, Virginia, for two years and then served as an officer in the United States Coast Guard for four years. He then taught in preparatory schools in Richmond, Virginia; Washington, Connecticut; and Braintree, Massachusetts. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in English from Brandeis, he began teaching at Trinity in 1970.

Professor Kuyk's courses are typically free-wheeling discussions focused on analyzing and interpreting particular texts, which can range from poems, short stories, plays, and novels in British and American literature to forays into works from other cultures. He values discussion because it can engage every student every day, inviting (or even requiring) people to listen to each other's views, to challenge one another's positions, to support someone else's argument, to revise one's own position -- in short, to keep thinking and rethinking. Professor Kuyk enjoys participating himself in such discussions. He also requires considerable writing in short, almost daily, essays. He often responds in writing to these essays. These essays and his responses all are posted on a web site so that everyone can read and respond to what anyone else has written. The continual discussions and writing lead, he believes, students developing their own powers to analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of literature.