I am an English doctoral candidate at West Virginia University and will receive my PhD in May 2024. As a graduate student, my work consists of teaching first-year writing and literature courses, researching and writing academic publications, and working on my dissertation: "Reimagining the Refugee Figure: Survival Migration and Its After-Affects."
Close Community
I chose Mount Union because upon visiting, I immediately fell in love with the campus and its close-knit community. I love Mount Union because for four years, it truly was my home away from home. The community was always supportive both in and out of the classroom, and I was able to make so many great connections and friends that I still have with me to this day. I'm also deeply appreciative for the liberal arts education I was able to receive from Mount Union and so many of the classes I was able to take while attending. I still draw from what I learned in classes like Introduction to Professional Writing on a regular basis, and Literature and Human Rights helped shape my entire career trajectory.
Professional Development
I worked as a consultant at Mount Union's Digital, Written, and Oral Communication Studio for three years as an undergraduate, and that experience was so invaluable to my professional development. I learned so many skills as a DWOC consultant that continue to help me today as a writer, teacher, public speaker, and ESOL mentor. Through extracurriculars like Calliope, I was also able to gain a lot of leadership and project management experience. As a graduate student constantly juggling three or four projects at a time, the latter is an especially vital skill.
Love Teaching
My favorite part of my current job is teaching. I love working with students and seeing them grow in confidence over the course of a semester, and every time I give student feedback, I think of my time as a DWOC consultant. I also love that in my current position I've been able to publish my research in journals like Studies in the Novel and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. I love sharing my work with others in the field and knowing it can be used to further future academic discussions, especially since the books I write about are often very contemporary. Given that, in the current moment, the value of the humanities is being called into question across the country, being able to contribute to humanities' scholarship also feels especially important (and perhaps even a little defiant). I can clearly trace this love I have for sharing my research back to Mount Union's SCHOLAR Days. I participated in SCHOLAR Day every year I was eligible, and it was always my favorite day of the year. It was definitely a factor in leading me towards a career in teaching and academic research.
Future Goals
I'd like to get a full book published, hopefully in the next 3-5 years.