Alumni Highlights
by Andrea Powell Wolfe
and Nathan Myers
Summer 2009
Sarah Chavez
M.A. in Creative Writing, 2007
In the fall, Sarah
Chavez will begin the Ph.D. program in creative writing at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she will be on a teaching
assistantship. Sarah notes that her time at BSU, and specifically in
the English Department, was helpful in many ways. In workshops with
Mark Neely and Jill Christman, she was able to hone her craft and
experiment with different approaches in her creative work. She says,
“their willingness to allow students to work cross-genre was something
refreshing that I had not encountered before.” Sarah also appreciated
the hefty amount of reading required in the workshops. I was introduced
to many contemporary writers I had never read before,” she says.
“Through reading the work of writers like D.A. Powell and Abigail
Thomas, I was able to re-envision craft devices and how I used them.”
Sarah also found one
of her strongest interests in the literature classroom. It was in Dr.
Deborah Mix’s ethnic American literature class that she began serious
scholarship in Chicano/a/Latin American literature, which will be her
literature focus in the Ph.D. program. Without the academic challenges
the professors at BSU presented, Sarah reports that she would not feel
nearly as confident in her ability to work hard and continue her
intellectual growth in the pursuit of an advanced degree.
Sarah offers some advice to future students in Ball
State’s English Department: “cherish the tight sense of community you
can build in a program like Ball State’s. No one falls through the
cracks.”
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Johna Picco
B.A. in English Studies, 2009
Johna Picco is a new resident of Allston,
Massachusetts, just a short ‘T’ ride away from downtown Boston. The
decision to live in Boston, she says, directly correlates to her
interest in book publishing; a majority of the big name publishers, such
as Houghton Mifflin, Pearson, Candlewick, McGraw Hill, and Hachette
(Little, Brown) are all located in Boston. After getting word that both
MIT Press and Candlewick Press were interested in hiring her as a spring
intern, she and her boyfriend, also a 2009 graduate from Ball State,
packed their bags, the car, grabbed their dog and drove east.
Originally a journalism major with a creative
writing minor, after taking Dr. Debbie Mix’s English 230 course, Johna
realized that she wanted to focus more energy on English studies and
literature: “Dr. Mix’s zeal and knowledge for the texts we read was
incredible,” she says. “I left class each day terribly inspired and
excited. I had no clue as to what sort of career I’d make out of my new
major, but I jumped in and couldn’t have been more at home.”
Johna has always had a sincere interest in getting
to know her professors as people: “through conversations and
learning more about them, you get a much better perspective on life and
careers in the field to which we someday aspire. Our professors are
very well connected and have a wealth of knowledge in not only the
things they teach, but in the literary world outside of Ball State. It
is amazing how much help they can be when you simply ask.”
Johna is currently working at Jones and Bartlett, a
publisher of college text books, as the Paul Prindle intern. Her
responsibilities are holistic, ranging from sales and marketing to
publicity and acquisitions for the press. Additionally, she works for
MIT Press, a publisher of both books and journals. Her role at MIT
falls within the journals marketing division of the press, where she is
responsible for the writing and distribution of press releases for the
launch of their newest journal, The International Journal for
Learning and Media (ijlm.net),
as well as press releases for the press’s latest podcasts featuring
articles written in The New England Quarterly (www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/tneq).
While at MIT, she was also responsible for a $7000 ad campaign with both
edweek.org and
edutopia.org.
Johna reports that she is constantly learning and
taking advantage of all the opportunities in Boston. She continues to
roll around ideas for children’s books in her head and when things start
to settle down a bit, hopes to get some of those ideas onto paper. To
other students in the English Department, she offers this advice: “You
have got to be willing to take a certain amount of risk, hope for the
best and in the end, see what happens. Have confidence in yourself and
when that is lacking, make sure you have supporters around you who can
remind you of just how great you really are.”
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Michele Scott
B.A. in English Rhetoric and Political Science, 2007
This fall, Michele Scott will begin classes at the University of Memphis
in Women's and Gender Studies. She reports that her English degree made
her a unique candidate for the program, and a competitive applicant.
Throughout her coursework in Rhetoric, she was able to focus on her
interest in human sexuality and gender. She says, “I was fortunate to
have professors who encouraged me to pursue my own interests within the
parameters of the individual classes.”
Michele will remember the English Department for the professionalism and
respect with which professors treat with students. “It could be the
collaborative nature of English classes in general,” she says, “but I
always felt respected and valued by my professors in a way that was not
always apparent in other departments.” She names Dr. Collier as one of
her favorite professors; Dr. Collier, who she calls “enthusiastic and
extremely helpful,” worked closely with Michele for her senior seminar
paper, one of the projects in which she focused on human sexuality.
Her fond memories of the English Department extend all the way back to
English 210, where Dr. Rai Peterson encouraged Michele to pursue an
advanced degree. “Up until that point,” Michele says, “I never really
considered myself intelligent enough to continue after the B.A.” But
Dr. Peterson’s tremendous faith in Michele’s abilities several years ago
provoked a passion and confidence that is still visible today.
For her M.A., Michele plans to write a thesis in
which she will rhetorically approach the language of female sexual
dysfunction. She says that the English Department at Ball State has had
a resounding influence on her interest in language, and she is excited
to merge two of her primary interests.
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2008
Andrew Beymer
M.A. Student of Library Science
IUPUI
Andrew graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in General English Studies. He especially enjoyed his Senior Seminar, which focused on desert island narratives, and his British Literature course, both of which he took with Dr. Adam Beach. He also loved the courses that he took with Geri Strecker and Dr. Bob Nowatzki.
Andrew claims that his work in the Department of English at Ball State prepared him well for his graduate studies: “The English degree polished my research and academic writing abilities. Both have proven invaluable in grad school.”
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Dr. Barb Bird
Associate Professor of English
Director of the Writing Center
Taylor University
Barb Bird graduated from the Department of English with a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric in 2004. She remembers that the program emphasized “class discussion in virtually every class” and that “the professors always had challenging discussion questions that prompted good thinking, connections, and great collaborative learning.” In addition, Dr. Bird adds, “The grad students were all very collegial—not competitive at all with each other but very supportive and encouraging.”
Dr. Bird loves her job, and she credits the Department of English with preparing her for such a fulfilling and exciting career in college-level teaching. She advises those who are thinking about entering graduate school to seriously consider the program at Ball State: “I think BSU’s English department (I really know the comp/rhet program better) is the best or nearly the best in the nation in terms of the education and preparation you receive. Their professors are teacher-scholars: they love teaching as much as their own scholarship, and they invest in graduate (and undergraduate) students. In addition, they are great models for entering the profession. You couldn’t do better anywhere else in terms of preparing you for your career.”
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Katie Dittelberger
Student of Law
Indiana University
After earning a B.A. in English Literature from BSU, Katie decided to go on to law school. She will enter Indiana University School of Law with a full scholarship in the Fall of 2008. She says that her experiences in English classes showed her that she wanted to go into non-profit or activist work as a lawyer. Her classes with Dr. Debbie Mix, Dr. Lauren Onkey, Dr. Pat Collier, and Jill Christman taught her to look at things differently than she did before she began her study of English: “The English major helped me think about complex issues clearly and see that the world is not one or the other but both (and the third thing too), which is probably one of the main goals of a liberal arts education (not to teach you to think a certain way but to open yourself up to multiple possibilities).”
Katie advises current English majors to make the most of their time at Ball State: “You have heard this before, but you will get out of your English degree the heart and work that you put into it. Try to find a way to care about what you are doing, whether this means taking classes that interest you or looking at a topic from an angle that excites or challenges you.”
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Dr. Erin McMullen Fehskens
Assistant Professor
Harpers Fellow
University of Chicago
Erin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English from Ball State in 2001. She was especially impacted by courses taught by Dr. Lauren Onkey: “The seminars that I took with Lauren Onkey convinced me that I would be happiest going to grad school and eventually trying to make my way in an English department. I really admired (still do) her pedagogical techniques which work so hard at helping students see the finer complications in literature and the profitable (hermeneutically speaking) interactions between cultural material and theory.” During her time in the Department of English, Erin learned several habits and techniques that have proved invaluable to her since; she says that she learned to close-read literary and theoretical texts and to write thoughtfully and persuasively.
After Ball State, Erin went on to earn a Ph.D. at Duke University and will begin as a professor of literature in the Fall at the University of Chicago. She is excited to pursue the career that she has worked toward for so many years. She enjoys both the research and teaching aspects of the academy: “In particular, I love having the time to do my solitary reading and writing, but to also be engaged in a community of teachers and scholars who share their reading and writing in a number of formal and informal ways. I really dig the collegiate community.”
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Eric Higgins
Doctoral Candidate in Creative Writing
Teaching Fellow
University of Houston
Eric cites his studies with Jill Christman, Mark Neely, and Dr. Lauren Onkey as preparing him well for his work at Houston: “[T]hese professors guided me toward a method of studying literature and of generating creative work that I admired because each of their approaches responded well to agreement as well as to critique. And I respected the three of these professors nearly instantaneously as thinkers and teachers—it’s unusual to find intellectual acumen paired with an exceptional ability to communicate. All three of these professors possess both traits.” Eric goes on to say that as a result of the Teacher Preparation program in the Department of English, he “feel[s] extraordinarily well-prepared to teach composition here at Houston.”
Eric encourages potential graduate students at Ball State to consider the ways in which the teaching and course load is designed to prepare them for work when they gain professorships after graduation: “It’s a phenomenal deal. Plus, potential graduate students who are gunshy about that sort of course load and teaching load should know that taking three courses and teaching two courses per semester is roughly equivalent to the workload you’ll find when you go on the academic job market. In a very real way, Ball State is replicating for graduate students the workload that those students will find once they enter the professorship. It won’t hurt to mention that during job interviews.”
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Angela Hurley
Communications Instructor
Indiana Business College
After Angela graduated with a B.A. from the Department of English in 1993, she went on to work in the fields of communication, public relations, marketing, and tourism. Currently, she is teaching communications courses at Indiana Business College. She claims that her English major has served her well in the business world: “As a Communications and Public Relations professional, I see how beneficial good writing is in the working world. As someone who’s been on the editorial side and the Public Relations/Corporate Communications side, I see how writing, editing and creativity really must be interwoven for an effective message—whether it’s to the media or the general public.”
Angela remembers her experiences at Ball State fondly, especially “hanging out with friends at the library, seeing author Gwendolyn Brooks at Pruis Hall, going to the Heurot with professors and teachers, and begging Dr. Newbold to let us go outside for class in the spring.” She says that her education within the Department of English was “top-notch” and that she’d do it all over again the same way if she were just graduating from high school today.
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Joanne Janssen
Ph.D. Student of Literature
University of Iowa
Joanne graduated from Ball State University with an M.A. in English literature in 2005. From there, she went on to a Ph.D. program at the University of Iowa. She says that her experiences in graduate courses within the Department of English prepared her well for her Ph.D. work: “At Ball State, I learned the expectations for those pursuing an advanced degree in English, as well as the tools for succeeding in this field: conducting extensive research, writing sophisticated papers, articulating complex ideas, and presenting papers at conferences.” Joanne is also appreciative of the teaching preparation that she received at Ball State: “, I’m grateful for the training I received in teaching; the combination of classroom pedagogical study and hands-on teaching experience helped prepare me well for the classroom—and it was much more extensive than what I’ve seen at other schools.”
Joanne advises students in the graduate program to take advantage of that which Ball State’s programs in English have to offer: “I think it’s wise to take advantage of what makes studying English at Ball State a unique experience: that faculty members are available and willing to invest in students, that smaller class sizes and a supportive environment promote spirited discussions, and that faculty members and the graduate student association offer such helpful advice about professionalization.” Joanne goes on to say that she loved the interactions that occurred in her classes at Ball State between graduate students of diverse programs, literature, composition and rhetoric, creative writing, and linguistics. She says that this type of diversity does not occur in the classrooms of larger English graduate programs.
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Jason Kirklin
Student of Law
The Ohio State University
One thing that Jason, who graduated with a B.A. in English Literature in 2001, remembers about his time in the Department of English is the kindness and supportiveness of the faculty. In fact, his favorite memories include “time spent in office hours with professors. Not only were their classes great, but they were available to chat about anything from class readings to everyday life.” Jason also claims that he learned a variety of skills from these professors: “I learned how to do close reading, to understand texts in context, and to communicate well in writing.”
After graduating from Ball State, Jason went on to earn a Master of Divinity at Westminster Seminary, and, in the Fall, he will begin working on a J. D. at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Jason advises current students to “focus on the skills you are acquiring rather than simply the degree you are getting.” He continues, “I hold two of the most ‘impractical’ degrees in the world: a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in Bible and theology. But in doing the work to obtain these degrees I’ve gained the skills that I’ll use in practicing law.” In this way, the expertise and confidence that Jason will need in order to pursue a degree in law have grown out of his work at Ball State and, later, seminary school.
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Katherine Kovac
Editorial Internship with Indianapolis Monthly
Katherine intends to graduate with a B.A. in English literature in 2010. Currently, she is working as an Intern for Indianapolis Monthly, a prominent regional magazine. Katherine describes her position as an Intern: “I receive articles written by the staff, and then go through to fact check and make sure all of their sources are accurate. This is an extremely important position, and the Interns here are definitely appreciated.” Katherine feels that the writing and editing skills that she has developed as an undergraduate in English helped her to secure the position with Indianapolis Monthly.
Katherine advises current English majors to “find a North Star”: “Look at a person’s job who you would like to have in five or ten years, then sit down with them to simply ask questions about what exactly they do, and what steps an undergraduate student should take to get to their position.”
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Alexandra Lawrence
M.A. Student of Publishing
Emerson University, Boston
Alex, who earned a B.A. in English literature from the Department of English in 2008, remembers three English professors who were especially influential: Dr. Bob Habich, Dr. Pat Collier, and Dr. Joyce Huff. She claims, “Habich’s Literary History and Collier’s Modernism were my favorite classes. I usually tried to take Joyce Huff at least once a year for her teaching style, and I knew that anything Habich taught would be interesting.” Alex goes on to say that the size of the department at Ball State enabled the building of a community among students there. During her last year as an undergraduate, in fact, Alex shared classes with many of the same people who became her good friends.
Currently, Alex is a Master’s student of Publishing at Emerson University in Boston, Massachusetts. She loves her work, especially the fact that she gets to read every day! She advises current students, “Take harder classes. You get a different view of English by taking a theory class or one solely focused on one author.”
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Steven Loser
English Teacher
Ben Davis High School
When asked to name his favorite memory of Ball State, Steven said: “The classroom. It was my experience at BSU that caused me to want to become a teacher. I love classroom discussions and the understanding and respect that can result from engaging relevant literature. I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life in some kind of classroom.” Not surprisingly, after gaining a B.A. in Secondary Education and a minor in Creative Writing in 2007, Steven went on to teach English to high school students. He claims that he learned to teach from the teaching modeled for him by his professors in the Department of English.
Steven encourages English majors to understand their work in the classroom as leading toward positive social change. He knows that he effects change in his daily work at Ben Davis High School, and he greatly enjoys the rewards that come with teaching others there: “I love the challenges that meet me there each day. Teaching is real-time critical thinking with rewards coming in each moment, as well as over a period of time. I have never done anything that demands such mental and physical energy at the once.”
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Amanda Pollard
Student of Law
Michigan State University
Amanda says that she can’t imagine a major better suited to prepare her for her work in law school than English. Amanda graduated with a B.A. in English literature in 2008, and the courses that she took in the Department of English helped her to develop strong analytic skills, which are crucial for students of law: “English taught me how to approach incredibly difficult, convoluted texts, dissect them to figure out what was going on, and formulate an opinion. In defending my interpretations of texts, I learned how to analyze and communicate my ideas persuasively.”
When asked to name a favorite class or professor, Amanda claims that she has trouble narrowing down to just one or two favorites since all of her experiences in the Department of English were so positive. She maintains, in fact, “I had a wonderful time in the English department. The professors were supportive, engaging and always available to answer questions and brainstorm project ideas. It would be really difficult to pick a favorite professor or favorite class because every class offered something unique.” Amanda goes on to say that one of the best things about the English program at Ball State is that it offers such “a range of topics within the curriculum.”
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Emma Retter
Student of Law
The College of Law in Guildford, Surrey
Emma graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in English Literature. She remembers much lively discussion in her English courses: “It was fascinating listening and responding to other people’s views and opinions about a great piece of literature.” She especially loved reading literature of the Modernist era and particularly enjoyed Dr. Rai Peterson’s Manifesto class, which “covered such a great variety of art and literature from this period that this was one of the most interesting.”
In the fall of 2008, Emma will begin law school in Surrey of Great Britain. She feels confident that her experiences within the Department of English have prepared her well for this new stage in her professional life. She knows that her writing skills improved during her time at Ball State and feels that the close reading techniques that she learned will help her in law school. She says, “My essay writing improved dramatically as I carried on throughout my major. I also continued to develop my analytical skills and my knowledge of not only literature, but art, music and history as well.”
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Dr. Kevin Stein
Caterpillar Professor of English
Director of Creative Writing
Bradley University
Dr. Kevin Stein graduated from the Department of English with a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1979. From there, he went on to earn an M.A. in Creative Writing and Ph.D. in American Literature from Indiana University. Dr. Stein currently teaches creative writing and literature courses at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. In 2003, he was named Illinois Poet Laureate, the state’s fourth, following Howard Austin, Carl Sandburg, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
Dr. Stein recommends that current English majors at Ball State University engage with “the three R’s.” First of all, they should “read widely and feverishly.” Secondly, students must learn to “revise,” which means that they strive to become “not easily satisfied.” Finally, students should embrace “risk” because “risk is the basis of all good art.
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