Graduate
Alumni
Our alumni from all three of our tracks—literature (English MA, PhD), rhetoric and composition (English MA, PhD) and creative writing (MFA)—take many career paths when they leave our department. Some head to other graduate programs as others become tenure-track professors. Some leave academia and enter into corporate/business/NGO environments while others work in freelance positions as they continue to hone their art.
Congratulations to our 2022-2023 graduates!
Summer 2022
Sage Hagerty, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Race, Revenge, and the Law in Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy and Webster’s
The Duchess of Malfi" and "Gender and Narrative Instability in Joyce’s “Nausicaa”"
Committee: Susan Mooney (Chair), Timothy Turner
Stephanie Harper, PhD English Literature
Dissertation: Vulnerable Resistance in Victorian Women's Writing
Committee: Marty Gould (Chair), Regina Hewitt, Emily Jones, Susan Mooney, Brook Sadler
Fall 2022
Michelle Dam, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Revisioning Menstruation in Robin McKinley's Deerskin" and "Othello #sayhisname"
Committee: John Lennon (Chair), Timothy Turner
Spring 2023
Sarah Akomoh, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Redefining Black Authenticity and Citizenship in Frances Harper’s Minnie’s
Sacrifice" and "Hunger For a Permanent Place: Identity, Voice, and Community in Black
Feminism"
Committee: Gary Lemons (Chair), Kristin Allukian
Rebecca Arrowsmith, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: The Pelvic Floor: Memoir of a Body
Committee: Julia Koets (Chair), Gurleen Grewal, Jarod Roselló
Mara Beneway, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: DAUGHTERS OF LILITH
Committee: Natalie Scenters-Zapico (Chair), Jarod Roselló, Julia Koets
Justiss Burry, PhD English Rhetoric & Composition
Dissertation: Of Mētis and Cuttlefish: Employing Collective Mētis as a Theoretical
Framework for Marginalized Communities
Committee: Lisa Melonçon (Chair), Ángel Maldonado, J. Blake Scott, Jeffrey Bennett
Jackie Carlson, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "A Brilliant Spectacle: Journalist Eliza Potter in Saratoga Springs" and
"Margaret Cavendish and Björk: Transversal Studies Before and After the Apocalypse"
Committee: Kristin Allukian (Chair), Meredith Johnson
Samantha Chianese, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: Your Diaphragm a Doghouse
Committee: Natalie Scenters-Zapico (Chair), Julia Koets, Heather Sellers
Mimi Coto, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Placing Herself at Center: Eliza Potter’s A Hairdresser’s Experience in
High Life (1859) and the Value of Self" and "Deconstructing and Redefining Black Womxnhood:
Britain, Blackness and Gender Diversity in “Burgerz” and Girl, Woman, Other"
Committee: Kristin Allukian (Chair), Susan Mooney
Jessica Griffith, PhD English Rhetoric & Composition
Dissertation: A Field Wide Exploration of Design Courses in TPC
Committee: Lisa Melonçon (Chair), Liane Robertson, Joanna Schreiber, Kristen Gay
Nikki Lyssy, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: The Chances We Take: A Novel
Committee: Jarod Rosello (Chair), Jacob Wolff, John Fleming
Karla Maddox, PhD English Rhetoric & Composition
Dissertation: Organizations Ensuring Resilience: A Case Study of Cortez, Florida
Committee: Lisa Melonçon (Chair), S. Morgan Gresham, Diane Price-Herndl, Carl Herndl
Jameson Reno, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: Laguna Seca
Committee: Jarod Roselló (Chair), John Fleming, Jacob Wolff
Fatemah Sadeq, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Milton as an Eastern Revolutionary" and "The Illusion of an Idealistic
Britain"
Committee: Susan Mooney (Chair), Emily Jones
Jordan Schultz, MFA Creative Writing
Thesis: The Foodie Diaries
Committee: Natalie Scenters-Zapico (Chair), Julia Koets, Jarod Roselló
Katie Zepf, MA English Literature
Portfolio: "Pricked on by Pride: White Masculine Fragility in Shakespeare's Hamlet"
and "Paradise Willingly Lost: The Spirit of Lilith, Who Was Also Eve, in John Milton's
Paradise Lost and C.L. Moore's Fruit of Knowledge"
Committee: Emily Jones (Chair), Timothy Turner
We are extremely proud of our graduates and want to keep in touch! If you were part of our graduate program, please contact our graduate program specialist to discover alumni events and to update your contact information.
Recent alumni interviews
Creative writing
- Samantha Chianese, MFA, spring 2023
- Mara Beneway, MFA, spring 2023
- Haley Morton, MFA, spring 2021
- Courtney Clute, MFA, spring 2020
- Patrick Templeton, MFA, spring 2020
- Adam Carter, MFA, spring 2019
- Erika Staiger, MFA, spring 2019
- Allyson Hoffman, MFA, spring 2018
- Georgia Jackson, MFA, spring 2018
- Alysia Sawchyn, MFA, spring 2018
Literature
- Katie Zepf, MA, spring 2023
- Jackie Carlson, MA, spring 2023
- Teddy Duncan, MA, spring 2022
- Taylor DeMichael, MA, spring 2022
- Meghan Hutton, MA, spring 2020
- Stephanie Lance, PhD, fall 2019
- Elan Pavlinich, PhD, summer 2019
- Susan Meeler, MA, spring 2019
- Heather Fox, PhD, fall 2017
- Seth Spencer, MA, spring 2017
- Christina Connor, MA, spring 2016
Rhetoric & composition
- Justiss Burry, PhD, spring 2023
- Jessica Griffith, PhD, spring 2023
- Adam Phillips, PhD, spring 2022
- Katie Walkup, PhD, spring 2021
- Stephanie Phillips, PhD, fall 2020
- Natalie Kass, MA, spring 2017
- Lauren Cagle, PhD, summer 2016
Below you will find job placement information from our graduates in all three tracks over nine years (2013-2022) as well as spotlights on some of our recent graduates.
MFA 9-year career placement

Tenure-track / full-time permanent positions | |
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Other humanities careers | |
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MA 9-year career placement

Degree programs (PhD programs in English, unless otherwise noted) | |
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Other humanities careers | |
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PhD 9-year career placement
Assistant professor positions, tenure-track / full-time permanent | |
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Visiting instructor / FT temporary / adjunct positions | |
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Other humanities careers | |
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