"My English degree shapes the way I interact with the world around me. It is present in the way I interact with others. I treasure my English degree education."
When did you graduate from BYU?
BA English 2017
MA English 2020
What is your job/position? And how would you describe what you do in that job/position?
I am a PhD student in the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama. My PhD program is fully funded through the Hudson Strode Endowment. As part of my program, I teach first-year writing courses and 200-level literature courses. I have been funded to work closely with the Folger Shakespeare Library on various research projects and have been supported by the English Department for conferences and research.
Describe the path that you took from your BYU English degree to your current career, highlighting the important realizations and turning points that paved the path for you.
I stepped into my first class at BYU believing I would whole-heartedly be a high school English teacher for the rest of my life. I come from a farming background, so teaching high school English was the only English career I had ever been exposed to. While I still carry a love for teaching, key conversations and experiences with my mentors at BYU readjusted my post-BYU focus to graduate programs and working as a full-time scholar. While I was at BYU, encouragement from mentors, the English Symposium, numerous Women in Academia panels, and the College of Humanities Future Scholars Program taught me that I could be more than my pre-college life had exposed me to. I would not be in graduate school without such key stepping stones of encouragement and help along the way.
What are the specific skills that you cultivated as an English major that you now use in your professional life? And how do you use those skills in ways that set you apart from your colleagues?
While I am constantly drawing on the close reading and analytical skills my BYU mentors cultivated, the skills that sets me apart from my colleagues are the English Teaching approaches that were so foundational during my undergraduate studies. Not only has BYU prepared me to direct my own literature classes and create my own syllabi, but also to engage with my students in meaningful and lasting ways. I credit my teaching abilities directly to the instruction I gained at BYU.
How else has your English degree helped you in your life?
My English degree shapes the way I interact with the world around me. It is present in my workplace, in my forms of worship, in the way I teach my children, and in the way I interact with others. I treasure my English degree education.
As an alumnus of the BYU English department, what advice would you give to current students?
My advice to current students: don’t forget that studying English is something you choose. More often than not, students fall into the habit of complaining about their work. This approach to learning will get you nowhere. Instead, love learning, so when you graduate, you can fill your life with a way of thinking that makes the world a better place. If you love it, you will make a difference. Because we need minds like yours that can think deeply, criticize bravely, and write boldly.
Contact
johndoe@byu.edu