Alumni Newsletter

Alumni Spotlight: Allison Shelton

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 16:30:28 +0000

Alumni Spotlight: Allison Shelton Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2020 - 10:30

Kat Lewis

The pursuable career options with an English degree have expanded drastically in the past five years alone, broadening the use and the function of an English major in academia and outside of it. English majors are working in law, counseling, business, politics, science – fields that used to exclude the humanities until employers understood the benefits of an English degree in the workplace.

One particular ��ƷSM��ӰƬ English alumna forging her way through a nontraditional career is Dr. Allison Shelton, a curriculum developer at Wix, a website building company. Shelton combines her passion for teaching and love for education with technology to provide individualized classroom solutions for fellow educators.

Originally from Long Beach, CA, Shelton completed her undergraduate studies at UC Santa Cruz, her MA in English Literature at CUNY Hunter College in New York, and then came to ��ƷSM��ӰƬ for her PhD in Literature. She moved back to New York City in July of 2019 to work for Wix, even before completing her dissertation.

“Mostly I enjoy being on a small team (at Wix) and being the “expert” in my area, which is all things higher education and course design and development. I love that I get to split my time between writing and research just like I did in grad school, only the subject matter I’m researching and writing about is always changing. I also like that decisions get made quite quickly here, and I’m pushed to really be proactive and innovative. And, of course, I love having a real salary with full health benefits.”

When asked how ��ƷSM��ӰƬ prepared her for success, Allison brought a refreshing realism to the table: “Just from a hiring standpoint, I wouldn’t have been considered for my current position without the PhD.” She explained further by considering the ways that graduate school, in general, taught her the skills she needed to be successful in her current position. “Beyond that, grad school taught me to budget unstructured time and produce high quality writing, both of which are necessary in my current position. Studying/teaching literature improved my critical thinking skills, which I rely on a lot and are in shockingly high demand. Teaching writing also helped me grow adept at wordsmithing and genre bending, which I am also called upon to do a LOT.”

More than just teaching her the skills she needed to succeed, the English Department provided many fond memories for Shelton during her time as a PhD student and candidate. “My favorite memories are of my friends, the amazing community of grad students I met and grew with during the program. I also loved getting to know my professors and putting together my absolute dream team of a committee for my dissertation.” When asked about her favorite course she took in the department, she was quick to name Karim Mattar’s Peripheral Visions course as a standout favorite.

Currently, Allison is working on many Wix projects that need to stay under wraps until their announcement and implementation but is also working on revisions to an article under consideration for publication and is planning to submit another article soon. “I also finally got back to reading for fun!”

In a final moment, Shelton provided some playfully insightful advice to current students, graduate and undergraduate, in the English Department at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ: “Be yourself – just do you. And to quote one of my favorite people, Chuck Tingle: “IT IS HAPPENING THE DANG SUN IS COMING UP AGAIN AND GIVING US ANOTHER DAY TO PROVE LOVE IS REAL THIS IS A TREAT OF BUDS LETS TROT BUCKAROOS.”

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Faculty Spotlight: Tiffany Beechy

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 21:56:02 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Tiffany Beechy Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/22/2020 - 15:56

Kat Lewis

A well-known paragon of the English Department is the mentorship faculty provide to students over the course of their studies at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. Whether you are a first time undergraduate learning the foundations of writing or an experienced PhD candidate about to be named an expert in your field, English faculty are beside students every step of the way to teach, train, and advise on the many disciplines of rhetoric, literature, and creative writing.

One faculty member stands out as Faculty Program Coordinator for the PhD Consortium in Literatures and Cultures: Dr. Tiffany Beechy, Associate Professor.

Beechy, originally from Oregon, was hired at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ in 2011 after completing her undergraduate degree at Harvard, her MFA at Columbia, and her PhD in medieval literature at the University of Oregon. She was named the Faculty Program Coordinator for the Consortium in 2019.

The Consortium in Literatures and Cultures, a student opportunity started by the Center for the Humanities and the Arts at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, is a group for PhD candidates “to maximize the benefits of intellectual and administrative collaboration while granting participating programs autonomy in their pursuit of excellence.” The Consortium has offered funding and mentoring to doctoral students that “allows them to complete their degree in five years without sacrificing intellectual depth and methodological diversity.” A highlight of this program is that PhD candidates who are interested have full access to faculty in other departments, promoting interdisciplinary research and mentorship across campus.

When asked to define the purpose of the Consortium herself, Beechy herself highlighted how important this program is in preparing PhD candidates for the rest of their academic careers: “Consortium has brought very good funding to its recruits, allowed students to know one another across departments, and, potentially, will provide very good support for students at the advanced stage, as they prepare first publications, write their dissertations, and prepare for “the profession,” whether inside or outside academia.”

When it comes down to it, it is apparent that Beechy sees academic mentorship as a two-way street where student and professor each gain a resource in working with one another on a subject both are passionate about. “Mentoring students keeps me from despair. These past several years have been very difficult for medieval studies, amid and on top of an ongoing disaster in the humanities. All of that is painful and takes a toll on your motivation (like, when you’re trying to finish your book on the finer points of early medieval Incarnational theology and its representations in art).” She continues: “But working with students and seeing that they, too, can find meaning and worth in the ideas you care about, and seeing as well that you can be of real help to them in drawing out, developing, and contextualizing their own ideas, that is motivating and rejuvenating.”

“Leading students into deep engagement with language is what I love to do—it is a lot like teaching poetry of any period. Students have to confront opacity, and confusion, and then catch a glimpse of clarity. From there, learning happens.”

In addition to her work with the Consortium, Beechy enjoys teaching Old English, “in part because the grammar and history of English come as such a revelation to many students.” She sites Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as the most fun text to teach, any time, any day. Her current personal research includes working on press revisions for her second book, Flesh of the Word: Materiality, Aesthetics, and the Incarnation in Early Medieval Britain, as well as working on a collaboration with colleagues in Ireland and the US to publish a digital edition of a strange manuscript from the eleventh century, related to her book.

When asked what makes her the most proud of her work at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, her answer is a perfect summation of why and how she teaches: “Medieval studies is a deeply traditional field, and I believe that in my writing, in my professional engagement, and in my mentorship I have worked to make the field more open.” She continued: “I am very proud of my PhD student, Tarren Andrews (whose accomplishments are entirely her own). I will feel satisfaction that I have helped clear a way for her to develop her ideas and shape her voice. I guess personally, I am proud of having raised a child to age five (so far) who is both secure and kind and knows how to respond to “Live long, and prosper” (answer: “Peace, and long life”).”

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Faculty Spotlight: Lori Emerson

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 20:59:59 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Lori Emerson Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/22/2020 - 14:59

Kat Lewis

One particular highlight of the English Department at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ can be found in the varied cross-disciplinary research of its faculty members. From American and British literature to creative writing to popular culture, film, and digital media, faculty specialties provide a hybrid of traditional and experimental instruction that allows students to explore many pathways during their degrees.

Dr. Lori Emerson, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies for the College of Media, Communication and Information, Professor of English, and founding director of the Media Archaeology Lab, is one of those who tightly intertwines her research with classroom instruction.

Emerson, originally from Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island, Canada, was hired at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ in 2008. In 2009, she founded the Media Archaeology Lab (MAL) on campus.

The MAL, different than other digital media labs that use the most up-to-date technology and tools available, is a center for “cross-disciplinary experimental research and teaching using still functioning media from the past.” With 35 portables/laptops, 73 desktop computers, 22 handheld devices, 8 other computing devices, and 10 gaming consoles, the MAL offers a wide special glimpse into history.

“The MAL is propelled equally by the need to both preserve and maintain access to historically important media of all kinds—from magic lanterns, projectors, and typewriters to personal computers from the 1970s through the 1990s, as well as early works of digital literature/art which were created on the hardware/software housed in the lab.”

Emerson had the support of John Bennett, the past director of the Alliance for Technology, Learning, and Society, from the time she began her CU career. He offered her a small startup grant to build a lab that Atlas and English Department students could both use. “The relative obscurity of the lab in those early years meant that we had little to no oversight, no one to report to, no metrics or outcomes to adhere to, and so on which meant we were free to be as wild as we wanted.”

Eleven years later, the MAL and ��ƷSM��ӰƬ are deeply connected. So much so that Emerson admits her teaching and research have always been tightly intertwined with the MAL “to the point where I can't imagine how I would do either if for some reason the MAL closed!”

“I regularly bring my students to the lab to try out, for example, outdated word processing programs to help defamiliarize the ubiquitous Microsoft Word; or I show my students alternative networks to the internet such as mesh networks, etc. In terms of my graduate classes, I regularly teach a class called "The Theory and Practice of Doing" that students from across campus take to learn the long history of hands-on work in a lab setting as well as a sophisticated theoretical basis by which to understand the 21st century proliferation of labs and the related celebration of making, doing, and tinkering in an arts/humanities context.”

While the MAL is open to all members of the general public, it remains a staple to the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ community. Many of the volunteers available during open house hours are graduate students from many departments on campus, English included. These students help develop class assignments, activities, workshops, and lab tours for around 18 different classes on campus. The MAL has an average visitation of 200 students during the peak weeks of the school year!

Emerson’s latest project, THE LAB BOOK: Situated Practices in Media Studies, is a collaborative book project with Jussi Parikka and Darren Wershler that is in its final stages for publication with the University of Minnesota Press. The project details the history of labs that spans 600 years and a nearly unlimited range of subjects. “But somehow, we persevered, and I am so thrilled (and relieved) this book should be out in the world in spring 2021.”

When asked about what makes her proudest about the MAL, Emerson provides beautiful insight on the sense of community that ��ƷSM��ӰƬ prides itself on: “Seven or eight years ago, I would have said that I'm proud of how large the MAL collection is or about how proud I am of how it's a thoroughly experimental and playful entity that has managed to thrive over so many years. But now what I'm most proud of is the community that's grown up around the MAL - somehow, with the help and energy of so many students and volunteers, the lab has become a profoundly welcoming and even safe space to anyone and everyone with even a slight interest in media.”

“The lab would be nothing without its collection but really, at the end of the day what makes it valuable and cherished are the people and the way the collection facilitates relationships between and among people.”

For more information about the Media Archaeology Lab, please visit their website.

*Since this article was written, the MAL recieved a $100,000 donation from local tech author and entrepeneur Brad Feld.

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