“How I Got Here: Networking and Discussion with Professors and Professionals”
Friday, January 8, 2016, 5:15-6:30
Graduate Student Lounge (10C, Level 3, Austin Convention Center)
Whether it’s your first or fourth time, there are many great reasons to attend the MLA as a graduate student. And no matter what stage you are at in your studies, you probably have some questions about aspects of your graduate work — your teaching experiences, your alt-ac interests, your under-review article — and how they come to bear on your program of study and professional plans.
During the upcoming MLA, The Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Profession (CSGSP) will be offering an opportunity for graduate students to meet and talk with academics from a variety of institutions and disciplines. Five speakers (see bios below) will join us to discuss their professional paths. After brief introductions, participants will divide into groups for networking and discussion.
What would you like to ask about your graduate work and career plans? Join us on Friday, January 8, from 5:15 to 6:30, to discuss questions, network, and learn from the experience of others in the Graduate Student Lounge (10C, Level 3, Austin Convention Center).
This year, we will have highly distinguished speakers that represent different career paths and stages.
Fred Gardaphé
Dr. Gardaphé is Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute. He directs the Italian/American Studies Program at Queens and formerly directed the programs in Italian American and American studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is Associate Editor of Fra Noi, an Italian American monthly newspaper, editor of the Series in Italian American Studies at State University of New York Press, and co-founding-co-editor of Voices in Italian Americana, a literary journal and cultural review. He is past president of MELUS (2003-2006), the American Italian Historical Association (1996-2000), and The Working Class Studies Association (2008-2011).
Paula Krebs
Dr. Krebs is founding Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University and a member of the MLA Executive Council. She writes often for the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed on issues including changing the model of doctoral education, diversifying the profession, and the public humanities. Dr. Krebs has also foregrounded these issues through her work as editor of Academe (AAUP national magazine); on the New England Cross-Sector Partnership, for preparing doctoral students to teach at teaching-intensive institutions, and the SILCS program, for preparing students from underrepresented groups for doctoral study; and on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
Susan Miller
Susan J. Miller has been Professor of English at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida for 28 years. She recently returned to the classroom after a lively ten years as department chair. The 2013 President of the ADE, she has participated in many MLA panels directed at academic employment, particularly in the two-year college. A co-writer of the 2014 “Report of the ADE Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment,” she also helped craft an article on myths about the job search that will appear in the next ADE Bulletin.
Elizabeth Richmond-Garza
Dr. Richmond-Garza is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the Director of the Program in Comparative Literature. She served as Chief Administrative Officer (Secretary-Treasurer and Webmaster, American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) between 2003- 2011. She holds degrees from U. C. Berkeley, Oxford University, and Columbia University and has held both Mellon and Fulbright Fellowships. Trained in Greek as well as modern aesthetics, she works actively in eight languages. Richmond-Garza is renowned for her creative, multi-media approach to teaching. Among other honors, she has been awarded the Chad Oliver Plan II Teaching Award, the 16th annual Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, and the Minnie Piper Stevens Teaching Award. She was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2004 and was awarded the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009.
Ece Turnator
Ece Turnator received her Ph.D. in Medieval (Byzantine) History from Harvard University in 2013. Her dissertation is an interpretation of 13th-century Byzantine economy through an analysis of archaeological (coins and ceramics) and textual evidence. Until September 2015, she worked as a CLIR/Mellon postdoctoral fellow at The University of Texas at Austin in medieval data curation, studying and learning about Digital Humanities, best practices for data curation and visualization, in addition to teaching and researching in her area of expertise. She is working with the Digital Humanities team at UT Libraries and teaches in the History Department at the University of Austin at Texas. Her main research interests include world economic history and material culture.
Questions about “How I Got Here?” Please post below or e-mail the organizers, Caroline Egan (eganc@stanford.edu) and Fatma Tarlaci (ftarlaci@utexas.edu).