Graduate English Students
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Samia Ahmed, PhD Student
Samia is originally from Bhopal, India but now lives in New York where she is enrolled in the PhD creative writing program at 91社区. Her work can be found in The Kenyon Review, Coffin Bell Journal, deLuge Literary and Arts Journal, Bluestem Magazine and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Old Dominion University.
Research Interests:
Contemporary Fiction, Postcolonial Studies, Eco-criticism, Historical Fiction, Gender Studies, Translation.
Publications:
Honors and Awards:鈥淏hopal, 1984鈥 Honorable Mention AWP Intro Journal Award 2021, judged by Mary Grimm
鈥淲hen They Came For Us鈥 Honorable Mention Jerri Dickseski Fiction Prize, judged by Janet Peery
鈥淎 Cup of Chai and Never After鈥 Nominated for Best of Net Anthology, Sundress Publication
鈥淎rs Poetica鈥 Finalist 2018-19 ODU College Poetry Prize organized by the Academy of American Poets, judged by Ilya Kaminsky
Provost鈥檚 Doctoral Summer Fellowship, this distinguished Fellowship is given to a select number of students in recognition of their clear academic potential to do exceptionally high-caliber graduate work
Graduate Teaching Assistantship, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 91社区 ($17,000)
David Scott Sutelan Memorial Scholarship for exceptional merit
The Sutelan Scholarship was established in 1995 and is awarded annually to one or two final-year MFA students who demonstrate exceptional merit
SEES Graduate Travel Award ($500)
Graduate Teaching Assistantship, College of Arts & Letters, Department of English, Old Dominion University ($10,000)
Education:MFA (fiction)- Department of English, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, 2021
Thesis: When They Came for Us, stories
Thesis Advisor: Kent Wascom
Committee Members: John McManus, Benjamin Kingsley
M.J. (Masters in Journalism) Department of Journalism, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National
University, Bhopal, India, 2017
B.A. Honors-Department of Economics, Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, Bhopal, India, 2015
Major- Economics, Minor- English Literature
- Areej AlQowaifly, PhD Student
Areej is a doctoral candidate in English Literature. Her dissertation centers around the intricate relationship between narrative, ethics, and memory. She focuses on the emerging field of Narrative Ethics, delving into how narratives convey, challenge, or reinforce ethical values. Informed by disciplines such as psychology and psychoanalysis, she investigates the concept of "memory narrative," which explores how memories are interpreted, constructed, and shared. By examining the interplay between memory, narrative, and ethics, Areej seeks to illuminate the complexities of human experience and contribute to a deeper understanding of identity, culture, and historical understanding.
AdvisorDr. Jeffner Allen
Research AreasModern/postmodern global Literature, Narrative, Memory studies, Ethical theory, Kafka.
EducationMasters of Arts in English Literature, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
Bachelor of Arts in English, and a minor in Education, UQU, Makkah, SA
- Roudri Bandyopadhyay, PhD Student
Roudri Bandyopadhyay is a creative writing nonfiction graduate who completed her MFA from Virginia and is now a part of the 91社区 to pursue her PhD in the same field. As a writer, she is greatly inclined to write about real-world women and their stories, all intertwined with age old beliefs, traditions, rituals, and often texts from the ancient Indian literature that has shaped the minds of so many. Her interests further dwells into unfolding intergenerational trauma, displacement, and the effects of colonialism in a post colonial world.
AdvisorSusan Strehle
Research AreasPost colonial literature and South Asian feminism
Publications, Conferences, Etc.,
EducationMFA in Creative Writing Nonfiction
- Elaina Bonora, 4+1 MA Student
Elaina Bonora is an accelerated Master's student in the English Department at 91社区 University. She graduated summa cum laude with her B.A. in English, Creative Writing and a minor in Human Rights in 2023. Her research interests are centered around young adult literature and mental health. Overall, her critical and creative pursuits are geared toward narrative medicine and auto-ethnography.
Research AreasCreative Writing; Poetry; Disability Studies; Literature and Psychological Studies;Young Adult Literature; Auto-ethnography; Narrative Medicine; Feminist Theory; Contemporary Literature
Honors & Awards鈥淣ostalgia鈥 Writing Contest, 91社区 AO Magazine
4+1 Accelerated Masters Program, 91社区
Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society
Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society
EducationB.A., English; Creative Writing, Human Rights Minor, 91社区
- Khadijah Boxill, PhD Student
Khadijah Boxill is a PhD candidate in English Literature at 91社区. Prior to starting her studies at 91社区, Khadijah received a Masters of Arts in Africana Studies from the University at Albany, and received a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and Africana Studies from 91社区. Khadijah's upcoming dissertation, "Space and Place: The Displacement of Self in African American Literature," will dissect the value and intention of space and place in African American Literature, as African American characters exist and navigate through restricting measures to identify one's self. Khadijah currently serves as a Graduate Admissions Recruiter at 91社区. Prior to this role, Khadijah has served as both a graduate and teaching assistant, receiving awards such as the Clifford D. Clark Fellowship and Lyceum Graduate Student Grant. After completing her degree, Khadijah hopes to foster her research interests to continue teaching and conducting research.
Research AreasAfrican American Literature post 1865-1900s, post 1900s-current, criminology, critical race theory, space and place, identity displacement
Dissertation TitleSpace and Place: The Displacement of Self in African American Literature
Publications, Conferences, Etc.,UMass EGO Conference 鈥淩eading Conflicts: Bodies, Spaces, Affects, April 2023
Session Presentation: The Intention of Space and Place in African American Literature and Text.
Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) 2022 National Online Conference, April 2023Session Presentation: The Intention of Space and Place in African American Literature and Text.
鈥 Served as the session chair.
Stony Brook 2023 English Graduate Conference, February 2023Session Presentation: The Intention of Space and Place in African American Literature and Text.
Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) 2022 National Online Conference, April 2022Session Presentation: 鈥淭he Legacies of Historical Fiction in American Literature.鈥
鈥 Served as the session chair.
College English Association (CEA) Conference, March-April 2022Session Presentation: 鈥淎frican American Orphans and Exiles: The Forgotten and the Ignored.鈥
Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) 2021 National Online Conference, June 2021.Session Presentation: 鈥淎frican American Orphans and Exiles: The Forgotten and the Ignored.鈥
Honors & AwardsClifford D. Clark Fellowship Recipient
Lyceum Graduate Student Grant Recipient
EducationMasters of Arts in Africana Studies, SUNY Albany
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Africana Studies, 91社区
- Alycia Calvert, PhD Student
Alycia Calvert is an emerging writer and photographer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Hunger Journal, The Las Vegas Writes Anthology, Hecate Magazine, The Boulder City Review and Double Downs with Nevada Humanities Blog. She鈥檚 just finished an her first year of PhD, and will spend summer preparing for her first few exams. Last year she finished an MFA at UNLV, and a summer Residency in France. She loves house plants, beignets made by her daughter; traveling; and weird and compelling little stories, some of which she鈥檚 written herself.
Research Interests:
Flash Fiction, Monstrosity and Gender, Speculative, Science, Earth writing, and folklore.
Publications:
Education:MFA Fine Arts Creative Writing - UNLV August 2022
Bachelors of English with a Creative Writing Concentration - UNLV - May 2016
- Hannah Carr-Murphy, PhD Student
Hannah Carr-Murphy is a poet and musician from Black Hawk County, Iowa. Her poetry has appeared in journals Common Ground Review, Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, and Adanna as well as anthologies Exs (Final Thursday), Double Kiss (Mammoth Books), and Spectral Lines (Alternating Currents). Previously, Hannah worked as Production Coordinator for North American Review at University of Northern Iowa and as Layout/Design Editor for An Focal at University of Limerick, Ireland. She is currently Co-Editor in Chief of Harpur Palate, 91社区's literary magazine. See some of her work at
Research Interests:
Creative Writing Pedagogy | Sound in American Poetry | Contemporary Opera
Honors and Awards:
Provost鈥檚 Doctoral Fellowship
Education:
Bachelor of Arts, English, University of Northern Iowa
Bachelor of Music, Instrumental Performance (flute), University of Northern Iowa
Master's of Arts, Community Music, University of Limerick (Ireland)
- Sam Corradetti, PhD Student
Sam Corradetti's work has been featured in vulnerary magazine, Exist Otherwise, The Fabulist, and others. Sam is a recipient of the Rin Kelly scholarship for speculative fiction and a BookEnds fellowship, and is currently a Clark fellow at 91社区 pursuing a PhD in English with a creative writing focus.
Research AreasShort fiction, speculative fiction, hybrid & experimental form, myth & folklore, queer narratives, multiethnic literature, medieval studies
EducationMFA, Creative Writing - Fiction, Temple University
MS, International Marketing, Saint Joseph's University
BS, Italian, Saint Joseph's University
- Samantha Covais, PhD Student
Sam's academic research focuses primarily on masculinity and philia in 20th and 21st century American literature with a concentration on the works of John Steinbeck. She is also interested in the intersection of philosophy, theology, and literature. When she's not on campus, you can find her running, hiking, or cheering on the Phillies and the Mavericks!
Research Areas:20th and 21st century American literature; masculinity studies
Publications, Conferences, Etc.:Presentations at NeMLA, the International Steinbeck Conference, SEPCHE, John R. Milton Writers鈥 Conference, PAMLA, NEPCA;
Publications in the Steinbeck Review, CONCEPT, and the Hemingway Review;
Education:Chestnut Hill College, BA; Villanova University, MA;
- Derek Ellis, PhD Student
DEREK ELLIS is a writer from rural Kentucky. He is currently a PhD candidate at 91社区 University. He holds a BA in English Literature from Western Kentucky University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. His work has appeared in Five Points: A Journal of Literature and Art, Prairie Schooner, Action Spectacle, BODY, and Leavings Literature Magazine.
Advisor:Tina Chang
Research Areas:Creative Writing and mid 20th Century American Literature
Publications, Conferences, Etc.:Poem -
2 Poems -
Poem:
Poem:
3 Poems -
Education:B.A. in English Literature - Western Kentucky University (2015)
M.F.A. in Creative Writing - University of Maryland, College Park (2019)
- Ella Flores, PhD Student
Ella Flores is a first year Ph.D. candidate in poetry at 91社区 and received an MFA from Northern Michigan University.
Advisor:Susan Strehle
Research Areas:Poetry, History of the Americas, Paleoanthropology, Linguistics
Publications, Conferences, etc.:Summerset Review, South Caroline Review, Willow Springs, RHINO and others.
EducationBA from Salisbury University, MFA from Northern Michigan University
- Jordan E. Franklin, PhD Student
Jordan E. Franklin is a poet, Clark fellow and doctoral student in the Department of English at 91社区. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she earned her MFA from Stony Brook Southampton where she served as a Turner Fellow. Jordan is the author of the full-length poetry collection, when the signals come home (Switchback Books, 2021), and a poetry chapbook, boys in the electric age (Tolsun Books, 2021). Her work has appeared in Breadcrumbs, Frontier, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, the Southampton Review and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2017 James Hearst Poetry Prize, the 2020 Gatewood Prize and a finalist of the 2019 Furious Flower Poetry Prize.
Publications:
Honors and Awards:2022 - Clifford D. Clark Diversity Fellowship, 91社区
2020 - Gatewood Prize, Switchback Books
2020 - February Poem of the Month Winner, Brooklyn Poets
2019 - Furious Flower Poetry Prize, Finalist
2018 - NYC Teaching Fellows
2017 - James Hearst Poetry Prize, First Place, North American Review
2015 - W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship, Stony Brook University
Education:M.S Ed, Students with Disabilities Grades 1-6, Brooklyn College, 2020
M.F.A, Creative Writing and Literature, Stony Brook Southampton, 2018
B.F.A, Creative Writing, Brooklyn College, 2012
- Joseph Heiland, PhD Student
Joseph is a first-year PhD student at 91社区, where he studies English and creative writing. He holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. His work has appeared in Lumina Journal, Eastern Iowa Review, and Reed Magazine
Research Areas
Narrative, Form, Cultural Studies, Film & Media Studies
Education
BA, Ithaca College; MFA, Sarah Lawrence College
- Shruti Jain, PhD Student
Shruti's research is interested in the global eighteenth century and the enlightenment with a specific focus on the networks of race and caste. She is also the co-host and co-producer of the podcast "Immigrants Wake America", which helps her explore the role the expansion of archival processes in the eighteenth century and beyond. www.immigrantswakeamerica.com
Research Interests:
Eighteenth Century Studies, Critical Race Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Caste Studies
Advisor:
Dr. John O. Havard
Publications:
(Forthcoming) "Sexualized Racial-Colonial Grotesque in the Company Archives" in Eighteenth Century Fiction
in T锚te- 脿-T锚te: Journal of French and Comparative Literature
"Religion Enlightenment and Empire: British Interpretations of Hinduism in the Eighteenth Century" by Jessica Patterson. Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies.
SO! Amplifies: Immigrants Wake America Podcast and the Work of Engaged Digital Humanities
Honors and Awards:Graduate Student Excellence Award in Service and Outreach, 2023
Education:MA English, University of Hyderabad (2018); BA English, Performing Arts and Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore, India (2016).
- Allen Loomis, PhD Student
Allen Loomis is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at 91社区. His work examines the confluence of the domestic sphere and public theater in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. More specifically, he studies how increased availability and improved quality of window glass influenced these realms. His dissertation argues that shifts in window glass production changed how public theater participated in the discourse of the home as a cynosure and borrowed from windows in conceptualizing the so-called fourth wall.
He is also interested in early modern true crime narratives told via ballads, pamphlets, court documents, and the fascinating yet frightening dramatic genre of domestic tragedies. Some of his favorites include 鈥 Arden of Faversham, Two Lamentable Tragedies, A Yorkshire Tragedy, and A Warning for Fair Women.
Research Interests:
Material Culture of Glass, Shakespeare Studies, Domestic Architecture, Early Modern Literature
Dissertation Title
Transparent Window Glass and the Theatricality of Dwelling in Early Modern England
Advisor:
Dr. John Kuhn
Honors and Awards:Rakow Grant for Glass Research, Rakow Library, Corning Museum of Glass
Harpur College Graduate Student Research Grant, 91社区
Francis X. Newman Endowment for Support of Research, 91社区
Education:B.A. and M.A. in English at Loyola University Chicago.
- Blessin McFarlane, 4+1 MA Student
Blessin McFarlane (MA, English Literature) is a journalist at the university, having written for the Pipe Dream Newspaper and The Division of Research's DISCOVER-e website during her undergraduate years, and the 91社区 Magazine in her graduate. Blessin is currently pursuing her dream of becoming a broadcast journalist, working as a marketing intern and Graduate Residence Director in the interim. Her particular interests include reporting on scientific research and global, political, and climate news, but she enjoys interviewing interesting people most of all. Having served as a McNair Scholar, the student commencement speaker, and a tour guide, public speaking has proven to be Blessin's main domain.
Research AreasJournalism, Global Politics, Climate Studies
Honors & AwardsCum Laude, Dean's List (2020-2023), Harpur College Student Commencement Speaker (2023), Q-Center OUTstanding Student Award (2023), Accelerated 3+1 English Literature BA/MA track
Education91社区, BA English Literature, 2023
- Matthew Midgett, PhD Student
Matt is interested in how the 19th century British novel understands time, particularly as related to labor, community, and genre.
Research Interests:
Marxist Theory, 19th century British novels, Political Violence in Literature and Film
Education:
B.A. English - Temple University; M.A. English and Media Studies - Rutgers University-Camden
- Grace Miller, PhD Student
Grace is from Rochester, NY. While attending Nazareth College, she studied at Universit茅 Rennes 2 and Universidad Cat贸lica de Valencia San Vicente M谩rtir. She received her MA in 2021 from 91社区 in Comparative Literature.
Research:
Historical Amnesia, Native American Literature, Postcolonial Theory, Trauma Studies, Intergenerational Trauma, US Imperialism, American Pluralism
Publications:
Education:M.A., Comparative Literature, 91社区
B.A., French Language and Literature with minor in History, Nazareth College 2019
B.A., Spanish Language and Literature with minor in Psychology, Nazareth College 2019
- Sydney Newton, 4+1 MA Student
Sydney is a 4+1 MA student studying American literature, among many other interests. She received her BA of English from 91社区 in May 2023, and works as a Graduate Assistant in the Dean of Student's Office on campus.
- Peter Proscia, 4+1 MA Student
Peter graduated with his BA in English Literature and Rhetoric from 91社区 in May 2023. He is currently pursuing a one year Master鈥檚 at BU, where he is leading students in an interdisciplinary study of themes of mental wellness in children鈥檚 literature.
Research AreasChildren鈥檚 Literature from the Victorian Age to present, LGBTQ+ literature, Mental Health Literature, Motherhood in Literature
EducationBA from BU in 2023
- Md Hasan Ashik Rahman, PhD Student
Hasan completed his previous studies in English Literature and Film Studies from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. For his PhD dissertation at 91社区, he intends to study the cultural landscape of South Asia in the second half of the 20th century, mainly through its film adaptations and remakes. His interdisciplinary framework includes perspectives from the diverse fields of postcolonialism, transnationalism, cultural studies, and Bangladesh studies.
Research Interests:
South Asia; Popular Culture; Adaptation Studies; Postcolonial and Transnational Perspectives
Education:
BA (English), MA (English Literature), MSS (Television and Film Studies) from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Suzanne Richardson, PhD Student
Suzanne Richardson earned her MFA at the University of New Mexico. She is a writer living in 91社区, New York, and a Ph.D. student in creative writing at SUNY 91社区. Her writing has appeared in Bomb Magazine, Gulf Coast, Poet Lore, Florida Review, DIALOGIST, Columbia Journal and New Ohio Review, among others. Find more of her writing at: www-suzannerichardsonwrites.tumblr.com/
Research AreasCreative Writing: Memoir
- Hena Sarkar, PhD Student
A PhD student in the Literature track, Hena broadly works with postcolonial studies, global south theories, gender studies, and film and media.
Education:
MA - Jadavpur University (2020)
BA - Jadavpur University (2018)
- Leah Slocum, PhD Student
Leah is a PhD student in the English department at 91社区. She specializes in Victorian novels, the 19th-century British Empire, material and print cultures, and the Anglophone Caribbean with a focus on slavery and abolition.
Honors & Awards2021-2022 William V. Spanos Award (91社区), 2020 Outstanding Master's Thesis in English (University at Albany).
EducationMA, English, University at Albany, 2020. BA, English and Psychology, University at Albany, 2018 (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa honor society).
- Kaushik Tekur, PhD Student
Kaushik's research studies the intersections of the long 18th century, its literary forms, and the British Empire鈥檚 evolving policing and surveillance practices that regulated access to liberal personhood. Understanding police power to be embroiled in
Research Interests:
Eighteenth-century Studies, Black Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Adaptation Studies, Digital Humanities
Advisor:
Dr. John O. Havard, Dr. Alexandra Moore
Publications:"Police Time: Equiano, Blackness, and Custody," Forthcoming in Eighteenth-Century Fiction
"Gone With the (West) Wind: Shelley, Apostrophe, and Inept Interpellation," Forthcoming in The Keats-Shelley Review
Honors and Awards:
Keats-Shelley Essay Prize, 2022 (Second prize)
Education:
B.A. in English, Madras Christian College, 2016
M.A. in English, Hyderabad Central University, 2018
- Michael Williamson, PhD Student
Michael's interests broadly include postcolonial theory and materialist histories in South Asia, Africa, and the United States; migration; cosmopolitanism; the nation; development; globalization; means of identity formation and self-fashioning; literary theory; as well as borders and other metonymic and physical sites of power from the mid-twentieth century to our contemporary moment.
Research Areas20th and 21st century global Anglophone literatures
Publications, Conferences, Etc.,鈥淔or I Can Here Disarm Thee With This Stick:鈥 Magical (In)Abilities and Transitional Economies in The Tempest (forthcoming book chapter)
鈥淪carcity and Identity Crisis: Ideological dissolution in Paul Bowles鈥 The Sheltering Sky,鈥 Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, March 2024
鈥淟iterary Structural Adjustments: Characters, Form, and Genre in Five Star Billionaire,鈥 Roundtable Participant - 鈥淭extualizing Surplus: People, Labor, Form,鈥 Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, March 2024
鈥淩esisting Border Technologies: Makina's Journey in Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World,鈥 Roundtable Cohost - 鈥淗ow does it feel to be the problem?' Brownness and Being in the 21st Century,鈥 Pacific and Ancient Modern Language Association, Portland, October 2023
鈥淭he Border Within: Shifting Borders and the Australian Temporary Work Program in Adiga鈥檚 Amnesty,鈥 Pacific and Ancient Modern Language Association, Portland, October 2023
鈥淐olonialism upon an (Un)Natural Backdrop: Infrastructural Projects in Cary and Achebe,鈥 Northeast Modern Language Association, SUNY Buffalo, March 2023
鈥淎 Stand-In For Empire: The Synecdochic Function of Scientists in Victorian Monster Fiction,鈥 Masters in English Regional Conference, Bridgewater State University, February 2023
鈥淎fropolitanism and Migratory Identities in Helon Habila鈥檚 Travelers,鈥 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, UCLA, November 2022
EducationM.A. in English, the University of Vermont, 2023
B.A. in English and History, the University of Houston, 2020
A.A. in Liberal Arts, Lone Star College, 2016
- Liz Ann Young, PhD Student
Liz Ann Young grew up in Michigan and then spent a few decades bouncing around the country between Washington, Vermont, Montana, and New York. She has worked in dozens of industries to support her poetry habit and has been the poetry editor of Atlas + Alice for almost a decade. She lives on a farm in the woods with lots of animals, her husband, and a few small humans she made.
Publications, Conferences, Etc.,"Saint Barbara" - Autofocus
"Thinking of My Husband鈥檚 Mistress鈥 and 鈥淏reakfast鈥 - Book of Matches
鈥淣ext to Your Shotgun鈥 - San Pedro River Review
鈥淎 History Major鈥 - Tinderbox Poetry Journal
鈥淗er Nails Were Dirty鈥 - CHEST
鈥淰apor Rising鈥 and 鈥淒ay Lilies鈥 - Big Muddy
鈥淧rince Charming鈥 - Black Heart
鈥淭his is the Story of the Scar beneath Your Lip鈥 - Inscape
鈥淭he Day after We Broke Up鈥 - Out of Our
鈥淪eventy Percent Chance of Storm in Hamilton, NY鈥 - Alehouse
EducationMichigan State University, BA in English
Michigan State University, BA in History
Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Poetry
- Chenrui Zhao, PhD Student
Chenrui Zhao is a PhD candidate and adjunct teaching member in the English department at 91社区, SUNY. She focuses her research on the global impact of neoliberalism through the analysis of literary and cultural texts. Specifically, she explores the manifestation of neoliberalism in East Asia, examining its influence on the limits of political alliances, economic transactions, and cultural interactions. Currently, she is in the final stages of completing her dissertation, which delves into the transformative effects of neoliberalism in China, turning it into a global service provider and consumer while providing building blocks to reshape its cultural identities. Her research contributions have been acknowledged through awards from the American Studies Association. Additionally, she is in the process of preparing her first publication, which centers around the popular cinematic representation of the infamous zombie figure in Hong Kong Cinema from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
Research Areas:Marxist Theories, Neocapitalism and Neoliberaism, The Global Asia