Recent PhD Placement News

The department is pleased to announce the following professional placements of recent PhD recipients.

Deborah Bailin has received an ACLS Public Fellows award to work as Democracy Analyst at the Center for Science and Democracy of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She completed her dissertation, "Prehistoric to Posthuman: Animality, Inheritance, and Identity in American Evolutionary Narratives," in spring 2010, under the direction of David Wyatt, with committee members Zita Nunes, Jackson Bryer, Kandice Chuh, and Katie King.

Amy Karp has obtained a tenure-track position at CUNY Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY. This spring Amy defended her dissertation, "Speaking from a Strange Place: Refiguring Contemporary Bodies of Jewish American Women's Assimilation." Her committee was chaired by Sheila Jelen and included Martha Nell Smith, Randy Ontiveros, Katie King, and Maxine Grossman.

Kelly McGovern has a full-time position as Writer-Editor for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she writes research-based reports and teaches writing seminars for the Counsel of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. Her dissertation, "'We Have Come of Age': The Growing Body in the Twentieth-Century Irish Novel," was filed this spring under Brian Richardson's direction, with Elizabeth Loizeaux, Christina Walter, Stephen Brighton, and Caroline Eades serving on the committee.

Marc Ruppel has been appointed Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Public Programs, where he is helping to lead their push into gaming and transmedia. He is filing his dissertation this summer, titled "Visualizing Transmedia Networks: Links, Paths and Peripheries." Matthew Kirschenbaum directed it, along with committee members Derk Hansen, Brian Richardson, Kari Kraus, and Nancy Struna.

Maria Gigante has accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor in the Department of English at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

T.J. Moretti has accepted appointment as a tenure track assistant professor of English at Iona College. 

Congratulations to all of these graduates and their advisors on these impressive placements.