What are my goals?
My research interests are still evolving. Currently, I want to research and influence the policies that directly affect students. I want to promote institutional change that facilitate student success beyond letter grades. Students should know that they have the support of their institution, and that the policies are in place to better their experiences, not hold them back.
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I want to study and promote policy that encourages and improves student accessibility and equity, remove barriers, and help build a community. I want the students I work with to have the same opportunities for exploration and education as I had throughout my college career. Learning is valuable, but it is also difficult for many reasons, and there is no reason institutions shouldn’t be pursuing accessible and equitable policies for the benefit of their student population.
What have I studied so far?
I received my BA from St. John Fisher in Rochester where I double majored in English Literature and Anthropology with a minor in Classical Studies. I wrote and defended an English Honors Thesis entitled “Good Science; Bad People: Aldous Huxley’s Struggle to Reconcile the Destruction of Humanity by Humanity.” My Anthropology Capstone Project focused on the ethics of World Heritage Site tourism and was called “Balancing Preservation and Freedom of Access: Concerns for the Regulation of Tourism at World Heritage Sites.”
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I received my MA in English Language and Literature from Buffalo State a few years later. My final research project utilized archival materials from a variety of locations in England and examined the history of racial bias in the British education system.
Where do I work and what is my job?
I currently work at Villa Maria College, a small private institution in Cheektowaga. I started working at Villa as a professional writing tutor when I graduated from Fisher. I really had no intention of working in higher education, but I tutored while I was completing my BA so it felt like a natural transition. I loved it and I haven’t looked back. Since then, I’ve continued working in various roles, shifting into a supplemental instructor position to an adjunct role and then a full time Academic Advisor in the Student Success Center. Now, I am the Director of Student Success.
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Working closely with incoming students has given me insight into the challenges they face both within academics and in their personal lives. I am hoping that pursuing this PhD with allow me to take a more active role in developing student centered policies as well as measuring student success. At this point, I’m interested in studying policies in higher education related to student success rates and what can be done to make college more accessible to a wide variety of populations. I’m lucky to work at an institution that is extremely student centered, so I have already seen some of the policy changes that have increased persistence and retention.
What else do I do?
Outside of academics, I love traveling. I extended the summer study abroad from my MA program into a multi-week, multi-country adventure with a friend to visit some surrounding areas. Some of my favorite memories from that trip include the utterly bizarre baby statues in Prague, the overnight bus trip to Berlin that left us waiting at an outdoor bus exchange for an hour in the middle of nowhere with three strangers, our impromptu stop in Galway when we miscounted the nights we were planning to spend in Dublin, our stop over in Iceland, and all of the wonderful friends I met while traveling.
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I’ve also taken a road trip along the west coast of the United States to visit the National Parks out in that direction. Driving along some of the mountain roads is absolutely nerve-wracking but completely worth the view at the top!
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I love live music. My favorite band is Streetlight Manifesto and I’ve seen them in concert more times than I can count. They sometimes perform with a full orchestra and it’s incredible! A few other favorites are the Gaslight Anthem and Murder By Death.
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I am an English major cliche – I love reading and I work at a bookstore (although I doubt I will be able to continue doing so while also working full time and completing this program). There is a 50-50 chance that I will leave work with at least one new book every shift. Here is my goodreads account where I keep track of what I’m reading!
