Tony Graduate Work in Literature Academic Dean

Abstract

I went to grad school for so many different reasons. Throughout school, I enjoyed literature more than any other subject, and talking about it, critiquing it, and interpreting it were always really interesting to me. My lit classes as an undergrad were great; I loved most of them, and was still excited about the ones that I didn’t like, because I thought I could probably improve upon them. So, I always felt a pull in that direction—I wanted to be a professor. Also, I went to three different colleges during my undergrad career, so I didn’t feel like I’d had the experience that other people had and I wanted it. I’d always wanted to travel internationally—maybe spend some time going to school in Europe or Ireland—and I thought grad school might be a way to do that. I suppose I just wasn’t ready to be done with school yet, to be frank. But I also got a lot of encouragement from my professors and it seemed like a good way to pursue a couple of different intersecting interests, and still make progress toward a career.

I think this career is a great fit for me—though I didn’t even know it existed when I was training for it, so there was no way for me to have had it on my radar as a goal. Actually, it’s just the opposite—it’s precisely what was missing for me in graduate school, that I ended up turning into an area of expertise.