The English department community at Duquesne is very special. You know,
it's a bunch of very dedicated,
really interesting faculty who care deeply about students.
You know, the Duquesne mission is to,
we serve God by serving students and we're always working to
get the best for our students.
The English department is very devoted to their students in a way that I never
could have imagined. And so I think that that is one thing that, you know,
Duquesne and the English department specifically has really done for me has
provided me with a community of support.
So as the director of undergraduate studies,
I'm familiar with a lot of opportunities that we give to our students. Um,
for example,
we have a number of different scholarships and awards that are available.
We have the Chiverse and the Carroll scholarships,
which are awarded to the best piece of critical writing and creative writing
respectively.
And then we also have the O'Donnell summer undergraduate research awards.
I had a handful of opportunities as an undergraduate student,
and they have actually propelled me forward into my, my graduate work as well.
Um, several of those,
it sort of started out with the Carol creative writing grant that sort of led me
the following summer to apply for the O'Donnell undergraduate research grant.
And from that grant,
I was blessed to be able to visit the Harvard Houghton library and sort of
explore their archival theater collection.
Those two are very defining of the work that I continue to
engage with and be excited about.
We have a number of student organizations that English students are a part of
and integral to.
One of those is lexicon and lexicon is a collection of student work that is
written by and edited and published by Duquesne students.
We have a pretty active honors society, Sigma Tau Delta,
and they do activities throughout the year. Uh, there are also, uh,
opportunities for students to get involved in other organizations on campus.
Uh, there, the red masquers, are a student arts organization here on campus.
We do between seven and nine productions a year, a lot. Uh,
and we cover a lot of ground. We do,
we go do anything from an ancient Greek tragedy,
all the way to the world, premier of a new musical.
Duquesne has a very good reputation in the region as a school
that produces graduates, who are hardworking,
who are responsible. And,
and I think this is very important about us compassionate.
And so our students place in internships quite easily be because people in the
community know that they are going to get a good, a good person to work with.
And someone who comes in with a lot of skills,
but also a lot of responsibility and kindness.
Our internships range from work with organizations like ACH,
Clear Pathways and Arise.
Those are two non-profit organizations in the city that serve traditionally
underserved communities.
So we send our students there to do curriculum development, literacy education.
We've actually just opened a community writing center,
a writing center in the community located in the hill district.
That's going to serve both the after school arts program for the children,
but also provide adult programming.
And we also have internships on campus with the library. For example,
we have our students producing publications for the English program.
So our internships really allow for our students to do a number of things from
publishing to editing to curriculum design
and beyond.
Obviously I've had a lot of opportunities, um,
to really grow and excel in both areas of my craft,
which has been really exciting is that I have so many opportunities on the
theatrical side and on the journalism side.
So I feel like I've really gotten a well rounded education here.
Our approach to studying theater is very liberal arts based.
Not only do you study acting and directing and, uh, stage technology,
but you also have to study history of theater and, uh,
the drama of theater.
I think journalism theater has very much helped me exceed my aspirations in the
level and quality of opportunities that I have been offered.
I talked to John Lane, the head of the department, um,
pitching a senior capstone project. You know,
I very much told him I either wanna act or I wanna direct,
he came back to me a week later and said, you could star in a one woman show.
And I was like, oh my gosh, seriously. Like that is,
that is the kind of offer that I, I never would've expected.
And that's something I know without a doubt,
I never would've been offered anywhere else.
We are so energized by the, the students, uh, and the ideas that they bring.
And there is an, an amazing amount of joy that happens.
Uh, and it is really a joyful place to be for everybody involved
but mostly for the students.
I think that Duquesne has prepared me in a million different ways.
I really do think that this is where I belong.
And I think this is where I was meant to be.