Marisa Yerace

The Summer after my dissertation defense, and transitioning from graduate student to faculty status, has been nothing short of exciting. Here’s a quick roundup of everything (personal and professional) that’s happened!

Preparing the dissertation for deposit

One of my goals after defense was to revise my dissertation to make it more competitive for potential awards, and the valuable feedback from my committee members helped make that happen. You can now read the whole M.A.R.I.S.A.W.P.A. document at Purdue’s Hammer repository!

Walking across Scotland

I’ve been talking about it for years–ever since my semester at the University of St. Andrews in Spring 2017. This summer, as a gift to myself for FINISHING MY PHD, I completed the Great Glen Way, a roughly 80-mile long walk from Fort William to Inverness.

Scotland will always have a special place in my heart, and this was my first multi-day hiking trip–it could not have been more lovely. (If you’re looking to do something similar, I have to recommend Gemini Walks, a wee operation out of Falkirk that made the whole trip a delight.)

Teaching ENGL106DIST

I wrapped up my time at Purdue with one more iteration of my online first year writing course. My students were, as always, fantastic, and I’ll update my Teaching Feedback page with their thoughts soon.

Moving to Utah

Of course, in the middle of all of this, I had to relocate from Lafayette, Indiana to Ogden, Utah! I settled into my new place in late July, and I’m very much enjoying the proximity to the Wasatch range.

Helping other grad students in English get jobs

I and some collaborators from my research group (Drs. Kailyn Shartel Hall, Allegra Smith, and Bradley Dilger) have been working on the first iteration of an inter-institutional job preparation group for English PhDs we’re calling Jobs in English and Transdisciplinary Studies (JETS). Our goals with this group are to use up-to-date job market experiences and responsive meetings to meet the ever-changing needs of this market.

Over the summer, we held five sessions on the following topics: an overview of the academic and industry market; finding and understanding job ads; the standard statements (teaching, research, etc) that come with applying to academic jobs; tailoring cover letters; and interviewing. This fall, we hope to continue working with folks on practice interviews and an industry jobs panel.

If you would like to participate in future iterations of JETS, or have questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at myerace@weber.edu.

Preparing for teaching in the Fall

Finally, the last part of my summer–which has somehow been the least stressful part–has been acclimating to my new campus office and preparing my courses, Digital Writing Technologies (ENGL3130) and Professional & Technical Writing (ENGL3100). You can view my syllabi at those links.

I think that’s most of everything that’s happened in the last couple of months. I’m so looking forward to what happens next. Thanks for reading!

MY