Alumni Updates

Stephanie Cowherd

EnglishLiterature, MA, 2014

Stephanie Cowherd, English, 2014, works for Ecotrust, an environmental non-profit based in Portland, Oregon. She leads community outreach and engagement, communications, and manages tribal forestry projects for her Forests & Ecosystem Services team at Ecotrust. Her current projects include a landscape assessment of opportunities and barriers in tribal forestry workforce development, working alongside native educators to design culturally-specific curriculum for forestry education tools, and community engagement with tribal forestry activities.

Jennifer Lee Swagert

English, 2014

Since graduating in 2014, Jennifer has been living on the outskirts of Seattle, WA, participating in a variety of programs that are aimed at the studying the effect that global climate has on urban rodent populations. Additionally, Jennifer will be publishing an article titled "Magic Cards and Where to Freud Them" in the Fall 2017 issue of Knucklebones magazine.

Justin Tretten

English, 2012

Justin Tretten, 2012 English, moved back to Colorado after graduating HSU. In Colorado, Tretten earned his teaching license. He now teaches sixth grade language arts in a middle school.

Salina Cuddy

English, 2012

Salina was recently awarded aPhD in Linguistics from the University of York. Her research focuses on language, gender, and sexuality. She will be starting a position as a Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Queen Mary University London this fall.

Philip Harris

EnglishWriting Practices, 2012

Philip Harris, 2012 English, after graduating and being rejected from the five grad schools, took two years off. I was admitted to San Francisco State University's MFA Fiction program in 2014. In the three years of Harris’ MFA, he wrote two novels, a collection of short fiction, a collection of short nonfiction, and a chapbook of prose poetry, which has been accepted for publication through Nomadic Press. The chapbook is a collection of prose poems dealing with identity and culture. Harris cites his time at HSU in the Writing Practices program as establishing the foundation of his writing. “The Flowers in my Mothers' Name” debuts this fall.

Salina Cuddy

English, 2011

Salina Cuddy, 2011 English, has begun a Master of Arts program in Sociolinguistics at the University of York in England. Cuddy’s focus is language and power, looking particularly at language and gender as well as language and class.

Josh Bartee

English, 2011

These days I'm pursuing a PhD in English Literature at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Since graduating, I have had two papers accepted for conferences. The first, which I presented in May of 2011 to the Robinson Jeffers Association in Monterey, CA, is a look at the poet’s diachronic influence on the environmental ethics of rock climbers. The second paper, presented in November of 2011 to the Western Literature Association in Lubbock, TX, concerns the hominin relationship with fire as read in Loren Eiseley's "The Angry Winter" and a selection of poems by Robinson Jeffers.

I keep busy studying, cycling and making all kinds of fun connections between poetry and natural history.

Tara Darlene Smith

English, 2010

Taraa's memoir essay collection, Sunflowers in Iraq: True Stories of Surviving & Thriving, was published last month. Further information is available on her website: https://www.taradarlenesmith.com, and she's happy to provide a press release and photos from the book's launch. 

Melissa Waldman

EnglishEmphasis in Writing Practices, 2010

I am currently writing and editing at a textbook company in San Francisco. We create K-12 grade English and Language Arts materials for larger publishing houses like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I am also a freelance food and drink correspondent for the SF Examiner Online and The Local Dish.

Adrianna Simone

EnglishMA, 2010

I'm currently applying for Ph.D. programs and helping out my community by volunteering. I'm a library volunteer at the Eureka branch. I assist with the English and Spanish story times by reading books and helping the children and parents with the weekly crafts. I also volunteer at Sacred Heart Church as a religious education instructor for 7th and 8th grade students.