Chris Ramponi, 2020

Thesis:

Reflections of an Impossible Ideal: Passion as the Will to Downfall in Madame Bovary

During my time as a graduate student at HSU, I noticed a pattern in the specific ways that the topic of passionate love was approached in various Romantic texts. I began, then, to formulate a sort of taxonomy of passionate love by researching across time periods, disciplines, and genres. I drew connections between Greek myth, troubadour poetry, and Romanticism, as well as between philosophical considerations spanning third-century Neoplatonism and medieval Arabic philosophy to Idealism and Absurdism. I argued that passion is a form of transgression, one born from a fleeting experience of an ideal that cannot exist within the limitations of the temporal world. I took my findings and formulated my argument: that the pursuit of passionate love and the pursuit for sublime transcendence are one and the same, and that the realization of this ideal is incumbent on the manipulation of those aspects which seem most antithetical to its success: language and materialism. Concentrating on Madame Bovary, I argued that conceptualizing passion in this way reveals in Emma an uncompromising quest for transcendence that transforms her from a victim of (dis)illusion into a Romantic hero. It was thanks to the ethos of the English MA program—one that allows for academic exploration and self-discovery while maintaining high standards of academic rigor—that I was able to push beyond my limitations. The close, critical reading that forms the foundation of all literary study was seamlessly paired and ultimately enhanced by parallel focuses on rhetoric, theory, and cultural studies. These different elements unite to form a poly-perspectivism that continues to guide the way I interact with the world.

Marcos Hernandez, 2019

Thesis:

Publishing for Transfer: Notes Toward an Editorial Pedagogy for the Transfer-Oriented Writing Program

Currently, I teach editing and publishing practices as the Faculty Advisor for the student-run Toyon Multilingual Literary Magazine at HSU. Come Spring 2022, I will also begin teaching introductory English courses at College of the Redwoods. In addition to my current and upcoming teaching posts, I serve as the administrative support coordinator for Toyon and HSU’s chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society. I am the co-author of a chapter on editorial courses, diversity and equity education, and the publishing industry in the book From Practice to Print: Creative Writing Academics on the Publishing Trade (2021). The MA in English experience provided a strong foundation for my personal and professional development, equipping me with a broad set of skills, knowledges, and dispositions that has helped me become a more creative, informed, and reflective person. During my time in the program, I had the honor of working with dedicated faculty members who supported my interests in, among other things, editing and publishing practices, cultural criticism of popular media and literature, and transfer-based theories of writing development and pedagogy. Furthermore, the program’s focus on applied learning gave me several opportunities to put theory into practice. For instance, I taught first-year composition as a graduate teaching associate in 2017, during which I received individualized coaching and support from a trusted mentor. In 2018, HSU English paid for me to present research at a graduate conference at CSU Fullerton, where I presented an interpretive framework for reading contemporary true crime media. My master’s research connected my interests in publishing, writing for social change, and theories of writing development by providing a space for me to explore the possibilities for using real-world publishing projects to teach writing practices. What I have found most valuable and life-affirming about my experience in the MA in English program has been dispositional: it made me a much more reflective person. My professors regularly challenged me to step back and sort through my own beliefs, biases, and assumptions and to consider those of others when making judgments. In doing so, I developed a reflective orientation towards myself and the world, and I became much more tolerant and empathetic in my interactions with others as a result. These are important qualities to have as an educator, and I am thankful that the MA in English promoted practices that helped me attain them.

Cole Shepard, 2023

Thesis:

Problematizing progress: Building a postcapitalist present

I am currently in the MA in English program. Humboldt State University was also where I got my bachelor’s degree—the wonderful faculty here did not make my decision to come back for my Master’s very difficult. The program has been a blast so far, and the faculty have been very accommodating with my less-than-typical English department project. Along the way, I have seen nothing but support, everyone in the department I talk about my project with providing me with new resources and new insights. I’ve been researching and writing about postcapitalism and its surrounding conversations. I’m interested in seeing how people envision a future without capitalism and how they expect us to get there, and I’m casting a wide net for answers. This has led me all around the academic world from queer and Indigenous scholars to sociologists and anthropologists to philosophers and politicians. Every field has a vested interest in re-examining our relationship to capitalism, and my goal is to trace where those conversations are going. When not knee-deep in homework, I am pursuing miscellaneous creative endeavors, like writing, drawing, or music production.

Allison Iafrate, 2022

Thesis:

Our Place in Research: Understanding Social Productions of Knowledge Using Digital Spaces

I’m Allison, I’m 24, and I’m in my last semester of the MA in Applied English program. When I’m not working or taking classes, I like to go on walks outside, buy discount flowers and plant them in the garden, pet dogs, and watch Netflix. I grew up in the Central Valley of California and went to community college there. I transferred up to HSU as a junior and got my BA in English: Writing Practices with a minor in Anthropology. I applied to this grad program right after getting my BA, mostly because I wasn’t sure what to do with my life yet so I figured that I could keep being a student for a while! When I first started, I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to study, so if you’re in that boat too, no worries! There were plenty of really cool ideas in the grad classes that got me started and helped me find a topic that interested me. I've enjoyed the variety of skills that this program has given me, and the wonderful people I have met.

Natalie Ray, 2019

Thesis:

On the Edge of Inclusion: A Look at the Shifting of Representation in Museum Display and Archival Cataloging

Currently I am employed as a Support Specialist for Coast Central Credit Union, which is a locally invested credit union here in Humboldt County. My primary job is providing outreach for our older members within the community. We work to ensure they are protected financially by providing them with access to remote banking services. My department and its work has become invaluable with the lasting duration of COVID. The research I did for my MA project not only honed my professional skills and interpersonal abilities, but also, as I compiled my research, instilled in me a lasting compassion for our local community and history. I hold this fervor with me still as I assist our community with their financial services, and as we do our best to help them navigate an uncertain future.

Mary Lipiec, 2023

Thesis:

Nothing about us: three models of disability in three works of literary fiction

My MA research project, "Nothing About Us: Three Models of Disability in Three Works of Literary Fiction," takes a "theory in the flesh" approach to applying some basic threshold concepts of disability theory (namely, three models of disability that act as framing devices for how disability is viewed) to three different novels that feature main characters who are disabled in order to determine how those novels frame disability. The MA program allowed me to read a wide range of texts and theories, which not only strengthened my research and writing skills, but helped me think more creatively about literature and the world at large.

Jonathan Abidari, 2021

Thesis:

Multimodality in Focus

I have been a writing tutor and instructional assistant at HSU, and I have taught English as a foreign language in China. My MA research project focused on first-year composition pedagogy. Specifically, I examined the implications of multimodality on the composition classroom. My research was aligned with that of veteran scholars in the fields of digital humanities and composition and rhetoric who look to bring composition instruction into a new era that incorporates digital technologies and their potential to deliver multimodal content. The goal of composition instruction is to cultivate critical thinking and rhetorical awareness in our students. In our current society, digital literacy is often a requirement for engaging in critical discourse, and my work explores how instructors can assist their students in attaining all the literacies necessary for their academic and ensuing professional careers. I live locally in Arcata, California where I can be found peddling a variety of tomes at local independent bookseller Northtown Books. The experience and rhetorical awareness I gained from completing the MA in Applied English Studies serves me well in this occupation, and I hope to find even more applications in future professional contexts.