Graduate

Summer 2023

Anca Garcia, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “Reading Suffering Between the Lines: Trauma and Witnessing in Old and Middle English Literature”
Committee: Nicole Discenza (Chair), Maria Cizmic, Maren Clegg Hyer, Emily Jones

Fall 2023

Audrey Blanco, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “Songs of Somniloquy”
Committee: Julia Koets (Chair), Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Jarod Rosello

Kayla Kavanagh, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “Fruits of the Sea”
Committee: Heather Sellers (Chair), John Fleming, Jake Wolff 

Spring 2024

Spencer Daniels, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “The Drama of Last Things: Reckoning in Late Medieval and Early Modern English Drama”
Committee: Nicole Discenza (Chair), Emily Jones, Thomas Williams, Patrick Finelli

Hal Dietrich, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “Aficionado”
Committee: John Fleming (Chair), Jake Wolff, Emily Jones 

Mark-Elliot Finley, MA English Literature

Portfolio: "'He's a Buffoon': Satan, the Medieval Comic Devil, and False Heroism in Paradise Lost" & "'Happy Birthday, John-I Want a Divorce!': Margaret Atwater Masons' The Binding of the Strong and American Divorce Discourse on John Milton's Tercentenary Celebration"
Committee: Emily Jones (Chair), Cynthia Patterson

Hannah Galloway, MA English Literature

Portfolio: "Infinite Jest: Hamlet as the Fool of Reason" and "Yesterday, Yesterday, Yesterday: The Concept of Time and Early Modernity in the Sound and the Fury"
Committee: Emily Jones (Chair), Phillip Sipiora

Nicholas Guilfoile, MA English Literature

Portfolio: "Mark Twain's Hawaii and Damning the Yankee" & "'File and Forget' The Unhomely in Invisible Man"
Committee: Cynthia Patterson (Chair), Phillip Sipiora

Briget Harley, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “African Spirituality in Literature Written by Women of African Descent”
Committee: Gary Lemons (Chair), Quynh Nhu Le, Cheryl Rodriguez, John Lennon

Destiny Howell, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “A Tale of Two Sisters”
Committee: Jarod Rosello (Chair), John Fleming, Jake Wolff

Jade Jemison, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “The Pregnancy Years”
Committee: Julia Koets (Chair), Heather Sellers, John Fleming

Joryn Jones, MA English Literature

Portfolio: "Beowulf" & "Small Island"
Committee: Nicole Discenza (Chair), Susan Mooney

Rachel Knox, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “Land of Flowers”
Committee: Julia Koets (Chair), Heather Sellers, Thomas Hallock

Lynette Kuliyeva, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “Hidden Monstrosities: The Transformation of Medieval Characters and Conventions in Shakespeare's Romances”
Committee: Emily Jones (Chair), Nicole Discenza, Phillip Sipiora, Kristin Bezio

Kyra Lance, MA English Literature

Portfolio: "Publishing a New Black Womanhood in A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life" & "'A Puritan Fear of the Flesh': Modesty and Control in The Handmaid's Tale"
Committee: John Lennon (Chair), Kristin Allukian

Danielle Mercier, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “Lawful Injustice: Novel Readings of Racialized Temporality and Legal Injustices”
Committee: Quynh Nhu Le (Chair), Gary Lemons, Cynthia Patterson, Aisha Durham

Erin Olds, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “An Arcade in the Forest”
Committee: Julia Koets (Chair), Jarod Rosello, Natalie Scenters-Zapico

Thomas Page, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “The Decimated: A Hybrid Thesis”
Committee: Jarod Rosello (Chair), Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Jake Wolff

Elizabeth Parker, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “Rabbits in the Zone of Peace”
Committee: Jake Wolff (Chair), John Fleming, Kees Boterbloem

Andrea Rinard, MFA Creative Writing

Thesis: “The Key”
Committee: John Fleming (Chair), Jake Wolff, Heather Sellers

Rachel Tanski, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “’Manne, for thy loue wolde I not lette’: Eucharistic Portrayals of Caritas in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and Drama 1350-1650”
Committee: Nicole Discenza (Chair), Jay Zysk, Sara Deats, Anne Latowsky

Urshela Wiggins McKinney, PhD English Literature

Dissertation: “Making the Invisible Visible: (Re)envisioning the Black Body in Contemporary Adaptations of Nineteenth-Century Fiction”
Committee: Marty Gould (Chair), Regina Hewitt, Cynthia Patterson, Amy Rust

Creative writing

• Samantha Chianese, MFA, spring 2023
• Mara Beneway, MFA, spring 2023
• Haley Morton, MFA, spring 2021
• Courtney Clute, MFA, spring 2020
• Patrick Templeton, MFA, spring 2020
• Adam Carter, MFA, spring 2019
• Erika Staiger, MFA, spring 2019
• Allyson Hoffman, MFA, spring 2018
• Georgia Jackson, MFA, spring 2018
• Alysia Sawchyn, MFA, spring 2018

Literature

• Katie Zepf, MA, spring 2023
• Jackie Carlson, MA, spring 2023
• Teddy Duncan, MA, spring 2022
• Taylor DeMichael, MA, spring 2022
• Meghan Hutton, MA, spring 2020
• Stephanie Lance, PhD, fall 2019
• Elan Pavlinich, PhD, summer 2019
• Susan Meeler, MA, spring 2019
• Heather Fox, PhD, fall 2017
• Seth Spencer, MA, spring 2017
• Christina Connor, MA, spring 2016

Rhetoric & composition

• Justiss Burry, PhD, spring 2023
• Jessica Griffith, PhD, spring 2023
• Adam Phillips, PhD, spring 2022
• Katie Walkup, PhD, spring 2021
• Stephanie Phillips, PhD, fall 2020
• Natalie Kass, MA, spring 2017
• Lauren Cagle, PhD, summer 2016

Current employment, MFA graduates 2013-2022

Tenure-track / full-time permanent positions
Ball State University Bethune-Cookman University Warren Wilson College	Pennsylvania State University University of South Florida Full Sail University
Other humanities careers
Career advisor, Eckerd College Library assistant, Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library System Page designer/copy editor, The Tampa Tribune Associate director of corporate and foundation relations, Vanderbilt University Scriptwriter, 4:33 Creative Lab (South Korea)	Administrator of cognitive skills programs, American College of Surgeons Associate course director, Full Sail University SI coordinator, University of Central Florida Senior proposal manager, WWC Global E-commerce product copywriter, Helly Hanson

Current employment and degree programs, MA graduates 2013-2022

Degree programs (PhD programs in English, unless otherwise noted)
University of South Florida University of Tennessee University of Mississippi University of West Virginia	University of Washington University of Florida University of Houston
Other humanities careers
SEO blog strategist, Progressive Dental LLC Operations specialist, Vision Government Solutions, Inc. English teacher, Sunlake High School Assistant librarian, University of South Florida English teacher, Palm Beach Central High School Legislative aide, Florida House of Representatives	English instructor, Sarasota High School Instructional design manager, Publix Super Markets English teacher, Spruce Creek High School Senior software test engineer & technical writer, Jacobs Technology Outreach coordinator, Fairfield University Advisor, Florida Institute of Technology

Current employment, PhD graduates 2013-2022

Assistant professor positions, tenure-track / full-time permanent
University of South Florida Sebelas Maret University (Indonesia) Warner University Hillsborough Community College Wabash College St. Petersburg College Fairfield University Southeastern University Bethune-Cookman University State College of Florida, Bradenton Polk State College Virginia Tech University of California, Davis Seminole State College	Eastern Kentucky University University of Tampa Washington State University, Vancouver Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University University of Kentucky Pasco-Hernando State College Appalachian State University LaGuardia Community College New England Institute of Technology Old Dominion University Louisiana State University, Shreveport Danville Community College
Visiting instructor / FT temporary / adjunct positions
University of South Florida Eckerd College	University of Tampa Bryn Mawr College
Other humanities careers
Senior academic advisor I, University of South Florida Full-time writer, DC Comics Head of adult services, Palm Harbor Library Associate director, Office of Prestigious Fellowships, Fordham University Content product manager, EverFi Education	Product content specialist, Qgiv Head of information & research services, Florida International University Writer, Creative Pinellas Freelance author Faculty developer/instructional designer, Valencia College Instructional consultant, University of Michigan