Department of English

Our graduates pursue a number of different career paths, with teaching, publishing and continuing with a Ph.D. program topping the list.

We have sent many students to PhD programs at premier universities across the United States and the world including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, NYU, Princeton, Oxford, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Yale, and many others.

We also have an excellent placement record with local private schools and community colleges. We have placed a number of students in tenure track positions at local community colleges, and many of our students go on to teach at local private and public magnet schools. Thus, we have a strong alumni base that supports current graduates in their job searches.

Here’s what some of our alumni are doing today:

Allison Adair (MA '06) worked for one year as an editor at the Department of State after graduating from Georgetown.  Currently, she is pursuing her PhD at Fordham, where she is also pursuing the Medieval Studies Doctoral Certificate.

Frank Ceruzzi (MA ’97) has been teaching English at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, NY. He is about to begin his twelfth year of teaching.

Harsimrat (Simmer) Grewal (MA '09), after graduating from Georgetown, joined the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at as Executive Assistant to the Deans. 

Mark LaVoie (MA '08) is teaching Oral and Written Communication at the University of Illinois, as well as English classes at the local community college and for Regent University.  When his wife finishes her MA, he'll be applying to PhD programs in English (or perhaps American Studies).

Adam Lloyd (MA ’06) is pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Maryland and teaching first-year writing. He hopes to complete his doctorate in another two years.

Meredith Malburne (MA '03) is pursuing a PhD in Modern American Literature and Critical Race Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She teaches composition and has won awards for curriculum design and excellence in teaching.  Her dissertation focuses on acts of revision as criticism/radicalism in 20th Century American drama.

Ian Martinez writes: "Currently, I am a senior advisor and the Director of Outreach for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program BTOP), which is verbose way to say the President's broadband access plan. I do write, for purposes of creating content and managing message (classic Communications Director stuff), but much of what I spend my time with is either policy work--arriving at the best method deliver broadband access to the rural and urban poor--or the political work--managing relationships with 56 state and territorial governors, potential grant applicants, the Hill, etc.

I ended up there after years of working in tech/telecom policy journalism. It may seem like a jump from an ENG MA focusing on Critical Theory, but I utilized many of the skills learned at Georgetown, especially some of the thought patterns, in my coverage. I also applied my research and technical writing talents to the job and advanced through the organization, learning a great deal about tech/telecom policy. After a year working on the Obama campaign, it was a natural fit for me to move over to BTOP, which is through the Department of Commerce. Now, I'm able to work in the broader social justice area, but with a unique subject matter focus and expertise that I might not have had just coming out of Georgetown."

Sean Moore (MA ’95) finished a PhD in English at Duke University in 2003 and is now a tenure-track assistant professor for Restoration and eighteenth-century studies at the University of New Hampshire. Along the way, he worked as a staff writer and assistant writer for Georgetown Law, the alumni magazine at the Georgetown University Law Center. He married Jessica Angell Moore in 2005 and their first child, James, was born in December 2007. You can learn more about Sean by visiting http://unh.edu/english/seanmoore/.

Joe Napolitano (MA ’06) worked as an Academic Counselor in the College Dean’s office for one year after his Master’s and is now pursuing a PhD in English at NYU. At NYU, he is working on postcolonial studies and South African literature and culture.

Melissa Parrish (MA '09) currently teaches basic composition and literature at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Anthony Pirrotti (MA ‘05) is the Assistant Dean of the McDonough School of Business here at Georgetown University. He also teaches English at a local community college.

Bridget Harrington Rector (MA '09) is teaching English at Thomas MacLaren charter school in Colorado Springs, CO. It's a school based on a Great Books curriculum, and she teaches 6-9 grade Literature and Composition and a literature seminar at the high school level.

Roopika Risam (MA '07) is working on a Ph.D in English at Emory University, specializing in postcolonial and African American literature.

John T. Sebastian (MA ’99) attended Cornell University and received a PhD in Medieval Studies in 2004. He is currently an assistant professor of medieval literature at Loyola University New Orleans and the Director of Loyola’s Medieval Studies Program and the Deputy Director of the University Honors Program.

Kyle Stedman (MA ’07) is pursuing a PhD in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL where he teaches English composition. He has been working with the first-year composition policy committee doing web work for the writing program and collaborative curriculum design with other graduate students and professors.

Christopher Warren (MA '03) is the Harper-Schmidt Fellow, Collegiate Assistant Professor in Humanities at the University of Chicago.

If you are an alumni and would like to be included on this page, please send a bio to Jenny Napolitano at jln33@georgetown.edu.