English program brings assigned reading to life through professional connections

ISSUED: 17 October 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Hans Fogle

SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV - Throughout the Fall 2024 semester, Shepherd University's English program has been going the extra mile to connect its students to people in the industry - teaching them about the publishing industry and pushing them to connect with the professional world.

In September, award-winning author and musician Rob Rufus visited Shepherd to meet students in a young adult (YA) literature course taught by Dr. Heidi Hanrahan, professor of English. Hanrahan invited Rufus to her class after learning about his interest in visiting a Shepherd English class during the 2024 Shepherdstown Book Festival, of which he was a featured author.

During Rufus' visit, he and the Shepherd English majors discussed his YA memoir Die Young With Me, which follows Rufus in his adolescence as he receives his cancer diagnosis and uses music to face his challenges. Hanrahan incorporated the memoir into the course curriculum.

Hanrahan saw her students engage with Rufus, eagerly asking questions about his career.

"They were interested in what he had to say about publishing and working with editors - what it's like to write about real people who are still alive," said Hanrahan.

Caitlin Carson, a Shepherd English major, found the discussion with Rufus to be valuable.

"Being able to talk to Rob Rufus about his story gave amazing insight to our discussions and the personal impact of disability, empathy, and hope," said Carson.

The following week, on September 28, Dr. Timothy Nixon, professor of English, and Hanrahan took their English students to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival in Rockville, Maryland. Students from Nixon's English 313: World Literature in English Since 1900 course and Shepherd's Alpha Gamma Kappa chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society were also in attendance.

At the festival, the Shepherd students had the opportunity to meet novelist and festival honoree Jesmyn Ward. Ward's 2017 novel Sing, Unburied, Sing was an assigned text for Nixon's students.

The students also attended an interview and Q&A session with Ward, in addition to hearing a reading from her latest novel Let Us Descend.

Taylor Beam, English and global studies double-major, thought the experience brought the class discussions to life.

"After reading Jesmyn Ward's novel, Sing, Unburied, Singin Dr. Nixon's class, the opportunity to meet Ward and hear her speak rounded out the novel and really brought it to life for me," said Beam. "Her discussion of her writing processes and how growing up in the South shapes her writing added a whole new layer to the novel."

Nixon was thrilled to see his students not only connect with the text they were studying on a personal level but also see them connect with the author behind it.

"It has been a long time since I have witnessed students connecting with a literary work the way my students in English 313 did this semester," explained Nixon. "The students said they actually saw their lives reflected in the novel. Being able, therefore, to attend the Fitzgerald Festival in Rockville and meet and speak with this talented author meant so much to these folks. They were simultaneously awe-struck and inspired by her - as was I."

These two opportunities are part of a larger initiative within the English program that pushes students out of their comfort zones to see how the skills they are learning apply to future careers.

"What we want to do is get them out into the world," said Hanrahan. "Not every student is going to pursue a career specifically in language or literature or writing, but interacting with professionals in a professional world, in a professional setting, is good practice to build your confidence. It also really helps to see that the people you are studying are real, approachable people."

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