Postgraduate’s diverse résumé prepares him for future full-time profession

What do you do after completing graduate school at Binghamton University?

For Ryan Stears and many other postgraduates, this is the big question. Stears, a Long Island native, attended another SUNY as an undergraduate and received his doctorate in English from Binghamton in the spring of 2024.

Luckily, Stears was able to build a network during his time at Binghamton.

"The most important thing is the connections that you make with the professors and other graduate students, because those connections can be important when you're trying to find a job," said Stears. "Those people can keep their eyes out for any open positions and you can do the same for them."

Just as important, said Stears, is the support he received from faculty and mentors.

"I had immense support from my dissertation advisor, Susan Strehle," he said. "I also had support from the administrative assistants in the English department, like Donna Berg and Colleen Burke. Ali Moore, director of the Human Rights Institute, was also so supportive and helpful while I was her graduate assistant. My students were also a good support system, as I was able to do what I love most, which is teaching."

Strehle and Moore actively seek out relevant openings and send them Stears' way as he explores various options for his postgraduate plans. He is considering postdoctoral researcher positions, a special class of employment between the completion of doctoral studies and a full-time job in industry or academia.

To supplement his graduate funding, Stears worked for Athletics and in the West Gym. Additionally, as an animal lover and owner of cats, Stears took up dog walking - something he still does today.

"When I first moved here in Aug. 2018 to start my PhD, I didn't know anyone," he said. "Dog walking, which I started doing in the summer of 2019, allowed me to meet people who have lived upstate their entire lives and hear their stories. I love history, and it's so interesting to hear about how this area went from being a major industrial city in the twentieth century to the 'rust belt city' it is today."

On top of his diverse occupational experiences, Stears taught classes in the winter and summer. His favorite class to teach was "K-pop and Human Rights," a unique course that covered the K-pop industry. The course focuses on human rights in the K-pop's industry, and its relationship to South Korea's neoliberal economic policies - particularly after the 1997 Asian financial crisis - the exploitation of K-pop idols and trainees and discrimination against women, foreigners, the LGBTQ+ community, and racial and ethnic minorities in the industry.

"I started getting into K-pop in 2019, and I created the course in the summer of 2020 during the pandemic," he explained. "What fascinated me was the influence western countries had on the K-pop industry, from neoliberalism to K-pop idols using blackface in music videos. But most of all, I was interested in human rights within the K-pop industry and how idols are exploited through what are known as 'slave contracts,' which are long and unfair contracts between idols and their management agencies."

English, though, has always been Stears' favorite subject, because of the fusion it has with history.

"I always like looking at literature through a historical lens and seeing how we can read a piece of literature today, for example, versus how it could have been read when it was written," he said.

In the long term, Stears envisions himself on one of two career paths.

"My two main options right now are teaching or doing something with archives. I like being in the classroom and teaching because I learn just as much from my students as they learn from me. Teaching also helps me re-understand the material that I'm teaching."

"But," he added, "I love archiving; looking at old documents and transcribing them."

As he ponders his future, Stears reflects fondly on his time at Binghamton.

"I really enjoyed my time pursuing my doctorate at Binghamton. I had such a good support system, and you can't beat that."

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