Alum draws on skills learned in the English MA program every day
Angela Jones ‘90, Associate Professor
English Department, Western Kentucky University
Angela Jones says that the English MA degree with a concentration in Literary Studies she earned from Eastern Illinois University in 1990 has directly contributed to everything she has done since.
“While completing my MA, I learned research, tutoring, teaching, and writing skills, all of which I draw upon every day in my current job,” she said.
Dr. Jones is an associate professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. She teaches in the English Department’s general education and professional writing programs and is the coordinator of the department’s internship program. During the 2013-2014 school year, she also served as a faculty fellow in the Potter College of Arts and Letters.
Jones believes she took a fairly common path to get where she is today. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at EIU. Her MA thesis was titled "I belong to me": Toni Morrison's Novels as Bildungsroman. She spent a year at Illinois State and then transferred to the University of Kansas where she earned her Ph.D. She gained teaching experience at EIU and KU while working on her degrees, although her assistantship at KU covered administrative positions in addition to teaching.
Prior to accepting her current position at WKU, she held her first tenure-track position at Mercyhurst College, a small liberal arts college in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Having experienced academia from several different angles, Dr. Jones says it’s hard to describe a typical day. She usually teaches her classes, attends meetings with students and colleagues, and answer dozens of emails during her work day. Then at home she grades, plans the next day’s classes, answers more emails, and completes work for committees and organizations.
“Because I moved straight from undergraduate to graduate school and then directly to teaching, I have not been especially surprised by any aspect of my job,” she said. “However, as an undergraduate I certainly thought my professors had a lot more ‘free time’ than we actually do!”
Dr. Jones’s advice to current MA students:
“I recognize that career planning is not a natural process for many English majors. However, as someone who now advises undergraduates on their career plans and helps them secure and complete internships, I recognize how fortunate I was to have the options I did as an undergraduate and MA student at EIU.
I recommend that students take advantage of opportunities to learn about and network with others in the field, whether by interacting with campus guests or attending department functions. Building a portfolio of your work, whether through the class assignments you are completing or through seeking out clients in the community for which you can volunteer, is also extremely helpful.”
Dr. Jones was the recipient of a 2014 Outstanding Graduate Alumni Award from the EIU Graduate School. Read her Outstanding Graduate profile in the awards program here.
