English Alumni

My background as an English major has helped me immensely. I am currently a Ph. D student in Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina. I am studying English, German and Russian Languages and Literatures and working for the German Department, which is very nice. It pays for my tuition, I also get a small paycheck, enough to survive, but most importantly gives me a lot of wonderful experience in doing research for my professors.

Next year I am going to start teaching German 101; I am taking classes on how to teach at the college level this semester. I am very thankful to Ashland University and to the wonderful professors that I had there. I love and miss all of them.

I graduated Ashland University with an English Education degree and currently work for a mortgage company in Ann Arbor, MI.  One would assume that I do not use my English expertise very much, seeing as I work in the world of finance; however, I am the resident grammar/spelling guru and when letters are sent out from my department, my knowledge is used to make sure the documents sound professional and are grammatically correct.   My opinion is that a background in English can help you no matter what your profession is.

My Ashland University(at that time AC) English major has been the backbone, launching pad and mainstay throughout my career which is in its 41st year. After ten years of teaching English in three different states (my English education major opened employment and travel opportunities), I completed a MA in Guidance and Counseling from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.

The English teaching experience more than adequately prepared me for the writing I have done from my guidance office now spanning thirty-one years. Generating application commentary in the college application process, forming positive paragraphs for scholarship applications, creating profitable wording for grant proposals, writing understanding prose to parents, etc. have all given a modest degree of satisfaction.

My youngest daughter has followed the English major coupled with an additional Communication major to parlay these studies into an editorial position with the Focus on the Family online women's magazine Renewing Your Heart. The skills initiated through the English Department of Ashland College continue to yield a lifetime of possibilities.

I have worked here at Penn (the Ivy League one, not Penn State!) since taking my M.A. in English at Kent State University in 1971. Although I never went on for my Ph.D. and have not taught English since T.A. days at KSU, I believe my strong background in English literature, provided by Ashland University, has certainly helped me to hold my own in verbal and written communication with faculty from various departments at Penn, a very important ability in a place like this.

The measure of an individual's intellectuality is still, it seems to me, what he or she knows of art and literature (and, of course, the correct wine to order), and faculty here have tended to respect me because of the breadth and depth of my background. My current responsibilities, obviously, require a reasonable ability to use the language clearly and succinctly. I am not sure how good I am at this, but whatever skills I may possess were nurtured at Ashland.

I don't know how to begin to describe how the Ashland University English degree has enriched my personal life. Over the years, I have maintained a deep love for literature, respect for writers, and the ability to think critically.

My English degree did not lead me to fame and fortune, but I would undertake the same course of study all over again, if offered the chance. The ability to communicate and to appreciate and analyze the communication of others is a very precious gift.

My English Degree and my ability to write landed me a job at an advertising/marketing agency where I started out as a copy writer and eventually was promoted to copy director. I worked there for almost nine years until the agency closed. I am now the executive director for the Ashland Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, a division of the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce.

My English and Journalism classes have helped me tremendously. I'm an editor at the News-Journal in Daytona Beach, Florida, a 120,000 circulation newspaper. I write and edit stories all the time and having a strong English background has been imperative to my career success. My career demands strong editing and grammar skills and I acquired many of those through the English department and my work on the Collegian staff.

When I was at Ashland University I found even more than learning my discipline well, I learned to think. There is no more valuable trait for anyone than the ability to use one's mind as fully as possible. I went on to teach English in public schools for 30 years and at the same time I used that ability to reason to become interested in local politics( I am now an Ashland City Councilperson for the second time) and in sales. I am also now a realtor and a salesperson for Promotion One.

I think the study of English, embracing as it does all modes of communication, opens a student's mind to all the amazing ways a person can communicate with the world and can enjoy the variety of life to the fullest.

I often reflect on my Ashland College (sorry, I am from another era!) days. When I think about that time, I fondly recall my professors and the influence that they have had on my life. I tell my current students (who don't believe me) about Dr. Richard Snyder's composition class at which I arrived in panic three times weekly because a missed comma would mean a complete re-write (in the days before PCs, this was a major issue).

I also recall Dr. Dew's tales of whaling - wonderfully ironic for a sprite of a woman with flaming red hair. Then there was Dr. Saslaw who quoted long passages of Shakespeare without looking at the text - and taught us to read Chaucer in middle English (I can still recite the opening passages of the assignments! :). These are but a few of the memories I have of the department and its passion for teaching excellence.

The department would occasionally have socials to which majors were invited - long evenings of wine, cheese, and discussion about lofty and not-so-lofty topics. I learned from these teachers how to think and how to convey my thoughts in writing. Probably most important was that they confused me - caused me to think in new ways - to consider alternate ways of knowing.

My journey has kept me in higher education. I went on to BGSU and earned an M.A. in College Student Personnel, and received my Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Florida. Throughout my studies I have attributed my success in part to the excellent education that I received from my AC professors.

It was a pleasure to dwell on this. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope to visit the campus someday soon.

Linda W. Devine, Ph.D.
Vice President for Operations & Planning
The University of Tampa

I graduated with a degree in English from Ashland University in 1969. I have used my degree in every job I have held since I graduated. The first job I held after I graduated from college was as a teacher of English at Sandusky High School from 1969 - 1972. The following year, I accepted a Graduate Assistantship at Bowling Green State University in the Department of English. I graduated with a Master's in English a year later. Next, I worked as an assistant librarian for the State of Ohio, daily using my background in English.

After a couple of years off to stay at home with our first child, I returned to the workforce, this time as an assistant editor in the Language Arts department at Merrill Publishing Company in Columbus. The company was purchased by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill in 1990, then McGraw-Hill purchased the Macmillan segment around 1992. I now work for the Children's Publishing division of that company as a production editor. As you can see, my English degree has been indispensible in my career.

Through fluke networking and a good friend who had lots of faith in me, I became an online Editor at Microsoft's Sidewalk (an online entertainment guide, now more commonly known as CitySearch). When Microsoft sold Sidewalk, I had a friend submit my resume at Amazon.com, where I have been for three years now. Currently, I am a Senior Editor in Toys -- I spend my days playing with and writing about toys, creating online content for the Web site, and writing monthly newsletters to subscribers. I am thankful to my teachers at Ashland for broadening the subject matter that I now read, for showing me how to see multiple meanings and points of view in the things I read, and for encouraging me to read even when I'm strapped for time.

On another note, Dr. Weaver is a professor that I always bring up whenever the conversation of school days and past teachers comes up. He is a superb educator and a first rate human. I never expected to like Dickens again after a horrible high school experience, but Dr. Weaver not only made him interesting and bearable, he made him fun. To this day I still reread Dickens books and think of Dr. Weaver and the class discussions he started. I hope the students attending his classes today are as influenced and affected as much as I was.

After a couple, wonderful careers in advertising and PR, I landed a job in a bank at a time when personal computers were booted up with, and everything was saved on, floppies. (Horrors! There was no "spell-checker" software at that time.) Now, I work as a project manager in an IT (Information Technology) department. My education in English provided the skills I needed to self-teach, plan, communicate, organize, and think. Additionally, English literature taught me, and still teaches me, about people and how they react to the world around and within them. Understanding how people might react to their environments and problems is essential for adapting to, and surviving, today's business world of continual change and fickle financial markets.

Having a background in English has helped me in a variety of ways. It proved very useful while attending law school, and even though that's not the route I wound up staying with, I'll never regret having a major in English. It got me a job as an editor in Columbus, and it strengthened my vocabulary skills immeasurably.

I currently write novels for fun while attending graduate school to become a clinical therapist. Graduate schools emphasize good writing and communication skills, which an English major provides. Also, it really helps in any job market you can conceive of. Because of this background, prospective schools and employers have been duly impressed. They know I have practice in reading large amounts of literature, practicing writing skills, and being creative. Communication and creativity lead to productivity on the job. Choosing a major in English is probably the best decision I've made to date. It's opened innumerable doors to me.