From the Newsstands: This story appeared in The Eagle's December 2023 print edition. You can find the digital version here.
When Kirah Tianga started her degree in Literature at American University, she had “never felt more comfortable” with professors and students.
“There’s laughter and there’s moments where, I at least, feel like I’m going to cry,” Tianga said. “We do a lot of heavy work, and I think that it’s super important that we all feel comfortable with each other, and the professors are able to foster that environment.”
In the Department, students explore a variety of disciplines in addition to traditional literature including major specializations and minors in Transcultural Studies, Cinema Studies and Creative Writing.
Meagan Proksch, a junior minoring in Creative Writing, said that she took “Creative Writing Across Genres” for her Creative-Aesthetic Inquiry Habits of Mind course, which influenced her to add the minor. Proksch is working on a story this semester for her creative writing workshop about childhood friendship and the expectations of motherhood.
Proksch added that she loves the Department’s creative writing workshop courses because they welcome collaboration, different levels of skill among students and everyone is passionate about the work.
“People come to class and they know the readings, and they’ve analyzed it on their own, and that is so different from my major classes,” Proksch said.
Izzy Scholes-Young, a senior majoring in Literature with a specialization in Transcultural Studies, said that they started as a Political Science major, but became interested in Literature after taking a Cultural Inquiry Habits of Mind course called “Power, Discourse, and Popular Culture.”
Scholes-Young is working on a class research project titled “Disability Justice and Speculative Fiction” and said that they are impressed with the number of graduate-level research opportunities that the Department offers for undergraduates. Their work has allowed them to work with many people and professors who care about their area of expertise.
“I am so much more academically challenged in my Literature classes,” Scholes-Young said. “A lot of that has to do with the students.”
Beyond an academically driven student body, the professors who teach in the Department contribute to the class and curriculum culture.
David Keplinger is a professor in the Department and serves as the director of the Creative Writing Master’s of Fine Arts Program. Keplinger said he loves being a Literature professor and is inspired by his students and colleagues.
“As a creative writer, I fell in love with literature because of teachers such as the ones that I'm surrounded by,” Keplinger said. “We have wonderful, nurturing faculty, who teach Literature classes and then we have a superior world-class, creative writing faculty including seven novelists, poets, nonfiction writers and journalists. It’s really an incredible privilege and pleasure to teach beside them.”
Aiden Kaplan, a junior minoring in Cinema Studies, said he has benefited significantly from the interdisciplinary curriculum. He said that as a Cinema Studies minor, he focuses on the “literary analysis of film works” and that his classes’ syllabuses are tailored to his interests. He also said that being able to do film analysis in class allows him to see films he had never heard of before.
“We have really interesting discussions going on and the Literature Department is so tight-knit and welcoming that I feel very comfortable there,” Kaplan said. “At the risk of making a controversial statement, the Literature Department has the most fun people that I’ve encountered.”
Kaplan added that his classes in the Department focus on culture and identity in film, something he appreciates.
“The Literature professors I’ve had thus far have been very, very good at expressing the intersectionality of their topics,” Kaplan said. “For example, in my race and film class, we don't just talk about how Clementine, say, engages with race — we also talk about how it engages with transgender identity, being a woman and poverty in a real way.”
Bridget Slakas, a fifth-year Creative Writing minor, said she appreciates how professors bring in their own research and personal reads to the class.
“I love the way that professors will bring in some of their favorite columns or short stories or things that really resonated with the nature of the class,” Slakas said. “And that can be really inspiring for your own work.”
Students still said they would like to see some improvements outside the classroom.
Proksch said that as a minor it has been difficult to find internships or fellowship opportunities within literature. She added that if the Department was able to become “less insular” in the College of Arts and Sciences it would be easier to make connections with other students and professors.
“I wish they did a better job of letting us know about outside opportunities,” Proksch said. “I know that there are grants and study money available, but I think it’s hard to find it.”
Scholes-Young said that they want the Department to receive more funding for research and general operations in addition to events.
“I think the Department deserves way more funding because I always think that they do some incredible programming,” they said. “There’s been a huge growth in the number of majors and I doubt that their funding has run parallel to how much the program is growing.”
Marianne Noble has been a Literature professor at AU for 31 years. She said that she enjoys being a faculty member in Literature, but also would like to see more funding to the Department.
“We have less funding now than we used to and that’s a shame because we did good things with that funding,” Noble said. “I wish we could afford to have speakers, particularly if we could afford to have speakers and pay them honoraria because it’s fun for the whole Department and it builds our sense of community and intellectual growth.”
Despite this, Noble said that overall she thinks the Department has amazing things to offer students.
“What I want to communicate is that we’re a great department,” Noble said. “We have this amazing group that is doing some of the most demanding intellectual work on campus.”
Editor’s Note: At the time of reporting, the reporter was unaware that Izzy Scholes-Young’s mother directs the undergraduate Creative Writing program. Scholes-Young specializes in Transcultural Studies, not Creative Writing.
This article was edited by Maria Tedesco, Patricia McGee and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing done by Isabelle Kravis.
