Department of English

Alumni

English language skills are central to many academic majors and countless successful careers, because the creative and analytical skills they develop are fundamental to many different fields.  Submit your own alumni profile and inspire the next generation of English majors!

Alumni of the English Department continue to take advantage of their experience in English, and hold exciting careers as:

Check Out What Some of Our Alumni Have Accomplished!

Name: Benjamin Whiting Bucklin

Graduation Year: 2015

Degree(s) earned: BA in English

Graduated from the University of Maine with a Master’s in Higher Education and Student Development. Currently working full time in student affairs. Volunteers with higher education institutions and for various organizations throughout Maine in spare time.

Name: Anthony Elkins

Graduation Year: 2014

Degree(s) Earned: MA in English Literature

My education and work through the University of Maine English Department was truly transformative in a way that has had a definable impact on my career and direction in life. In my time since graduating, my skills training has allowed me to serve as an instructor of English for Academic Purposes at the University of Maine, but the intellectual passion and academic rigour that the English M.A. inspired has drawn me further than my present job. I have become increasingly involved in local interfaith and ecumenical religious organizations which foster the development of a social justice mindset in their communities, and am currently pursuing a program in interfaith chaplaincy that emphasizes the interaction of mystical experiences and functional soteriology. Without the continued encouragement of dear friends and mentors within the English Department, I can certainly say that my path would be far bleaker and unfulfilled. Thank you!

Name: Cory Robertson

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: MA

Online Course Captioning Transcriber at Academy of Art University San Francisco Bay Area.

Name: Aleksandra Swatek

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: MA

Aleksandra is a doctoral student in English at Purdue University.

Name: Anna Burgess

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: BA

Apprentice for Four Season Farm, Harborside, ME.

Name: Tobias Hrynick

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: BA

MA student in Medieval History, Fordham University

Name: Joanna Hynd

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: BA

Small town librarian and poetry writer living on the coast of Maine

Name: Andrew Tomes

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: BA

Graduate Teaching Assistant, SUNY–Environmental Science and Forestry

Name: Katie Lattari

Graduation year: 2013

Degree(s) earned: MA

Katie Lattari is Research Analyst for the Office of University Development, University of Maine.

Name: Brad Beauregard

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: MA

Client Project Coordinator at Sutherland Weston-Bangor, ME

Name: Wesley McMasters

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: MA

PhD in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2019) and currently Assistant Professor of American Literature and Creative Writing at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, TN

Name: Ryan Roderick

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: MA

Doctoral Student at Carnegie Mellon University

Name: Chad Van Buskirk

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: MA

Assistant Director and Instructor at General Studies Writing Program at Bowling Green State University.

Name: Candance Gifford

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: BA

Director of Development, John Bapst High School, Bangor, ME

Name: Whitney Lyons

Graduation year: 2012

Degree(s) earned: BA

Administrative Specialist, Office of Undergraduate Admissions- University of Maine

Name: Carrie Hall

Graduation year: 2010

Degree(s) earned: MA

Carrie is a full-time member of the English Faculty at Kennebec Valley Community College, Fairfield, Maine.

Name: Kasey Spear

Graduation year: 2010

Degree(s) earned: BA

Kasey is an Operational Support Technician, U.S. Department of Justice and also a contract technical writer developing website content for Beyond Indigo Pets

Name: Kate Crabtree

Graduation year: 2009

Degree(s) earned: MA

Kate is a natural light photographer specializing in wedding photography.

Name: Amy Tremblay

Graduation year: 2008

Degree(s) earned: MA

I work as a Senior Associate in Client Communications at a top private equity firm in Boston, MA.

Name: Michelle Allen

Graduation year: 2008

Degree(s) earned: MA

Michelle is Assistant Professor of English at Grand Rapids Community College.

Name: Laurie A. Pinkert

Graduation year: 2008

Degree(s) earned: MA

Laurie A. Pinkert is an Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida. She previously served as Director of the Writing Program at Humboldt State University (CA). She earned her Ph.D. at Purdue University.

Name: Heather Jovanelli

Graduation year: 2006

Degree(s) earned: BA

Undergraduate Course Coordinator and full-time faculty member in the Academy of Art University’s English for Art Purposes Department in San Francisco, CA.

Name: Brent Griffin

Graduation year: 2004

Degree(s) earned: MA

Brent Griffin received his PhD in English from Northeastern University in 2015. He is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University in the College of Professional Studies.

Name: Adam Crowley

Graduation year: 2001, 2003

Degree(s) earned: BA, MA

Adam is Associate Professor of English at Husson College, Bangor, Maine. Adam received his PhD in English from the University of New Brunswick.

Name: Josie Sigler Sibara

Graduation year: 2002

Degree(s) earned: MA

Josie Sigler Sibara is a 2014 National Endowment of the Arts fellowship for creative writing recipient. The award consists of a $25,000 non-matching grant and it’s purpose is to give published writers time to write, research and travel. Criteria are based on artistic excellence and artistic merit. She is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at the University of Rhode Island. Sibara’s collections of short stories “The Galaxie and Other Rides” won the Ruby Pickens Tartt First Fiction Award in 2012.

Name: Sean Fredric Edgecomb

Graduation year: 2001

Degree(s) earned: BA

Sean Fredric Edgecomb had accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Theatre at The City University of New York commencing in August 2014. He will teach at the College of Staten Island as well as serve on the board of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) at the CUNY Graduate Center. For the past three years he has held the position of Director of the Bachelor of Creative Arts at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Name: Michelle Beissel Heath

Graduation year: 2001

Degree(s) earned: MA

Michelle Beissel Heath received her PhD in 2008 from George Washington University and is now an Assistant Professor of English as the University of Nebraska – Kearney

Name: Elizabeth Cockrell

Graduation year: 1999

Degree(s) earned: MA

Freelance Writer and Editor, Austin, TX area

Name: Brian McGrath

Graduation Year: 1998

Degree(s) earned: MA

After receiving my MA in English at the University of Maine in 1998 I moved to Atlanta, where I received my PhD in Comparative Literature from Emory University (2006). I am currently an assistant professor and associate chair of the English department at Clemson University (SC). Thanks to everyone at Maine.

Name: Rhea Côté Robbins

Graduation Year: 1995, 1997

Degree(s) earned: BS, Bilingual Education; MA, Liberal Studies

As a graduate of the University of Maine, cross-departmental degrees, I have focused on my writing and publishing as a way of accessing the privilege of being voiced as a Franco-American woman. As an undergraduate, I was accepted into the Bilingual Educational program to focus on my teaching across disciplines–English and French. The inquiry that began in my graduate studies led to my focused research into the lives and writings of the French heritage women, local, transnational and international, in scope and focus. I designed and taught two courses, cross-listed, examining the contributions of the French heritage women which I taught for the Franco-American Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies and Maine Studies programs for over ten years at U/Maine. The reward of sharing this knowledge with the students, those of the French heritage and many not of the heritage, validated the importance of others having access to the privilege of knowing these literary foremothers–both current and historical. My own writings, Wednesday’s Child, a creative nonfiction work I submitted as my MA thesis, ‘down the Plains,’ won the Maine Writers and Publishers first CNF award. While a student at U/Maine’s English Department my poetry won the Steve Grady Prize for Creative Writing, Graduate MA poetry First Prize. An anthology I edited to showcase modern French heritage women’s creativity, Heliotrope: French Heritage Women Create was a finalist in the MWPA anthology category. My poetry has appeared in several anthologies and my work was part of the focus of the Translations: Bates International Poetry Festival. I have been a regular contributor to several publications. I edited the CNF focus in the startup of the Franco-American Literary Journal, Résonance. I worked several years at U/Maine in the Explorations Program advising incoming students and helping them choose their major. I was awarded a Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Farmington for my work in the field of Franco-American community and academic research, publishing, advocacy, and more.

Name: Kassie (Stevens) Zeigler

Graduation year: 1993, 1997

Degree(s) earned: BA and MA

Kassie Zeigler has been named the Executive Director of Community Networks and Foundation for St. Joseph Healthcare in Bangor. This is a new position in the administration of President and CEO Mary Prybylo, RN, MSN who took leadership in November. Zeigler is a 2002 graduate of the University of Maine School of Law and holds an M.A. and a B.A. from the University of Maine. She served in the Maine Legislature from 1992-2000, serving on the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs. She and her husband, Brett, reside in Bangor with their three year old daughter.

Name: Randall Dorman

Graduation year: 1992, 1996

Degree(s) earned: BA, MA

Randall is Licensing Coordinator and webmaster for Kleinschmidt, an environmental consulting firm.

Name: Jennifer Nestojko

Graduation year: 1996

Degree(s) earned: MA

Jennifer Nestojko is an English Instructor at Middle College and San Jose City College.

Name: Alanna Cotch

Graduation year: 1995

Degree(s) earned: MA

Alanna Cotch received her PhD from the University of New Mexico. Alanna is now a Professor of English and Coordinator of the Honors Program at Prairie State College.

Name: Rona Kaufman

Graduation year: 1994

Degree(s) earned: MA

Rona is an Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Pacific Lutheran University, Parkland, WA. She revived her  PhD from the University of Michigan in 2002.

Name: George Layng

Graduation year: 1994

Degree(s) earned: MA

George became an Associate Professor of English in Westfield State University, Massachusetts. He received his PhD from Tufts in 1998.

Name: Matthew Sweney

Graduation year: 1992, 1994

Degree(s) earned: BA, MA

Matthew is a translator and Assistant Professor of English, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Name: Joe De Quattro

Graduation year: 1993

Degree(s) earned: BA

Joe De Quattro received his MFA in Fiction and Literature from Bennington College in 2005. A Pushcart nominated fiction writer and poet represented by literary agent Jess Dallow, his fiction credits include The Los Angeles Review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Writing Disorder, Five2One Magazine, The Carolina Quarterly, Turnrow, Carve, The Washington Review, Oyster Boy Review, and Zahir. His poetry has appeared in Grey Sparrow Journal and Pif Magazine. In 2015 his story “What Things, These Things, Stir the Heart” (a title no doubt his fiction teacher Elaine Ford would have loathed), was a finalist for december magazine’s Curt Johnson Fiction Award, judged by Joyce Carol Oates. He has taught Fiction Writing, Composition, and Literature at universities in Massachusetts and New York and is currently on faculty at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

Name: Erica Nardi Humphrey

Graduation year: 1993

Degree(s) earned: BA

Erica is Associate Director of Employer Relations and the Career Center, Colby College.

Name: Heather McCarthy

Graduation year: 1988, 1991

Degree(s) earned: BA, MA

Heather is Executive Director of the American Folk Festival, Bangor, Maine.

Name: Art Beecher

Graduation year: 1991

Degree(s) earned: BA

Art is Lead for Project Management Effectiveness, Manulife Financial, Boston.

Name: Dan Myers

Graduation year: 1991

Degree(s) earned: BA

Partner Manager, eBay Inc., Greater Seattle Area.

Name: Edward Lorusso

Graduation Year: 1987

Degree(s) earned: MA

PhD University of New Mexico ’92. Now retired and living in Belgrade, ME. Recent activities include publication of novel “Letters from Oblivion” (2014) and work as silent film producer/editor/preservationist for “Enchantment” (1921) which aired on Turner Classic Movies November 2014 and “The Restless Sex” (1920) in production. Taught at University of New Mexico and Trinidad State College (CO) retired 2010 from Los Alamos National Laboratory as Education Outreach Manager for Climate Research Stations in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru.

Name: Susan Rancourt

Graduation Year: 1976

Degree(s) earned: BA

Although now retired, I was insanely fortunate to parlay my liberal arts soul into Silicon Valley. My favorite job was working for Apple Computer as Head of Financial Services, Apple Pacific. I am an alum of Apple’s First Ten Years. Now retired, I have been able to resume writing poetry, often about Maine. Titles include: Ursuline Nuns, Maine 1960, Deer Hunting, Eustis, Maine 1960, The Bee, Under the Stairs I Found a Nook, I Grew Among the Trees of Pine, and more.

Name: Stephen King

Graduation Year: 1970

Degree(s) earned: BA

Stephen is the author of more than fifty books, including Hearts In Suspension with essays by college classmates and friends on his undergraduate experience. Many of his books have reached the bestsellers list, and even been adapted into films. Currently he in lives in Bangor, Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.