Tag: Humanities

I first joined MTU in Fall of 2017 as a Masters student in the Humanities Department. In Spring of 2019, I successfully defended my MS project and that following Fall semester, I rejoined the Rhetoric, Theory and Culture program as a PhD student.

In my dissertation, “The Unappreciated and Disposable Wife”: Liminality, Emotional Labor and Feminization in Graduate Student Writing Program Administrators”, I explore the systemic, structural, and rhetorical factors that contribute to the marginalization, feminization, and emotional labor burden required for graduate students in Writing Program Administrator positions (gWPAs). My study has the following goals: First, by interviewing fellow graduate students, I aim to document and compile stories of those who have experience in Writing Program Administration (WPA) in order to model what that experience looks like in the US college context. Second, to understand what emotional labor means in this kind of position and its implications for those involved. Third, to understand the conditions of the precarity of this kind of labor, particularly in the context of feminization. Ultimately, I suggest interventions that would make WPA work more equitable for graduate students who seek to gain administrative experience prior to graduation. This work draws from and contributes to scholarship in disciplines such as rhetoric and composition, feminism and gender studies, and organizational communication.

My experience at Michigan Tech has been quite a journey, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my advisor, Dr. Marika Seigel, who helped me realize what my true passion was: teaching. I would also like to thank the rest of my committee, Dr. Patricia Sotirin, Dr. Laura K. Fiss & Dr. Laura R. Micciche, your feedback has been essential for my progress. This PhD degree wouldn’t have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family, my friends (in Houghton, Montevideo & Argentina), and my partner Kevin, thank you for being there unconditionally.

Last but not least, I am extremely grateful to the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel and the Graduate School for awarding me the Finishing Fellowship during the final period of completing and defending my dissertation.

I returned to Michigan Tech for graduate studies in 2000 and soon started working as a staff researcher for Michigan’s Local Technical Assistance Program and later director of the Eastern Tribal Technical Assistance Program, two federally sponsored transportation research and technology transfer programs in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. I eventually left Michigan Tech as an employee but have continued work on my dissertation while developing a successful freelance technical communicator career. For the last 22 years I juggled work and family while chipping away at a masters in Rhetoric and Technical Communication and PhD in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture. 

Working in transportation may seem like a long way from the humanities, but transportation is a truly human endeavor. Unfortunately, one impact of transportation systems on humans (and non-humans) is a staggering toll of injuries and lives lost due to motor vehicle crashes. In 2020, nearly 39,000 people were killed in crashes in the US, and over 1.3 million people die annually in traffic-related crashes worldwide. Those most affected in the US are young rural and tribal people: A young American Indian or Alaska Native is 2-5 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than the average American. Addressing this ongoing tragedy became my passion.

My research examines how we collect, analyze, and communicate risk, especially risk related to transportation. I have applied this research to help the most vulnerable populations—rural and tribal people in the US—understand transportation risk and safety in their own communities. By teaching people with few resources and knowledge how to evaluate and communicate risk in their own communities, local, non-experts can take steps to understand and mitigate risks from transportation and any other natural or anthropogenic causes. This work affected me so deeply that I even decided to become an EMT, firefighter, and EMT instructor so that I could directly apply this research and teach others how to understand and mitigate risk.

I am grateful to the many faculty and advisors who have worked with me in a decades-long education path at Michigan Tech, and especially thankful to my committee—Dr. Karla Kitalong, Dr. Andrew Fiss, Dr. Marika Seigel, and Dr. Melissa Baird—who have helped me stay committed to this work through a very difficult time for them and me in the past few years. I also thank the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for recognizing and supporting my unusual and drawn-out educational path with an award that will help me focus on completing my dissertation and degree. Last, but definitely not least, I thank my family for supporting me while I’ve always had too much on my plate! I look forward to continuing to learn and apply my education and research in our own community and to sharing this experience with others to help them live and thrive in communities large and small.