What Can You Do with an English Major?
SOU English Alum Working at SOU
By Annalynn Mueller, junior English Major
January 30, 2024
Pictured above: Rachel Harris, 2022 graduate
Rachel Harris graduated with her English degree in 2022 and now works as the Belonging and Engagement Office Specialist at SOU. As a student, Rachel worked for Disability Resources; upon graduation she submitted an application to SOU ’s temp pool for summer employment. She ended up getting a summer position with the Belonging and Engagement office, which operates under SOU’s Student Life department. She works for the campus community by supporting the Social Justice and Equity Center, the Student Food Pantry, and other campus resources. Rachel’s job covers many different tasks such as processing event approvals on HawkNest; monitoring the belong@sou.edu email; organizing spreadsheets; and assisting students, community members, and the BE team.
“My favorite part is communicating with and assisting our students-I love when I can solve a problem that a student is having, or help them figure out how to get more involved on campus.”
– Rachel Harris
Working in Belonging and Engagement is Rachel’s first full-time job and has helped her understand the office work environment and professional communication. She has gained an appreciation for the inner workings of the university and loves the way that her work gives her a channel to “make a difference by organizing involvement opportunities and helping others get involved.” Even though Rachel’s training is in copyediting, she feels like this job, however unexpected, is the right fit for her at this point in her life: “If you told 2022 me that I’d end up in this job, I would have been completely shocked—I know now that I enjoy the interactions with students and other staff, but I definitely would have expected this work to be too extroverted for my tastes!”
“I never would have sought this job out, so I’m really glad that it sought me out.”
– Rachel Harris
Pictured Above: Rachel Harris hard at work in the Belonging and Engagement office.
Rachel started her college career as a Creative Writing major, but then decided that English would be a better fit as she could combine her love of writing with reading and analyzing literature. She enjoyed many of her English courses, but found her capstone project to be especially foundational: “I did an internship with local independent publisher Ashland Creek Press late 2021–early 2022, and that allowed me to dip my toes into the publishing industry in a very real way. To Rachel, the English program was all about communication. Throughout her writing assignments and in class discussions, she worked hard to express thoughts clearly and precisely. Many aspects of the English major, including this communication, showed Rachel that English is “one of the most versatile majors out there, because just about every industry needs people who know how to write and have good communication skills.” Rachel applies her English background to her Belonging and Engagement position every day, while giving back to the SOU community.
“I knew that majoring in English wouldn’t limit me, and would help me build skills and qualities that would serve me in any career—and not just in my career, but in my life.”
– Rachel Harris
Pictured Above: Rona Stublefield, 2023 graduate
Rona Stublefield realized the versatility of the English major after taking Dr. Edwin Battistella’s Technical Writing class. Although she originally planned on going into publishing, Rona now works in the Hannon Library as the Open Educational Resources (OER) Government Information Specialist. Open Educational Resources include “course materials that are free to distribute and repurpose for classroom needs.” Rona works to make the OER’s more accessible to students and community members, oversees physical and electronic government documents for the library’s Government Documents collection, and helps the library with outreach. Rona also serves on a board that adds to our Bioregion and Scholarship@SOU digital collections in the Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA): “As someone who grew up in Southern Oregon, it’s very rewarding to be a part of the group preserving information regarding topics such as local watersheds, forests, and endangered species.” Rona’s job encompasses lots of different tasks, but she loves using her skills to catalog documents and help out students who are struggling with finding textbooks. She also loves the work environment at the Hannon Library and thinks that more people should consider jobs in librarianship!
“I get to work with amazing people who all have different backgrounds in librarianship, and they bring so many great ideas and perspectives to the table.”
– Rona Stublefield
For Rona, staying local and working at SOU after graduation has been rewarding. She is a southern Oregon local and loves giving back to her community. She also loves staying in a place where she can keep in touch with her professors: “Whenever I run into someone from the English department in the library, it always makes me so happy to share my accomplishments with them and see how they’re doing.” She also loves being able to serve students and promote library services. Having been a student at SOU gives Rona a unique opportunity in this job as she can relate to the struggles that students go through, and has the inside experience to help.
Pictured Above: Jasmine Waters, 2021 graduate
Rona is not the only SOU English major alum working for the library. After graduating in 2021, Jasmine Waters got hired at the Hannon Library as the Resource Sharing and Fulfillment Lead. In this position she manages both the interlibrary loan program and the course reserve program. This involves working with other libraries to borrow books that Hannon does not have, maintains textbook and electronic course material collection, and provides help at the library’s front desk. Jaz loves to help people with their research and assist students looking for sources. She gets to collaborate with peers across all departments and appreciates the opportunities that the SOU community has provided her. Jaz’s English degree has been foundational in her career, and taught her how to “think critically about problems helps when reviewing issues with programs and posing solutions.”
“I learned a lot about effective research during my time in the English program!”
– Jasmine Waters
Pictured Above: Nicolle Aleman, 2001 graduate
Rachel, Rona, and Jasmine are all doing important work in the SOU community. Similarly, Nicolle Aleman now works as the Director of Marketing at SOU. Nicolle has already been featured in a previous blog post; She echoes the voices of the other SOU English alum by saying, “being allowed to work with a wonderful team of amazing and dedicated people who are all fiercely devoted to SOU and the wellbeing of our incredible students for almost ten years has been a richly rewarding experience.”
These four incredible people show that there can be many paths to pursue with an English degree, and some of them may be right in the community!
You can stay up-to-date with all of the exciting things happening in our department by following the English Program on Instagram (souenglish) and Facebook and by subscribing to this blog!
Interested in being featured on the English Program blog? Or know someone who is interested? Contact English Program blogger Annalynn Mueller at muellera1@sou.edu .
Learn more about SOU’s English Programs:
English Home Page | English BA/BS | English Minor | TESOL Certificate Program
