Demonstrating the flexibility of the degree, Norwich English majors become corporate executives, lawyers, teachers, social workers, Rhodes Scholars, Fulbright Fellows, and professionals in the realms of criminal justice and government.; Work Sighted will publish a series of narratives by Norwich alumni, charting the ways English has served an array of career paths. In the following article, Aiden (Anna) Gleisberg explains how his(her) major in English led him(her) to graduate school at the University of Hawaii. Along the way, he( she) also gained the confidence and independence of mind to make choices well-beyond his (her) educational aspirations.
Construction: Building a Ph.D. from a NU English BA Up Close and Personal
by Aiden (Anna) Gleisberg
"I am not outside the language that structures me, but neither am I determined by the language that makes this 'I' possible."
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
Change is inevitable as an undergraduate. After my first semester at Norwich, I changed my major. As I continued my intellectual pursuits, however, I would make many more changes that would have personal as well as professional consequences. My experiences at Norwich certainly influenced my ambition to achieve my goals, even those that were not clearly defined from the start. I have also learned that sometimes others influence plans, not to mention the ways that whole societal attitudes and prejudices can regulate behavior.
When I first enrolled at Norwich in 1999, I was a chemistry major with zeal to be an officer in the U.S. Army. After one semester, I discovered a passion for literature. The simplicity of numbers and formulas left me lacking in imagination, motivation, and intrigue. Despite the difficulty of the program, I changed my focus from the hard sciences to the humanities. Over the next four years, my classes gave me a broad education in English, ranging from literary studies, cinema, canonical literature, theater, and creative writing. Yet, my limited interaction with literary theory and methodology proved a disadvantage once I started graduate study
I initially had no interest in attending graduate school. Until a sophomore, I only wanted to become an officer in the U.S. Army. That year, however, the military investigated me for homosexual conduct. Eventually, the entire ordeal was swept under the rug as long as I would quietly go into the reserve forces instead of entering active duty. In fear of losing my scholarship and potentially having to leave school because of financial difficulties, I consented.
Following the destruction of one dream, I was fortunate enough to find another. I decided to commit myself to my work and attend graduate school. At the time, I was only hoping to teach at a private high school or maybe a community college after completing my Masters. The idea of graduate school loomed large.
Over the next few years, I became increasingly invested in my studies and the critical engagement with issues that not only circulate in the books we read, but also in our daily lives. From Ellen Degeneris’s coming out on national television to the latest episodes of Queer As Folk on Showtime, queerness was gaining more visibility in popular culture. A similar shift was occurring in English departments at many universities. Job postings through the Modern Language Association (MLA) advertised for scholars who were specialists in queer theory. Despite my interest in these topics, it was extremely difficult to articulate any curiosity because of the personal stakes I had invested at a predominately conservative military institution.
Not only was I concerned about what I would study in graduate school, but also the application process proved more difficult than I had initially anticipated. My interests were varied and broad. I looked into programs, mostly in the northeast, ranging from Comparative Literature to Theater.; While at Norwich I had been a member of the Pegasus Players. This experience was an important feature to my education, allowing me to not only gain an appreciation for the creative aspects of the performing arts, but also because it led me to an interest in the politics of aesthetics and the (re)production of the spectacle. Yet, when faced with applying to Ph.D. programs, I was, more than anything, plagued with the fear of not being accepted.
The summer before my senior year, I researched several schools that had solid programs and specialists in areas that I found intriguing. I also started taking the practice tests for the general and subject Graduate Record Exams (GRE’s).; Each application and personal statement that I submitted was specifically tailored to the university where I was applying.
Aside from the tedious and time-consuming application process, from getting letters of recommendation to refining a research paper that reflected my capabilities, I still seemed to encounter several challenges that seemed different from those of students graduating from more “traditional” schools. At one of the universities where I applied, a professor “kindly” informed me, in a fairly crass manner, that I lacked the critical and theoretical background for graduate school because I attended a military college. At another school, a professor criticized the absence of a course in medieval literature from my academic record even though I explained that Norwich did not have a medievalist teaching in the English program. Although I was discouraged, I submitted my graduate applications to nine different universities and was accepted to four.
After graduating, I headed off to Boston to attend Northeastern University. It was the most reputable school I had been accepted by and I was offered a full graduate assistantship that would cover my tuition and included a small stipend in exchange for teaching freshmen composition courses. The environment at Northeastern was very intense. I was shocked at how the “publish or perish” culture of academia impacted the graduate population in ways that bred animosity and competition instead of fostering collaborative learning and support. Even the professors at Northeastern were not very supportive of my investment in graduate school. This was drastically different from the guidance I had received while attending Norwich. Many of the faculty at NU helped cultivate my research interests, gave me direction with my schoolwork, and guided me through personal issues, particularly when I was investigated for homosexual conduct. At Northeastern it was my students, two professors, and a few colleagues that helped facilitate my growing research interests in feminism, queer theory, and gender studies—all areas I rarely heard of while at Norwich University. Yet, both institutions made me realize that our personal development is many times contingent on those we revere in professional contexts, extending far beyond the walls of any classroom.
My shift into these areas was a result of understanding the intersections between literature, personal experience, the aesthetics produced by popular culture, and issues of representation. I started to see how my research was a reflection of my own social location and the complex ways in which all of us construct and reconfigure multiple identities. Regardless of the challenges and violences that I encountered in Boston, occurring on both professional and personal levels, I graduated from Northeastern with my Masters in English and a Women’s Studies Certificate and looked onward to the University of Hawaii (Manoa) to pursue my Ph.D.
Some factors that drove me to Hawaii were the strength of UH’s focus in Cultural Studies and the caliber of knowledgeable professors in a variety of areas. Above all else, I wanted to revive my connections to my Hawaiian family and the land. With another graduate assistantship, UH quickly became a productive environment that helped cultivate my current interests in queer pedagogy, transgender embodiment, and heteronormative systems of regulation. The intellectual community I have formed here provides me with the constructive criticism that will benefit me as I work toward completing my degree. It is a place that continues to push my theoretical development in challenging ways, transforming me as a scholar and individual.
Aiden (Anna) Gleisberg graduated magna cum laude in 2003 as an English major with a minor in philosophy. He (she) was a member of Sigma Tau Delta and also held positions of leadership in the Corps of Cadets.
