I am the director of composition and assistant professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi, where I teach undergraduate classes in first-year writing, digital literacies, public writing and rhetoric, and a graduate course in composition theory and pedagogy. My main aim as the director of composition is to support students and instructors. As a writing program administrator (WPA), I prioritize listening and value collaboration. I care about establishing relationships with students and colleagues, becoming aware of issues and concerns within classrooms, and constructing practices and policies that are meaningful and equitable. Some of my responsibilities include designing and developing first-year writing curriculum, overseeing our mentoring program, collaborating with Composition faculty, leading orientations, and conducting program assessment. One of my goals as WPA is to advocate for first-year writing students and instructors, and to make visible the dynamic nature of our classes. First-year writing encourages students to be curious, think critically, analyze, innovate, discover, synthesize, summarize, research, and make meaning about how reading and writing work within their communities and the world. 

Autumn graduated in 2017 with a degree in History and currently works as an Account Manager with Alcon Vision care, previously Autumn worked as a Zone Business Manager at Frito Lay North America. As someone who holds a degree unlike many in the sales field, she has been able to make unique contributions to her teams and provide insight from a different perspective than that of her colleagues.  Autumn credits the History department at Southern Miss with developing key analytical skills that have contributed to her success. Additionally, the rigorous course work and consistent deadlines taught her invaluable time management skills necessary for her current role.  Autumn considers her decision to pursue a degree in history at Southern Miss an integral part of her career success to date!

Katherine Gaffney, a second-year PhD student in USM’s Center for Writers, recently won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. This prize includes publication by Tampa University Press in both soft and hard cover of her first full-length collection Fool in a Blue House along with $2,000. This manuscript is a revised version of her MFA thesis—Gaffney completed her MFA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. What follows is an excerpt from the Tampa Reviewjudges’ praise “[I]n choosing this extraordinary year-spanning Fool in a Blue House as the winner of the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry, we were struck by Gaffney’s intense working between curation and assurance, this against the poetic life and body in its ongoing amendments of scale.” Gaffney is also the author of a chapbook Once Read as Ruin.

I am Mikayla Moore, a senior at USM, majoring in Philosophy. I thoroughly enjoy my major and find it to be truly interesting as I progress daily in my problem-solving capacities. I find philosophy to be very important as it helps me with my daily life, motivating me to be a better person. Philosophy gives me the freedom to improve how I evaluate certain situations, as well as advance my critical thinking skills. As for my personal interest, I love to go to the gym and engage with nature. Recently, I’ve found myself very pleased with taking long walks as a way to release anxiety and stress. I also enjoy reading. I must say, going to school, working, and making time for my personal life is no easy task; however, I would do it all over again as my time at the University of Southern Miss has been absolutely amazing.