The Department of English believes in the intrinsic value and the versatility of advanced humanistic training and is committed to supporting its doctoral students in their pursuit of a variety of career trajectories through personal career mentoring, professional training workshops, and funded internships. See below for a detailed summary of our students' career outcomes and recent job placements.
PhD Career Outcomes Summary
The following statistics are intended to provide an overview of the range of opportunities available to our students. We strongly encourage prospective students to seek out comparable data from other schools they may be considering.
Number of currently active students: 89 [this is just for L&L, since the data below reflects only L&L student outcomes]
Number of students admitted since 1994 who have successfully completed the program: 186
Of these graduates, 152 work in education:
- 89 in tenure-track positions
- 36 in non-tenure-track positions (including lectureships and postdocs)
- 11 in libraries
- 10 in higher education administration
- 5 in primary and secondary education
Among those in other sectors:
- 10 are full-time writers or editors
- 10 work in academic-adjacent fields, such as admissions counselling or study abroad program administration
- 5 work in business
- 3 work in design, marketing, and communications
- 2 are lawyers
- 2 are pursuing further educational opportunities
- 1 works for a non-profit
- 1 is a musician
Percentage of graduates admitted since 1994 who hold or have held tenure-track positions: 52%
Subfields of the Language & Literature Program in which tenure-track placements have historically exceeded 75%: Medieval, African-American, Asian-American, Postcolonial, 20th-Century British, British literature, and Rhetoric and Composition.
Job Placement by Year
Click the years below for information (updated yearly) about job placement.
2020
Kyle Frisina: Assistant Professor, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts
Mika Kennedy: Frederick Donald Sober Post Doc, University of Michigan, Michigan
Ross Martin: Frederick Donald Sober Post Doc, University of Michigan, Michigan
Cecilia Morales: Engaged Scholarship Manager, University of Michigan, Ginsberg Center for Community Service & Learning, Michigan
Hayley O’Malley: Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, Illinois
2019
Sheila Coursey: Coordinator, Compass Lab, Saint Louis University, Missouri
Maia Farrar-Wellman: Personal Trainer, Michigan
Amanda Greene: Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Associate, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania
Rebecca Huffman: Description Project Assistant, University of Michigan Library, Michigan
Crystal Lie: Assistant Professor, California State University, Long Beach, California
Valentina Montero-Roman: Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine, California
Megan Torti: Vendor Outreach Coordinator, Great Lakes Water Authority, Michigan
2018
Gregory Ariail: MFA Student, University of Alabama
Matthew Bellamy: Lecturer I, American Culture and English, University of Michigan, Michigan
Amrita Dhar: Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University, Newark, Ohio
Lauren Eriks Cline: Assistant Professor, Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia
Aran Ruth: Musician (singer and composer), Detroit, Michigan
Emily Shearer: Video Game Designer, California
Adam Sneed: Instructor, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Tennessee
Malcolm Tariq: Communications and Development Associate, The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), New York City
Joshua Wall: Frederick Donald Sober Post Doc, University of Michigan, Michigan
2017
Cassius Adair: Associate Producer, With Good Reason Radio, Virginia
Gregory Dandeles: Senior Program Manager, Amazon, Washington
Kyle Grady: Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine, California
John Hampstead: Associate Editor, FreightWaves
Julia Hansen: English Faculty, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, Missouri
Amanda Healy: University-Community Partnerships Manager, Ginsberg Center, University of Michigan, Michigan
Elizabeth Mathie: Postdoctoral Fellow, Tsinghua University, China
Christopher Parsons: Assistant Professor, Keene State College, New Hampshire
Logan Scherer: Consultant, AdmissionWise
Alice Tsay: Assistant to the President for Special Collections, The Huntington Library, California
2016
Christie Allen: Adjunct Instructor, Brigham Young University, Utah
Tiffany Ball: Postdoctoral Fellow, Tsinghua University, China
Kathryne Bevilacqua: Customer Consultant, Elsevier, New York City
Catherine Cassel: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Michigan
Alistair Chetwynd: Assistant Professor, American University of Iraq, Sulaimania, Iraq
MicKenzie Fasteland: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Jina Kim: Assistant Professor, Smith College, Massachusetts
Joshua Kupetz: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Michigan
Rebecca Manery: Hopwood Program Manager, University of Michigan, Michigan
Elizabeth McAdams: Curriculum Developer, Art of Problem Solving, Michigan
Joanna Want: Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
Ruth Anna Spooner: ASL Translator, ASLCORE
Emily Waples: Assistant Professor, Hiram College
2015
Patrick Barry: Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Law School, Michigan
Nicolette Bruner: Postdoctoral Researcher and Instructor, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago
Andromeda Hartwick: Course Mentor, Western Governors University, Utah
Emily Howard: Library Technician, Ann Arbor District Library
Konstantina Karageorgos: Assistant Professor, State University of New York at Oneonta, New York
Ruth McAdams: Visiting Assistant Professor, Skidmore College, New York
Matt Oches: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Michigan
Elizabeth Rodrigues: Humanities and Digital Scholarship Librarian, Grinnell College, Iowa
Cordelia Zukerman: Visiting Assistant Professor, US Military Academy West Point, New York
2014
Christopher Barnes: Scholarly Communications Librarian, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania
Nan Zhang Da: Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
Carolyn Dekker: Assistant Professor, Finlandia University, Michigan
Katherine Fisher: Digital Preservation Archivist, Georgia State University, Georgia
Angela Heetderks: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Michigan
Alice Keane: Adjunct Assistant Professor, City University of New York, Queens, New York
David Lucas: Lecturer, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
Khaliah Mangrum: Assistant Professor, Westmont College, California
Adam Mazel: Director of Digital Scholarship and Public Services, Union College, New York
Asynith Palmer: Technical Writer, Vectorworks
Benjamin Pollak: Lecturer, New York University, New York
Rebecca Porte: Community Initiative and Podcast Program Head, The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, New York
Leila Watkins: Development and Communications Manager, CollegeSpring, California
Kathryn Will: Instructor, Louisiana State University, Louisiana
2013
Andrew Bozio: Assistant Professor, Skidmore College, New York
Chung-Hao Ku: Assistant Professor, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Brian Matzke: Digital Humanities Librarian, Central Connecticut State University, Connecticut
Daniel Mintz: Anti-Hunger Advocate, Louisiana Budget Project
Stephen Spiess: Assistant Professor, Babson College, Massachusetts
2012
Angela Berkley: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Michigan
Olivia Bustion: PhD Student, Theology, University of Chicago
Geremy Carnes: Associate Professor, Lindenwood University, Missouri
Sarah Ehlers: Assistant Professor, University of Houston, Texas
Rachel Feder: Assistant Professor, University of Denver, Colorado
Kumiko Kobayashi: Associate Professor, Kyoto University, Japan
Christa Vogelius: Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2011
Alexander Beringer: Associate Professor, University of Montevallo, Alabama
Katherine Brokaw: Associate Professor, University of California, Merced, California
John Cords: Senior Editing Manager, National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Manan Desai: Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
Joanne Freed: Associate Professor, Oakland University, California
Robert Friedlander: Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, Mississippi
Roxana Galusca: Senior User Researcher, LLamasoft
Toshiaki Komura: Associate Professor, Kobe College
Caroline Miller: Upper School English Teacher, National Cathedral School, Washington DC
Nathaniel Mills: Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Minnesota
Ori Weisberg: Writer, Editor, Translator, The Times of Israel
Rebecca Wiseman: Lecturer, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Canada
2010
Taryn Hakala: Assistant Professor, California State University, Channel Islands, California
Korey Jackson: Gray Family Chair for Innovative Library Services, Oregon State University, Oregon
Casie LeGette: Associate Professor, University of Georgia, Georgia
Xiwen Mai: Associate Faculty, Cascadia College, Washington
Navaneetha Mokkil-Maruther: Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Jonathan Smith: Assistant Professor, Washington University of St. Louis School of Law, Missouri
Michael Tondre: Associate Professor, Stony Brook University, New York
2009
Stephanie Batkie: Associate Professor, Sewanee University of the South, Tennessee
LaMont Egle: Lecturer I in English, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts
Grace Glass: Associate Vice President and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, American Public University System
Lauren LaFauci: Assistant Professor and Research Fellow, Linkoping University, Sweden
Joshua Lambert: Academic Director of the Yiddish Book Center and Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
David Lavinsky: Associate Professor, Yeshiva University, New York
Chris Palmer: Associate Professor, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
Amy Rodgers: Associate Professor, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
Rebecca Smith: Adjunct Instructor, Gonzaga University, Washington
Jennifer Sorenson: Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University, Texas
Benjamin Stroud: Associate Professor, University of Toledo, Ohio
Chad Thomas: Associate Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama
2008
Laura Ambrose: Assistant Professor, Saint Mary's College, Indiana
Tamara Bhalla: Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
Caroline Giordano: Associate Lawyer, Miller Canfield Law Firm
Catherine Harrison: Assistant Professor, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
Elspeth Healey: Special Collections Librarian, The University of Kansas, Kansas
Gavin Hollis: Assistant Professor, Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York
Olivera Jokic: Associate Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justic, The City University of New York, New York
Emily Lutenski: Associate Professor, Saint Louis University, Misouri
Jamie Olson: Professor, Saint Martin’s University, Washington
Ji-Hyae Park: Lecturer in English Composition, Roosevelt University, Illinois
Sheshalatha Reddy: Associate Professor, Howard University, Washington DC
David Ruderman: Associate Professor, The Ohio State University, Ohio
