Class of 1985-1989

My years as an undergraduate student in the Department of English Language and Literature were transformative; I consider myself blessed to have been able to meet and be taught by inspirational professors who instilled in me a long lasting love and appreciation for literature, theatre, film and the study of language.

It was during those years that I was acquainted with masters of American drama such as Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neil and Edward Albee, that I was introduced to the theater of the absurd and the works of playwrights such as Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, that I got an induction into black and experimental theatre, and learnt the cinematographic techniques that created masterpieces such as Welles’ Citizen Kane and Hitchcock’s North by Northwest.

It was during those years that I read haunting fiction by William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, got lost in the fascinating stories created by the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin, George Eliot and Charles Dickens, and was challenged by thought provoking work by Margaret Atwood, Maxine Hong Kingston, Ray Bradbury and Jean Rhys.

It was during those years that I started my journey into the study of language and its structure, a journey that, years later, led me to study for an MA in Teaching English for Specific Purposes at the University of Warwick, followed by a PhD in Sociolinguistics at the University of Birmingham, a post-doctoral fellowship in intercultural pragmatics under the supervision of Professors Elsa Mela and Maria Sifianou (University of Athens), teaching in UK universities, and publications of my research in a monograph, chapters in edited collections and peer reviewed articles.

My life and professional journey have led me out of research and teaching and into research administration and university development, and my current role of Director of University Corporate and Foundation Relations at Columbia University in New York City, where I partner with faculty across the university to secure philanthropic support from foundations and corporations in support of their research and scholarship.

I fully credit my four years in the Department of English Language and Literature for opening my horizons, for pushing me out of my boundaries and giving me the stepping stones to embark on my current career. To all the professors of the class of 1985-1989: I am forever grateful for everything you taught me and all the knowledge that you shared, thank you!