Department of English
Graduate Students in the Department of English
UMEGO Executive Board, 2025-2026
| Korbyn Peebles UMEGO President Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication |
103-105 Patterson Hall kpeebles@memphis.edu |
| Ifeoluwa Awopetu UMEGO Treasurer Applied Linguistics |
103-105 Patterson Hall pawopetu@memphis.edu |
| Ashton Alexander UMEGO Secretary Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication |
103-105 Patterson Hall aashton@memphis.edu |
| Heather Eudy UMEGO Secretary Creative Writing |
103-105 Patterson Hall heudy@memphis.edu |
| Emily Gillo UMEGO Media Coordinator Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication |
401B Patterson Hall epsmith2@memphis.edu |
English Graduate Student Directory
Don't see your name? Click the button below to access the directory form and email Emily Gillo at epsmith2@memphis.edu once submitted!
Ashton Alexander
email: aashton@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
Abdulmajeed Almatard
email: mlmatard@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
I am a lecturer at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia and a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at the University of Memphis. My research interests include second language acquisition, identity, and sociocultural aspects of language learning.
Gabrielle Alston
email: gralston@memphis.edu
Gabrielle's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
I specialize in digital literacy specifically focusing on how we write and communicate in digital spaces as both students and educators. I am fascinated by how rhetoric is utilized in digital spaces in order to increase the effectiveness of communication. Professionally, I have taught two years of freshman composition at Eastern Michigan University and five years of freshman composition and assorted upper-level courses at the University of Memphis. Upper-level courses I have taught include professional and technical writing, professional editing, persuasive writing, and engineering communications. I have also worked as a content developer for the Center for Writing and Communication at Eastern Michigan University and as a marketing coordinator for the Memphis Writers Workshop project at the University of Memphis. Furthermore, I have also served as the Graduate Assistant Director of First Year Writing at the University of Memphis.
Majed Alsulami
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
My research interests include L2 identities, Bilingualism, and ASL teaching and learning. I am a lecturer at King Abdulaziz University since (2014), and I have taught Arabic as a second language to international students from different places and backgrounds.
Monique Bain
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
Jennifer Byrd
email: jbyrd9@memphis.edu
Jennifer's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
Jennifer has a passion for training composition teachers in research-based best practices. After teaching dual enrollment courses through Arkansas high schools for 12 years, she came to UofM to study ways that universities with long-term DE partnerships train composition instructors to meet their students’ needs. She serves as the Graduate Assistant Director for UofM’s First-Year Writing Program.
Anthony Calzia
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Anthony (he/him) is a creator of digital artist, music, and writing. He has a poem published in the Anglican Theological Review. He is currently in the MFA program as a poet, though his interests lie in the interdisciplinary intersection of poetry and the new media, especially around the intersection between the written, the spoken, and the visual (visual and video poetry and film).
Tek Chhetry
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
Bethany Rose Datuin
email: bsdatuin@memphis.edu
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Bethany Rose Datuin is a Filipino American poet based in Tennessee and managing editor of the Pinch. A firm believer in food as a source of comfort and inspiration, her work focuses on identity as it is defined by culture, love, and cuisine. When she is not penning new poems, her sights are usually set on watching underrated television shows, trying out tabletop roleplaying games, and baking whatever she possibly can.
Martins Deep
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Martins Deep is a poet, photographer, and digital artist whose work appears or is forthcoming in Magma Poetry, Obsidian, The Porter House Review, december, Fiyah, and elsewhere. He is the winner of the 2025 Furious Flower Poetry Prize, selected by aracelis girmay, and a finalist for the 2025 Porter House Review Editor's Prize. Martins serves as a Brand Editor at The Pinch, and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Memphis. Find him on X @martinsdeep1.
Heather Eudy
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Heather is a mother of her awesome four. Born in Memphis, grew up in Titusville, Florida, just miles away from Kennedy Space Center, she grew a healthy affinity for all things 'space'. She's a creative story-teller and loves to study how to tell stories through fiction, nonfiction, & poetry. Heather owes all to her father who told her many Fireside tales as a young girl. She is an active member of the Society for Physics Students, Memphis Astronomical Society, and currently attending The University of Memphis in her first year of the MFA program as she continues to pursue her career in creative writing. Her first novel is on the horizon and is currently in publishing.
Matthew Farmer
email: mlfarmer@memphis.edu
Matt's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies
Matt Farmer is a Literary and Cultural Studies Ph.D. candidate from Jonesboro, AR. Matt is a first-generation college student whose research focuses on the intersection of generative AI and literature. He is particularly interested in how advanced technologies are interpreted through literature, collaborative composition with AI, pedagogical AI practices, and AI-centric ecocriticism. Matt's investigations ask questions like, "How would an advanced AI narrate its life?" "What strategies do authors utilize when collaborating with an LLM?" and "How is the environmental cost of AI proliferation being explored in contemporary literature?" Matt strongly feels that it is the responsibility of every individual to strive daily to create a more equitable and accessible society for everyone. He hopes to contribute to that goal through his scholarly pursuits.
Emily Gillo
email: epsmith2@memphis.edu
Emily's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
My primary research interest is the intersection of online writing pedagogy and surveillance studies, and how rhetoric and critical digital literacy can be used as methods of resistance against Educational Technology surveillance practices. I am also interested in the ways in which student autonomy, informed consent, and access to educational resources overlap with online learning and surveillance.
Halle Elizabeth Griggs
email: hegriggs@memphis.edu
Halle Elizabeth's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies
I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural Studies. My dissertation focuses on Southern Gothic Literature and aims to recreate/expand the definition of the grotesque. Outside of academia, you will likely find me: lacing up my running shoes & training for my next long-distance race; practicing Bikram Yoga; or, devouring all things true-crime.
Stephanie Gollobin
email: stephanie.gollobin@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
After 18 years of teaching English for Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes, including 10 years at top 20 R1 universities, Stephanie is pursuing her PhD in Applied Linguistics here at the University of Memphis. A former Fulbright ETA, she has extensive experience teaching in the United States and Germany. Her research interests include critical pedagogy, identity formation, genre analysis, and genre-based writing instruction. You can follow her research and pedagogical endeavors at the First Flight Writing Lab at www.stephaniegollobin.com.
Madison Hunter
email: mnhnter10@memphis.edu
Madison's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies
Madison ‘Mocha’ Hunter, also known as ‘DictionKanari,’ is a Detroit, MI, native, writing her way through the South. She has had the privilege of interviewing literary all-stars Dr. Roxane Gay, Adrian Matejka, Dan Hornsby, Jericho Brown, and Hanif Abdurraqib. Her work has appeared in Callaloo, Watershed Voice, Torch Literary Arts, and Oracle Fine Arts Review. Mocha is pro canceled plans, sunsets, charcuterie boards, vinyl record hunting, and keeping the Sabbath, cosplaying a poetry writing bookworm whose books read her far more than she gets to read them. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English (Creative Writing) from the University of South Alabama and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing specializing in Poetry as well as certificates in African American Literature and Autism Studies from the University of Memphis. Her educational journey as a Memphis Tiger continues, as she is pursuing a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies and a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies. She is currently exercising her gifts, skills, and passions as a scholar, educator, and community leader as an adjunct instructor at Christian Brothers University. In addition to her acquisition of academic achievements, she is establishing a tutoring and consulting service that supports neurodivergent learners and adult readers in strengthening their reading, writing, communication, and critical thinking skills throughout Memphis and surrounding cities. Her research interests include but are not limited to Food Studies, Black Horror, Black Poetics, Black Cinema, Hypervisibility and Invisibility of Black Women in Media, Blaxploitation, Afropessimism, and Hip Hop and The Literary.
Obiageli A. Iloakasia
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Obiageli A. Iloakasia was born and raised in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. She is the author of Kàmbílí — a finalist for the 2022 Spring Women Authors Prize, and October Blues. Obiageli is the recipient of the 2024 Creative Writing Award for Poetry at the University of Memphis. She is studying for an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis, Tennessee. Obiageli is currently the Senior Poetry Editor for The Pinch.
Laura Isaacs
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Laura Sophia Isaacs is a first-year MFA student at the University of Memphis. She recently graduated with her BA, double-majoring in Political Science and English. She is an avid fiction reader and enjoys writing with comedic, political, and feminist undertones. Laura works part-time at St. Mary's School as a substitute teacher and an After3 counselor. In her spare time, she enjoys sunshine, video games, and trying new coffee shops in Memphis.
Marilyn Jackson
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Marilyn Jackson is a third-year MFA candidate in Creative Writing with a concentration in fiction. Originally from a small town just up the road from the Mississippi Delta, her fiction explores the intersections of human experience in the American South, with themes of familial expectations, intimacy, identity, and self-preservation. Marilyn is most proud of having raised a whole human.
Daniyel Johnson
email: djohnso@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies
Elena Kang
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Elena Sunyoung Kang’s (she/her) work has appeared in Vagabond City, Carmina Magazine, and the ebook anthology, Threads of Love. She received an honorable mention in Bacopa Literary Review and was nominated for the 2025 Rhysling Award.
Nabaz Kareem
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
My area of interest is SLA focusing on EFL/ESL learning and teaching. My research investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical translanguaging in comparison to monolingual instruction in an EFL context concentrates on developing academic writing skills of EFL learners in Kurdistan of Iraq. In this study, I focus on applying translanguaging as a pedagogy via individual and collaborative writing and investigate its impact in comparison to monolingual instruction.
Denise Kerlan
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Denise Kerlan is snail-blazing her way through her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis. Born and raised in the mid-south, Denise holds a BA in English from the University of Tennessee and a BS in just about everything else. When she’s not writing, you can find her shaking her sass all over Memphis as a Zumba instructor and spending time with her crazy family and not-so-miniature schnauzer, Petunia. Currently, Denise’s work can be seen in Word Travels—a sidewalk poetry collection that’s also featured on the Memphis Greenline. She hopes her poetry finds its way into your hands and beyond in the near future.
Etariemi Koboju
email: eekoboju@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
Etariemi Koboju is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Memphis and a Graduate and Teaching Assistant in the Department of English. His research brings together language documentation, corpus linguistics, and computational methods, with a focus on Nigerian languages and English as a second language. He earned his master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan, where he also worked as a research assistant on projects documenting under-researched Nigerian languages. At Memphis, he teaches undergraduate English and writing courses while exploring how corpus-based and computational approaches can enrich language research and pedagogy. Beyond academia, he enjoys writing reflective pieces that connect language, culture, and everyday experience through his personal blog page on Substack: https://etariemi.substack.com/
Holly Lau
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Holly Lau, formerly a solo performer and choreographer, created work that explored the intersection of dance, music and original text in performing life stories. Her seminal choreography, Transitions: (Three Instances), was performed nationally and internationally and was the featured presentation at the conference Interdisciplinary Landscapes, Women and Performance, Northampton, UK. Lau is now focused on non-fiction writing, which is an outgrowth and expansion of her previous dance texts. Her work has been published in Parabola Magazine, The Porch, and the New York Times (Tiny Love Story).
Baylee Less
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Baylee Less is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis and is writing her first novel. She loves fiction in all its forms, but lengthy historical fiction novels will always win the 1st place prize in her heart. She currently serves as the Director of Development for Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab and on the Board of Directors for Music Export Memphis. During her free time, she enjoys traveling to small towns with no cell reception, cooking delicious vegan food, and hanging out with her husband Monte, their daughter Dahlia, and their cats, Miso and Matcha.
Ashley Lowe
email: adlowe@memphis.edu
Program: MA - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Sydney A. Mabry
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Sydney (any pronouns) is a second semester student at the University of Memphis MFA program and a (mostly) Fiction writer. Current Prose Co-Editor for the Pinch.
Caleb McKee
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Caleb McKee is a fiction writer in his second year in the MFA program and is the co-PJO Editor. He has had his work described as “kind of a bummer,” which he finds generous. He considers home to be the High Desert, and wherever his dog, Koopa, is. He likes to think he tries his best.
Gloria Odary
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Gloria Mwaniga Odary, is a writer and educator from Kenya who works as the online co-editor of the Pinch. Odary is fascinated by historical revisionism and the intersection between research and imagination. She uses storytelling as a tool to challenge accepted narratives, and to offer new interpretations of key historical events, epics, myths, folktales and tales of colonial dispossession in East Africa. Odary is a recipient of the 2024 Georgia Review Prose Prize, the 2024 Isele Magazine Nonfiction Prize, the 2021 African Land Policy Centre Story Prize and the 2019 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Georgia Review, Isele, Weganda Review, The Johannesburg Review of Books, The WhiteReview, Lolwe, Porter House Review, CRAFT, and elsewhere.
Chelsea Panameño
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Chelsea Panameño (she/her) is a first-generation Salvadoran-American writer and horror enthusiast. She enjoys writing about magic, mythology, queerness, and the everything in-between. When she isn’t writing, she also enjoys tabletop roleplay games, listening to fiction podcasts, and trying not to kill plants. She placed second in the Fiction category of the 2023 Southern Literary Festival. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction at the University of Memphis.
Korbyn Peebles
email: kpeebles@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication
Hello there! Currently, my research interests revolve around digital learning, visual rhetoric, and genre studies. Specifically, I am interested in making academic literature more engage and inviting to a broader audience by using multimodal tools like video, audio, and graphic design. I position my understanding of learning within the legacy of feminist methodology, experiential learning theory and ergodic literature. I am also very active around the university outside of my research! I am currently the president of the English Graduate Organization (UMEGO) and the Vice President of the Rhetoric Society of America chapter in Memphis. Don’t be a stranger! I’m always looking for friends, collaboration, and community. If you want to learn more about my work or about me in general, check out my website: https://linktr.ee/krbynpbls
Nancy Raileanu
email: nrileanu@memphis.edu
Program: MA - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Qamar Raza
email: qraza@memphis.edu
Qamar's CV
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
Arielle Robinson
Program: MA - Technical Communication
Constance Sheppard
email: cshppard@memphis.edu
Program: MA - Literary & Cultural Studies
JB Washington
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
JB Washington is a fiction writer that gravitates toward themes of love, death, & God, all intertwined. She is a seeker of what’s lurking underneath.
Sam Williams
Program: MFA - Creative Writing
Sam Williams is an MFA candidate at the University of Memphis. A Memphis native, she received her BA from the University of Memphis in 2022. In her fiction, she likes to explore queerness, community, alienation, and hopes to write characters that are just a little off-kilter but have a whole lot of heart. Most of her free time is demanded by her dog, but when she manages to get a spare second, she can be found taking her car for long music-listening rides.
Amber Worrick
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
My research interests include language learning motivation and identity in a multilingual setting; specifically interested in how perception of the self and the learning environment position learners to act on intended effort in English for Business Purpose setting. Apart from research, I have taught and/or designed language and linguistics courses at Universidad de Chile, Universidad SEK, Tennessee State University, and Colorado Mountain College. I am currently an instructional designer for Movora in Veterinary Orthopedics.
Heri Yusup
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics
I am an assistant professor in the English Department at Universitas Islam 45 in Indonesia, where I have worked for nearly twenty years. I am currently the technical editor for the undergraduate research journal at the University of Memphis. My area of research interest is cognitive linguistics and corpus linguistics. In my dissertation, I will examine the conceptual metaphors that Indonesian scholars use when talking about their migration and mobility choices, decisions, and experiences using corpus-assisted discourse analysis, to better understand the perspective of Indonesians on the notion of brain drain.