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USSO Interviews BAAS Postgraduate Representative Rachael Alexander

In April 2014 Rachael Alexander was elected as the Postgraduate Representative for the British Association for American Studies. One month later Michelle Green spoke to her about her manifesto, what she thinks are the biggest challenges facing postgraduate students at the moment, and how we can all help.

60 Seconds With Bridget Bennett

What has been your most memorable career moment so far?

“There are two. At the very start of my DPhil viva the examiners told me that I had passed. They had to tell me three times before I believed them, so it has firmly stuck in my mind. The second took place some months later, when having decisively realised that I really did not want to be an academic I wandered into to British Library one evening after work to read a book. I suddenly realised it was too late: I had accidentally become one.”

60 Seconds With Joe Street

What has been your most memorable career moment so far?

“After I gave my first paper at the Southern Historical Association when I was writing up my PhD thesis, two people came up and said some very, very kind things about it: the SNCC activist Cleveland Sellers and the great historian John Dittmer. I felt about ten feet tall at that moment.”

60 Seconds With Sinéad Moynihan

Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party?

“Do they have to be American? Miriam Margolyes, Tina Fey, Mary McCarthy, Alice McDermott…oh dear, this is very Judy Chicago! So passé!”

60 Seconds With Zalfa Feghali

What advice would you give to early career academics?

“Unfortunately, ECR is often understood to be shorthand for unemployed academic. That’s (obviously) rubbish and can be really reductive, since it divides ECRs up rather than focuses on what common experiences they might have. What ECR actually means is that you’re way more energetic and enthusiastic than many academics you’ll encounter (that will sometimes include other ECRs).”

60 Seconds With Rachael Alexander

You’re stranded on a desert island, but luckily you pre-empted it. Which book do you take with you?

“My incredibly tattered copy of Angela Carter’s Burning Your Boats. It contains four of her books of short stories, so maybe I’m cheating slightly, but as it’s one paperback I think it’s acceptable. I first read The Bloody Chamber when I was eighteen and it captivated me. Carter is one of those rare authors that I never get bored of, no matter how many times I read and re-read her stories.”

60 Seconds With Martin Halliwell

What advice would you give to early career academics?

“Stay alert to possibilities; think round corners; take advice.”

60 Seconds With Jade Tullett

How did you come to your current area of research?

“My Undergraduate dissertation. It was about Emo as the last subculture, which led very nicely onto deeper understandings of punk, cultural contact, and the relationships between fine art and popular music.”

Academic Job Applications “Do’s” and “Don’ts”

“Do stay positive. Writing an application is a great way of seeing how far you’ve come in your career and thinking about what you want to do next. Most people do not succeed at first try. You may have made a good impression that will help you in the future, even if you don’t get asked to an interview.”

60 Seconds With Collin Lieberg

What is the most exciting thing you have planned in the next six months?

“Submitting my PhD!”