Vanderbilt English Alumni
Recent Graduates
Camilo Loaiza Bonilla – 3rd Year Creative Writing Student
“I was able to apply and attend an MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of South Florida in my second year out of Vanderbilt. I credit my English major and concentration in Creative Writing for providing me with my first publications (in Vanderbilt Lives and The Vanderbilt Review) and the ability to be a successful applicant to an MFA program. Furthermore, I’ve been able to take some of the work that I started as an undergraduate student and develop it to the point where it has really furthered my writing career. Because of my start as an English major at Vanderbilt, I’ve become a successful and well-known writer in St. Petersburg, Florida.”
Gillian Erickson – Fourth Year Medical Student
“I majored in both Biology and English, and I was asked about my English major in every medical school interview. Because I chose the major out of a genuine interest and passion for the subject (sorry, Biology major), I was able to talk at length about it and set myself apart from an applicant pool that was largely STEM majors.”
Farrah Hasan – Ph.D. Student – Climate Research
“Reading literature is a kind of training that helps me absorb other types of scholarship as well, in terms of prioritizing what needs to be closely read and reading masses of content at a time.”
Will Milberg – Investment Banking Analyst
“The English major cultivated my love for books. Although I don’t currently have much free time, reading provides a daily escape from work and life stressors. I believe reading has made me more curious about the world, which in turn makes me better at my job and a more interesting person.”
Sydney Oakland – Ph.D. Student – Social Psychology
“My English major helped me become a better writer, more thoughtful student, and more creative thinker, which has been especially beneficial for my time in graduate school. I am able to more clearly and persuasively present my ideas, and I’m able to more successfully edit my writing, because of my work in my English major. I’m also able to think through my ideas more thoroughly, and justify them more completely, because of the time I spent in English classes thinking about different works of literature, debating the answers to different questions, and writing my own arguments. While I’m not in an English related field anymore, my time as an English major has helped me stay more open-minded and well-rounded because I think about questions and arguments from multiple perspectives and fields of literature.”
Hannah Tsiao: Ph.D. Student – Higher Education
“That the Vanderbilt English major teaches its students to critically read and write seems a given. Only upon entering the corporate workplace, however, have I realized how rare those skills are in practice. Amidst the rise of artificial intelligence, an understanding of how to place words with precision, a sense for directing the feel and flow of a phrase, and an ultimate reverence for the written word all become powerful currencies in professional relationships defined by clear communication. Whether preparing an email or a literature review, a natural interest in delivering prose with style has proved immensely beneficial for me in both industry and academia.”
Rachel Wei – Third-Year Law Student
On her career:
“Having strong close reading, writing, and analytical skills is vital to any job. I’ve worked in tutoring, marketing, communications for a real estate development company, and as part of the legal team in a tech company and in a large law firm. The communication and analytical skills I gained as an English major have helped me excel in all of those roles and industries. In addition, the creative, outside the box thinking that you develop as an English major makes you a valuable asset to employers who are constantly facing new technological and societal challenges.”
On the major:
“Being an English major provided me with the space and opportunity to think creatively and deeply about societal issues. Having strong attention to detail and being able to use the facts and language in a text to engage in structured, practical analysis are critical skills that I’ve had to continue developing as a law student. I’m grateful that I was able to begin developing these skills as an English major in undergrad, as they have helped me to continue to push my intellectual development. I also still really enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction works for fun outside of school, and feel confident studying any book on my own thanks to the foundational analytical skills that I refined as an English major.”
Insight from Alumni
Tom Howorth, Class of 1976
Architect
“Critical thinking as it is developed studying language and literature is also highly valued in architecture. My advisor and frequent instructor, John Plummer, advised me in a writing class of the importance of separating the acts of writing and editing – to shut down your critical faculties when you are trying to get words onto paper (now, screen). When I began architecture school (and ever since), it took me no time to realize that if I didn’t do the same thing when designing, I would be forever stymied and non-productive.
Like any professional, I write a good bit, and while specification-writing makes the English major in me shudder, I definitely have a leg up when preparing proposals, creating descriptive project narratives, writing a diplomatic note to an anxious client, or dressing down a wayward contractor in my capacity of administering construction contracts. In writing some of those letters, I feel like an underpaid attorney.”
Anne Michelle Manzo, Class of 1992
Epidemiologist
“My studies in English at Vanderbilt provided me with the essential skills and confidence for writing and editing, critical to my acceptance to graduate programs and later employment. However, my initial steps along the higher education path were fraught with unexpected challenges. Transitioning from an under-resourced Appalachian school district to Vanderbilt, I found myself woefully unprepared for rigorous college composition, almost failing in my first year due to the standards of excellence that were beyond my abilities. My professors’ kindness, patience, and expertise were vital in developing my formal writing and study skills throughout that difficult time. Years later, their generous and insightful mentorship remains a source of gratitude for me. Their dedication to bridging educational disparities motivates my continued professional endeavors to develop plain language and health literacy projects in scientific publications, aiming to enhance outcomes for patients and caregivers.”
Angela Playle, Class of 1994
Attorney
“My English major helped immeasurably in preparing me for a successful legal career. The prestige of a Vanderbilt degree, combined with the sophisticated verbal analysis, writing skills, and deep literary knowledge base that accompany a Vanderbilt English education, have enabled me to connect with interviewers, opposing counsel, decision makers, peers, and countless others in both formal written and casual oral communications at every stage of my career. Because of my Vanderbilt English degree, I am confident in my ability to contribute meaningfully to the literary, etymological, orthographic, grammatical, stylistic, and other linguistic discussions that arise with surprising frequency among attorneys. I know that job interviewers will view my academic credentials favorably. Plus, my English education makes me pretty good at all the lit-related questions on Jeopardy!”
Matthew Griner, Class of 1997
High School English Teacher
“It’s been instrumental for me in education, and the Vanderbilt degree definitely got me some interviews I might not have been called in for otherwise. I’ve been the department chair at my large suburban St. Louis high school for ten years now, and I’ve drawn upon some of my knowledge from my English and Secondary Education degrees as we develop new curriculum and negotiate some of the book challenges that have arisen in recent years.”
Julie Sharbutt, Class of 2003
Screenwriter, Director, Actor and Writer
On her career:
“I double majored in Theater and English Literature, and my career journey has turned out to be the most remarkable melding of those worlds. I was an actor, earned my MFA and worked in theater, film and television, all while writing comedy, plays and films, and by the time I became a filmmaker, my practical skill set was replete with all of the passions that had driven me to pursue a career in the arts in the first place. And as much as I love filmmaking and screenwriting, my ability to write humor and prose kept me going in the times when it was impossible, financially, geographically, or during the pandemic, to collaborate with others in person, and I could create work for myself.”
On the major:
“As a student, majoring in English at Vanderbilt, with the guidance and mentorship of the most inspiring professors, activated my already inherent passions. As an alumni, decades out, I think back with constant gratitude and awe to the skills and understanding I developed as a student that continue to inhabit my art, writing and career.”
Flynn Tracy, Class of 2003
Principal, Communications – Amazon
“My English major has been invaluable to developing not only an appreciation of literature but also my written and verbal communication skills, which will always be assets in corporate environments. With the help of my academic background, I’m confident in my abilities to write effectively and interpret language at work, and I don’t feel the need to rely on AI or other writing tools. My major has also cultivated my love of reading (I’m a member of a book club) and my interpersonal skills, which have been critical to serving as a board member for Gilda’s Club Middle Tennessee and navigating situations like networking, job interviews, and community events.”
Ashley Meyer Kilpatrick, Class of 2005
Founder of a Nonprofit Technology Firm
“My Vanderbilt English degree gave me important anchoring to communicate thoughtfully and persuasively on complex topics across many different relationships. It gave me a foundation to leverage art and storytelling in my everyday work – timeless tools in an ever-changing world.”
Christopher Lawrence, Class of 2008
Finance and Investment Management (Real Estate)
“Each chapter of my career has required strong analytical skills, the ability to interpret and convey complex information in intuitive ways, and the ability to communicate with and persuade different audiences in a variety of settings. In my career in investment management, often labeled as an exclusively quantitative field, the ability to interpret quantitative information and weave it into a storyline has been critical. The English curriculum at Vanderbilt helped me develop these skills in ways that are broadly applicable. On a personal level, my time as an English major at Vanderbilt exposed me to different perspectives throughout history that have helped me participate in and interact with the cultural world around me. As a result, I have been able to connect with and draw satisfaction from visual arts, music, film, theater, religion, international experiences, history, current events and other realms at a deeper level. These are all enduring benefits of my time studying English at Vanderbilt, and they have enriched my life and relationships both personally and professionally.”
Randy Wright, Class of 2010
Commercial Real Estate Developer
On his career:
“The ability to write and edit at a high level is still in very high demand in most professions–even ones you might not suspect. My training in writing at Vandy made me stand out even from the very beginning of my career in finance and commercial real estate. Those skills I learned at Vandy are still indispensable and exceedingly rare in today’s elite professions.”
On the major:
“My English studies at Vandy fed a general enthusiasm and hunger for art and text. Our senior honors thesis in particular has been critical to my understanding of ideas in the modern world. That was my introduction to ideas like postmodernism, critical justice theory, semiotics, and other ideas that undergird so much of the discourse today. I just would not be able to understand the world in the same way without having studied these ideas.”
Justin Barisich, Class of 2011
Associate Creative Director, Copy
On his career:
“Being able to think and communicate clearly, creatively, strategically, and succinctly—all at the same time—is a rare skill in the workforce these days. Even the advertising and marketing world that I work in today is no exception. But, being an English major in college helped me hone my skills of intaking, processing, and quickly making sense of complex documents and information—all so that I could find the “golden nugget” within them to produce effective, impactful, creative writing that simultaneously achieves the client’s goals right alongside our agency’s.”
On the major:
“There’s always a story. If you haven’t found it yet, then look more closely, listen for longer, and start asking better questions. Being an English major not only taught me this, but trained me in this type of thinking—to be endlessly curious and to dig beneath the surface.”
Amanda Dail, Class of 2013
Lead Accounting and Finance Function at a hard cider company
“An English degree teaches fundamental skills – how to articulate that complex topic into an easily digestible couple of bullets, how to write a compelling position or argument, and more. My English degree has been instrumental in my career, and it has been a competitive advantage in the world of finance.”
Kathryn Williams, Class of 2015
Book Editor at National Geographic Kids
“I loved my English degree. In addition to being a fun and intellectually rigorous program, it gave me practical skills that helped my career. As a book editor, I give and receive a lot of critical feedback on manuscripts—a skill I honed in Vanderbilt’s creative writing workshops.”