Faculty Shout-out by Professor Divya Victor:
“I wish I had met Nina sooner in her my time at MSU. Her thinking and adventurous creative spirit have expanded my approach to teaching; her presence in our Advanced Poetry class made my daily labor as a teacher so rewarding. Her insights into poems, her openness to news ways of approaching atypical media, her spirited welcoming of the new idea into a collective space have all inspired me reach further in my pedagogy, assuring me that minds are agile and capable of making unexpected leaps if you set the stage right. I will remain astonished by her original turns of phrase, the scale of her ideational ambition, and her ability to move quotidian events into radiant significance through well-crafted language and image. I am convinced that the world is only now preparing itself for what Nina is about to bring into life with her creative range. I have treasured how consciously she shows her appreciation and gratitude to her peers and me, which demonstrates that talent and compassion go hand in hand.”
How would you describe your time as an English or Film Studies major at MSU?
Simply put: rewarding and worthwhile. I have been able to meet and learn from so many people with a lot of passion for writing (faculty and peers alike). There is an immense amount of support from the department, and I felt sturdy on my feet throughout my entire time as an English major.
Which classes, instructors, or experiences particularly stand out for you and why? How did they prepare you for the next phase of your life?
The Seminar in Literary Editing and Publishing for the Red Cedar Review was a really important class for me. It gave me a chance to work as a member of a team on a project that mattered beyond the classroom. Working with a group of people to create a home for a stranger’s work of art gave me a previously unknown understanding of the skills I already have and roles I am able to take up within a team. I’d also like to give a quick thanks to professors Timothy Conrad, Janine Certo, Kate Birdsall, and Divya Victor. Their enthusiasm for their students has done more for me than I can put into words here.
What advice would you give future English or Film Studies majors, based on your experiences in the department?
Talk to other students in the English department! As a Creative Writing student, I think you should get as involved with other writers as you can while you’re here. The accessibility of other people with similar goals and aspirations is much too valuable to let slip. Approach your time here with as much excitement as you can–you will get out what you put in.
What coursework-related projects were/are you working on this year, and what interests or excites you about them? (capstone courses, honors thesis, independent studies, etc.)
I took two poetry classes this year and found an adoration for the medium I didn’t know I had. I have been infatuated with words for so long, and poetry gives me a chance to hyper-analyze language in a way that may be seen as excessive elsewhere. Learning poetry–how to read it, how to speak it, how to write it, how to live it–has changed the way I look at the world around me for the better. It emphasizes an intense care for language, something that I think we tend to take for granted in our day to day lives.
What are your hopes and aspirations, post-graduation?
I hope to find work that connects people, whether that looks like working in publishing, in a library, or with a nonprofit. Beyond that, I just want to keep on writing and learning (and then writing some more, and learning some more).