Student Voices

Scott Reznick, ‘ M’12, English
Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Plattsburgh

“Though it likely sounds exaggerated or cliché, the master’s program in English at Trinity College most certainly changed my life.

“From a career standpoint, the top-notch professors provided me with the training, mentorship, and support I needed to transition from a job in the business world to a career in academia. But that statement doesn’t do justice to what I experienced in the intimate classroom settings each week, for it was among Trinity’s welcoming intellectual community and the literary works we pored over each week that I discovered who I truly was and the larger role that I wanted both literature and education to play in my life. Trinity’s knowledgeable, supportive professors helped me to develop the skills I needed down the road, both in the doctoral program I went on to after graduating from Trinity and in my new career as an English professor. But they also opened up whole new perspectives on the world and the role that art and literature play in it.

“Simply put: I would not be where I am today without Trinity’s master’s program, and I recommend that anyone interested in pursuing their intellectual curiosity or looking to have new opportunities opened for them consider [Trinity’s] programs.”

Matthew Solek, M’22, English

“As an Administrative Lieutenant in a busy police department, I conduct research, speak publicly, and write nearly constantly, and studying at Trinity elevated all of those skills for me, and much more.

“Entering Trinity after an over 10-year break from getting my undergraduate degree was a little daunting at first, but one of the first classes that made the graduate program accessible to me was “Introduction to Research Methods.” Explaining the expectations and outlines of the program was an enormous help, and for the first few semesters, the support I got from faculty and advisers at Trinity was key.

“As a busy professional and a parent, my time while I was studying at Trinity was extremely limited, and I sought help from the Writing Center and library research assistants on a regular basis to stay on track and current with assignments. However, I noticed that as I got closer to completion of my master’s degree, the same advisers and faculty I had worked with since I started began to push me academically and encourage me to take a bigger responsibility in creating my own content and allowed me to curate my own field of study within the English Department. The wide diversity of classes I got to take at Trinity was astonishing—everything from prison literature to gender studies to American literature and compositional studies—and they all impacted how I created my final capstone project.”

Jia Yu, M’17, English

“After graduating from Trinity, I worked as an English teacher and counselor in a private high school in Dongguan, China. The language and cultural competencies I acquired at Trinity also provided me with invaluable skills to help my students prepare for their college life in the United States.

“At Trinity, I benefited from learning with professors who are experts in their fields. Professor Bilston led the students through the history of Victorian literature and explored questions about feminism and history in Victorian literature in “Woman and Empire.” In Professor James [Prakash] Younger’s Dickens/Chaplin course, his expertise in cinema led students to see interesting connections between literary works and films.

“I also learned how to be a better teacher from the professors at Trinity College. In these courses, the professors’ approaches to literature were interdisciplinary and creative, which showed me how to engage with students via challenging readings. In a modern poetry course, Professor Rosen used paintings, films, and music to compare poetry and parallel arts of its time. In an American modernism class, Professor Mrozowski led the students into the postwar American literary world with rich analyses of posters, films, and magazines. In seminar-oriented courses, theories of language and culture started to make sense as I saw how peers connected them with American pop culture. The interdisciplinary nature of the classes motivated me to use a variety of teaching methods and assignments to teach students struggling with challenging readings.

“Trinity is a place for anyone considering a career in education or literature. The professors I had here are deeply interested in bringing forth the best of every student. The training Trinity offers helps to develop strong core skills, such as reading, analysis, and critical thinking, which are necessary and can be applied in so many different contexts, from education to business.”