Annual English Graduate Student Teaching Award Recipients Announced

The Department of English and Philosophy is pleased to announce the winners of its annual Graduate Student Teaching Awards, which recognize English graduate students’ excellence in the ISU classroom. This year the department has selected two winners and one honorable mention, all the Ph.D. level.

The co-winners of the award are Elizabeth Olaoye and Paul Williams. Olaoye completed her B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Ibadan, and has recently defended her dissertation, “‘I Know Why Lagos Women Whistle’ Gendered Representations of Lagos in Contemporary Nigerian Narratives.” With teaching experience in a wide range of ISU English classes, from Writing and Rhetoric I to Literature and Gender and Genre Studies in Fiction, she is well-known as a supportive instructor who values a collaborative, inclusive classroom. As Olaoye notes, “I appreciate the boundless growth opportunities that [the Ph.D.] program affords an international scholar like me!”

Paul Williams received his B.A. in history and English education at Brigham Young University-Idaho, and his M.A. in English at Idaho State University in 2018, where he is currently a PhD candidate. In addition to first-year writing, he has taught Introduction to Literary Analysis, a survey of American literature, and a course on literary theory. In all of his courses, he prioritizes critical thinking and rhetorical action as important components of students’ education and citizenship.

The committee also recognized Ph.D. student Suparna Sinha with an honorable mention. Sinha is a first-year Ph.D. student, having completed her M.A. in English Literature in India, and was a tutor and independent researcher prior to attending ISU. She is currently teaching Writing and Rhetoric II as well as a course in literary theory, the latter as part of the Ph.D.’s distinctive internship program, in which Ph.D. students co-teach courses with members of the English graduate faculty to develop their pedagogy in a wider variety of classroom settings.

The Department of English and Philosophy has four graduate programs: a Ph.D. in English and the Teaching of English, an M.A. in English, an accelerated B.A./M.A. in English, and a graduate certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. More information about these programs is available on the English website: isu.edu/english.