Stephen F. Austin State University

Alumni

If you are an alum of the Linguistics Minor at SFA and would like to be included on this page, please email Dr. Jessie Sams at samsj@sfasu.edu.

Lindsey Antonini

Lindsey is currently an MA candidate researching idiomatic and proverbial expressions through the framework of Construction Grammar and Lexical Semantics at The University of Georgia. She is also an instructor for Introduction to Linguistics (LING 2100) and is getting ready to apply for PhD programs in Linguistics this fall.

"The Haya data is a useful tool when discussing familial variations and typological analyses of proposed theoretical universals. The rigor of the typological aspects of the Invented Languages course, combined with the process of building a language based in reality from its phonemes to its pragmatics, is a type of structured methodology that is rarely employed in other courses, but it is one that I practice almost every day. The care and professionalism of my former linguistics professors is a model on which I base my own scholastic expectations. Their dedication to my career certainly taught me how to be an academic and not just a student."

Laura Hartford

Laura is currently a reading/writing tutor for young children and is looking into various publishing programs in the hopes of one day becoming an editor.

"My minor has been a huge benefit in qualifying me for the job I do now and hopefully the one in my future. Linguistics helped me out a great deal with understanding grammar, which allows me to teach my students how to improve their writing. It also helps me teach reading and spelling by breaking down words and learning to recognize their morphemes in order to understand the word as a whole. I can't tell you how many of my students didn't understand how affixes worked until I taught them that each part of a word has its own meaning. Linguistics has changed my life by helping me recognize my passions, and the SFA linguistics program has definitely been a significant stepping stone to helping me achieve my goals."

Allison Nichols

Allison has just been accepted into Hofstra's MA program in Forensic Linguistics and will start her degree there in the fall.

"My Linguistics Minor gave me direction, a career path. My professors have become people I can turn to for advice and guidance, even after graduation."

Clare Reeves

Clare is currently in grad school for a Masters in English. Her foci are Rhetoric and Composition and British Literature.

"My understanding of English, both structurally and historically, has been very helpful in some of my classes, especially the classes on teaching and assessment, because I can explain why I would grade a certain way, and I find I understand what people may be doing linguistically in their writing, for example dialectal differences and historical usage. From classes like Psycholinguistics, I have an insight into students' language use, and this helps me work with students instead of being prescriptive with a red pen. I find my work in Forensic Linguistics, working with the applied aspect of linguistics, helps me in my research and grad level Linguistics classes. The critical analysis aspects of all these classes helps me in my analysis and works well with my English training. I have felt very fortunate to have these classes because I do not feel behind. I feel prepared. In addition, I work at the Writing Center, and I find that my linguistic knowledge fits very well there. I can understand language usage and writing differences, use structural knowledge to help students understand grammar, and dialectal and academic conventions to help students adapt to writing at the college level. I plan on getting a Masters in Psychology next and look forward to exploring how linguistic knowledge will interact with this subject."

Zanne R. Tarlow

Zanne is currently working at her family's glass art studio in Austin. She has, however, just been accepted to the MA Sociolinguistics program at the University of Essex in Colchester, England.

"The [linguistics] minor and its professors have introduced me to previously unknown paths to make a career in a field that I am passionate about, that being nonprofit work (particularly with human rights/equality and animal rescues)."

Kelsey Treusdell

Kelsey is finishing up her first year of her Masters at Indiana University and is getting ready to finish the degree at SFA.

"I was so fortunate to be able to graduate with the linguistics minor when the program first began. It piqued my interest and opened the door for me to start pursuing these topics at a deeper level. While the program [was] young [when I began the minor], the courses offered are high-quality and enriching and cover a wide range of topics that you might not be able to find elsewhere, like psycholinguistics and forensic linguistics, and this really gave me an appreciation for what a rich field this is. Now that I have that base, I hope to continue learning and take advantage of some exciting opportunities in linguistics."