"Since graduating with my MA degree from Buffalo State College, I have been teaching within a local city school district as a middle school English teacher. I have found it to be both a challenging and rewarding experience.
The MA degree has inspired me to continue my educational goals and seek additional degrees and certifications for my current field of employment. The MA degree process has provided me with the necessary skills to succeed both professionally and academically.
The skills, tools, and resources gained through this program have proven to be essential to my success not only in the short term, but for my long term career and life goals as well. My current career advancements would not be possible without the completion of this program."
"After receiving my master of arts in English from Buffalo State, I jumped into a career in education that spans 8 years. I have been teaching English at Benedict College in Columbia, SC, as a full-time instructor of English, where I teach undergraduate courses in Composition and Rhetoric and Literature and advise students in English and Mass Communication. The level of instruction from my graduate professors prepared me to take on not only academic roles in teaching and creative writing, but also pursue roles in administration, curriculum design, content specialist, editing, blogging, and more recently my venture into web-content development. One of the most useful things I learned from my professor’s in the English Department was not only in the practice of research and literature, but to hone in on my skill set in and around English and use it to my advantage. All of my professors had a niche that made them more marketable and unique and for this I am grateful.
I hope to continue my trajectory in higher education and move into administrative roles at the senior level. I will always be a lover of writing and miss sharing my work with my peers at Buff State. If you are considering a program that is rigorous, supportive, and exposes you to a lot, I highly recommend Buff State’s Graduate Program in English."
"Buffalo State was a wonderful academic and creative experience for me.
I had amazing professors, including Dr. Jennifer Ryan, Dr. Karen Sands-O'Connor, Dr. Peter Ramos, and Dr. Barish Ali, who provided me with life-changing mentoring that helped me take the next steps of publishing articles, entering the Fordham English PhD program, and publishing my first book of poetry.
I also really enjoyed the literary trip to London that I took through the school. We are still telling stories about it."
"Having graduated with an English BS in secondary education from Buffalo State in 2008, I completed my MA in English in 2011. I did this while working as a full-time teacher, taking evening courses after the long and exhausting days of my first few years teaching.
Despite my fatigue, I looked forward to the invigorating discussions and academic rigor at Buffalo State. The professors created an environment that was warm and friendly. Classes often felt like a group of friends discussing good books but remained challenging, encouraging intellectual risk-taking and serious, critical thinking. It's an environment that I strive for in my own classroom."
"My passion for reading and writing led me to Buffalo State's English MA program.
I quickly found myself exploring literature to an extent I had never imagined. I remember the two years that followed as the highlight of my educational career. I have fond memories of classroom discussions blossoming and becoming so exciting and expansive that I was torn between contributing my own input and listening to the fascinating ideas coming from my colleagues and professors. These were, on several occasions, discussions that continued on walks home from campus and into the weekends, and they often never really ended.
The professors who facilitated these discussions were instrumental in my decision to become an educator. My studies at Buffalo State culminated in an independent study abroad with my cohort. This unforgettable journey brought us across England: to London, Wales, Liverpool, and the University of Cambridge. The opportunity to connect firsthand with the writing we had just studied—Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, T.S. Eliot, and so many others —was an invaluable experience.
Since completing my MA, I have earned an additional degree in education. I have worked as a high school and middle school teacher in Buffalo and in New Haven, Connecticut, where I currently live with my wife and son. Upon moving to New Haven, I secured a full-time language arts teaching position almost immediately. In a competitive job market, a master's degree in my content area sets me apart from many other candidates.
I am presently employed as a reading interventionist, which allows me to provide daily support to students who struggle with reading and writing. This position requires that I select my own instructional materials and build my class' curriculum and therefore draws constantly on my background in both literature and education. I incorporate a variety of different media to build and reinforce reading strategies."
"I am a writing coordinator at Hilbert College. I genuinely enjoy what I do, and I love working with our students and my fellow faculty and staff.
Aside from teaching composition, I do an extensive amount of mentoring. I spend a lot of time with students one on one. While this is usually accomplished by a student tutor or a professional tutor at other schools, in my position, I am able to work closely with faculty to ensure proper mentoring of certain assignments, as well as with other support staff in cases where a student has a variety of circumstances detracting from his or her success. My current "baby" is working with our developmental writing students. While the population is small, we are experimenting with just-in-time remediation, as opposed to a developmental course. I am doing a lot of assessment, as well as facilitating the writing labs.
All to say, as a graduate student, I never really imagined that I would hold a position like this. To be frank, I was never even aware that developmental courses existed. I just always assumed that I would go out and teach literature courses for ever and ever. Now, I find myself working to help students who genuinely have the most need, and it is extremely gratifying.
While it was hard at first, I took the time to make sure I was doing the best for my students by reading about dev ed best practices, re-working my class materials, and paying very close attention to what would help students to get the skills they needed to become successful college writers. This escalated to my taking post-bac classes at Texas State University in Developmental Education. They are only one of three programs in the nation offering post-grad coursework in the area, and I learned an immense amount of information from my colleagues there. I am very grateful for the experiences I had in the English Department at Buffalo State. I was able to understand what a learning environment in higher ed should be like, and I was able to then facilitate that environment for my students."
"Originally from Rochester, NY, I am currently pursuing my PhD in English literature at the University of Arizona. I earned my BA in English literature from SUNY Geneseo and MA in English lit from Buffalo State College, where I won the Award for Excellence in English and the Outstanding Thesis Award.
In the summers of 2013 and 2014, I assisted Barish Ali with his study abroad program in Istanbul, Turkey. I also taught English and writing courses at Buffalo State College after earning my degree.
In addition to providing brilliant instruction, the English professors at Buffalo State are very approachable, caring, and willing to help. I would not be where I am today without them!"
