After Macalester

Storytelling, communication, research, and textual analysis are at the heart of many professions, including law, medicine, and education. In our English department, you’ll hone those skills and find that it’s possible to forge a path from here into fulfilling dreams that include anything from advocacy work to publishing your first novel. Recent alumni work in communications, public policy, environmental conservation, publishing, nonprofit fundraising, teaching, technology, community activism, arts administration, journalism, music production, theater, and law. An English degree at Macalester can take you almost anywhere you want to go—and point you down rewarding paths you didn’t even know existed.

What are English Alums involved in?

Graduate School

Joe Petersdorf ’24, MFA in poetry at Columbia University.

Julian Applebaum ’23 – MA in Socio-legal Research at the University of Oxford.

Sydney Jones ’23 – Master of Regional Planning at Cornell.

Mae Sullivan ’23 – Clinical PsyD at Loyola University of Maryland.

Elyssa Cook ‘ 22 – MFA in poetry at Oregon State University.

Lillith Duquette ’22 – MA in Library Science University of Strathclyde, Scotland.

Dalton Greene ’22 – MA/Ph.D. in English at the University of Maryland.

Ngoc Pham ’22 – MFA in Poetry at Cornell.

Kira Schukar ’22 – MA in the Humanities at the University of Chicago.

Rachel Warshaw ’22 – MA in Poetry and Prose at the University of Manchester followed by
MFA, Prose at University College Dublin.

Betsy Barthelemy ’21 – MA in School Counseling in Colorado.

Conor Broderick ’21 – Chemistry Program at UC Berkeley.

Zoelle Collins ’21 – MFA, Children’s Literature and Illustration at Hollins University.

Nicole Donaire ’21 – MA in Counseling Program at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.

Noel Reiling ’21 – Masters in Creative Writing at the University College Cork, Ireland.

Gianella Roja ’21 – MFA in fiction at the University of Miami.

Amy Vandervelde ’21 – Ph.D. in Classical Philology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ben White ’21 – Law School at Univerity of Minnesota.

Koada Heacock ’20 – MFA, Poetry at Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Xavier Xin ’20 – Ph.D. Program in Literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

Miriam Moore-Keish ’19 – Children’s Literature Program at Cambridge.

Ariana Hones ’18 – Masters of Divinity at Yale.

Adrianna Jereb ’18 – MFA, Fiction at Washington University in Saint Louis.

Lauren Forrow ’18 – Law School at Boston University.

Zeena Fuleihan ’18 – Ph.D. in Literature at Duke University.

Nathan Vinehout Kane ’18 – Creative Writing and Environmental Studies at Iowa State.

M.L. Kenney ’18 – MA Education at Johns Hopkins.

Morgan Malatesta ’18 – MSW at University of Illinois – Chicago.

Ava Bindas ‘17 – Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of California, Davis.

Elizabeth Hallgren ’17 – Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hank (Henry) Hietala ’17 – MFA, Fiction at the University of Michigan.

Beenish Riaz ’17 – Law school at NYU.

Nicole Emanuel ’16 – Master’s program in English at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Karintha Lowe ’16 – American Studies Program at Harvard.

Alexandra McLaughlin ’16 – MFA at Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, Ga.

Kacie Reilly ’16 – MA in Classics at the University of Colorado.

Josh Weiner ’16 – MS in Health Services Research, UMN School of Public Health.

Rachel Rostad ’15 – Master in Public Policy (PPIA Fellow) at Harvard University.

Rachel Wilson ’15 – Ph.D. English, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

Will French ’13 – Education Leadership and Policy Program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Zoe Rodine ’13 – Ph.D. Literature at the University of Minnesota.

Published Work

Katie Woodhouse ’21
Children’s Literature: Batpuppy.

Miriam Elisabeth Moore ’19
Poetry: seeds published by Verbaleyze Press.
              Cherokee Rose published by Finishing Line Press.
              Clearance Philosophy published by Bottlecap Press.

Sarah Richman ’16
Young Adult Fiction: The Cheat published by Lerner Publishing Group.
Young Adult Fiction: Family Ties published by Darby Creek.
Literature: Why America is Losing Its Democracy published by Lulu.com.

Ollie Schminkey ’16
Poetry: Where I Dry The Flowers published by Button Poetry.
Poetry: Dead Dad Jokes published by Button Poetry.

Georgia Cloepfil ’14
Literature: The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game published by Riverhead Books.

Hannah Rasmussen ’14
Young Adult: Good News About Gender: A Bible Study for Young Adults published by Christians for Biblical Equality.

Anna Waggener ’12
Adult Fiction: Grim published by Scholastic Press.

Kate Willingham ’11
Poetry: Unlikely Designs published by University of Chicago Press.

Jeremy Meckler ’11
Film Analysis with Matt Levine: Still Dots by Colpa Books.

Lara Avery ’10
Young Adult Fiction: Anything but Ordinary, The Memory Book and A Million Miles Away.

Ben Voigt ’10
Poetry: Postpastoral at Poetry Online

Georgia Faust ’08
Poetry: Too Big to Fail published by Metatron.

Jesse Sawyer ’07
Fiction: Sunset Riders printed by Bookmobile.

Peter Bognanni ’01
Fiction: The House of Tomorrow published by Berkley Books.
Movie: The House of Tomorrow from Shout! Factory Studio.
Young Adult Fiction: Things I’m Seeing Without You published by Dial Books.
Young Adult Fiction: This Book is Not Yet Rated  published by Penguin Random House.

Amy Thielen ’97
Cookbook: The New Midwestern Table published by Clarkson/Potter.
Memoir: Give a Girl a Knife published by Clarkson/Potter.

Bao Phi ’97
Poetry books: Sông I Sing and Thousand Star Hotel published by Coffee House Press.
Children’s book: A Different Pond published by Capstone.

Rachel Gold ’93
Young Adult Fiction published by Bella Books
      just girls
     My Year Zero
     nico & tucker
     being emily
     in the silences
     synclair
     Curious Minds

Stephen Drury Smith ’82
Non-fiction: The First Lady of Radio: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Historic Broadcasts published by The New Press.

---

Past English majors include many notable authors including Tim O’Brien ’68, Charles Baxter ’69, and Mary Karr ’76 as well as the published authors listed above. English majors also pursue careers in a variety of areas such as academia, teaching, publishing, marketing, law, non-profit administration, and social service.

Careers/Pathways

Bethany Catlin ’19 Legal Assistant at Walthe-Goss.

Claire Gillen ’19 Peace Corps.

Jen Katz ’19 Teaching at Cow Tipping Press.

Honor Murphy ’19 Development position at College Possible.

Spencer Brownstein ’18 Video Editor at Button Poetry, MPLS.

Claire Dee ‘18 Teaching English in France.

Brian Fox ‘18 Post Baccalaureate Position in the Macalester Theater Department – Sets.

Ariana Hones ‘18 Youth Development Specialist with the Peace Corps in Morocco.

Colby King ’18 Teaching fellow at Kipp Academy in Massachusetts.

Kaia Lund ‘18 Finance Director for Radinovich for Congress, Minnesota.

Tracy Pham ‘18 Neighborhood House Children’s Activities Coordinator.

John Ratz ’18 Technical Writer at EPIC, Madison, Wisconsin.

Austin Burrows ’17  Cardiology Internship at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Mass.

Ginny Lee ’17 Assistant language teacher through Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

Nathan Are ’16 Interim director at Family Ministries in New York.

Aparna Mazumdar ’16  Teaching at Teaching Assistant Program in France.

Sarah Richman ’16 Development and Communications Manager at 826DC, Washington, DC.

Amanda Zimmerman ‘16 Paralegal at a law firm in Wayzata, MN.

Alexander Ropes ’16  Research on PTSD at JJP VA in the Bronx.

Zoe Rodine ’13 Director of University Programs and Partnership at the Playwrights’ Center, MPLS.

Graham Sutherland ’13 Development Manager for Reading Partners, Twin Cities.