Alumni Career Profiles
In response to questions submitted by members of the Student Advisory Board, the English Department alumni-all members of our Alumni Outreach Board-have prepared the following career profiles, which explain their current occupations, career paths, and the relevance of the English major to their work today. We hope that reading these profiles will give you some idea of the range of options available to English majors, and some of the steps you'd need to take to pursue and succeed at certain careers.

2005 - 2006 Alumni Board Members Career Profiles

Jeannine Atkins	Author	B.A. 1980
Ted Buswick	Oral Historian & Archivist and Director of Publications, Boston Consulting Group	B.A. 1967
Susan M. Hammond	Director of Advising Support Services, Roger Williams University	B.A. 1977
Frank Hertz	Co-founder and managing partner of Financial Media Holdings Group	B.A. 1993
Alan Hurvitz	IBM Global Services Global Marketing Manager	B.A. 1972
Alexandra Kennedy	VP, Editorial Director for the Family & Children's Magazine Group, Disney Publishing	M.F.A. 1988
Erik P. Kimball	Attorney	B.A. 1987
Bruce M. Penniman	Teacher and Site Director of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project	B.A. 1971; M.A. 1974
Margaret Powell	Administrative Assistant , American University	B.A. 2000
Laura M. Stock	Attorney	B.A. 1998

Jeannine Atkins

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I write books for children, mostly, and some fiction for adults.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
Writing for children means I must consider language and the shapes of sentences every day. I also do research, drawing on the library skills I developed as a student.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I taught high school English for a year before going to grad school.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
Teaching and test-correcting and writing.

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
Practice teaching through the School of Education gave me a pretty realistic picture of what teaching would be like, though, of course, Springfield was quite different than Amherst.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I hated to leave my work study job at the MASS REVIEW, knowing it might be the best job I'd ever have! Even besides getting to hear advice from John Hicks and Bob Tucker, it was great preparation for a career sending out manuscripts as I observed the role of luck and numbers and most of all persistence in a writer's career. I.E. I learned that while editors were smart and well-meaning and caring, they were not gods, always a good thing for a writer to know.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through
Don't feel you should apologize for being an English major. Not enough people read and write enough; you are doing what many others wish they could do, and growing as a person. That is so cool!

Ted Buswick

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
At The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) I have two positions: I am BCG's oral historian and archivist in our marketing & communications group, and director of publications for our Strategy Institute. I manage our oral history process and conduct the interviews, and have devised and manage a new archiving program; in The Strategy Institute I manage an R&D project and assist others as a writer, editor, and in-house agent. I have been at BCG since November, 1992, in various editing and writing positions.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
As a high school English teacher, acquisitions editor with a leading publisher, director of product development for management training materials with a professional society, and in my current work, I have always been writing and evaluating the writing of others. All my positions have required superior analytical, problem solving, and communications skills; I was helped greatly by my English courses and my work in theatre while at UMass. The types of generic analytical and problem-solving skills developed by English majors are readily transferable to many jobs.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I taught high school English and speech at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Massachusetts, and began a theatre program there.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
See #2 for major jobs. For shorter periods of time I sold computers and software, ghost wrote a book for a management consultant, worked in technology transfer, and was a consultant.

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
I expected to teach high school while earning a Masters in English, then move on to college teaching, but by the time I earned the Masters, a move to the college level would have required a pay cut. After 15 years, when I left teaching for the "real world," I learned that teaching and the classroom were just as real. I was surprised to learn how many people couldn't seem to handle more than one task at a time; a teacher naturally deals with multiple tasks simultaneously.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I was active in at least one play every semester I was on campus, usually on stage. This was of great use for developing poise, discipline, and communication skills. It also gave me the basics for organizing and running a successful high school theatre program. In addition to applying those skills professionally every day, I began a dinner theatre in my church that is still running today, 25 years later.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Follow what you love in your coursework. Be more concerned with "learning" and being well rounded than in preparing yourself for a specific job. Look for extracurricular activities and/or a job while in college that will be enjoyable and help develop skills you expect to need. Upon graduation, before accepting what you hope will be a long-term job in a field, talk with people who work in that area.

Susan M. Hammond

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
As Director of Advising Support Services, I am responsible for the development of a comprehensive advisement program. Additionally, I manage a staff of 50 peer mentors, two professional staff, and manage the current campus effort to institute a credited First Year Experience program.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
As an undergraduate in the English Department, I had wonderful faculty who served as teachers and mentors. In class and my own study, I learned about voice, audience, and the close reading of any written material. I learned to defend my position, and how to do research. In my job as a higher education administrator, I write proposals, reports, letters, reviews, recommendations, and evaluations - just about every kind of business writing one could imagine. As an undergraduate, I acquired writing skills that have served me very well throughout my career. The ability to understand what someone else has written, and is saying, also comes from years spent reading, analyzing and discussing literary texts.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
When I graduated, I assumed I would be part of a world-wide socialist revolution! (The foolishness of youth!) I took a job as a clerical worker, and organized a clerical worker's union. When reality set in, I investigated graduate school. After working for several years at Umass first as a clerical worker then as a career counselor, I completed a graduate degree, which allowed me to move forward with a career in higher education.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
Operations Manager in a small custom software company
Assistant Editor at the BBC Publications office in London, England
Career Counselor
Assistant Director, and then Director of a Career Services Office at UMass (in the College of Humanities & Fine Arts)

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
Originally, I intended to enter a doctoral program in English, and then pursue a tenure-tracked position in the academy. However, after observing what it takes to complete a PhD in the humanities, and the very harsh reality of the job market (it has been shrinking steadily for the past 15 years) I chose a different path. In retrospect, it was the best decision for me. I have had a wonderful career that has allowed me to take on the roles of counselor, advisor, instructor, manager, program developer and researcher.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
Actually, the work I did in left-wing politics was perhaps one of the most important experiences of my life. Through that experience, I have an analysis of the world and how it works that provides understanding of not only international politics, but additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the politics of the workplace. I did not participate in any internships. I did participate in theatre and music, which was a terrific outlet and has become a life long love of mine.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
1. Take your grades very seriously. Grades matter, performance counts. Graduate schools and employers will look closely at them.

2. Don't be intimidated by family/friends/peers who suggest that the study of English is a worthless pursuit. It is perhaps the most solid foundation from which to launch any career of your choosing.

3. Having said that, it is important to remember that career development is a very, very crooked line. It takes 10-15 years to find your "niche". Furthermore, if the research on the dynamics of today's job market has any credence at all, graduating college students today will complete up to 8 different careers before retirement. That's a lot of skills acquisition.

4. Do internships and co-ops. Pre-professional work experience enhances and augments your degree.

5. Learn to market the skills and experience of Bartlett Hall classrooms!! Employers love to hear how the study of Shakespeare taught you good management skills!

6. Don't underestimate the value of mathematics, statistics and foreign languages. I struggle to this day with statistical data (writing it, analyzing it, using it). I wish I spoke a foreign language. In a global marketplace, these skills are critical.

7. Finally, remember that an engineer can only ever be just an engineer. An English major, with the right pre-professional training or advanced degree, can be anything she or he wants to be!!

Frank Hertz

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
Co-founder, managing partner of Financial Media Holdings Group, which publishes a magazine called Compliance Week. I am responsible for the overall operation of the company, finances, product development, and other tasks. But I also do quite a bit of editing on both our monthly print magazine and our Web site.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
As an editor and businessperson, my ability to communicate well is my most important asset. As my parents have always said, unless you have a very particular special interest, an English major is the only way to go.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
Worked as an editorial assistant for a trade publishing company.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
- Paralegal (ugh.)
- Waiter (unoriginal, huh?)
- Entrepreneur
- Assistant editor at trade publication
- Freelance writing
- Launched (and became editor of) Boston Globe's online news operation

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
Not sure I remember what my job expectations were exactly. As a graduate of PWTC, I probably had expectations that matched pretty close to my experiences upon graduation.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I consistently rank my 2-year stint as a driver for UMass Transit as my "favorite job ever." I also count my four years at UMass as wonderfully formative and enlightening. I met so many different and interesting people that I think it has enriched and broadened my experience ever since.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Meet as many different types of people as possible, and take the most interesting electives you can find. And go hang out with John Nelson - he's the best!

Alan Hurvitz

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I joined IBM in March, 2000, literally days before the Internet bubble began to burst. Until recently, I led and worked on teams that developed complex technology solutions for our largest customers, primarily in the financial services industry. For instance, I helped banks use technology to sell additional products and services to their customers. Although the solutions were technology-based, my role was business-focused. I developed relationships with key customers, worked to understand their challenges, and determined how IBM could help. I worked with our client teams to develop and sell our solution. The role was incredibly challenging and a great way to channel my creativity.

In February, 2005, I became the IBM Global Services Global Marketing Manager for the insurance industry. This is straight-up Fortune 100 corporate marketing, something I've never done before. My primary responsibilities include market analysis, competitive analysis and strategy, developing value propositions to support our services offerings, and working across the global marketing organization to help coordinate our efforts. I thrive on change and new learning opportunities, so IBM is a great fit for my working style as I have the opportunity to explore completely new roles within the same company. In five short years, I've had five distinct job roles across three different divisions that span every industry IBM serves.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
The skills I learned as an English major are invaluable and completely relevant to every job I've ever had. In case you missed that, the skills I learned as an English major are invaluable and completely relevant to every job I've ever had. First, with respect to most every professional career, people will read what you write and judge what you wrote. The most common way people meet professionally is via email or other form of written communication. So, before people ever meet you, they will form an opinion about you based on the quality of your work. A well-written document sets a positive first impression and distinguishes you from your peers. Second, for the rest of your career you will read and assess what others write and make those same judgments. Being able to critically read and assess someone else's work is equally as important as writing your own. Third, the skills you learn as an English major involve critical, abstract thinking that draws on your creativity and imagination. Fresh, out-of-the-box thinking is rewarded in the work-a-day world. Fourth, being an English major exposes you to the way very different people think and view the world. That breadth of experience is valued in professional life. There may not be many professional opportunities to recite Shakespearian sonnets, but reading and writing, creatively developing ideas and presenting them in a structured fashion, are activities you will likely perform daily and speak to the very fabric of professional life.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I lived in Northampton and concurrently managed an auto parts store in Hadley, rented small refrigerators to dorm students in the Five College area, and wrote book reviews for a Springfield, MA newspaper. I enjoyed living in the Pioneer Valley, so sticking around for a couple of years after graduation was a lot of fun.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
While my career path may appear haphazard and disjointed, there are two clear and common threads that tie everything together. Honest. First, I am bored by daily work routines and excited and confident about tackling new and challenging tasks. So, every job I ever pursued was preceded by the thought, "hmm… yeah, I could do that." Second, most of the new jobs came out of relationships I established in the old jobs. While I'm reluctant to suggest a similar professional path, it is worth noting that in your professional (and private) life, people will watch what you do. If they like what they see, they will think of you when opportunities arise. I was always on the lookout for new challenges, so fostering relationships naturally led to interesting opportunities.

I was lured to Boston two years after graduating by an offer to manage a small chain of retail pharmacies. That opportunity dissolved within six months, however, making a very long story very short, I ended up owning and operating two of the stores for about five years. Bored by that routine, I applied to, and was accepted by, Harvard Business School. After receiving my MBA, I joined a heavy-equipment manufacturing firm as the Chief Operating Officer. I left that job to become the VP of Finance and Administration at a regional insurance agency. Rather whimsically (having taken only one accounting course ever), I was offered and accepted the position of Chief Financial Officer at a large commercial printer. I left that job to become the VP of Client Relations at a software company. From there, I joined a technology consulting firm as a Director and ran various parts of the business. Which two years later opened a door at IBM. With the variety of internal options available, my intention is to work at IBM until I retire.

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
"The Plan" when I was at UMass was to go to SUNY Buffalo, study literary criticism with Leslie Fiedler, and become a college professor. The small problem of actually making a living got in the way. So, the "real world" won. In retrospect, while I occasionally wonder what it would have been like to follow that path, I love where life has taken me. And perhaps most important, I discovered that I didn't have to abandon "The Plan" entirely, just adapt to circumstances. Over the years, I've written for a magazine (a childhood dream), developed and taught a few courses, and recently started taking evening classes and writing fiction.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
My college experience didn't follow the typical trajectory at the time. I was a student in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I was passionately and very actively involved in the progressive political scene at UMass (including a stint in the Student Senate). Those experiences consumed much of my free time and taught me a great deal about having conviction and learning to compromise to drive results. My primary activity outside of politics was working my way through school. While I had a lot of friends and fun at UMass, the financial responsibility kept me focused and busy. More atypically, I got married in my junior year. So traditional internships and extracurricular activities were less a part of my world. While my approach to college life was a bit unconventional, I enjoyed it immensely and worked hard not to grow up too fast.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
My primary advice is study what you love and find courses and activities that excite you. UMass is a great place to be curious, to develop and test your convictions, find a passion, and take reasonable risks. It's a safe environment where you can find your voice, speak your mind, develop a point of view, and express yourself. The courses and extracurricular activities that interest you will form the foundation of your professional and private life. In the real world, outside of business majors and engineers, most people don't "do" what they studied in school. I loved studying English lit at UMass. Truly loved it. Thirty years later I still remember the names of every English professor I had and some of the books I read in those classes are still on my book shelf. Ironically, I entered UMass as an engineering student. I understood the career implications of that decision, but studying calculus and chemistry just felt hollow. I loved freshman English, recognized the disparity, and was smart enough to leave engineering after one semester. Study what you love. It's what you'll remember long after you graduate, it's what will clearly resonate with future employers, and it's what will provide the foundation of your personal growth for years to come.

Alexandra Kennedy

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I am the VP, Editorial Director for the Family & Children's Magazine Group at Disney Publishing Worldwide, which means I oversee the creative execution of three U.S. magazines and their various spin offs (books, websites, foreign editions, TV, products, etc). I have a staff of about 50 (mostly editors and art directors) and growing, in Northampton, and I travel back and forth a lot to our New York headquarters where all of my business colleagues in sales, circulation, etc work.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
Obviously editing magazines and books is closely related to the skills I developed in workshops and as a TA (teaching composition and creative writing) while I was as an MFA student at UMass. More broadly, though, my job as an executive and as a manager is to carefully and passionately advocate for my group and its publications, and that means being able to speak and write clearly and compellingly - a skill you can pick up from great literature and great professors.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
After grad school, I worked as an assistant to an editor at a regional magazine (now defunct). I did a lot of clerical things, but I also got a chance to do some writing, editing, and proofing.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
I eventually moved up through the ranks at the regional magazine, and then moved over to Disney, where I have moved up through the ranks as well. (So I have only worked in two different places in the last 17 years…)

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
I thought I would go on to teach (college), but was rudely awakened when I got my first applications rejected. I then got offered a magazine job, somewhat serendipitously, and never turned back. I had always thought I would not like working in an office, but I actually found I loved the camaraderie.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
As an undergrad and right after, I did a lot of impulsive and seemingly irrelevant jobs - working as a dairy hand, studying organic gardening, teaching survival skills to kids, working in a bread bakery. They were all important, though. They satisfied my restlessness - I was desperate for some real-word experiences and the chance to do physical labor - and they gave me tremendous perspective. Once you have worked as a dairy hand for six months, it is hard to ever complain again that you are overworked…During grad school, I interned at the regional magazine where I was eventually offered a job.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Don't rush into a career. You have your whole life ahead of you. Instead, approach jobs as a chance to learn more about yourself and the world.
Seek out mentors, both while you are in school and when you get your first jobs. Don't be afraid to ask people for advice (it's flattering to them).
In your first job - and beyond - don't see any task as beneath you. Bosses reward those who are willing to pitch in for the greater good (as well as those who are willing to admit that they don't know everything).

Erik P. Kimball

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I am a lawyer with the Florida law firm Akerman Senterfitt. I focus on representing institutional investors, such as mutual fund companies, in connection with failed investments. My work ranges from assisting with minor changes to corporate and municipal bond transactions, to representation of the investors in a borrower's bankruptcy. I have substantial experience as an investment professional in the mutual fund industry and know most of my clients from that part of my career. I also do some traditional corporate bankruptcy work, representing secured creditors (such as bank lenders), creditors' committees, and some corporate debtors (the companies that file bankruptcy). I oversee the work of a number of junior attorneys and paralegals. I appear regularly in Bankruptcy Courts across the country. I am a member of the Board of Governors of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, a leading organization in the municipal market.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
Written and oral communication are very important in my day to day work. In order to do my job effectively, I need to be able to express my thoughts and arguments clearly and convincingly. This requires skills such as the ability to compile multiple, complex concepts in an orderly fashion, and the ability to present such concepts in an easily understandable manner. I also spend much of my day reading - correspondence (more and more electronic correspondence), pleadings, memoranda. The skills I learned as an English major are invaluable. -- In addition, believe it or not, the ability to talk about literature and theater in an intelligent manner is very useful in the business world.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I went directly to law school at Boston College Law School.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
After law school, I was an associate (junior lawyer) at the Boston firm, Hale and Dorr (now Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr). I left Hale and Dorr to work for a mutual fund client, then known as Colonial Management Associates, as an analyst in the municipal department. My responsibilities included overseeing all defaulted municipal investments. Colonial was purchased by Liberty Financial Services (part of Liberty Mutual Insurance). My responsibilities then included a number of management responsibilities, including compliance concerns and trading issues. I left Liberty Funds to return to private legal practice, becoming a shareholder in a Florida firm specializing in finance. I briefly returned to Massachusetts to work for Liberty Funds' successor, Columbia Management Group (now part of Bank of America), to assist their municipal department in connection with a number of merger related issues. In 2003, I returned to Florida and legal practice, joining Florida's largest law firm (now about 420 lawyers).

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
I always thought I would go to law school, but I had no real job expectations until I was a summer associate (a law clerk) for Hale and Dorr during the period between my second and third years of law school. I was blissfully ignorant of the working world. I do not necessarily recommend this as the right way to approach career development.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I believe that a broad-based education is more useful to most students for both personal and professional reasons. A well rounded student is a student that pursues his or her own educational goals for entirely personal reasons. That same student becomes a well rounded person, and employee, who is more likely to think creatively and work well with others. Too many students pursue college education as some sort of expensive trade school. I believe this creates graduates without the depth necessary to work well with, and inspire, their colleagues.

I was an exchange student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, and also attended the Oxford Summer Seminar the previous summer. My year abroad was the most important activity I undertook in college. I was exposed to another culture for an entire year. And I met my wife.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Find something you are interested in, or even passionate about, and focus on that. For me, it was 19th century American literature, and it still is. I've read "Walden" literally dozens of times.

Bruce M. Penniman

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I am a teacher of English at Amherst Regional High School. My job involves planning and teaching courses and lessons, assigning and assessing student work, providing additional assistance to individual students, writing reports for and meeting with parents and counselors, participating in curriculum design work and other committee work on a school and district level.

In my other life I am site director for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, where I am responsible for coordinating a variety of programs for in-service teachers, maintaining the budget, writing grants and reports, and other administrative duties.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
The close reading and conceptual skills I learned as an English major have obviously had a direct impact on my teaching, both on a day-to-day level and when I have participated in the design of courses and programs. Theses skills have also been vital to my analysis and assessment of student work. I also rely on the writing skills I learned as an undergad both in my teaching and in my administrative work, which is probably more writing (letters, e-mails, reports, newsletters, websites, etc.) than anything else.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I began full-time teaching at Amherst Regional Junior High School and High School and started work (part-time) on my M.A. I took two courses with Mason Lowance that year: Early American Literature and Puritanism and the American Experience. Mason is still after me to try to publish the paper I wrote on Washington Irving!

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
I have served as English Department Head for a total of 10 years, and I have twice served as an interim administrator (Instructional Director). Before becoming site director for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, I served as a co-director, a job that included designing and leading summer institutes, giving in-service workshops, etc. I have also been the editor of two professional publications, The Leaflet (New England Association of Teachers of English) and This Is Just to Say (NCTE Assembly on American Literature).

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
I have to say that I didn't really know what to expect (in those days prospective teachers had little preparation before student teaching). I think I imagined myself leading deep discussions of literature to willing scholars. I didn't really know much about "classroom management." My first year of teaching was a rude awakening--the 19070s version of Survivor.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I went home to a part-time job every school vacation (I was putting myself through college), so I never participated in an internship, though I remember longing to go to Oxford (I finally made it to English 15 years after graduation). My main "extra-curricular" activity at UMass was my part-time job at The Massachusetts Review. Working at that office was a huge part of my education--not the work itself (mostly sending out bills and rejections slips) but the atmosphere. Many interesting people passed through that office between 1968 and 1971.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Graduating seniors: Get some hands-on experience ASAP. Don't be in a rush to go to graduate school full time. Also, stay connected with your mentors at UMass, who will be valuable contacts for many years.

Students midway through: Take a well-rounded program of study. Don't worry about specializing in anything as an undergraduate--who knows where you will end up! Find opportunities to do meaningful work (or work in a meaningful place), whether as an employee, intern, or volunteer.

Margaret Powell

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the School of Communication at American University in Washington, DC. I assist with all aspects of Dean Kirkman's schedule, plan meetings, coordinate special events, and assist faculty with special projects.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
During my first few months at National Evaluation Systems, I realized that I'd picked up very strong editing/proofreading skills during college. This was a very useful skill when I need to proofread and edit project related documents. Critical thinking skills have been extremely helpful, and I'm always writing memos and etc, and with the increasing use of e-mail in the office communicating clearly through writing is always important.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
A few months after graduation, I started working as a project assistant (and then Project Manager) at National Evaluation Systems (NES), a company in Hadley that develops and administers teacher certification tests. I was interested in educational publishing and testing materials at the time, and my minor was elementary education, so this was an interesting opportunity to see large testing programs from the inside out (California, Colorado, and Michigan were my team's projects), and realize that I didn't want to work in the business of educational publishing. I stayed with NES for four years.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
NES was my first job after graduation, AU is my second.

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
Leaving the university environment was a shock to the system in itself. Right before graduation, Grad school (MFA in writing) and the Peace Corps were both options, but I decided that getting a job in the valley might make more sense than borrowing money for Grad school or leaving the country for several years. I don't regret this, but the day to day work environment was a big adjustment. I'm not sure if I appreciated the sense of community that was available with other students while I was in school, but spending several years in such an artistic environment with people who share your interest in literature and the arts is such a gift--- I would tell current students to take advantage of the connections that they make in their classes with other students.

I didn't expect to stay with my first job as long as I did, but the skills that I picked up at NES helped me to get my job at American. After the routine of my first job started to get a bit boring, I hunted down ways to afford graduate school without loans, and now I work at a university with full tuition remission.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I helped out at MELUS for two semesters, and this was interesting because of the chance to see how a journal of literary criticism takes shape. My other internship wasn't related to my major, but was extremely rewarding in other ways, a semester as an attractions hostess at Epcot in Disney world. I had the chance to interact with people from all over the world, and spoke to at least 500 people a day. My family thought that it was like running away to join the circus at first, but that internship is the one thing that every interviewer is sure to ask about, even now.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Internships are such an important part of the last few years of college-grab as many as you can. I wish that I'd taken the time to spend a semester or two abroad, -you don't get the chance to travel in the same way once you have a real job. UMass can overflow with opportunities, but you need to look for them. I would also take a few classes in technical writing, and pick up skills in website design.

Laura M. Stock

1. Describe your current job/career and its main responsibilities.
I am an attorney at Goodwin Procter LLP, a large law firm in Boston. I am an associate in the litigation department. My main responsibilities include representing clients general commercial litigation, securities-related lawsuits, and government investigations. My work includes legal research and writing, conducting extensive discovery, communicating with clients and opposing counsel, and occasional court appearances.

2. How are the skills you learned as an English major relevant to your job?
The analytical and writing skills I learned as an English major are relevant to almost every facet of my job. Much of litigation involves the ability to interpret and apply the law to your clients' issues, and convey your arguments clearly and persuasively in writing to the court, opposing counsel, or some other person or entity. The same skills used to analyze Shakespeare's plays, and write a thesis about them, for example, are applicable to litigation practice.

3. What did you do the year after you graduated?
I attended Northeastern University School of Law.

4. What other jobs have you held since your graduation from UMass?
I served as a law clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court my first year out of law school.

5. What were your job-related expectations when you were still in school, and how did they match up with your experience of the "real world"?
During school, I believed that through hard work, education, and experience one can find a career that is intellectually stimulating, financially secure and makes you happy. Even with all of that, the "real world" can be quite challenging. My experience at UMass, and in the English Department, made me well-prepared for it.

6. Which internships or extracurricular activities that you pursued in college were most valuable to you personally and professionally? Why?
I loved the Oxford Summer Seminar and often look back on that summer with fond memories. I loved the small classes, getting to know the UMass and the Oxford professors, the travel opportunities, the culture, the arts. The friendships formed there with my fellow English majors continue to this day. While on a trip to London a few years ago, I visited Trinity College and it still looks the same (only now there is a Starbucks on every corner in Oxford!).

I also spent the majority of my extracurricular time down in the Campus Center Basement working at the Collegian. I began freshman year as an arts writer, moved over to news, and eventually became managing editor. Covering crime on campus, and interviewing police, victims, and attorneys had a lot to do with why I went to law school. I wanted to be a part of the action, though, not reporting from the sidelines. The hundreds of late nights, absolute deadlines, and organizing a chaotic newsroom of student writers, all of us learning as we went along, definitely toughened me up and prepared me for my current profession.

7. What advice would you give to graduating seniors and/or students who are midway through?
Think about where you would like to be in five years and take all the steps you can now to get you there, or at least take the path that will leave you with the most options in the future. Also, have fun, travel, and enjoy a relatively carefree life before graduation.