"I was sipping tea in a coffee shop in New York City with a cabin bag by my side and no place to stay the night when my phone beeped, notifying me of an email from Penguin Random House. I had received the opportunity to intern in the marketing department at the Knopf Doubleday imprint."

Gretchen Gerzina, Dean of the Commonwealth Honors College and Paul Murray Kendall Chair in Biography, believes it is "dangerous to not see the value in the humanities." She discusses her research and wriitng process, discovering historical African American literature, and teaching eighteenth-century literature.

"My experience as an English major was pretty incredible. I managed to experience some of the greatest moments of English appreciation that I had ever known. ... [The English Society] hosted a Beowulf night at the Renaissance center. It was exciting to see all of these people celebrating this timeless story and the context in which it existed. There were foot races and spear throwing, and we ate suckling pig seated at a long table."

"In the fall of 2010 I was lucky enough to serve as Linda Aronson’s intern, working with her on a project which strives to change the way we look at education. I spent a lot of time looking into alternative educational teaching techniques and curriculums, editing Linda Aronson’s manuscript … and thinking about my own education."

"There’s so much that I had the opportunity to experience this summer [as an intern] – the groggy-eyed morning commute into the city, the rhythm of working in an office, the opportunity to meet people … I’m more satisfied with the experience as a whole than I am with any particular insight or skill I gleaned."

Rebecca Dingo joined the faculty this past fall after we wooed her away from her job at the University of Missouri where she was jointly appointed in English and Women’s & Gender Studies. The Editor of The Ink Pot recently sat down with her for a chat about her work and life at UMass.