Graduating MA Students Receive Graduate Student Awards Ahead of Commencement

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Halle Trang and Kavita Premkumar holding their awards in Gaston Hall

The English Department at Georgetown University is proud to announce that two of our graduating MA students in English were recognized with Graduate Student Awards on April 29, 2024: Halle Trang received the Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award and Kavita Premkumar received the Exceptional Master’s Student Award! To celebrate, we asked them a few questions about their theses and their work while at Georgetown.

Halle Trang smiles in front of a wooden Georgetown University Seal holding her Graduate Student Award.

Halle Trang, Graduate Student Teaching Award 2024

Tell us about your thesis.
My MA Thesis, “Voicing Silence: An Exploration of Speech in Asian American Women’s Life Writing,” is a multimodal thesis that explores the theme of silence in Asian American autobiographical texts. It is a digital and public-facing thesis that informs reader-viewers of the silences in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American texts and communities. “Voicing Silence” is hosted on Esri’s ArcGIS StoryMaps which gives me the ability to create immersive long form narratives and share my research in a more interactive manner. With its various textual, visual, and aural elements, my thesis serves as a digital exhibition, educational resource, and teaching tool all in one.

What classes have you been a Teaching Assistant for, and what have you gotten out of that experience?
For the past two years, I have worked as a TA in the Writing and Culture seminar for first-year students in the Community Scholars Program (CSP). CSP students come from various multicultural backgrounds and are usually the first in their families to attend college, and as a first-generation college student myself, I’ve appreciated working with a diverse demographic of students. As a TA, I’ve strengthened my teaching skills and have learned how to best support students in the writing classroom and the university at large. Most importantly, I’ve gotten to work with fun and amazing individuals!

How has your MA in English helped you in your career goals?
Being in the MA English program has deepened my understanding of various teaching practices and pedagogical theories. As an aspiring professor, I’m grateful to have faculty mentors who support me in my academic and professional pursuits. The program has also helped expand my network and provide me with the tools to be a successful educator.

What do you like to read for fun?
Lately I’ve been gravitating towards memoirs (and not just because of my thesis). I’m also trying to read more poetry!

Kavita Premkumar stands in a burnt orange dress, holding her award beneath a vaulted doorway.

Kavita Premkumar, Exceptional Master’s Student Award 2024

Tell us about your thesis.
 My thesis is an analysis of the depiction of motherhood and the child in Edna O’Brien’s Country Girls and Arundathi Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. 

What classes have you been a Teaching Assistant for, and what have you gotten out of that experience?
I’ve been a TA for two years of the first-year writing class run by the Community Scholars Program, supervised in my first year by Professor Chris Shinn and in my second year by Dean Joe Napolitano. I’ve also been a TA for History of Literature, Media and Culture II, supervised by Professor Coilin Parsons, and for Premodern World Literature, supervised by Professor Sarah McNamer. I have learned a lot about different teaching styles, as well as how to adapt my teaching methods and approaches to meet the needs of different learners. 

How has your MA in English helped you in your career goals?
Completing the MA in English program gave me the opportunity to reassess my career and academic goals. Professor Parsons helped me reconsider the academic focus I thought I was set on. I made the move from focusing on British Victorian literature to “postcolonial” literature, a change that has brought me a lot of joy. I hope to work towards a PhD in the same field. 

Both the teaching assistant experiences and a shadowing opportunity set up by Halle Trang at a community college affirmed my passion for teaching and educational policy, and I am currently looking for positions in those fields.

What do you like to read for fun?
During the program, I read Philip Roth for the first time in Jacques Berlinerblau’s Meta/Autofiction class. Roth has grown to be one of my favorite authors, and I’m trying to make my way through his entire body of work.