Graduate Students in the Department of English 

UMEGO Executive Board, 2025-2026

English Graduate Student Directory

Don't see your name? Click the button below to access the directory form and email Emily Gillo at epsmith2@memphis.edu once submitted!

Ashton Alexander
email: aashton@memphis.edu 
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication 

Abdulmajeed Almatard
email: mlmatard@memphis.edu 
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

I am a lecturer at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia and a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at the University of Memphis. My research interests include second language acquisition, identity, and sociocultural aspects of language learning.

Gabrielle Alston
email: gralston@memphis.edu
Gabrielle's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication 

I specialize in digital literacy specifically focusing on how we write and communicate in digital spaces as both students and educators. I am fascinated by how rhetoric is utilized in digital spaces in order to increase the effectiveness of communication. Professionally, I have taught two years of freshman composition at Eastern Michigan University and five years of freshman composition and assorted upper-level courses at the University of Memphis. Upper-level courses I have taught include professional and technical writing, professional editing, persuasive writing, and engineering communications. I have also worked as a content developer for the Center for Writing and Communication at Eastern Michigan University and as a marketing coordinator for the Memphis Writers Workshop project at the University of Memphis. Furthermore, I have also served as the Graduate Assistant Director of First Year Writing at the University of Memphis.

Majed Alsulami
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

My research interests include L2 identities, Bilingualism, and ASL teaching and learning. I am a lecturer at King Abdulaziz University since (2014), and I have taught Arabic as a second language to international students from different places and backgrounds.

Monique Bain 
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication 

Jennifer Byrd
email: jbyrd9@memphis.edu 
Jennifer's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication

Jennifer has a passion for training composition teachers in research-based best practices. After teaching dual enrollment courses through Arkansas high schools for 12 years, she came to UofM to study ways that universities with long-term DE partnerships train composition instructors to meet their students’ needs. She serves as the Graduate Assistant Director for UofM’s First-Year Writing Program.

Tek Chhetry
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication

Bethany Rose Datuin
email: bsdatuin@memphis.edu 
Program: MFA - Creative Writing

Bethany Rose Datuin is a Filipino American poet based in Tennessee and managing editor of the Pinch. A firm believer in food as a source of comfort and inspiration, her work focuses on identity as it is defined by culture, love, and cuisine. When she is not penning new poems, her sights are usually set on watching underrated television shows, trying out tabletop roleplaying games, and baking whatever she possibly can.

Matthew Farmer
email: mlfarmer@memphis.edu 
Matt's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies

Matt Farmer is a Literary and Cultural Studies Ph.D. candidate from Jonesboro, AR. Matt is a first-generation college student whose research focuses on the intersection of generative AI and literature. He is particularly interested in how advanced technologies are interpreted through literature, collaborative composition with AI, pedagogical AI practices, and AI-centric ecocriticism. Matt's investigations ask questions like, "How would an advanced AI narrate its life?" "What strategies do authors utilize when collaborating with an LLM?" and "How is the environmental cost of AI proliferation being explored in contemporary literature?" Matt strongly feels that it is the responsibility of every individual to strive daily to create a more equitable and accessible society for everyone. He hopes to contribute to that goal through his scholarly pursuits.

Emily Gillo
email: epsmith2@memphis.edu 
Emily's CV
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication

My primary research interest is the intersection of online writing pedagogy and surveillance studies, and how rhetoric and critical digital literacy can be used as methods of resistance against Educational Technology surveillance practices. I am also interested in the ways in which student autonomy, informed consent, and access to educational resources overlap with online learning and surveillance. 

Halle Elizabeth Griggs
email: hegriggs@memphis.edu 
Halle Elizabeth's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies

I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural Studies. My dissertation focuses on Southern Gothic Literature and aims to recreate/expand the definition of the grotesque. Outside of academia, you will likely find me: lacing up my running shoes & training for my next long-distance race; practicing Bikram Yoga; or, devouring all things true-crime. 

Stephanie Gollobin
email: stephanie.gollobin@memphis.edu 
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics 

After 18 years of teaching English for Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes, including 10 years at top 20 R1 universities, Stephanie is pursuing her PhD in Applied Linguistics here at the University of Memphis. A former Fulbright ETA, she has extensive experience teaching in the United States and Germany. Her research interests include critical pedagogy, identity formation, genre analysis, and genre-based writing instruction. You can follow her research and pedagogical endeavors at the First Flight Writing Lab at www.stephaniegollobin.com. 

Madison Hunter
email: mnhnter10@memphis.edu
Madison's CV
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies

Madison ‘Mocha’ Hunter, also known as ‘DictionKanari,’ is a Detroit, MI, native, writing her way through the South. She has had the privilege of interviewing literary all-stars Dr. Roxane Gay, Adrian Matejka, Dan Hornsby, Jericho Brown, and Hanif Abdurraqib. Her work has appeared in Callaloo, Watershed Voice, Torch Literary Arts, and Oracle Fine Arts Review. Mocha is pro canceled plans, sunsets, charcuterie boards, vinyl record hunting, and keeping the Sabbath, cosplaying a poetry writing bookworm whose books read her far more than she gets to read them. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English (Creative Writing) from the University of South Alabama and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing specializing in Poetry as well as certificates in African American Literature and Autism Studies from the University of Memphis. Her educational journey as a Memphis Tiger continues, as she is pursuing a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies and a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies. She is currently exercising her gifts, skills, and passions as a scholar, educator, and community leader as an adjunct instructor at Christian Brothers University. In addition to her acquisition of academic achievements, she is establishing a tutoring and consulting service that supports neurodivergent learners and adult readers in strengthening their reading, writing, communication, and critical thinking skills throughout Memphis and surrounding cities. Her research interests include but are not limited to Food Studies, Black Horror, Black Poetics, Black Cinema, Hypervisibility and Invisibility of Black Women in Media, Blaxploitation, Afropessimism, and Hip Hop and The Literary.

Daniyel Johnson
email: djohnso@memphis.edu
Program: PhD - Literary & Cultural Studies

Nabaz Kareem
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

My area of interest is SLA focusing on EFL/ESL learning and teaching. My research investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical translanguaging in comparison to monolingual instruction in an EFL context concentrates on developing academic writing skills of EFL learners in Kurdistan of Iraq. In this study, I focus on applying translanguaging as a pedagogy via individual and collaborative writing and investigate its impact in comparison to monolingual instruction.

Denise Kerlan
Program: MFA - Creative Writing 

Etariemi Koboju
email: eekoboju@memphis.edu 
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

Etariemi Koboju is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Memphis and a Graduate and Teaching Assistant in the Department of English. His research brings together language documentation, corpus linguistics, and computational methods, with a focus on Nigerian languages and English as a second language. He earned his master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan, where he also worked as a research assistant on projects documenting under-researched Nigerian languages. At Memphis, he teaches undergraduate English and writing courses while exploring how corpus-based and computational approaches can enrich language research and pedagogy. Beyond academia, he enjoys writing reflective pieces that connect language, culture, and everyday experience through his personal blogpage on Substack: https://etariemi.substack.com/ 

Ashley Lowe 
email: adlowe@memphis.edu 
Program: MA - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Korbyn Peebles
email: kpeebles@memphis.edu 
Program: PhD - Writing, Rhetoric, & Technical Communication

Hello there! Currently, my research interests revolve around digital learning, visual rhetoric, and genre studies. Specifically, I am interested in making academic literature more engage and inviting to a broader audience by using multimodal tools like video, audio, and graphic design. I position my understanding of learning within the legacy of feminist methodology, experiential learning theory and ergodic literature. I am also very active around the university outside of my research! I am currently the president of the English Graduate Organization (UMEGO) and the Vice President of the Rhetoric Society of America chapter in Memphis. Don’t be a stranger! 😊 I’m always looking for friends, collaboration, and community. If you want to learn more about my work or about me in general, check out my website: https://linktr.ee/krbynpbls

Nancy Raileanu
email: nrileanu@memphis.edu 
Program: MA - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Qamar Raza
email: qraza@memphis.edu 
Qamar's CV
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

Arielle Robinson
Program: MA - Technical Communication 

Constance Sheppard
email: cshppard@memphis.edu
Program: MA - Literary & Cultural Studies

Amber Worrick
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

My research interests include language learning motivation and identity in a multilingual setting; specifically interested in how perception of the self and the learning environment position learners to act on intended effort in English for Business Purpose setting. Apart from research, I have taught and/or designed language and linguistics courses at Universidad de Chile, Universidad SEK, Tennessee State University, and Colorado Mountain College. I am currently an instructional designer for Movora in Veterinary Orthopedics.

Heri Yusup
Program: PhD - Applied Linguistics

I am an assistant professor in the English Department at Universitas Islam 45 in Indonesia, where I have worked for nearly twenty years. I am currently the technical editor for the undergraduate research journal at the University of Memphis. My area of research interest is cognitive linguistics and corpus linguistics. In my dissertation, I will examine the conceptual metaphors that Indonesian scholars use when talking about their migration and mobility choices, decisions, and experiences using corpus-assisted discourse analysis, to better understand the perspective of Indonesians on the notion of brain drain.