Hi there!
I’m a Baton Rouge native currently studying at the University of Oklahoma, where I’m pursuing a dual degree: a Bachelor of Arts in Letters and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literary & Cultural Studies. My academic interests lie primarily in Renaissance drama and poetry, particularly in Shakespearean studies.
I have always been a strong advocate for humanities-centered education, but over the last four years of my undergraduate career I have become especially convinced of the value of studying LITERATURE, regardless of one’s major / concentration. In fact, I believe that English courses should be taught with the non-English major in mind — the Business student, the Pre-Med student, the Engineering student, and so on. The humanities are the stuff of life, and they concern the STEM major and her field as much as the liberal arts major and his field. Our secondary schools and institutions of higher education will always be in need of great English teachers, for those who are eager to learn will always be in need of literature.
Apart from reading and annotating and writing in the margins of whatever text I can get my hands onto, I’m passionate about practicing inclusive leadership and building meaningful relationships.* I intend to pursue these passions wholeheartedly in my career, as I have been thus far, and ultimately to teach. I love learning for the sake of learning, and I’ve always wished I could remain a student for the rest of my life. I figure the most practical way to remain in the classroom long after graduation and to wrest my dream of being a lifelong learner into fruition is this: I must be an educator.
As previously mentioned, I plan on graduating from OU with a B.A. in Letters and a B.A. in English (right now I’m preparing to take my victory lap as a 5th year abroad, God willing). After that, I’d like to pursue a PhD in English Literature, preparing myself to be the best educator I can possibly be. In the meantime, I’ve created this site to showcase my growing portfolio of academic work as well as my personal writing + creative projects.
Thanks for stopping by!
*I am also passionate about red wine, secondhand clothing, slow fashion, cashmere sweaters, and sleeping in.
“The riddle of existence is the college curriculum that was laid before the Pharaohs, that was taught in the groves by Plato, that formed the trivium and the quadrivium… And this course of study will not change; its methods will grow more deft and effectual, its content richer by toil of scholar and sight of seer; but the true college will ever have one goal, — not to earn meat, but to know the end and aim of that life which meat nourishes.” — W.E.B. Du Bois
Ashley M. Roy 