5 X Friday: PhD Alumna Mary Petrie

You may have read Mary Petrie's story in The Star Tribune this summer, or on the Today Parents site. Not long after her oldest child, Stryker, graduated high school last spring, he presented Petrie (PhD 2000) with a wrapped gift. Inside was a book proof of a novel Petrie had written more than a decade ago--a novel a New York agency had shopped unsuccessfully, and Petrie had put aside. Her son had proofed, formatted, and readied the book for self-publishing--to thank the Inver Hills CC professor for raising him and to, as Petrie has said, take "your mother's dreams off the shelf." A story that good needs a follow-up, and we did. Read more.

English in The Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Department of English's opportunities to provide hands-on work experience are noted in an article by BA alum Scott Carlson in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Want a College Experience That Matters? Get to Work." Ellen Messer-Davidow, chair of the department, also talks about future plans to expand internships and other ways students can gain workplace experience. Carlson, who wrote articles for The Minnesota Daily as a student, notes that his work experience complemented his literature studies and vice versa--his subsequent career in journalism "wouldn't have been as rich without the literature degree."