Graduating Masters Students

Many congratulations to the first graduating class of the MA in Critical Studies program! Having completed their thesis projects, the members of our graduating cohort are stepping out into the world.

Ellena Basada

Ellena has been awarded a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship to teach and conduct research in Berlin, Germany. She will be teaching English at a school with a large immigrant and refugee population, while also researching Berlin's club culture. Ellena identifies the club as a commons, a place where differences dissolve and people come together for shared experiences despite being separated in their diurnal lives. Ellena argues that the club scene evolved to bridge divides between East and West Germans after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and that this legacy is repeating itself: the club is now a place where native Germans can come together with immigrants and refugees.

Follow Ellena on Twitter: @vaginihilism

Julian Adoff

Julian is the first dual degree candidate in the MA in Critical Studies and the MFA in Visual Studies at PNCA. Julian is beginning his PhD in Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he will continue developing research he began at PNCA. Julian’s studio practice explores the notion that research is a creative act; he searches in-and-between texts to tease out the Jewish mysticism inherently found within the history of critical theory. As an art historian, his research centers around the history of graphic design, cultural theory, and visual/design culture, focusing on the political, social, and commercial effects of ephemera, with a specific interest in the use of these mechanics within the history of nationalism.

See Julian’s artwork on Instagram: @jadoff630

Alex Andreotti

Alex has begun working for Recreational Equipment, Incorporated, and hopes to become one of their Art Directors. She lives in Washington with her partner in crime, Kacie, and her canine companion, Bleu. The three of them plan to move to Alaska in the near future. Alex strives to embody her thesis research by living an alternative lifestyle and by recognizing the marvelous in the everyday. Having completed her thesis work, Alex intends to spend more time doing the things she loves: alpine hiking, backpacking, biking, getting lost in the trees, exploring new places, binge watching The Office, and eating too much candy for her own good. In this spirit, Alex encourages you to do weird things in the name of art.

Hana Gustafson

Following completion of the Critical Studies program, Hana intends to drive across the country with her pug, Noodle, to pick vintage clothing and mid-century modern furniture. Hana will end her road trip in western New York, where she hopes to work on her memoir during the summer months. A lifelong resident of Portland, Oregon, Hana is currently searching for jobs teaching art history at community colleges in upstate New York. She is eager to begin the next chapter of her life working as an educator, and hopes to resume collaging and making video art.

You can follow Hana's journey on Instagram: @thequeenofselly

Sean Yeager

This fall, Sean will begin their doctoral studies in English with a focus on contemporary literature at Ohio State University as a Distinguished University Fellow. Sean will also be presenting his research at a number of conferences as well: "Assata's Experimental Temporal Space" at the 2019 International Conference on Narrative in Pamplona, Spain; "Visualizing the Temporal Spaces of Narratives," at the 2019 Digital Humanities Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands; and "An Autistic Narratology and the Mechanics of Storytelling," at the 2020 meeting of the Modern Language Association, in Seattle. Sean is currently adapting their thesis work for publication while also researching a new project which considers David Antin's talk poetry through the lenses of information theory, social penetration, Stuart Hall’s notion of encoding/decoding, and neuroqueer studies.

Jay Lundy

We congratulate them on completing the degree.