A New GA Has Arrived!

Me having dinner before class.

Hello! My name is Augie Morado, and I am currently entering my fourth year of the PhD program in English. I take my field exams this month – next week to be precise – in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, and I look forward to assembling a committee and beginning my dissertation proposal.

I spent the first three years of the doctoral program, as well as the two years I did my MA, teaching in the First Year Composition program here at NIU. However, I found myself drawn to the Thesis Office largely due to my interest in support roles on campus. In addition to teaching writing here at NIU, I have also spent the last three years tutoring at Aurora University, working with students from the freshman to graduate levels. As a teacher and tutor moving to the Thesis Office, I feel that I bring a lot from my previous duties, and I hope to learn more about how this support role interacts with dissertating students, their committees, and other related staff.

My master’s thesis was a rhetorical analysis of greentext stories, short bulletpoint anecdotes shared anonymously on 4chan, and I would like to expand upon that in my dissertation. At the end of smy thesis, I wondered how the then-growing spread of greentext to more mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter would change the genre; I’m not sure the genre itself has changed, but the discourse communities that revolve around greentext have certainly become more visible by creating pages and groups on the topic, so I anticipate taking the dissertation in that direction.

Bella lounging after a long walk.

When I have downtime, I enjoy unwinding with a good video game, writing fiction, playing guitar (and on rare occasions playing in front of people!), walking my dog, Bella, and playing baseball in a men’s league in Elgin, where I also help fix up the field. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter; I have hot takes that’ll make you quake!