What’s Life without Austen and a Community to Share Her With?
Want to attend Hogwarts without going to Hogwarts? Why not check out Lehigh University for graduate school! It’s one of the reasons Ph. D student Dashielle Horn decided to come to Lehigh. She says that it “Feels like you are going to college at Hogwarts.”
Raised outside Baltimore, Maryland, Horn attended Salisbury University where she doubled majored in English and History. She applied to Lehigh because her undergraduate advisor had heard great things about the university, particularly about faculty member Dr. Beth Dolan. Horn came to Lehigh in 2010, where she earned her MA in English and is currently a third year PhD student in the program.
Among the other reasons Horn cites for coming to Lehigh were desiring to work with faculty like Beth Dolan and Michael Kramp Working with Dr. Kamp and Dr. Dolan, as well as the amazing teaching fellowship the English program offered, have allowed Horn to concentrate her studies in 18th century novel and romantic era writing with a focus on women’s writing, a field she is deeply passionate about. This concentration lets Horn research one of her favorite authors and sources of inspiration: Jane Austen.
Though she has had a lifelong interest in Austen, two courses at Salisbury focusing on Jane Austen’s novels cemented Horn’s decision to focus her future studies on Austen and the era she came from. “Austen opened a door into a whole other literary scene. By entering that whole new world, I was able to better understand Austen and where she was coming from.”
Austen is among the many authors who will appear in Horn’s dissertation, tentatively titled “‘But let me in this happy state remain:” Redemptive Representations of Spinsterhood in 18th Century Britain. In it, Horn will seek to challenge the stigma against spinsters using historic and literary examples.
Upon completing her dissertation, Horn would like to teach English literature at the collegiate level. In the meantime, she is continuing to enjoy the opportunities and experiences the English program provides students. Among her favorite attributes of the department are the immense advice and support she receives from the staff and faculty like Dr. Scott Gordan and Dr. Lyndon Dominique. Also, she loves how small the department is, because everyone knows what each other is working on and shares resources. It helps that the program is more of a community and everyone is on a first name basis.
“It’s a very collegial environment and more of a community than found in larger English programs.”
