The Fellowship program is among the largest award offered to young poets in the United States, it recognizes and provides monetary support to five poets who are between ages 21 and 31 years. Each fellow receives a subscription to “Poetry” magazine, $27,000 and an invitation to submit work to the venerated publication. The Poetry Foundation also supports the fellows’ attendance at the 2026 Dodge Poetry festival, where they will participate in their inaugural reading as a cohort.

“The fellowship is a really big deal for emerging or ‘young’ poets,” said Jones. “This fellowship puts me alongside a long list of gorgeously talented poets, thinkers and people — some of whom I have learned with and from, long admired and respected.

“Personally, this arrival signals that there’s something that is happening in my work that has translated or touched in an intended way. I have applied before with different poems, and this time I think something felt clearer or just more me, in what my current voice and view is. I think receiving this fellowship is a mixture of confidence and curiosity of risk, knowing your work, and the time being right and aligned.”

As part of the application process, Jones submitted a ten-page packet of poems and responses to prompts about her inspirations, what she hopes to do with her work, what she already sees her work doing and how the fellowship will support the work she wants to do.

As a fellow, Jones will read alongside her cohort at the Dodge Poetry Fest in New Jersey this October. The funding she received will allow her to complete upcoming projects, organize a small book tour and host a weekend writers retreat for her colleagues to write, read and think together.

“It feels amazing to be recognized with this honor,” said Jones. “I feel blessed and extremely proud of my work and my follow-through. I applied for this fellowship two other times and this particular time felt so settled for me; there were things I could feel had shifted in the work and that made me feel quite confident going into the application cycle.”

At �鶹��Ƶ, Jones orients herself as a professor and a resource for the ‘real world’ as students consider writing as a career. She also teaches students how to use tools to communicate what they want to say on paper.

“I’m finding ways to show students what it means to do this work on a professional level and to equip them with as much as I can so they may consider writing beyond the classroom and turn it into an art skill,” said Jones. “Poetry influences what and who I bring into the classroom, and it informs how I teach publishing, revising, artistic stamina and the writing life overall.”

For Jones, talent is not all you need to be a writer; you need curiosity, discipline, a willingness to fail, a capacity for play and risk and a community.

“This fellowship is a huge honor,” Scott Proudfit, associate professor and chair of English said. “The Poetry Foundation, which publishes “Poetry” magazine, is the most important organization of its kind. Students will know it because of the foundation’s tremendous digital archive. Basically, anytime you search for a poem online you are directed to the foundation’s website — which is good, because you can trust their version of texts. Not only does Shaina receive significant financial support from the organization, she also gets to present her work at the 2026 Dodge Poetry Festival, a huge honor. �鶹��Ƶ students adore Shaina because she is such a caring and responsive teacher, but, let’s face it, there is also something exciting about learning from someone recognized as a rising star in their discipline.”

Jones is the author of “To Be Named Something Else,” the winner of the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize from University of Arkansas Press. Her work has appeared in “The Pinch Journal,” “Puerto del Sol,” “Foglifter Journal,” “The Offing,” “CRAFT Magazine,” “The Georgia Review,” and “Gulf Coast Journal.”

The Poetry Foundation also wrote a recognizing Jones as a fellow.

The fellowships were established in 1989 by the Indianapolis philanthropist Ruth Lilly and expanded in 2013 with a gift from the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund.

The Poetry Foundation transforms lives through the power of words. Their work aims to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.

The National Symposium for Predoctoral Research program is an all-expense-paid event to inspire early-career scientists, showcase their research and provide opportunities for networking about graduate school.

“I was excited when I learned that I was accepted into this program,” Roberts said. “I had never attended a program like this before, but I knew St. Jude had a lot to offer.”

Robert’s research is on targeting immune pathways to enhance the oncolytic ability to reovirus against fibrosarcoma. His work focuses on how cancer cells respond weakly to a viral infection, which allows a virus to preferentially infect and kill those cells. Since cancer cells still have a response, research focused on how that immune response could be targeted to improve the viruses’ infectivity and the effect on cancer cells. Specifically, he looked at an immune pathway called the interferon pathway, and a product of that pathway, protein kinase R.

Assistant Professor of Biology Efrain Rivera-Serrano serves as Roberts’ research mentor.

“One of the most rewarding parts of mentoring Alex has been watching him take an idea he developed himself and turn it into a meaningful research project,” Rivera-Serrano said. “His selection for the St. Jude National Symposium is a well-deserved recognition of his scientific curiosity, independence and determination, but also of the incredible growth I have witnesses in him as a young scientist. I couldn’t be prouder of his accomplishments, and I am especially excited that this experience allowed him to share his work with the broader scientific community and explore the possibilities that lie ahead in his scientific career.”

At the symposium, Roberts participated in a poster presentation about his Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) research, graduate school panels, student panels, a campus tour, seminars and keynote presentations.

Roberts learned about the research environment at St. Jude, the difference between a master’s and Ph.D. program and how St. Jude is unique compared to other research institutions.

“Researchers at St. Jude have access to incredible technology and data, which allows them to pursue research on a large scale with ease,” Roberts said. “It was really amazing to hear from world-renowned researchers. One researcher was using 10 years of clinical cancer data with artificial intelligence to see how different treatments impacted cancer survival in patients.”

Participating in the symposium inspired Roberts as a young researcher.

“Seeing how the faculty at St. Jude are so driven by the mission of curing childhood cancer showed me the impact research can have on people,” Roberts said. “It inspired me to continue with my research and keep thinking of innovative ways I can drive it forward.”

The application process involved writing a research abstract describing his research, a personal statement about his interest in the St. Jude graduate programs and a cover letter describing his past experiences.

Fifteen contestants had six minutes to eat as many hot dogs as possible in a competition hosted by none other than Joey Chestnut, the 18-time reigning champion of the famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest held every Fourth of July on Coney Island. The competition required advance registration and a $50 entry fee, and it drew in contestants from across the state of North Carolina.

�鶹��Ƶ’s Sydney F. & Kathleen E. Jackson Professor of Chemistry won the local competition in Winston-Salem after consuming 14.5 hot dogs – half a frank more than his nearest opponent.

And because Chestnut had a full view of the contest on Oct. 8, 2026, and saw that Karty and his nearby foe were in the lead the entire time, the cheers from the world-famous competitive eater were impossible to miss.

“I did not know Joey Chestnut was going to be next to me the entire competition cheering me on, it was very motivating,” Karty said. “Telling me to find my happy place? During the competition, the only thing going through my mind was to focus on the process and find a rhythm. I was thinking ‘don’t overdo it, but don’t take your foot off the gas’.”

Karty practiced ahead of the competition and tapered his food intake the day before the contest. His strategy included dunking the buns in water and separating the hot dog from the bun to eat separately. Participants had to finish one hot dog at a time.

When the six minutes were up, Karty only knew the race was close. Chestnut’s announcement of his success was unforgettable. For context, in the most recent Nathan’s contest from July, Chestnut himself consumed 70.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes. 

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“It was a pretty magical evening. Now Joey Chestnut knows me!” Karty said. “I didn’t expect to win. I didn’t expect the trophy. I didn’t expect to take photos for 20 minutes with people from the crowd afterward. All I expected was a meet-and-greet with Joey Chestnut before the competition and to eat as many hot dogs as I could.”

The ceremony brought together students, faculty, staff, family and friends to recognize Elizabeth McKee ’90, Tiffany Grace Perry ’01 and Stephanie Marken ’08.

Dean of �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Hilton Kelly, delivered remarks in Yeager Recital Hall on the impact the recipients have made on their professions and communities.

“These three alumni demonstrate what it means to graduate from �鶹��Ƶ College: the heart of an �鶹��Ƶ education,” Kelly said. “They have used what they learned in �鶹��Ƶ College the College of Arts and Sciences to have impactful careers.”

Elizabeth McKee ’90 – Arts and Humanities

Elizabeth McKee earned her bachelor’s degree in English from �鶹��Ƶ and a master’s in human development and psychological counseling from Appalachian State University.

McKee is the executive director of Leadership Charlotte, where she has served for two decades walking alongside thousands of leaders as they explore their own capacity to create positive change in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region. Prior to joining Leadership Charlotte, she served as director of leadership initiatives at the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, where she developed leadership curriculum and programs for undergraduate and master of business administration students.

She has been recognized as a leader in the area including receiving the recognition as one of Mecklenburg Times 50 Most Influential Women in the greater Charlotte area

While at �鶹��Ƶ, McKee published poetry and artwork in Colonnades, was involved with intramural water polo, worked in student affairs and worked with a group of students to create and promote a social honor code to accompany the intellectual honor code.

“I’m not sure I knew it at the time, but �鶹��Ƶ taught me about being in a larger community,” McKee said. “It helped shape my ‘real world’ thinking regarding how I want to be in a community and what role I want to play in being a positive force within it.”

Tiffany Grace Perry ’01 – STEM

Tiffany Grace Perry earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from �鶹��Ƶ, a medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then completed seven years of neurosurgery residency training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including an enfolded orthopedic spine fellowship at Duke University. Following residency, she completed a post-residency fellowship in complex spinal disorders at The Cleveland Clinic, where she remained as a faculty member for two years. She also earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Perry is a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She also works with the Los Angeles Rams as a neurotrauma consultant. She is a consultant for Medtronic on anterior and posterior cervical instrumentation systems. Perry leads annual surgical missions to Uganda with a multidisciplinary team from Cedars-Sanai. She is a faculty member with the AI translational medicine PhD program at Cedars-Sanai, working with graduate students to create clinical projects that intersect the progressive power of AI with the clinical needs of medicine. Perry is also a consultant for Medtronic on anterior and posterior cervical instrumentation systems.

At �鶹��Ƶ, Perry was active in the Honors Program, the Lincoln Premed Society, Alpha Omicron Pi, the National Panhellenic Society and Camerata.

“�鶹��Ƶ encouraged me to be curious, explore beyond what was familiar, and say yes to experiences that challenged and shaped me,” Perry said. “�鶹��Ƶ taught me to remain curious, embrace newexperiences and never stop learning. Those lessons have molded not only who I am personally, but also how I approach medicine, leadership, teaching and mentorship. I learned that success is not just about what we accomplish, but about the opportunities we create for others.”

Stephanie Marken ’08 – Social Sciences

Stephanie Marken earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from �鶹��Ƶ and a master’s degree in survey research from the University of Connecticut.

Marken is a senior partner at Gallup leading the U.S. custom research division, which includes research programs Gallup performs on behalf of foundations, agencies, corporations and high education institutions. She is responsible for the strategic direction of Gallup’s research in education, workforce development, climate, technology, and the social sciences, which includes complex, multimode qualitative and quantitative research projects. She previously served as chief methodologist for Gallup.

Prior to joining Gallup, she was a researcher in the education division at Westat, where she worked on large-scale, complex, multimode education studies for the U.S. Department of Education, including the National Household Education Survey, Postsecondary Education Quick Information System, Fast Response Survey System, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and other quantitative and qualitative research projects for education foundations and organizations.

While a student at �鶹��Ƶ, Marken was an intern at the �鶹��Ƶ Poll and in Alpha Omicron Pi.

“�鶹��Ƶ was where I found my voice and where I developed a passion for making sure others are heard,” Marken said. “Any success I’ve had since graduation belongs in large part to the faculty and staff at �鶹��Ƶ who took a vested interest in me when they didn’t have to. In that regard, this award feels like an important example of the lasting impact that highly engaged mentors make, oftentimes without even realizing it.”

Recognizing past deans

The three past deans of �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Steven House, Alison Morrison-Shetlar and Gabie Smith, were also recognized at the awards ceremony. Steven House served as the founding dean from 2001-2009 and guided the growth of �鶹��Ƶ’s academic programs. House provided leadership for 17 academic departments and 19 academic programs. The number of �鶹��Ƶ College faculty increased by 50 percent during her tenure as dean and the number of students majoring in liberal arts grew from 37 percent of the student body to over 50 percent. He also helped develop the �鶹��Ƶ College Fellows program.

Alison Morrison-Shetlar served as dean from 2010-2014, where she continued to expand on a tradition of learning-focused achievements. She founded LIFE@ELON and organized the first North Carolina STEM conference at �鶹��Ƶ, where nearly 100 faculty members from North Carolina colleges and universities gathered, making the conference the largest of the state and regional STEM network meeting held across the country.

Gabie Smith served as dean from 2015-2024, providing growth for academic programs and administrative leadership. During her time as dean, she created the bachelor of science in engineering program, developed more than a dozen academic major and minor programs and worked to establish the Innovation Quad. She also enhanced the Fellows and Scholars programs within �鶹��Ƶ College.

This fall, at colleges and universities across the country, new campus presidents, provosts and deans are starting their appointments with a listening tour. Just saying the words at the beginning-of-the-year assembly might elicit an audible groan from a long-suffering faculty member seated somewhere in the back of the auditorium.

Listening tours have become such commonplace rituals, especially on campuses that have experienced frequent leadership turnover, that they will almost surely be met with a tepid reception, if not overt skepticism. A groan is a thoroughly warranted response to a tour performed perfunctorily—highly documented for social media and amounting to little more than some scribbles in a notebook and opportunities for the new dean to show off an impressive wardrobe of campus T-shirts.

And yet, newly arriving leaders are facing stakes that are higher than ever. When financial deficits and enrollment pressures are layered atop an overt air of politicization and simmering mistrust of administrators, listening tours take on newfound importance and scrutiny.

As leaders who have undertaken our own listening tours—and who have sat across the table sizing up new leaders on theirs—we offer some perspectives to elevate your listening tour into the leadership act that it is. We are entering our third and fourth years in our current roles, and many of these insights are only apparent to us now.

The biggest misconception about listening tours is that their primary purpose is to give you more information, context and time before making hard decisions. Structured conversations will almost surely reinforce what you already know, help you become fluent in the local jargon and deepen your well of arcane campus trivia. But you can probably gather this information, and perhaps more efficiently, in other ways.

See yourself first and foremost as an ethnographer. The real value of a listening tour is that it provides you with rich nuance and insights into interpersonal dynamics that can’t be found in the fact book. What you hear between groups and individuals—points of pride, sacred myths, where there is shared agreement and where there decidedly isn’t—equips you to take informed, calculated risks.

Your listening tour is, for all practical purposes, the first formal demonstration of how you lead. In most cases, it will be the single highest-leverage act of your first year on the job.

Here’s a truth worth saying plainly: While you are touring them, they are touring you. Every colleague across the table is running a quiet calculation of their own, deciding whether you are someone worth investing in or someone to wait out. The tour is a two-way audition, and the leader who understands that they, too, are onstage behaves differently (and often better) than those who assume the spotlight only points one way.

Read more on .

In his new role, Massey will manage a portfolio of alumni, parents, and friends to build scholarship resources and increase engagement to benefit student learning and faculty achievement.

“I am excited to work with Zane, who brings experience in educational advancement and corporate finance,” said Hilton Kelly, Dean of �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “He will help continue the support of gifts made to �鶹��Ƶ College that will benefit our students, faculty and programs.”

Massey joins �鶹��Ƶ from Seton Hall University. In his previous role, Massey stewarded major gifts, provided fundraising counsel to university partners and closed out a five-figure gift.  

Before joining Seton Hall University, he served as the director of alumni relations at Xavier High School, his alma mater in New York, where he worked with affinity groups, alumni, parents and a board of directors to manage a donor portfolio of $2 million and founded the Dr. Franklin Caesar Scholarship for students of color, increasing it from $2,500 to $500,000.

Massey said he is excited to bring the financial skills he has developed over the last 25 years to help the College’s mission of serving students and its importance of a liberal arts education.

“This role presents an opportunity to be bigger than any individual,” Massey said. “It’s an opportunity to grow, learn and help usher in a new era as �鶹��Ƶ continues to grow and position itself across the nation and world. I’m looking forward to representing the liberal arts and all the possible pathways available for the students.”

Before working in education, Massey worked in finance for Fortune 500 companies in insurance broking, healthcare, medical devices and utilities as a senior cost and reporting analyst.

“I found meaningful work in education, and I see this role as an opportunity to connect donor philanthropy to the goals of the College,” Massey said. “I’m eager to work together with this community to build the next generation of critical thinkers that not only think about the result, but how they achieve the result.”

Massey received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Clark Atlanta University, two master’s degrees in business administration from Fordham University and sports administration from Canisius University and a doctorate in higher education from St. Peter’s University.

The designation honors well-established and growing German programs with excellent instruction and strong support from administrators, colleagues, alumni and students.

The evaluation criteria include program vitality, faculty excellence, dynamic teaching, student engagement, and connections beyond the classroom. The application process included a comprehensive overview covering all areas of the program and letters of support. It was developed over the course of a year by the German Studies advisory board, a group of 16 faculty and staff members across four schools, 10academic departments, and three staff units. The application was also supported by administrators in �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of World Languages and Cultures.

Founded in 1926, the AATG “champions the belief that bringing the diverse cultures of the German-speaking world to Americans is a vital humanistic endeavor that serves essential national and global interests.”

“The award is, first and foremost, a recognition of the achievements of our students and alumni who have used their German – alongside the other knowledge and abilities they gained at �鶹��Ƶ – to make a big impact on the world,” said Professor Scott Windham, co-coordinator of the German Studies program. “The designation also shows that �鶹��Ƶ’s investment in language study has paid off. Students know they’re in a dynamic, top-ranked program where high levels of achievement are the norm.”

The �鶹��Ƶ program’s vision and mission focus on community, supporting and challenging students, and integrating their career interests from day one.

“German at �鶹��Ƶ has bucked national trends and seen significant growth in recent years thanks to intentional community building, curricular flexibility, dedicated faculty, engaged students, a productive board and visible cross-disciplinary and administrative support,” said Associate Professor Elena Schoonmaker-Gates, chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures and associate professor of Spanish. “This recognition is further evidence of the vitality and excellence of �鶹��Ƶ’s world-class German program.”

Colleagues on the German Studies advisory board and in the Department of World Languages and Cultures have helped develop the program through curriculum, teaching approaches and conversations about the role of German language and cultural study in the 21st century.

“Having our German Studies program be recognized as a Center of Excellence is a great achievement and one that is well deserved,” said Hilton Kelly, dean of �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “We are proud of the legacy of German language, literature, history and culture at �鶹��Ƶ.”

Beyond the curriculum, students in the program make lifelong connections and develop a strong sense of community.

“The students consistently praise the sense of community in the program,” said Associate Professor Kristin Lange, co-coordinator of German Studies and associate chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at �鶹��Ƶ. “The German Club is a huge part of our community by hosting weekly study sessions and social events. We are also proud of our study abroad programs, with four destinations in Germany. By the time students head for Germany, they are well prepared for their semester abroad.”

�鶹��Ƶ is the only university in North Carolina to receive the Center of Excellence designation.

“The Center of Excellence designation is a well-earned recognition of the faculty and staff members who have championed this program and built a space for our students to engage with German language, history, culture, art and more,” said Rebecca Kohn, provost and vice president of academic affairs and professor of biology. “It also sets a broader institutional commitment to modern language study that sets �鶹��Ƶ apart.

“I remember what it meant to me as an undergraduate student, studying a new language and immersing myself in an unfamiliar country. Those experiences changed how I understood my own place in the world. This same transformation is available to our students through the work of our faculty and staff members, and the recognition as a Center of Excellence is a direct reflection of their dedication.”

A virtual will be hosted by AATG on Nov. 8 from 12-1:30 p.m. The ceremony is open to faculty, staff, administration, students, alumni and families of the program. Roughly a month prior to the AATG ceremony, German Studies will celebrate another milestone: the 20th anniversary of the creation of the German Studies minor, representing the moment when interdisciplinary German Studies took shape at �鶹��Ƶ. That in-person ceremony will take place Monday, Oct. 5, at 3:30 p.m. at Scott Plaza (rain location Carlton Commons).

The first German course was offered at �鶹��Ƶ in 1890. The German Studies minor was founded in 2006, and the interdisciplinary German Studies advisory board was established in 2011. The first German Studies major graduated in 2019 after creating her own independent major.

“The AATG is the largest organization for German educators and German programs,” Lange said. “This makes the Center of Excellence especially significant, because it’s awarded by German educators to German educators.”

Sarah Gustafson, assistant professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, led the discussion, titled “The Declaration of Independence and the American Political Imagination.” Gustafson’s research is focused on 19th century political thought, particularly the work of French political thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, whose writings on American democracy became a central focus of her presentation.

Gustafson described the Declaration as an urtext of the American story. Although the Constitution and Bill of Rights carry greater legal authority, she said the Declaration continues to have “rhetorical and sentimental force.” Its language, she explained, has been repeatedly used by Americans to discuss the country’s ideals, including in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Rather than treating the Declaration as an isolated historical document, Gustafson used Tocqueville’s observations to explore the political culture that existed around it. Tocqueville traveled through the United States in the 1830s and later published “Democracy in America,” a detailed study of American democracy and political life.

One of the examples Gustafson highlighted was Tocqueville’s experience in Albany, New York, on July 4. He witnessed military demonstrations, Revolutionary War veterans being honored, and copies of the Declaration being printed in the street. The celebration concluded with a public reading of the document.

Tocqueville found the experience had “something deeply felt and truly great about it.” For Gustafson, the celebration showed how Americans are able to pass down history and traditions through local communities and organizations rather than relying on institutions

Gustafson compared those formal institutions to the first floor of a house, supported by a basement made up of families, clubs, religion, ethics and other informal institutions.

“They provide the dynamism, strength, and support, without which that first floor would not hold.” said Gustafson.

During the question and answer session, Gustafson encouraged students to apply those ideas locally rather than focusing exclusively on national politics.

“Go build something,” Gustafson said. “Go work with your hands. Go work with other people.”

For Gustafson, civic education is about more than memorizing founding documents. It is about developing a ‘political imagination’ that connects the words of those documents to the communities, relationships, and traditions that give them meaning.

The Constitution Day program came during a year of national attention on the Declaration’s 250th anniversary. The event was supported by a grant from the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History and organized with support from the Department of Political Science and Public Policy.

With the support of the Departments of Art History, English, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies and World Languages and Cultures, a slate of events from Oct. 5-9, 2026, are intended to communicate the value of the humanistic disciplines in a digital age.

All �鶹��Ƶ community members are welcome to join. Contact Associate Professor Ariela Marcus-Sells (amarcussells@elon.edu) with any questions. 

Monday, October 5

• Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. at the Oak House

Tuesday, October 6

• Social Media Takeover with Humanities majors

Wednesday, October 7

• Career Paths for Humanities Majors at 6 p.m. in Lakeside 212 and 213

Thursday, October 8

• Being Human Coffee, from 9:50 – 10:20 a.m. in Numen Lumen

Friday, October 9

• Being Human Alumni Reception and Networking from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. on the Spence Pavilion Patio

Visit the Humanities Week webpage for updated information.

“I’ve always been a writer, but I never believed I could write a whole novel,” said Schramm, who majored in philosophy and journalism in 2008. “But during the pandemic I saw all these people living their dreams and I thought maybe I could do that too. This is when I came up with the idea for my novel and started writing.”

The young adult novel, “,” tells the story of high school senior Sydney Hoffman as she sees pink neon countdown clocks over people’s heads 72 hours before they die. This has left her cynical, closed off and alone until she meets Peter Beckett, who changes everything she believes about life and death. Peter convinces Sydney she does not have to handle the countdowns alone, and together they help strangers live their best final hours.

“It felt like everyone around me had a clock over their head during the pandemic and I was really struggling to figure out how to live a meaningful life with the threat of the world possibly ending at any moment,” said Schramm. “I was sort of learning alongside the main character, Sydney, how to enjoy life and be present.”

During this time writing the novel became cathartic for her.

“My classes at �鶹��Ƶ influenced my writing so much,” said Schramm. “This book is very philosophical and so many of the ideas in there are from my time eating bread around the fireplace in the philosophy building talking about existentialism and what it means to live an examined life. One of the teachers in the book is named in honor of one of my favorite philosophy professors, Dr. Jegstrup. She pushed me harder than any teacher ever has, and I owe so much to her and her classes.”

Schramm was originally only a journalism major, but that all changed after she took a philosophy class taught by Associate Professor Elsebet Jegstrup.

“After the first class, I walked directly to the registrar’s office and immediately changed my major to philosophy,” Schramm said. “I only needed one day for it to change everything.

Publishing a novel was not exactly what she thought it would be. While writing her debut novel, Schramm learned from other authors how the publishing world worked.

“One of the things I didn’t realize was how long publishing takes,” Schramm said. “My auction for “72 Hours of You” happened in early 2024 and it just recently came out.”

Life as a debut author has been a dream come true for Schramm. She has had the opportunity to meet many creative colleagues and visit stores to sign copies of her book.

“I feel wildly lucky that this is my job,” Schramm said. “To see my debut novel translated into so many different languages has been such an incredible gift.”

Now working on her second young adult novel, “Kiss Me Like the Last Time,” about a girl who kisses someone for the first time while also experiencing her last kiss with them at the same time, which is set to publish in 2027.

Schramm is also publishing her first debut adult novel in 2028 titled “The Eternal Deaths of Hattie Gold,” about a woman who is training to become Gen-Z Death.

While at �鶹��Ƶ, Schramm participated in Greek Life and developed strong relationships with faculty.

“I loved attending �鶹��Ƶ and being in the Department of Philosophy,” Schramm said. “The philosophy department was such a special tight-knot space, and I am forever grateful that I changed my major to philosophy.”

Schramm is earning her PhD in creative writing.