CATCHING UP WITH ALEX ABRAMS (M.A. ’15), COMMUNICATIONS
 AND MARKETING SPECIALIST AT UNC GREENSBORO

Continuing with our focus upon graduate English alumni pursuing exciting alt-ac careers, we are very happy to post this interview with Alex Abrams (M.A. ’15). Since graduating, Alex has worked in professional editing and communications positions with a number of universities – Oklahoma State University, Wake Forest University (NC), and now UNC Greensboro. When we corresponded with Alex earlier this year, he updated us on his most recent position as Communications and Marketing Specialist with the School of Nursing at UNC Greensboro. In addition, Alex provided some information about his own path to a successful non-teaching career as well as his recommendation for some good reading – a true-crime book that focuses, in part, on the author Harper Lee. 

What has been the most interesting professional experience you’ve had in the past year? 

In March of 2019, I accepted a position as the Communications and Marketing Specialist for UNC Greensboro’s School of Nursing. Growing up, I watched as my mother – a college dropout – went back to school to become a registered nurse. I often had to accompany her to her nursing classes as a kid. Later, when she became a single mom, she took me along with her as she visited patients at their homes. My mother eventually earned her Master’s degree from Emory University and accomplished her dream of becoming a gerontological nurse practitioner. A few months after I started at UNCG, a faculty member asked if I’d speak at a conference and give a presentation on the importance of nurses having a presence on social media. As it turned out, the conference was for gerontological nurse practitioners. There was something special about being invited to speak to a room full of individuals just like my mother. 

Alex with Colleagues from UNC Greensboro’s School of Nursing

What is the most crucial advice – especially with regard to developing or promoting one’s professional skills – that you can give our current graduate students in English before they go on the academic and/or alt-ac job market?

 
I get annoyed any time I hear someone suggest that the only thing a person with an English degree can do is teach. That’s a narrow-minded way of thinking. I believe a Master’s degree in English prepares an individual to have success in so many professions other than as a teacher or a college professor. I have two English degrees, and I’ve never taught a class in my life. If you can write, edit, think critically, and meet tight deadlines, there are tons of companies, charities, government organizations, and universities that will hire you. As I was being considered for my position at UNCG, I learned that someone on the hiring committee had downloaded my Master’s thesis from the University of Arkansas. Another committee member searched the internet and read a few articles I had written for another university. I’m constantly learning new things at my job, things I was never taught in college. However, the world will always need people who can write a decent sentence. Ignore anyone who questions the value of an English degree. 

I get annoyed any time I hear someone suggest that the only thing a person with an English degree can do is teach. . . . If you can write, edit, think critically, and meet tight deadlines, there are tons of companies, charities, government organizations, and universities that will hire you. 

What is one author, book, website, or movie you’d recommend, and why?

 
I recently finished reading Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep. I realize this might be blasphemy for me to say, but I’ve never been a big fan of To Kill a Mockingbird. I understand why it’s considered an important novel, but it has never moved me like it has other people. Still, Cep’s true crime book that weaves a bizarre string of murders in Alabama with Lee’s desire to write a book about one of the trials blew me away. At this point, you would think we’ve heard every story there is to tell about Lee. Cep, however, managed to stumble onto an incredible story about Lee while on assignment in Alabama. The first two-thirds of Furious Hours reads like a courtroom drama, and the final section focuses on Lee’s meteoric rise, her struggles with her personal demons, and how such a celebrated author could get writer’s block. The amount of research that Cep did for her book is impressive. Who knew Harper Lee was once neighbors with Hall & Oates before they became famous? As a writer, a former newspaper reporter, an English nerd, and a fan of true crime, I found that Furious Hours checked all the boxes for me.