Jana Tigchelaar

Tell us about your education and career background.

I joined Marshall as an assistant professor of English in 2015. Prior to that, I taught at the University of Kansas (KU), after getting my Ph.D. in English from KU in 2014. I got my master's degree in English from Ohio University in 2008. My academic career came after a few years working in different fields: editing and publishing, customer service, and administrative work.

I graduated from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, in 2000, with a bachelor's degree in English and art.

Can you tell us the basics of what your job entails?

Currently my job is mostly administrative and advising work, with a little teaching and research. A typical week will include meetings with graduate students for advising, colleagues to discuss departmental matters, and folks from around the university and beyond. As the director of graduate studies, I am the advisor for all the students enrolled in our English M.A. program. I also work with the graduate programs committee to set the graduate curriculum, evaluate program needs, and plan for professionalization opportunities. As associate chair, I support the department chair in areas like student awards, planning department meetings, and supporting faculty and staff. This all sounds very boring when I'm writing it out like this, but one through-line here is that I work with my colleagues and our students in some way in every element of my job — and that is what motivates and inspires me!

Tell us about your choice to teach literature.

I am a cliched English professor in that I have always loved reading. I grew up in a small town in rural Iowa, and books were my entry point into other worlds and perspectives. I almost always had (and honestly still have) a “to read” pile that I find comforting — just knowing there is another world to dive into when the current book is finished! Although the stories are different, the experience of reading is the same: for a while, the world around me falls away and I am immersed in another world. Gifted and supportive English teachers and professors in high school and college encouraged me to dig deeper into these worlds and ask questions about the way they're constructed — and that is critical theory, at its most basic level. Processing in writing the ideas and thoughts and reactions I have to the things I've read builds on the world-expanding power of literature: I'm adding my voice to the conversation around these books — conversations that have sometimes been going on for centuries.

I teach and research early and 19th-century American literature, women's literature, Gothic literature, and regional literature, including Appalachian literature. My classes are almost always writing intensive. I think writing is an important partner to reading in not only making sense of what we read, but also adding our own ideas to this larger conversation. With the rise of generative AI, I believe writing is even more important, because it is about the process of making meaning and understanding, not about the product. We write to learn, to understand, but also to build and to create — and a robot can't do that for us.

In the past few years, my research has focused on depictions of neighborliness in 19th-century American literature. I'm working on a book project that explores the neighborly relationship as an alternative to later modes of belonging and relationship that are more individualistic, isolationist, and nativist. Neighborliness encourages us to think beyond ourselves, our families and our isolated and exclusionary communities.

What do you hope is the impact of your work?

I hope my work as an advisor helps students at all levels feel welcome and like they belong. I think too often students are intimidated by the unfamiliar aspects of college and graduate school. I was the first member of my family to get a graduate degree, and I had no idea how grad school worked. We have lots of first-gen undergrad and grad students at Marshall, so I want to help them feel at home here. I hope my work as a teacher opens up new worlds for my students and shows them that their voices matter, and that they do have something to say that is of value — even about dusty old literature that doesn't seem relevant to them.

What is fulfilling about your job?

I believe teaching literature and writing to students at all levels is incredibly important work that not only builds students' critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, but also helps with information literacy, research ability, and forming empathetic connections with others. I also think that it is so important to continue to champion the liberal arts in a culture that seems to be losing sight of their importance. Literature, art, music, theater, film, history, languages — these are fields that should be open to all, not just an educated “elite.” This is why I do what I do.

Based on your work, what have you learned that you wish everyone knew?

I wish everyone knew that the biggest barrier to student success is a lack of adequate support. This is especially true with Marshall's students, who are often first-generation students without family financial support. Many of our students are taking care of children or other family members, working jobs off-campus, and juggling so many responsibilities that focusing solely on their coursework is a luxury they can't afford. Making Marshall affordable for all students is step one. But support here also means encouragement, mentorship, and compassion. Kindness and consideration can go so far in building up our students' sense that they can be successful in colleg