News

This fall we welcomed ten graduate students into our 2024 Ph.D. cohort. We caught up with a few of these students to learn more about their decision to study at UCLA, current reading interests, and more. Some answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Jeffrey Aqua
B.A., Emory University

What inspired you to pursue a Ph.D. in English?

I feel immensely grateful to be able to embark on an English Ph.D. Studying literature at this level gives me an opportunity to improve myself by reading, learning and exploring different perspectives, all of which can help me to be a kinder and wiser person. Embarking on this Ph.D. also creates a formal space for me to be able to help others through teaching.

What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

I’m currently reading De La grammatologie by Jacques Derrida, which, I must confess, has been an absolute pleasure. I’m also on the second volume of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent “Library of Wisdom and Compassion” series, called The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, which I highly recommend!

Andrew Avalos
B.A., University of Southern California

What made you decide to study at UCLA?

Everyone in the department was so welcoming, and I was convinced UCLA was a good place for studying ethnic American literature. Also, my dad always jokes with friends that his son is studying literature at USCLA, the fictional university combo of USC and UCLA. I went to one and felt like I should go to the other.

What subjects do you plan to explore in the program?

I am eager to explore Chicanx/Latinx and African American literature, specifically how writers negotiate ethnic literature and racial history through innovative narrative forms.

Bionca Benard
B.A., UCLA

What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

I just finished All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and I think everyone should read it. I couldn’t put it down once I started it!

What inspired you to pursue a Ph.D. in English?

My goal in obtaining a Ph.D. in English is to study and learn the tools necessary for me to be a great professor. A Ph.D. will give me the experience and the knowledge to dig deeper into my questions about American culture and literature, and then share what I learn with the world.

Ren (Mai) Dinh
B.A., Mount Holyoke College
M.A., Hanoi National University of Education

What inspired you to pursue a Ph.D. in English?

I’m not particularly good at literary studies, but I do revel in this never-ending wrestle with words. In a grander context, as an international student, I hope that a Ph.D. in English will equip me with necessary tools to nudge queer literature and theory into Vietnam’s academia, where the idea of queer itself still raises many eyebrows.

What are your hobbies?

Other than looking at cat pictures on an hourly basis, I play games, read comics, write fanfiction, and sometimes draw.

Sunny Xiaoyang Hua
B.A., University of Pennsylvania

What inspired you to pursue a Ph.D. in English?

The English language and anglophone writers both fascinated and haunted me for years after I left China to study literature in the United States. I was drawn to writers who share complex interactions with the language as I did.

What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

I am reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Foe by J.M. Coetzee. I am also looking forward to reading Sally Rooney’s new book Intermezzo. I would recommend reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula because it’s one of my favorite books and very seasonally appropriate.

Briana Parker
B.A., UC San Diego

What inspired you to pursue a Ph.D. in English?

It has been my dream my whole life to become a professor and teach literature courses at a four-year university. I’m dedicated to cultivating culturally responsive pedagogy that engages with the American canon and appeals to underrepresented students.

What are your hobbies?

Working out at the gym, going to hear live music, spending time with friends, watching movies, collecting vinyl, and trying new restaurants in LA.

Tyler Sirovy
B.A., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

What drew you to UCLA?

The combination of faculty strengths in environmental humanities, the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; the climate — I’m from Minnesota, California weather is crazy; the funding package; and the incredibly warm and welcoming campus visit I had in April.

What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

I am currently, and lazily, reading both Mortal Leap by Donald Heiney — pseudonym: MacDonald Harris — and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology by David Graeber. I’d recommend Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin and Naked Earth by Eileen Chang.

Liv Slaby
B.A., UCLA

What made you decide to continue your studies at UCLA?

The most important factors were the faculty — in particular, Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Brian Kim Stefans, and Daniel Snelson, though I’m sure I’ll connect with many others — and my sense of intellectual “fit” with the program; one example is the department’s strength in media studies.

What are your hobbies?

I love to dance — street styles and open style choreography — and bake; my colleagues will likely be asked to taste-test. I also look forward to returning to gymnastics at UCLA’s excellent facility.

Photos courtesy of the subjects: Top row, left to right: Jeffrey Aqua, Andrew Avalos, Bionca Benard, Ren (Mai) Dinh, Briana Parker, Tyler Sirovy, Liv Slaby