Alumni Spotlight: Lynn Messina (Class of ’97)

See Lynn’s Alumni Profile

Why did you choose to attend the Graduate Center?

I decided to apply for the GC and get a Ph.D. because I wanted to teach college English. But initially, I thought I was going to teach in high school, so I minored in Education and did my student teaching in an all-boys Catholic high school. Unfortunately, I didn’t like teaching high school students at all, and I started to suspect that I would enjoy teaching college students instead. Still, I intended to try teaching in high school first, thinking maybe it was the all-boys environment that I didn’t enjoy. I would ultimately need a Master’s to get permanently certified, and I had been accepted at NYU’s M.A. program for the fall, so I figured I would go there. When I told one of my professors what I was doing, he mentioned that I should think about going to the Grad Center instead, but it was too late to apply. Then, just before graduation, one of my English professors told me I really should think about getting a Ph.D. I never thought I could get a Ph.D., because I knew I’d have to write a book-length thesis. While I loved studying literature, I always disliked writing. (I still do, but not as much.) By the time I finished writing my Master’s thesis for NYU, I saw that I could, indeed, write something like a dissertation. I graduated in February 1989, and when I did, my old English department at St. John’s gave me an adjunct position, and as I suspected, I loved teaching in college. That’s when I knew I wanted to get a Ph.D., but I didn’t think I could afford it. So I worked for a year, and when I did apply, I made sure to apply to the GC. I never forgot the endorsement my professor had given the school. It’s a good thing I did apply, because the GC was the only school out of 6 that accepted me. It also turned out to be a wonderful place with some of the best teachers I’ve ever had.

What memories stand out to you about your time in the English Program?

My years at the Graduate Center were some of my favorite years as a student. The positive experience started on the very first day, when I arrived at the English department to register for classes. I was greeted by the late, great Lynn Kadison, who knew me immediately. Before I could finish saying my name, she cut me off with, “Oh, Lynn Messina! We’ve been waiting for you!” Then she asked me what I thought I wanted to specialize in, and when I told her 19th- century American, she assigned me to Joan Richardson, who she described as “super delicious.” After I had been so scared approaching the building on 42nd Street, telling myself that I didn’t have to do this, and it was not too late to turn around, the warmth and nurturing atmosphere I encountered at the Grad Center on that first day told me it was the right place for me. My opinion was only strengthened when I saw how accessible the faculty was and the interesting variety of courses offered. There were many works of literature that I disliked when I entered the classroom that I appreciated and even loved when I walked out. Sitting in class with so many intelligent, thoughtful students also challenged me to push myself harder. I wouldn’t trade my years there for anything.

What memories stand out to you about your time working on the dissertation?

One of the most important things I learned about the experience of getting a Ph.D. was that, while it’s a marathon, not a sprint, it’s important to keep moving forward. There will be obstacles and setbacks, but while it’s all right to get down for a while when faced with those setbacks, it’s essential not to let them keep you down for long. I faced the nightmare situation for any doctoral candidate when I discovered that two people had already written dissertations on two of my proposed chapters for my dissertation–after I had already done two years of research and planning. Here was where my adviser, Joan Richardson, was a life saver. After commiserating with me and sharing her own similar experience as a doctoral student, she calmly worked with me on crafting another proposal for the topic that I always considered Plan B. That ended up being unique enough to earn department approval, and within about 2 1/2 years, I had written the proposal and dissertation. Throughout the process, I learned to accept the importance of revision, that it was all right if my first draft of a chapter wasn’t quite right–or not at all right. Once I digested all of my adviser’s marginal comments–and, sometimes, the big X’s written through whole pages–I rolled up my sleeves and went back to the drawing board, if I had to. Rethinking what I had written helped me to learn more about the topic and led to improvement in my writing. I just needed to keep an open mind and a positive attitude.

What skills/interests/relationships/et cetera have you taken away from your time at the Graduate Center?

Because I entered the publishing industry when I left academia, the skills and experience I gained as a graduate English student have not gone to waste. The enormous amount of writing I had to do while pursuing my Ph.D. gave me important insights that enabled me to recognize the difference between a publishable work and one in need of further development. I was definitely a better writer when I completed my doctorate than I was when I entered the program, and that has been essential to my success in publishing. While studying literature with the Grad Center faculty helped me to cultivate the critical eye necessary to judge the quality of other people’s work, the process of writing and revising helped me to hone my technical skills and become a better editor.

Can you explain the trajectory of your career path since leaving the GC? What is your current position and how did you come to it?

After I left the Grad Center, I tried teaching in high school but did not enjoy it, so I adjuncted for a couple of years before I got a full-time job as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. While I liked the English department there very much, they were unable to offer me a tenure-track job in my area of specialization, and I was unhappy living in Pennsylvania, so I left the school at the end of my first year. When I left, I was a finalist for two tenure-track jobs, but I did not get either one of them. After adjuncting for the summer when I returned to New York, those opportunities dried up, so in September, tired of the uncertain life of an adjunct, I took my first full-time job in publishing and eventually landed at the H.W. Wilson Company, as an Assistant Editor in the General Reference division. Before I had been there a year, I was promoted to Editor. Wilson was a great place to learn about publishing, as most books there were custom made, and I had to do a little of everything–designing, editing, and even writing parts of many of the books I was producing. After about eight years at Wilson, I found a new challenge at Infobase Learning, where I was Editor-in-Chief of an online publication for four years before I was laid off with half of the editorial department in a cost-cutting move. I struggled to get back into publishing for about a year and a half, taking a job briefly as a Course Developer for an online program at Columbia University and doing freelance editing and writing, but in June 2013, I got a job as a Senior Production Supervisor at McGraw-Hill Education, in the Professional division. As I have usually found in publishing, the people at McGraw-Hill are intelligent and collegial, and I have been very happy there.

Do you have any other advice or insights for students who might pursue a non-faculty academic position?

The most important piece of advice I can give to students considering a non-academic career is to be flexible. Market your skills, and be willing to open your mind to professions that you may not have considered before. In my case, that meant taking writing jobs, which I never thought I would do, because, as I said before, I never liked writing. But the researching and writing skills I had cultivated for so many years as a scholar made me very good at it, and if the subject was interesting, the project was at least bearable. It gave me good, solid experience to list on a resume, and that led to better jobs. When they begin the job search outside of academia, it might even be advisable for students to meet with a job coach, who can help them to recognize the skills they have that would be most marketable and give them valuable insights in approaching the job market. Employers outside of academia look for very different qualities in job candidates than those in academia, and a job coach can help with cover letters, resumes, and interviewing techniques.