Alyson Farzad

"The ferocious desire to live a full life; The consistent curiosity to figure out what that means."

As a University of Georgia alumni and current Vanderbilt University graduate student, my life has rarely left the academy and I proudly consider myself a forever-student. Other than singing (loudly) in the car, taking care of my sweet goldendoodle Sanford, and refusing to eat my vegetables, my other hobby is living to learn and preparing to become a university professor one day. When I am outside of academia, my perfect day would consist of playing scrabble, eating amazing food, completing a crossword, talking with my friends, reading a great book, meeting someone new, volunteering in my community, hiking/kayaking near the Harpeth River, drinking craft beer, going to a concert, and then passing out when it's all over.

I currently live in Nashville, Tennessee where I will graduate from Vanderbilt University with a Masters of Education Degree in Higher Education Administration. I am tremendously passionate about promoting social justice and providing college students with opportunities to serve their communities and the world! I hope to one day do so as a professor of experiential learning-based classes focused on social justice and social movement rhetoric. I want to provide a safe and intellectual place to have challenging conversations about societal injustices and how our media and day-to-day rhetorical choices affect the ways in which we interact with such systems and either perpetuate or resist oppressive societal tendencies.

I am currently enjoying/surviving the process of applying to doctoral programs in Communication Studies departments around the nation. I am particularly interested in rhetorical studies and I hope to start a PhD program in the Fall of 2016.

Other professional interests include developing leadership strengths in all students, promoting positive feminist rhetoric, and aiding the goals of cultural organizations. Overall, I look forward to my future career as a professor as a way to make a difference in higher learning, to improve our society through civic engagement, and to love what I do every single day. Does it get any better than that?

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt