Student Bios

Shea Rowell-Szpila is a recent graduate from Mount St. Mary's University, where she completed her degrees in English and music, with minors in French and theology. She prefers interdisciplinary approaches to artistic analysis, and is particularly fascinated by the overlap between literary and musical artistic expression, which she hopes to explore further at Villanova. This fall, Shea will begin her work as a graduate assistant with the Graduate Studies Office, and looks forward to becoming a part of the community of Villanova graduate students. As a newlywed who recently moved away from her hometown in rural Virginia, Shea is excited to make Pennsylvania her new home. In her free time, you can find Shea sitting outside with a book, playing her trumpet with the Chester County Community Band, and drinking copious amounts of tea.

Kristen Wallace joins Villanova's English department after graduating from Colorado State University – Pueblo with her BA in English and a minor in Philosophy. While her passions in literary study are wide-ranging, she is particularly fond of exploring how characters display (or are denied) agency within a text and how those texts can inform a way of existing that ensures that diverse and marginalized peoples have a space to be agentic in their own lives. At Villanova, Kristen fully expects to continue this line of scholarship in her own academic pursuits, as well as in her tutoring pedagogy. Her favorite books include The Count of Monte Cristo, Fragile Things, the entire Harry Potter series, and, most recently, Station Eleven. In her leisure time, Kristen's favorite ways to satisfy her curiosity are eating at chef-driven restaurants, taking photos of peculiar bugs in her mother's garden, and listening to podcasts about justice, design, and human experience. As a Colorado...