Alejandra Ortega

EDUCATION ______________________________________________________________
Ph.D. Candidate in English, Purdue University (anticipated May 2022)
Primary area: Twentieth and Twenty-first-century Transatlantic Literature
Dissertation: “More than a Setting: Twentieth and Twenty-First-Century Literary Homes
as Constructs in Individual, Communal, and National Contexts”

Committee: Maren Linett (chair), John Duvall, Arkady Plotnitsky, Nancy J. Peterson

M.A. in English, Wake Forest University, 2015

Thesis: “From Text to Tech: Theorizing Changing Experimental Structures”
Committee: Mellissa Jenkins (chair), Judith Madera, Joanna Ruocco

B.A. in History, Michigan State University, December 2012

Thesis: “Representations of Germany and Historical Memory in Literature and Film”
Adviser: Karrin Hanshew

B.A. in English, Michigan State University, May 2012

Thesis: “Seduction and the Vice Figure: From Mankind to Shakespeare”
Adviser: Stephen Deng

PUBLICATIONS ___________________________________________________________
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:
• “Intersections of New Media and Narratives: The Enhanced Ebook Reading
Experiences.” Rhizomes, Forthcoming, Spring 2021.
• “Calculating the Costs: The Effects of Land Consumption in Margaret Atwood’s
MadAddam Trilogy.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment,
October 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isaa154.

Peer-Reviewed Edited Collection:

• “The Cultural Critique of American Patriarchal Capitalism in Bonnie Jo Campbell’s
American Salvage.” Michigan Salvage: Bonnie Jo Campbell and the American Midwest,
edited by Lisa DuRose, Ross Tangedel, and Andy Oler, Michigan State UP,
Forthcoming.
 Ortega 2

Digital Publication:
• “‘Prompted by the Violence of Her Passion’: Gendered Crime in the 18th Century and
Eliza Haywood’s Love in Excess.” The 18th Century Common. July 24, 2019.
https://www.18thcenturycommon.org/ortega/

SELECT NATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS _______________

2020 “Interwar Economics: The Class Status of Space in F. Scott Fitzgerald.”
American Literature Association (San Diego, CA) *Canceled due to COVID-19.

2019 “The Cultural Critique of American Patriarchal Capitalism in Bonnie Jo

Campbell’s American Salvage.”
The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature (East Lansing, MI)

2018 “‘That is the tale; the rest is detail’: Understanding Created Personal and National
Identity through Modern Retellings of Norse Mythology in Neil Gaiman’s
Works.”
Popular/American Culture Association (Indianapolis, IN)

2016 “‘Muss es sein?’: The Architectural Innovations of Mark Z Danielewski’s House

of Leaves.”
American Comparative Literature Association (Cambridge, MA)

2016 “‘Punk’s Not Dead; Punk’s Sleepin’ Drunk’: The Status of Punk Culture
Influence of Today’s Music and Art Scenes.”
Popular/American Culture Association (Seattle, WA)

2014 “The Average Female in the Futuristic World: Kaylee and Feminism in the
Masculine ‘Verse of Firefly.”
Buffy to Batgirl: Interdisciplinary Conference on Gender, Comics and Science
Fiction (Camden, NJ)

SELECT REGIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS ______________

2021 “Deconstructing Binaries Through the Ecological Uncanny in Jeff VanderMeer’s

Southern Reach Trilogy.” Literature, Theory, and Cultural Studies Symposium
(West Lafayette, IN)

2019 “‘This is how an idea becomes real’: Teaching Analytical Writing and Ways of
Reading with Graphic Narratives in the First-Year Composition Classroom.”
Midwest Modern Language Association (Chicago, IL)

2019 “One vast uncontrolled experiment”: Tensions of Duality in Space and Society in
Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy.”
Midwest Modern Language Association (Chicago, IL)
 Ortega 3

2019 “Ecocritical Fashion from the Apocalypse to the Runway.”

Northeast Modern Language Association (Washington, D. C.)

2018 “‘A Kind of Keystone in the Universe’: The External and Internal Lives of
Yoknapatawpha Homes.”
Northeast Modern Language Association (Pittsburgh, PN)

2015 “From Mina Harker to Mina Murray: Rationalizing the Female Identity in a
Patriarchal Empire.”
Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (Santa Fe, NM)

2014 “Societal and Individual Influence of High and Popular Culture in Proust and
Kundera.”
Symposium on Negotiating Higher Aesthetics (Madison, WI)

INVITED TALKS AND WORKSHOPS_____________ ___________________

2020 “Writing and Publishing in Graduate School” (Co-Presenter)
Introductory Composition at Purdue (Purdue University

2020 “Performing Home in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned”

Literature, Theory, and Cultural Studies Forum Series (Purdue University)

2020 Fractured Fairytales in Film: Enchanted (Co-Presenter)

Purdue English Department: Big Read (Purdue University)

2020 “Preparing for Preliminary Exams” (Co-Presenter)

Graduate Student English Association (Purdue University)

2020 “Intersections of New Media and Narratives: The Enhanced Ebook Reading
Experience.”
Literature, Theory, and Cultural Studies Forum Series (Purdue University)

2019 Comic Adaptations of The Odyssey (Lead Presenter)

Purdue English Department: Big Read (Purdue University)

2019 “Reading Eco-Apocalyptic Bodies: Intersections of Communication, Identity, and

Fashion in the Anthropocene.”
Literature, Theory, and Cultural Studies Forum Series (Purdue University)

2019 Big Read Encore Event: March by John Lewis (Lead Presenter)
Purdue English Department: Big Read (Purdue University in association with the
West Lafayette Public Library)

2019 “Writing Abstracts”

Purdue Writing Lab (Purdue University)
 Ortega 4

2019 “Academic Posters” (Co-Presenter)

Purdue Writing Lab (Purdue University)

2018 3-Day Comics Workshop: March by John Lewis (Lead Presenter)

Purdue English Department: Big Read (Purdue University in association with the
West Lafayette Public Library)

2018 “Writing Cover Letters”

Purdue Writing Lab (Purdue University)

FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND GRANTS_____________ _____

2020-2021 Cheryl Z. Oreovicz English Scholarship (Purdue English)

2019 Fall PROMISE Travel Award (Purdue College of Liberal Arts)

2019-2020 Cheryl Z. Oreovicz English Scholarship (Purdue English)

2019 Spring PROMISE Travel Award (Purdue College of Liberal Arts)

2019 The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature Student Scholarship

2018 Fall, PROMISE Travel Award (Purdue College of Liberal Arts)

2017-2018 Modern Fiction Studies Teaching Assistantship

2013-2015 Wake Forest Graduate School Arts and Science English Department
Academic Fellowship

WRITING AWARDS_______________________________________ _____

2020 Disability Studies Award (Purdue English), First Place

“Reading Disability in Brave New World: The Bioethical Implications of a
Planned Society.”

2019 Kneale Award in Theory and Cultural Studies (Purdue English), First Place
“Intersections of New Media and Narratives: The Enhanced Ebook
Reading Experience”

2019 “Best in Show” Poster in Introductory Composition at Purdue Pedagogy

Showcase, Runner-up
“Joining the Conversation: Scaffolding Research Proposals in First Year
Composition”

2012 Arthur Athanson Creative Writing Award (Michigan State University)

 Ortega 5

2011 Marcia E. Platt and Douglas L. Ruble Award (Michigan State University)

2011 Fiore Student Book Scholarship (Michigan State University)

2011 Creative Writing Award: Full-length Screenplay, First Place (Michigan State
University)

2010 The State News Scholarship

TEACHING AND INSTRUCTIONAL EXPERIENCE ____________________

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
• Instructor of Record
o English 373: Science Fiction and Fantasy, Fall 2020
o English 238: Introduction to Fiction, Summer 2019
o English 106: First Year Composition, Spring 2019
o English 108: First Year Composition (Accelerated), Fall 2018
o English 106: First Year Composition, Spring 2018
o English 106: First Year Composition, Fall 2017

• Guest Instructor
o English 217: Myth and Literature: Dragons! Spring 2018

Purdue University Writing Lab, West Lafayette, Indiana

• English Conversation Group Leader (for Second Language Learners), Spring 2019
• Graduate Tutor, face-to-face and etutoring, August 2018-May 2019
• Grammar and Writing Instruction Video Presenter, Purdue OWL: Fall 2018, Spring 2019
o Grammar Video: Active and Passive Voice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEP-8lFTKKg

Wakefield School, The Plains, Virginia

• Instructor, 6th grade literature, August 2016-May 2017
• Instructor, 6th grade composition, August 2016-May 2017
• Instructor, 8th grade literature, August 2016-May 2017
• Middle School Battle of the Books Coach, August 2016-May 2017

Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Adjunct Professor, Instructor of Record
o ENG 181: African American Literature, Spring 2016
o ENG 090/091: Developmental Writing, Fall 2015, Spring 2016
o ENG 111: Introduction to Composition, Fall 2015

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
o ENG 323: Shakespeare, Spring 2015
 Ortega 6

o ENG 341G: Literature and the Environment, Fall 2014

o ENG 150: Literature Interprets the World: Speculative Fiction, Spring 2014

Wake Forest University Writing Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

• Graduate Tutor, August 2013-May 2015

Duke University Teaching Identification Program (Duke TiP), Wake Forest University,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Instructor, Speculative Fiction: Reading and Writing about Alternative Worlds, Summer
2015

Duke University Teaching Identification Program (Duke TiP), Trinity University, San
Antonio, Texas
• Teaching Assistant, Speculative Fiction: Reading and Writing about Alternative Worlds,
Summer 2014

Michigan State University College of Social Science, East Lansing, Michigan

• Undergraduate Learning Assistant: Anthropology, Fall 2012

MENTOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH _____________________________

• Susan Lam, “Suppression of Sickle Cell Disease Using Gene Therapy.” Undergraduate
Research Conference 2020, Purdue University. *Virtual conference due to COVID-19.

• Beatrice Smith, “Biometrics: A Key Security Solution.” Undergraduate Research

Conference 2019, Purdue University.

WRITING AND EDITING EXPERIENCE ________________________________

MFS: Modern Fiction Studies

Editorial Assistant: Summer 2019 - Present

Purdue OWL
Online Content Developer: September 2017 – May 2019
• Chicago Style-17 th Edition CMOS Author Date Classroom Poster:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_
17th_edition/documents/20180709CMOSADPoster.jpg
• Chicago Style-17 th Edition CMOS NB Classroom Poster:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_
17th_edition/documents/20180702CmosNBPoster.jpg

Duke University Press:

Freelance Copy Editor: Black Atlas: Geography and Flow in Nineteenth-Century African
American Literature by Judith Madera. 2014
 Ortega 7

Michigan House of Representatives

Writer: October 2011 - July 2012
• Edited, researched, and wrote press releases, representative e-newsletters,
talking points, speeches, media advisories, and campaign literature
• Assisted state representatives in official tasks including arranging press
conferences

SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION________________________________

2021 Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies Symposium Co-Chair

2020-Present English Department Job Search Committee, Graduate Student

Representative

2020-Present Midwest Modern Language Association, Writing Across the

Curriculum Chair

2020-Present Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies Organization, Vice President

2020-Present Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies Organization, LTC Forum

Series Chair

2019-2020 Graduate Student English Association, President

2019-2020 Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies Organization, Treasurer

2019-2020 Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies Organization, Modernism and

Contemporary Literary Studies Caucus Representative

2019 Introductory Composition at Purdue, Assessment T eam Member

2019 Prospective Student Host

2018-2020 Assistant Organizer for Big Read Events

2018-2019 Introductory Composition at Purdue, Syllabus Approach Leader

“Composing with Narrative”

2018-2019 Graduate Student English Association: Professionalization

Committee

2018 Northeast Modern Language Association, Literary Architecture Revisited

Chair

2018 Prospective Student Host

2018 Introductory Composition at Purdue, Assessment Team Member

 Ortega 8

2017-2018 Graduate Student English Association, First Year Representative

PROFFESIONAL AFFILIATIONS ________________________________________

• F. Scott Fitzgerald Society
• Society for Disability Studies
• American Literature Association
• Midwest Modern Language Association
• The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
• American Comparative Literature Association
• Popular Culture/American Culture Association