Spotlights and Testimonials

alyssa newman

As a proud 2023 graduate of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sam Houston State University, I am continually reminded of how my time at SHSU shaped both my academic and professional journey. I double majored in Philosophy and Political Science with a minor in Spanish, originally planning to attend law school. However, through the mentorship and opportunities I received as an undergraduate, especially my acceptance into the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, my path began to shift.

One of the most meaningful parts of my time at SHSU was sharing the experience with my mom, who was also earning her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology. We were in the same McNair Scholars cohort, supporting each other through research projects, presentations, and graduate school preparation. Today, we are both thriving at the University of Florida. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and I am continuing my journey in higher education.

My experience in the McNair Scholars Program, along with serving as an Honors Ambassador for the Elliot T. Bowers Honors College and writing tutor at the Academic Success Center, helped me discover a passion for supporting students in their academic and personal growth. These experiences ultimately led me to pursue a career in higher education rather than law. After graduation, I joined the University of Florida Online as an Admissions Officer, where I have been able to help connect aspiring students with transformational educational opportunities.

I am deeply grateful to my mentors such as my thesis advisor, Dr. Zachary Bachman, who helped me develop independent research skills and connect with other supportive faculty members such as Dr. Jessica Elkayam. I also owe thanks to my graduate mentor, Kayli Carrillo and the director of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, Dr. Lydia Fox, who encouraged my passion for research and inspired my mom and I to continue our studies.

Today, I am pursuing my M.Ed. in Student Personnel in Higher Education at the University of Florida with a projected graduation date of August 2026. The skills, mentorship, and values I gained at SHSU continue to guide me every day in my work and studies. To any student just starting out, I would say to stay open to where your curiosity leads, because you never know how your experiences may shape your passions and future path.

Dominic Brandolini

I sort of walked into being a philosophy major. I’ve always been interested in history, so I initially came to Sam Houston to major in history. However, during my freshman year, I met Dr. Meagher in his Contemporary Moral Issues class. He told me I’d be a great fit for the philosophy program and shared some reading recommendations for the summer. I liked what I read and decided to study philosophy from then on. There were a few books from that summer that were formative to my educational experience, and eventually became the center of my research. Specifically, those books were Black Reconstruction by W.E.B Du Bois and Black Skin White Masks by Frantz Fanon.

I want to go to graduate school. As I’m preparing for the application process, I think presenting at a conference will definitely strengthen my CV. Additionally, I want to improve at presenting my ideas to others. I think it’s valuable that, at the phenomenology roundtable, I'll be in the same room with professionals in their field and learn from them. 

I’m incredibly excited for the conference. Every presenter gets to read everyone’s paper beforehand. At the phenomenology roundtable, you give a 15-minute presentation, and then you discuss your paper with other phenomenologists. Essentially, this conference is about sharing ideas and honing in on the things you’re working on, rather than competing with other researchers; it’ll be a cool experience. It’s important for me to present at this conference because, despite phenomenology not being a huge discipline, respected researchers of this field will be there, so it’s exciting and fun that I'll get to do phenomenology with other professionals who care about it. 

My paper is on nationalism and anti-black racism. I’ll be presenting an argument from John Paul Sartre’s book Critique of Dialectical Reason. In the first half of my paper, I’m essentially arguing that we should understand nationalist political parties as an organized group, and their constituents as a serial collective. The second half is about how nationalism interacts with and is informed by anti-black racism, and how we, in order to understand either, have to take their interaction seriously. 

I’ve been very interested in nationalism and racism since my time in the army because those two things were very prevalent there. Those are the reasons why I left. I wanted to come to college and understand these issues. I’ve had an interest in this and have been working my way through it for the past six to seven years, so this conference was a good opportunity to work on something that I’ve been concerned with for a really long time and put it all down on paper. 

About a year and a half ago, for an independent study, my advisor, Dr. Meagher, and I read Critique of Dialectical Reason. As I was formulating my honors thesis, I realized that CoDR was a great way to understand the issues of nationalism and racism. So the inception of my phenomenology roundtable essay came from applying what I learned in my reading. To topics that I’ve been researching for the past few years. 

I’m hoping to gain confidence and an expanded education from this experience. The idea of reading my paper in front of people who’ve been doing this for 40 years sounds intimidating. Regardless, I want to continue engaging with and learning from great phenomenologists throughout my life. 

It took me five months to write the paper, and you have about 10 to 15 minutes at most to present it at the conference. So, the most challenging part of preparing for my presentation was condensing that 5 months of research into 15 minutes. I wrote a long paper, so it was a bit hard to tie each element together and figure out where to put each talking point. 

On the other hand, however, I definitely enjoyed reading for my research and interpreting a phenomenon through a particular lens. For example, I read A Search for a Method by John Paul Sartre from cover to cover, and I have whole sections memorized. I can even tell you which page numbers certain concepts are discussed on. It’s nice to know something that in-depth. The research process was fun and rewarding.