SAA Graduate Students Virtual Event

How to Navigate SAA as a Grad Student: A Virtual Q&A Presented by the SAA Graduate Committee

Friday, February 21 at 2pm EST / 11am PST

The inaugural SAA Graduate Committee is excited to announce its first event, “How to Navigate SAA as a Graduate Student,” which will take place over Zoom on Friday, February 21 at 2pm EST / 11am PST.

This virtual session is designed to provide guidance and support to graduate students looking to make the most of their time at the 2025 annual SAA-RSA meeting in Boston. SAA employs a fantastic collaborative format that is unlike most other academic conferences, and this session will give grads a sense of what to expect as well as how to prepare ahead of time.

We will begin with opening remarks from SAA Executive Director Karen Raber and President Ruben Espinosa. Following this introduction, a panel of seasoned graduate students and early-career faculty will share their insights and experiences on navigating the conference. Questions that will be addressed include: How can you make the most out of your seminar? How do you choose which sessions and panels to attend? What strategies can you use to network and build professional connections? What resources are available to support graduate students? This session is intended to be an interactive Q&A, so participants will have the opportunity to engage directly with the panelists.

The event will conclude with a brief Town Hall, in which the SAA Graduate Committee will introduce itself and invite the audience to share their ideas on how the committee can serve the needs of SAA’s grad student members.
We warmly encourage all graduate students—from first-time SAA conferencegoers to seasoned attendees—to join us for this event!

Please register in advance for this event:
https://uci.zoom.us/meeting/register/6KaxTpGhRyenGjQAAv9vWQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Panelists:

Dr. Harry McCarthy
Lecturer in Early Modern Literature
University of Exeter

Arya Sureshbabu
PhD Candidate in English
University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Kyle Grady
Assistant Professor of English
University of California, Irvine

Sydney Shamblin Anderson
PhD Candidate in English
University of Miami