Student Representation in the WLA

Graduate Student Representative
Over the years, more and more graduate students have started attending the annual Western Literature Association Conference. Now every fifth member of the Western Literature Association is a graduate student. Therefore, since 2001, the association’s Executive Council has included a Graduate Student Representative who is elected by the membership at large. Beginning in 2011, two grad student representatives serve on the council. Each graduate student representative serves a two-year term, and a new representative is elected each year.

Each Grad Rep’s responsibilities include:

  • being a voting member of the association’s governing body, the Executive Council, which makes decisions about the conferences and the running of the association’s scholarly journal
  • attending the pre-conference Executive Council meeting to act on behalf of the graduate student membership
  • being an active participant in the yearly conferences and most of their related events
  • organizing and moderating a panel at the yearly conference on some aspect of career and professionalization issues (he or she is usually assisted in this by a regular member of the association).

If you are interested in submitting your name for nomination as Grad Student Representative, please contact the current WLA president. Note: The Graduate Student Reps are appointed for two years, and the Western Literature Association expects that appointment to be carried out. So please don’t nominate yourself or accept a nomination for Graduate Student Rep if you expect to finish your degree before the end of spring semester of your second year.

Contact your current graduate student representatives:

Matt Lavin

Matt Lavin (rep: 2010-2012)
University of Iowa
mjlavin80@gmail.com

Matthew J. Lavin is a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Iowa. He earned a master’s degree in American studies at Utah State University in 2006 and a bachelor’s degree from St Lawrence University in 2002. His dissertation, “Collaborative Momentum: The Author and the Middle Man in U.S. Literature and Culture, 1890-1940” examines supportive and adversarial relationships among authors, agents, editors, publishers, and other “middle men.” (Defense expected May 2012.) He received the Lilly Library’s Everett Helm Fellowship in 2010 and the University of Iowa’s Frederick F. Seely Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship for Teaching and Research in 2011. His scholarly work appears in Western American Literature and Cather Studies 9: Willa Cather and Modern Cultures.

Ashley Reis (rep: 2011-2013)
University of North Texas
AshleyReis@my.unt.edu

Ashley E. Reis received her B.A. and M.A. in English from the Universities of Kentucky and Oregon, respectively. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of North Texas, with a focus in Literature and the Environment. Specifically, Ashley is interested in Western American literature’s relationship to U.S. National Parks; land use and land ethics; as well as cultural geography and spatial theory. In her (limited amount of) free time, Ashley heads “home” to Wyoming to explore the backcountry, climb mountains, and ski in her backyard: Grand Teton National Park.

Past Graduate Student Reps:

Kerry Fine, Texas Tech University, 2008-2011
Angela Waldie, University of Calgary, 2006-2008
Drucilla Wall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2005-2006
Matthew R. Burkhart, University of Arizona, 2003-2005
Anne L. Kaufman, University of Maryland, 2001-2003

  • Western Literature Association (WLA)

    Founded in 1965, the Western Literature Association (WLA) is a non-profit, scholarly association that promotes the study of the diverse literature and cultures of the North American West, past and present.

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  • Western American Literature

    (The Journal)

    Jointly published by the Western Literature Association and Utah State University, Western American Literature is the leading journal in western American literary studies.

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