Recent Alum Interview: Annabel Marshall Reflects on Accomplishments at UC Davis

Annabel Marshall is a distinguished scholar and advocate who has been nominated as the UC Davis candidate for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Currently, she is on a Fulbright grant in Switzerland, where she is teaching English. During her time at UC Davis, Annabel earned the highly selective Leon Mayhew Senior Award, recognizing her exceptional achievements in the arts, humanities, and university service. She also graduated with Highest Honors, participated in the Creative Writing Honors Program, and won the Diana Lynn Bogart Prize for Fiction (2nd place) along with honors for her creative thesis and essays.

Her commitment to advocacy is also evident in her receipt of the LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Award, acknowledging her impactful work on LGBTQIA+ issues on campus. She demonstrated her research skills by winning first place in the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Research in Arts and Humanities, awarded for projects showcasing extensive use of library resources and advancing the research process. In Cognitive Science, Annabel graduated with Highest Honors, receiving several accolades including the Robert J. Glushko Prize for Excellence in Cognitive Science, a Departmental Citation for Outstanding Performance, and a place in the ASPIRE Advanced Research Program.

How did you come to the decision to major in English? Did double majoring alongside Cognitive Science impact your experience as a student in the English department?

My majoring in English was less a decision and more of inevitability. I’ve always loved literature and immediately in college began taking English courses as a way to "balance" out my STEM courses. Mostly, it ensured I always had a class to look forward to. I think I pretended I might minor for a couple quarters, but pretty soon it was obvious that I was going to collect the major credits by accident, so I figured I might as well do it on purpose.

I ended up double majoring in English and Cognitive Science with minors in Education and Global Studies, which is an unwieldy way of saying that I was interested in language: how it's taught, learned, and used. I would recommend to any student in the UC system to think about what interests you, and not necessarily let that be defined by individual majors. English in particular is a very malleable major and lends itself to the interdisciplinary exploration of pretty much any subject. I found countless moments of overlap between my neuroscience/linguistics/education courses and English courses, and I had a great time applying one to the other. 

How did being an English major prepare you for the career you're planning? How did it prepare you for your current position as a Fulbright scholar?

An English major prepares you to think critically. Even when it seems like you've been tricked into reading The Canterbury Tales, you're really practicing synthesis, summary, and comparison – basic tools that everyone needs but to which few people can dedicate time in college. These skills have helped me infinitely and beyond the traditional bounds of English majoring: applications, interviews, research, public speaking, winning petty debates, media literacy, writing intelligible emails, any standardized test with a reading component, my inevitable tortured memoir, etc.

As for my current position, I think most people can probably draw the line between English major and Fulbright English teacher. I might add that majoring in English and Cognitive Science doesn't just help me explain commas to 16-year-olds, but it also means I can talk more accurately about the evolution of internet slang, the statistical models behind ChatGPT's language production, and how many of their favorite movies were adapted from Shakespeare – things that would have interested me at that age. I will also add that I was inspired and supported by several professors in the English department to pursue this opportunity, which I would have otherwise thought of as out of reach.

You were awarded the Leon Mayhew Senior Award, the UCD LGBTQIA+ award, and the Norma J. Lang Prize during your time in the English Department. Were there any projects based in the English department or benefited from its resources (faculty, staff, research, etc.) that you felt contributed to your success?

The Norma J. Lang Prize was awarded for an independent research project I completed on John Ashbery's The Vermont Notebook. In the fall, I decided I wanted to write a longer essay on camp aesthetics outside of class and went around bothering various professors to solicit advice. Michael Ziser and Joshua Clover both kindly took time out of their schedules to offer guidance. I believe I also bullied Claire Waters and Matthew Stratton into giving me advice on how to approach the project. And, after having met me once for five minutes, Margaret Ronda agreed to advise my independent project winter quarter and meet with me weekly. She worked with me to turn my essay into a structured thesis and encouraged me to apply for awards. The English department is always ready to go above and beyond for the benefit of their students, and I am so grateful to have had such supportive faculty. In the end, what started as an incredibly haphazard passion project taught me tons about the research process and even won me some prize money.

On a less obviously related note, I completed a cognitive neuroscience research thesis using electroencephalography. The project was very different from my English theses, but I am confident that my experience with English courses massively simplified the process of reading journal articles, and later, writing my thesis coherently and concisely.

Were there any notable staff/faculty in the department that supported you in a specific, meaningful capacity?

In addition to those I've already mentioned, I was incredibly lucky to have Katie Peterson as my advisor for the Creative Writing Honors Program. She's a lovely, earnest person and I was thrilled to have her. I had so much fun writing my creative thesis and being forced to answer impossible questions like, "Why did you do that?" and "What is this about?" Character building.

Also, many thanks to Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Rae Gouirand, and Michael Harvkey for reading my writing no matter the state it was in.

Pretty much every professor in the English department has been forced to write me a letter of recommendation, and those who haven't should watch their inbox closely. In every case, they've treated me and my goals with kindness. And shout out to the Voorhies building 

All of UCD’s English department undergraduates are undeniably brilliant & have their own unique ways of navigating academia. You are an outstanding former student who accomplished so much under the rigor that is associated with the UC system. For all current and future undergraduates, what advice would you give them to achieve similar or their desired path of success? What methods best served you in shaping your English undergraduate career, and is there anything else about the department that you’d like them to know?

Talk to your classmates. I met many wonderful people in the English department who I will carry with me for the rest of my life.