English Alum Autumn Bryan Named Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholar

Congratulations to BA English and double Honors alum Autumn Bryan on being named the first Karen Mashburn Environmental Scholar!

Bryan graduated in 2022 with her BA in English, earning Honors in the Major for both English Literature and Creative Writing.

During her undergraduate studies in the Department of English, Bryan served as moderator of Breezeway Dialogues on Breezeway Dialogues on Climate Change & Capitalism. She earned second place in the Music, Art, Literature, Theater, History & Philosophy category for her Honors English thesis project, "Escaping Spectacle through Animal’s Eyes and Approaching Activism: Victims of Violent Voyeurism in 'Literary Humanitarianism'" at the 12th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, and she was named one of English's Outstanding English Seniors by vote of the department faculty. 

Currently, Autumn Bryan is a graduate student in Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida, and Geoscience at Florida Atlantic University, plans to pursue a doctorate in Environmental Literature.

An excerpt from Autumn Bryan's application essay, posted on Friends of the Everglades:

“Be a nuisance where it counts.”

Marjory’s words echo in my ears. I have always found it easy to be a nuisance; I would bolt upright, arm raised, disrupting the classroom’s quiet when answering questions. I would annotate in colored ink all of the text that graced my desk’s surface. Nature is my solace, and books have always been a refuge. The trees speak to me, share their secrets. I have found ways, beyond reading, to understand them. And often, I find myself a thorn in the sides of those that have attempted to thwart my pursuits. A great cypress island lives within me, and a great many grassy waters flow through, too. [ . . . ]

 

photo courtesy of Friends of the Everglades