Literature Student Profiles

Rehmat Ali is a second-year PhD student in English Literature at the University of North Texas. Before joining UNT, he worked as a lecturer in English at the Punjab Higher Education Department in Pakistan. He is currently a Teaching Fellow in the English Department and thoroughly enjoys teaching First-Year Writing courses to freshman students. He loves teaching, reading poetry (English, Punjabi, Urdu & Persian) and discussing sociopolitical dimensions of literary texts. His primary academic area of interest is British Renaissance Literature, with a special focus on William Shakespeare. His secondary field is Rhetoric and Composition, where he examines effective practices for designing and managing a first-year writing program.

Saleem Almalky is a second year PhD student in Literature at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on American and Southern literature from the post–Civil War period to the present, with particular attention to race, cultural memory, and representations of Black motherhood. His work engages authors such as William Faulkner alongside Black and other marginalized Southern writers to examine questions of identity, memory, and historical experience. 

Samrand Avestan majored in English Language and Literature from Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. He is currently studying about colonial and postcolonial literature. He is also interested in poetry, drama and speculative fiction. His research area is pivoting on Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe's novels.

Jamini Hariharan is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in English literature. She graduated with an M.A. in Advertising from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has worked as a copywriter at various media companies, such as Young and Hungry, Globein, and Carol H. Williams Advertising. Her work focused on creating multicultural brand strategies and solutions to help companies better connect with their diverse audiences. Jamini aims to bring this experience to her research on the roles of the minority in media.

Dylan Jahn is a Literature M.A. Student and Teaching Assistant at the University of North Texas. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dylan's research interests explore the importance of narrative form within modern and postmodern literature, as well as the representation of women, the feminine, and queerness in traditionally masculine forms of literature.

Talal Khamaj is a Ph.D. candidate in English literature at the University of North Texas. He completed his B. A in English language at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia, and earned his M.A in English Literature from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His primary focus is on postcolonial, Black, and Indigenous studies, especially in the writings of 19th- and contemporary American literature. He is also interested in exploring the intersection of recent technology with racism, narrative, inequality, and representations of marginalized minorities.

Ayesha Murtza is a 3rd year Ph.D. scholar in English Literature. Her research focuses on post-colonial literature, intersectionality, feminist disability studies, and environmental justice. She is currently preparing for her comprehensive exams under the supervision of Dr. Anna Hinton, Dr. Aja Martinez, and Dr. Joanna Davis-McElligatt.

Prior to coming to UNT from Punjab, Pakistan, she completed her M.A. and M.Phil. in English Literature and Linguistics and won Excellence Achievement Award during her MA. She has presented her research works at NWSA, NeMLA, ASLE+AESS, ICLAP, and other conferences.

Ayesha is fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, and English. She has received many awards, including Graduate Academic Achievement Scholarship (2022), International Affairs Pakistani Student Scholarship (2023), The Veta Watson Percy Scholarship (2023). Her published works include her "Counterstory," published in Writers: Craft and Context, a book chapter about #MosqueMeToo in the edited volume, The Other #MeToos (Oxford University Press 2023). She is currently engaged in a translation project.

Md. Saifur Rahman is a Ph.D. student and Teaching Fellow at UNT. He completed both B.A. and M.A. from the Department of English at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. He taught as a faculty in the Department of English at Premier University, Chittagong, and at the Department of English at Chittagong Independent University. He was a Fulbright FLTA at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia. His research interests include postcolonial literature, climate justice, film studies, etc. He intends to use an eco-centric lens in postcolonial studies, focusing particularly on South Asian culture and literature.

Paria Rahmani is a PhD student in English Literature. Her focus is on 20th century American modern and postmodern novels and novellas depicting human embodiment/experience and temporality, with specific interests in affect theory in order to identify and analyze complex emotions in literature such as grief, envy, and rage. Born in the U.S. to Iranian parents, her other interests include Iranian-American literature, poetry, and media. When she is not on campus, you can probably find her at a coffee shop writing articles for her music criticism portfolio she has been updating for nearly a decade.

Arpita Sen is a current Ph.D. candidate and a Teaching Fellow at UNT. She has completed her B.A. in India from the University of North Bengal and earned an M.A. in English from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. She also holds a Diploma in Digital Marketing and has worked as a content writer and social media manager. Her research interests are in the field of feminism, gender dynamics and postcolonial literature. She hopes to continue researching and exploring representations and ideologies of femininity within the written word and its effect on societal structures, with a specific focus upon South Asian literature and culture.

In her spare time, she enjoys being snuggled up in a blanket listening to music, or penning down short writings or poems as a hobby.

Francesca Silva is a PhD student and a Teaching Fellow. Francesca earned their B.A. in English from Sam Houston State University and M.A. in Literature from the University of North Texas. Their research interests include multicultural women's literature, magical realism, rhetoric, and feminist and queer theory. Their current research focuses on feminist literature in tandem with magical realism and how it can create realities in which women, Black and Latin American women are able to question, challenge, and resist their oppression and patriarchal systems. Francesca hopes to continue their research within similar fields of study and also explore more literature and theory that centers not only on women of color, but queer non-binary and genderfluid people as well. When they aren't researching or teaching, Francesca enjoys listening to horror and true crime podcasts, reading fantasy novels, and taking long walks with their dog Sky.

Lauren Smithwick is a PhD student specializing in contemporary American literature. She graduated with her BA in English from Belmont University and her MA in literature from Texas Tech University. Her research focuses include monster theory, folkloric theory, and the intersections between folklore and feminist and queer studies.

Rachel Sullivan is a Literature PhD student and teaching fellow. She specializes in contemporary speculative fiction and fictional representations of motherhood. She earned her BA in Literature from SUNY Empire State College in 2016 and her MS in Library and Information Science from Texas Woman's University in 2020.

Yeganeh Taghvimi, a PhD student and a teaching assistant at the University of North Texas. I have graduated in English Language and Literature with a master's degree at Tabriz Azad University, Iran. I can speak Persian, Turkish, Azeri, and English fluently and I am quite familiar with literary works in these languages. My main academic interest is to study Literary Theories. My MA dissertation was also a comparative study of Time and Space on a noble work by John Fowles and its movie adaptation, The French Lieutenants' woman.

Christine Van Pay is a PhD student and teaching fellow.  Her scholarly research interests include Erotic Literature, Porn Studies, and BDSM Culture.  She earned her BA in English from Texas State University and her MA in English with a Creative Writing Certification from Texas A&M University-Commerce.  In her free time, you’ll find her playing video games or exploring new restaurants and recipes with her fellow gamer/foodie husband.

Amber Walters-Molina is a Ph.D. student and teaching fellow whose scholarly interests focus on nineteenth-century British literature, women writers, and digital humanities. She received her BA in English from Texas A&M and her MA in English with a certification in Digital Humanities from the University of Tennessee.

Bethany Weston is a Literature Ph.D. student and teaching fellow. After earning her BA in English from Texas Woman’s University (TWU), she taught middle school Language Arts courses in Denton ISD while pursuing a Master’s degree in Library Science at TWU. She completed additional coursework in graduate English studies at the University of North Texas and returned to TWU to teach First Year Composition and First Year Seminar. Her research interests include Southern Gothic literature, Critical Race Theory counterstory, African American literature, and their intersections. Her award-winning scholarship has been published in CCTE Studies, the annual journal of Conference of College Teachers of English in Texas, and is forthcoming in The Mississippi Quarterly.

Bekah Wilkerson is a Literature M.A. Student at the University of North Texas with a focus on the various intersections of gender, disability, and American literary studies. Inspired by family and friends, Bekah received a B.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2019 and has continued to celebrate unique learning styles, prioritize critical thinking skills, and encourage fundamental growth as a lifelong tutor and enthusiast of English language arts. 

Laura Yeck is a Ph.D. student and Teaching Fellow for the University of North Texas. She enjoys exploring symbolic connections between literature, art, and pop culture. She is delighted to continue her journey of teaching and learning at UNT.

Marissa A. Zerangue is a Ph.D. student at the University of North Texas. Her scholarly interests meet at the intersections of gender, race, and crime in American literature. Marissa received her M.A. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2019, and her thesis explored domestic noir in contemporary fiction, focusing specifically on the work of Gillian Flynn. Her dissertation will examine true crime and crime noir across various media, including fiction, film, graphic narrative, podcasts, and other emerging genres. Marissa enjoys reading, taking care of her house plants, and watching TV in her spare time.