Angela Fulk's Statement

Angela Fulk, Buffalo State College SUNY:

I am an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Buffalo State and Canisius College, both located in Buffalo, NY, where I teach a variety of courses in English, Classics, and writing.  My Ph.D., from Miami University in Ohio, is in medieval British literature, with a secondary field in nineteenth-century British literature.  In this Fall 2014 semester, which is a fairly typical one for me, I am teaching five different courses that range from basic writing to first-year Latin to a graduate seminar in medieval literature.  I have presented twice at NeMLA, once in 2008 on Harry Potter and fan fiction, and most recently in 2013, when I received a C.A.I.T.Y. travel award to present a paper entitled “Earthly and Heavenly Kings as War Leaders in the Anglo-Saxon Genesis Poem.”

At the 2008 NeMLA conference, I attended an academic employment workshop.  When I explained my status as the spouse of a tenured faculty member seeking a tenure-track or at least full-time academic position that would not require me to live in a separate city from my husband, the workshop leader told me, “You don’t need job counseling—you need crisis counseling!” Well, the crisis continues for many of us, but I am hoping that by volunteering to serve on the NeMLA board, I can help alleviate the crisis for others like me.  

Regional conferences like NeMLA are especially important venues for contingent and adjunct faculty who do not receive travel funds from their employers, and whose salaries rarely allow them to travel far from home for professional activities.  I am eager to help NeMLA in a Professional Development capacity to do all I can to help these  scholars, who may only have the resources to attend one professional conference every two or three years, to benefit as much as possible from coming to NeMLA.