{"id":11173,"date":"2023-05-15T12:38:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T16:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harrington.uri.edu\/?p=11173"},"modified":"2024-05-20T15:29:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T19:29:56","slug":"kate-ayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/news\/2023\/05\/15\/kate-ayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Ayers ’23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Majors: Professional and Public Writing <\/a>and English<\/a>
\n<\/span>Hometown: Wethersfield, CT<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What are you doing after graduation?
\n<\/b>After graduation, I am starting a full-time position in book publishing as an Assistant Acquisitions Editor with Rowman & Littlefield. I’ll be working under the trade division at their Globe Pequot imprint in Essex, Connecticut.<\/span><\/p>\n

I chose this job because book publishing is not an easy field to get into\u2014it’s one of the most <\/span>coveted yet competitive industries for someone with passions and degrees like mine, so I jumped at the chance. A lot of people believe that obtaining a Master’s is the easiest way to get into publishing, but really, experience is what matters most. Though I was accepted to Emerson College’s Publishing and Writing Master’s program, after networking with professionals in the field, they advised me to look for full-time work, and that led me to land this job. For someone who always wanted to work in the competitive field of publishing, I am so grateful (and surprised) to be working in it immediately after graduating college.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: Describe the process of getting your job.
\n<\/b>Honestly, the process was long and painful. I spent months in agony trying to decide if I should continue my schooling or pursue full-time work. A week before I found out about my acceptance to Emerson College, I had a meeting with Rhode Island Monthly\u2019s Editorial Department ( I worked with them as an editorial intern this semester), and everyone from the special publications editor to the editor-in-chief told me that while Emerson is a great place to go, getting experience first is really important in order to learn the industry hands-on. This led me to start applying for jobs. I tweaked my resume, wrote over thirty cover letters and twelve different writing samples, and I applied for jobs everywhere. Finally, I heard back from Rowman & Littlefield asking me to interview for a position I forgot I applied for, and that was the first out of five interviews I went on for this one position at this one company.<\/span><\/p>\n

The interview process for my job was intense. I had meetings with HR representatives at the corporate branch of the company, I had two meetings with the editorial director of the imprint (he is now my boss), and I had one meeting with the head of the entire Trade Division of Rowman & Littlefield, and then, finally, I had one last meeting with the team of the Globe Pequot and Falcon Guide office in Connecticut. Two days after my last interview, I was offered a letter of employment which stated that I was the only candidate selected out of the eighty people interviewed for the job. It was surprisingly intense.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: How has Harrington prepared you for your plans?
\n<\/b>The courses and the experiential education are the best aspects of the Harrington School. I discovered new ways of writing that have changed my perspective on the craft that I’ve loved for so long; I definitely credit the Department of Writing and Rhetoric with helping me build upon my strengths. Also, the fact that I was able to use an editorial internship for school credit was beyond amazing. I interned at Rhode Island Monthly magazine, and I learned so much more than I would in most classrooms, and that’s thanks to the professors and curriculum of the Harrington School.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: What are you most proud of from your time at URI?
\n<\/b>I’m probably most proud of myself. I’m graduating summa cum laude. I’ve maintained a 4.0-grade point average during my tenure at URI, I made great friends here, I’ve learned a lot about writing and publishing, which has strengthened my professional portfolio, and I’m about to graduate with a full-time job in the exact field I’ve aspired to be a part of since the seventh grade. There’s a lot to be proud of which is why I’m sad to leave but excited to see what I will do next.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: What is your favorite Harrington memory?
\n<\/b>I enjoyed my WRT 404 Writing With Community Partners course. A lot of what I love about writing (and publishing) is that it’s an accessible, artistic way to connect, support and amplify the voices of underprivileged populations. This course took what I love about writing and directly practiced it; the course tasked us to write communications for a local non-profit that helps to improve a social issue. I worked with the South County Immigration Committee and their efforts to protect immigrants in Rhode Island, and offering that direct service through my education was as eye-opening for me as it was impactful for the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?
\n<\/b>I expected to be more <\/span>fascinated and swept up with my degree in English than my degree in professional and public writing, but I was wrong. The professional and public writing professors, curriculum and the Harrington School overall are what was most valuable for me during my time at URI.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After graduation, I am starting a full-time position in book publishing as an Assistant Acquisitions Editor with Rowman & Littlefield. I’ll be working under the trade division at their Globe Pequot imprint in Essex, Connecticut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1338,"featured_media":11441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-writing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12414,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11173\/revisions\/12414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}