Dr. Alyssa Falcone, PhD in Italian Literature | Affiliate Instructor of Italian at Loyola University Maryland

In this episode, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of Alyssa’s decision to pursue several different adjunct and short-term academic teaching positions across the country after finishing her PhD in Italian Literature, her perspective on taking breaks from your doctoral studies or career when needed, and her advice for pursuing a career in academia.

Hosted by Lois Dankwa

To connect with Alyssa and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

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Lois Dankwa

Hi! I'm co-host Lois Dankwa and this is the 100 alumni voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today, we're joined by Alyssa Falcone, PhD in Italian literature and current affiliate instructor of Italian at Loyola University, Maryland. Hi Alyssa.

Alyssa Falcone

Hi Lois! Thanks for having me.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, how are you today?

Alyssa Falcone

I'm great. How are you?

Lois Dankwa

I'm doing all right. I'm happy and excited to dive into a chat with you. So, looking forward to it.

Alyssa Falcone

Me too.

Lois Dankwa

So, I want to start by just hearing a little bit about what made you pursue a PhD in Italian literature, and just learn more about your graduate work in general.

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, so when people hear that I'm a PhD in Italian literature, they usually have some kind of reaction like, Wow, that's that's really interesting. Where did that come from? What? What made you want to do Italian literature of all things? And I usually tell them I grew up in an Italian American family. My grandfather was from Italy, so he inspired me to start studying Italian, and when I was in undergrad, I tutored a lot. So, I really love the teaching aspect. My advisor encouraged me to apply to grad school. And when I started grad school I started teaching as well. They kind of just throw you to the wolves and have you teach undergrads, even though you're a year older than them, most of them. And by the end of my master's program, I wanted to do more. So, I realized that, you know, with a Master's degree, typically, you can teach high school. You can teach some college, but I really wanted to be in the college environment. So, I decided to pursue the PhD just for love of literature and language, and also for more credentials.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, I certainly understand that how kind of family and just your own life experiences and then later, being a student yourself, you realized how you wanted to contribute. So, I guess I'm curious then can you tell us more about what parts of your doctoral program were exciting, and how like, I guess it sounded like you always wanted to be part of like the teaching side of things, but yeah, what made it continue to be exciting during your doctoral program? And how did you know with certainty, yeah, I do wanna continue teaching?

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, I think the you know, I was just thinking last night about the acceptance letter that I got to Hopkins, and it described the graduate teaching fellowship as an apprenticeship, and I thought that was so cool that we were guided throughout our program by experts in the field who would take the time to really teach us pedagogy, and make sure that we were teaching undergrads with passion and care, and we really saw that at Hopkins. Teachers were excellent friends, were excellent. I made a lot of friends throughout throughout the program, and they definitely kept me going when when things were hard with dissertation, with motivation. But the 6 years that I spent at Hopkins were some of the best of my life, I would say.

Lois Dankwa

Oh, that's so great to hear. So, I guess I'm curious then, when you were thinking about—I get well, actually, so I'm curious then your next step after graduation, were you, have you been in the same role since? And how has kind of your career journey looked after graduation?

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, it's it's been a journey for sure. I started off as an adjunct instructor at George Mason University, and not really wanting to move for something that was part time I did the commute, which was maybe an hour, hour plus some days. Some days I would leave the house it at 7 Am and barely get there for my 10 am class. It was really brutal, but that was the only brutal part of it. I think the connections that I made there, I'm still in touch with my what I, the woman I call my mentor, Christina Olson. She really has made connections for me, and she is involved me in projects since then. So, I did adjuncting for a year. I did it at a couple of different schools, bouncing around. The following year I was accepted to be an instructor at the University of Alabama, so I moved down there, and again it was just a year-long position. So, I decided to just move by myself. My then fiancé did not move with me. We actually got married in November while I was there. I had to fly home from Alabama, go to my wedding, and then fly home on Monday. And then the following year I was at Youngstown State University, in Ohio. We did the same thing there where we lived apart, and then the pandemic hit. So, I actually moved home to Baltimore to be with my husband, and taught remotely on zoom for what ended up being a year and a half, and that was very, very tough. You could see that, you know, with the pandemic things were so demoralizing for the students. No one wanted to be on zoom. We did the best we could with the lessons, but it was just not the same as being in the classroom, and it was a struggle, but after about a year I found out that I was pregnant, and so I decided to, once my son was born, take a year off of teaching. And then that year is now past, and now I'm teaching at Loyala, which is thankfully right down the street. So, we don't have to move anywhere. We don't have to go anywhere. I've kind of decided to put that off for the foreseeable future, to never have to move again hopefully. That would be nice.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that would be nice. And I think that it’s nice when things kind of fall together. Well, where kind of with the birth of your son, you also are in a role where you get to be basically right next to the University.

Alyssa Falcone

Yes, that really lucked out.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that's amazing. I think that something that I really heard a lot from what you were talking about was how sometimes an opportunity—opportunities are not necessarily always 100% what you want, whether it's commute or you're getting to do research. But then the topic is like adjacent to your specific interest, and I I think a lot of times for people and doctoral programs and postdoctoral programs that's something we deal with a lot where it's like alright, I have however many opportunities I'm considering, or I'm thinking about considering in the future, how do I pick them? And I'm curious kind of what your process was for being able to go all right, I'm gonna choose this one, and I know these are the pros and I know these are the cons, but as someone that's gone through that thinking a bit, yeah, how did you do it?

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, that's a great question. The market for Italian studies jobs has been you know, it's been up and down over the years, and I think those years where I was picking jobs that were so far flung in Alabama, Ohio, Virginia, those were the really only options I had, and I really wanted to stay in the program. I wanted to stay relevant. I wanted to be teaching, no matter where it was, and I had the flexibility then, before we had children, and before we started even considering it. So, I did that, just kind of threw myself into it, no matter where the opportunity was, and I absolutely loved the people that I met each time. It was a fantastic opportunity. I got asked to stay longer at each job, but I just unfortunately couldn't. I couldn't continue living apart from my husband and such and my family, too, and just such a faraway place, especially if we were considering having a family. We have a very tight knit Italian family on my side, and of course my husband's side doesn't want to be that far away, either. And yeah, it was—it's a lot of tough decisions that you have to make over the different parts of your life and the different things that come up organically and inorganically. It's always a tough decision. But and then sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes the things that were pulling me to certain jobs were so compelling, like the opportunities I could teach, I could mentor, I could help with Italian club, I could introduce, you know, Baltimore culture to Alabama, to anything like that. So, I had fun, but it was also, it was also tough at times, for sure.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, I certainly understand that. Especially it's taking a risk always comes with the unknown, and you just experience it along the way, right?

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah. It was terrifying deciding to take a whole year off of teaching, because I didn't know if I could get back into it easily. I didn't know if that was going to cost me. So in a way, I felt, you know, the way that I'm sure a lot of women feel that you know, they are taking the time off to be mothers, to be for people to be parents, to take that time off for yourself to heal, and for you to raise your child. It's it's a sacrifice you have to make for your career. But and on the other side it's it's what you want to do. So, I think right now it's I'm at a good point where we have a nanny, so, there's the flexibility that he can be safe at home, and I can still go to work, and there's there's so much more I feel like I can do now. It wasn't a detrimental thing to take a year off in the end.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, I'm and I I'm glad you bring up taking time off, because I think that it's funny, because, as people pursuing doctorates, it's the moment when you're in your program, you have all the time and somehow no time.

Alyssa Falcone

Yes.

Lois Dankwa

And I think that's why there are some people that are in the middle of their doctoral studies, they're like, okay, I need to take a couple months to just not do this anymore. And it's an important moment for them. And it helps them in the future. There are others of us who choose not to do that, and there are a number of reasons for that, too, but I think that there's a valuable perspective that occurs when, being in this moment, because we realize that the time is really in our own hands, and I it's interesting and I'm grateful that you shared this, that this is something you still experience outside of the program where you recognize that you were in control of how you used your time, whether it was taking time off or using it to commute to go to different places, and I'm grateful that you shared you shared that part with us.

Alyssa Falcone

And I do want to acknowledge that, you know I was privileged that my husband had a job that he could cover finances at the time while I was not working. We had family that helped out here and there, you know. Not everybody has that opportunity. But taking time off, if you need it, is so so important like you said. Even if it's within the doctoral program, that's the studies. And I knew a lot of people that burnt out really quickly. And it was, it was very sad, because I wanted them to have the same experience that I had. But there were times I probably should have taken off just for mental health reasons, or just to recover from all the hard work that that we're doing that can burn you out so quickly. So, it is, yeah, it is very important. I would love to share that with people.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah. Well, then, on that note, I'd love if you have any advice about taking time off for people who either are within their doctoral program trying to decide if that's a good choice for them, or are thinking, should they take off time between their program and finding their next opportunity for themselves or even if they're mid-career.

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, if it's the right thing to do for you, then it's the right thing to do for you. Then, and no one else can tell you differently, not your advisor, your friends. If you are suffering and you need to take some time off, then the world will not end. The program will be there when you come back, whenever you come back. And if you don't decide to come back, that's okay, too. You can do whatever you want, and if you at this time, if you see if you have some time apart from the program, and you and you start noticing that you're feeling better, and your your overall mental health and physical health is repairing itself, then maybe the PhD program is just not right for you. Or it's not right at this at this moment. It's not the end of the world. I think a lot of PhD students get that, no, it's everything is the end all be all. If I'm not finishing my dissertation, then I'm not accomplishing my, you know my life's goal, or. It's gonna be okay. And you can come back years, years later and finish it. It doesn't have to be a linear process. It doesn't have to be anything that's forced, or anything that harms you, I would say

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that's a great point. And also the note about it not having to be a linear process. I think all of our journeys tend not to be linear processes.

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah.

Lois Dankwa

They just sound like it when we tell the story, because we find a way to string the pieces together. 

Alyssa Falcone

Yes.

Lois Dankwa

So, I'm curious in the beginning of our conversation you mentioned you had a mentor who really helped you continue to be excited about pursuing Italian literature and studying and teaching it, and I'd love to either hear about more about that mentor or other mentors you've had in your life that have really helped guide how you've existed professionally.

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah. Christina Olson at George Mason University has been just an angel. She is, she reached out to me when I was just newly minted PhD and asked if I could teach at George Mason, and I happily accepted it, because I know I knew her name due to the research that I was in. I studied the author Giovanni Boccaccio, and she is now the president of the Boccaccio—American Boccaccio Association. So, she is big big name in that field. I leapt at that opportunity, and then, while I was there, she talked about me joining certain projects. We actually, we wrote something together where she it was the the great learning courses. I want to say that's the name where she did the DVDs and the lessons, and I wrote the workbook to this learning program, and and since then she has reached out, and because of her I'll be also teaching courses at Politics and Prose bookstore this spring because so she just couldn't do it. So, she passed my name on. She has been just a a boon for a ton of different things that I've done, whether it's been teaching, recommendations, collaborations, and just a friend to lean on to ask advice to and she she's wonderful. I hope that everyone has someone like that eventually. That it, whether it's in their first job or someone in the PhD Program that they can lean on and come back to. She has just been absolutely fundamental for me.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, it's so wonderful when we can find a mentor, whether they’re someone who's more senior in their career compared to you or someone that's at your level, when we can find someone who can understand our professional aspirations and drivers. But then, and also, the relationship begins to shift to also just caring about you as a person. It's it's so enriching because then you're going through the process and the journey together.

Alyssa Falcone

Yes.

Lois Dankwa

Oh, that's so wonderful! Well, I I also know that you mentioned that your cohort and the people that you were studying with were a really important part throughout, yeah, your studies. And I'm curious how those relationships have changed, but like what they looked like while you were working in on the doctoral program together? But then also, how do you maintain what you all had now?

Alyssa Falcone

That's a great question, because, as you know, we're all together during our PhD Program, and then the worst thing is you get these such great friendships, and then they get flung all over the world. Even studying in a program where it's world languages, some people are from different parts of the world, so they might go back to Europe, or wherever they're from. And you just lose touch with them, because it's so hard to keep in touch with everybody. But I have kept in touch with a good number of people, whether they are still in Baltimore, or we just keep in touch through text or through Facebook, Instagram, and a lot of them have kids now. So now that we are, some of us are still in the same area, we can meet up and have a play time with our kids, or we can ask each other advice about being a new parent, and it's just wonderful to have that. And it's a unique experience too, because they know exactly what you're going through on the job market. They know what you're going through in terms of your research and your interests and teaching. So, they have just been absolutely wonderful to—It's been wonderful to have that connection for years and years now that I've been, I've graduated almost 6 years ago now. So, to be able to keep in touch with those people is wonderful.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that's so nice to hear. And it's also it's fun to hear how the you get to experience different moments of life together from having children and then now the children are like adjacent parts. They're like affiliated cohort members, even though they're not really part of it.

Alyssa Falcone

We always ask each other, are you gonna make your child bilingual? Are you gonna teach them Italian or Spanish or French? And we bounce ideas off each other all the time. And it's wonderful.

Lois Dankwa

That's so cool. So, Italian literature is cool to me. But it's definitely not my field of work at all. And I'm curious more about kind of common myths that people have about your field, and just the stuff that you do. 

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, common myths. I mean, I guess it's not so much a common myth as maybe misconceptions about how important Italian literature has been to the world. How Italian culture and civilization and history, it's in everything. It's in everything, from fashion to the way that we behave, in the way that we live our lives. And it's so cool to teach it from the 1100s to the authors that are still publishing today, who are coming in from all over the world and living in Italy, writing in Italian. I've taught the whole gamut of Italian literature, and even though my specialization is medieval Renaissance, I really love just teaching all of it, and seeing students and non-students just kind of light up when I'm passionate about something and they can understand that oh, I didn't I didn't realize that person was Italian, or I didn't realize that Machiavelli actually didn't say these certain things. You know, there's always people who only know Dante, or only have heard of him in passing, and one of my favorite things is the new Dante’s Inferno Video game, where I see he's like this big hulking muscular hero that goes dives into hell to rescue Beatrice, who's this damsel in distress. It's so different in the literature he's kind of like this whiny, moody poet who Beatrice was this woman who just would, didn't want to have anything to do with him. So, I mean, I'm totally boiling it down to inaccuracies now, but it is so funny to see pop culture latch onto something and blow it up to something that it was so inaccurate in the literature, and but at the same time, and also with a pandemic hitting, it also made my research so much more salient because I researched the time of the plague, the 1300s when the plague broke out. That's when my author started writing the Decameron which is about these youths that go into the countryside and tell each other tales for 100 days to escape the plague. So, we were able to integrate that into our lessons and say, you know, like, let's come up with our own tales to distract ourselves from the from COVID-19, and what's going on in the world, and all the scary stuff. So, it's you see the parallels, for sure.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that's I love that. It's I mean, and this is something that I've said to some other folks that our like, all of our work, really affects everything that we're doing, and it feels like such a simple statement. But for someone like me doing health policy and management, I can I understand that the work that Italian literature scholars are doing is important. But my brain literally just can't figure out which way. So, I love to hear and like kind of experience your enthusiasm about the topic, and go, oh, my gosh, yeah, it is attached to literally all parts of our living.

Alyssa Falcone

Yes. Yeah. If you are curious to see how people dealt with pandemics in the past, you read Boccaccio’s Decameron or Manzoni's Promessi sposi, The Betrothed, and there have been films made since then and TV shows. I know there was one that kind of spoofed the Decameron with, it was with Aubrey Plaza and Fred Armison that came out recently. It's called the Little Hours, I think. So, there's been many takes on these things that you might not realize were from Italian literature.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah. That's so cool. So, two more questions for you, and the first is again about advice. But I I think I'm curious what your advice would be for someone that's interested in your specific career field and having a career that looks like yours.

Alyssa Falcone

Yeah, that's a great question. Some people might think I'm crazy to have done things I've done to move all around the country in search of what is a fairly niche field, and in which the market is pretty tough to navigate. It can be very demoralizing at times, like I said. You know there when there are so few jobs, and they’re so all over the place. If you have a family, it's going to be very hard to pick up and move across the country. If not, you know it's hard, anyway, just to pick up and move to a new place and get settled, and then have to move the next year. I would say, if that's the thing that I think that excites you, no matter where you are, go for it. And if not, then there are many other things that you can do with your degree. You don't have to be limited to the Italian job study the Italian studies job market. You can be a translator, an interpreter. You can teach high school. You can teach adult classes or continuing learning classes, community colleges. I taught at a couple of community colleges, and I found them to be a very, very enjoyable experience, because the students that are there really want to learn. They really want to be there. They want to get as much out of it as possible, and there are different opportunities. And again, you can take off for a year and see. If the job market is really not working for you, then take a year off and do something else, and it'll be there when you get back. I think that's the best advice I can give is to not give up too soon. But know when to give up, if it's not really working for you.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah. That's a good point. And that it'll be there when when you get back, that's always a good thing to remember. So, as my last question, I'm curious what inspires you right now?

Alyssa Falcone

Definitely my students. I have to say, my students inspire me in different ways all the time. I always tell them to bring things to class that they see in the news or in in pop culture that are going on related to Italian, Italian American culture, and they come in just bubbling over. They say professor, we I just saw in the news that this person this you know, fashion icon passed away. Can we talk about him or her? And can we talk about the World Cup? Can we talk about Italian politics, which is crazy but hard, hard to talk about that. But they they are always just new sense of—they always have this new interest in learning things. And it's not limited to just Italian language. They want to learn about the culture and the history, and sometimes I sneak in literature lessons, even just in my language classes, and they get a little bit excited to learn more about Dante or something like that. And definitely, you know, the people that I worked with before. They inspire me. They are out doing amazing things, even if it's academic adjacent things. I have friends who are working at the life design lab at Hopkins, and who are working at the PHutures program, which is wonderful. And the people, the things that they're doing that are helping students around the world, whether they be undergraduate students or high school students, PhD students, is wonderful. And of course, my son inspires me. He just has this really curious curiosity that I want to feed, and I want to teach. I can't wait to teach him all everything about Italian language and literature, so that inspires me every day.

Lois Dankwa

That's so wonderful to hear. Well, Alyssa, it's been such a pleasure to learn from you and learn a little bit more about your experience today. Thank you so much for joining.

Alyssa Falcone

Thanks so much for having me. This has been wonderful.