In June we celebrated the Class of 2025, with this year marking the first graduating cohort of the Global Literary Studies (GLITS) program. Since its recent launch in 2024, this new major has allowed students to explore literature from around the world and from all eras of human history. After the four GLITS graduates walked to receive their certificates at Convocation, three of them, Kaylee Ness, Emma Peterson, and Annika Ottinger, sat down to reflect on their time in the program.
Both Kaylee and Emma initially planned to pursue communication, but switched to GLITS after developing an interest in Slavic literature.
“I’ve always had a passion for reading. I think everyone touched on it pretty well in there [...] just wanting to learn everything you can about the human experience,” Kaylee said.
Kaylee has been an intern with Wave Poetry since winter and will continue her work with them into the summer. She also works as a barista and magazine coordinator for Bulldog Cafe on the Ave. Eventually, Kaylee plans to pursue additional higher education with a creative writing MFA or PhD.
Emma will continue her job with First Year Programs as a Program Specialist full-time after graduation. She is interested in completing a master’s in Public Administration in the near future.
Annika plans to move to London in the fall to complete a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature with a focus on French literature. With a background in French language and a keen interest in Barthes and “the death of the author,” Annika is thrilled to better contextualize and understand the history of French literary movements.
Kaylene Simmering is another graduate of this year’s GLITS program, completing her Bachelors of Arts in Global Literary Studies and a minor in Architecture. Having been enamored with literature thanks to the guidance of her English teacher mother, Kaylene knew her academic path would surround the world of words.
“Initially, I was interested in majoring in either English or Linguistics until I realized that Global Literary Studies would offer me the best of both worlds. This major taught me about the beautiful intricacies of translation studies and provided various cross-cultural perspectives through literature,” Kaylene said in an email.
Following graduation, Kaylene is traveling to Paris as her specialty in academia has been a focus on French language, literature, philosophy, history and architecture.
Upon her return, she plans to gain work experience in public education while simultaneously beginning the process of putting together an art portfolio to apply for a Masters in Architecture program.
“Although my academic path is seemingly unconventional to most, personally, I would define my knowledge in both fields as a synthesis of the arts and humanities. It is of utmost importance for me to emphasize the power of context in any career that requires an analysis of the human condition since every story occupies a space in time and place,” Kaylene expressed in an email.
Kaylene took away not only knowledge, but the skill of analyzing literature from GLITS.
“I would like to personally say thank you to all of the incredible professors and administrators at the University of Washington who keep the Global Literary Studies major alive. Some of my most fond memories are of the impactful films that I will never forget from Naghmeh Samini's Women in Middle Eastern Cinema course, being able to touch books from the 14th-century in the University of Washington Special Collections Library for Beatrice Arduini and Annegret Oehme's Medieval Italian and German Literature course, learning to further appreciate 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen in Nektaria Klapaki's Money, Love, and Marriage in Europe and America course [...] Hopefully this inspires others to truly believe that the world is their oyster with a degree in Global Literary Studies!”