Gross 1
Rebecca Gross Santa Cruz, CA University of California, Santa Cruz relgross@ucsc.edu
EDUCATION: PhD, Literature University of California, Santa Cruz Teaching Assistantship, Departmental Fellowship
in progress
M.A. English Literature Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles Sigma Tau Delta, Teaching Fellowship, Spring Research Awardee, Neda Loop Award
May 2021
B.A. in English University of Washington, Seattle Honors in English, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa
June 2018
CAPSTONE & THESES: M.A. Capstone
Spring 2021
“Magical Midrash: A Contemporary Rhetorical Approach to Jewish Literature Examining this phenomenon in Nicole Krauss’s Great House” Advisor: Dr. Holli Levitsky Reader: Dr. Stuart Ching Undergraduate Independent study project A re-understanding of Capécia’s ‘White Mask’ Mentor: Laura Chrisman
Spring 2018
Undergraduate Honors thesis Spring 2017 Reversing a Mimetic Discourse: Re-claiming Identity through 20th Century Caribbean Literature Mentor: Louis Chude-Sokei
HONORS, AWARDS, DISTINCTIONS: Neda Loop Award Program Scholar Award Professional Development Award English Graduate Spring Research and Writing Grant
Awarded Spring 2021 Awarded Spring 2021 Awarded Spring 2021 Spring 2020
Gross 2
Graduate Library Research Award - Honorable Mention Teaching Fellowship English Department Grant Jewish Studies Travel Scholarship Magna Cum Laude Honors in English “Husky Experience” Scholarship Barnes “Wings to London” Travel Scholarship Dean’s List (all quarters enrolled as full-time undergraduate student)
Spring 2020 2019-2021 2019-2021 Awarded Dec. 2019 Awarded June 2018 Awarded June 2017 Sept. 2014-June 2018 Winter 2016 Sept. 2014-June 2018
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: Association for Jewish Studies Sigma Tau Delta - English Honor Society Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US (MELUS) Phi Beta Kappa
Joined December 2020 Inducted Spring 2020 Joined December 2019 Spring 2017- Present
CONFERENCES: Southland Conference 2021: Emergences August 2021 ● Title: “‘A New Relationship Must Emerge’: The Contemporary Jewish Left and Palestinian Solidarity Movements” ● Panel: Collective Emergences: Coalition-Building, Solidarity, and Remembering Trauma MMLA 2020 in Milwaukee - “Cultures of Collectivity” November 2020 Postponed due to COVID-19 - Will now be held in 2021 ● Title: “Fantasy, Embodied Trauma, and Intuition: How Third-Generation Survivors are Creating Alternative Worlds to Project the Past Forward” ● Panel: “Fabricating the Body” MELUS 2020 in New Orleans ●
April 2020 Postponed due to COVID-19 - Will now be held in 2022 Title: “‘Everything remains the same and yet nothing is the same’: (Re)Archiving Trauma in Lucy, Annie John, and Breath, Eyes, Memory”
Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL) Spring 2018 ● Title: "The Romantic Picturesque in Caribbean Postcolonial Poetry: A Mimetic Movement Reclaiming a Literary Tradition" Mentor: Raimonda Modiano Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL) Spring 2017 ● Title: “Wide Sargasso Sea: Problematizing Religion and Feminism in Jane Eyre”
Gross 3
Mentor: Charles LaPorte University of Washington Undergraduate Research Symposium ● “Race, Colonialism, and Identity in 20th Century Caribbean Literature” Mentor: Louis Chude-Sokei
Spring 2017
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS: “Hunters and Watchmen: Reclaiming Black and Jewish Bodies in Contemporary American
Superhero Series” ● ●
In The New Americanist - Blind Peer Reviewed Journal, University of Warsaw Forthcoming publication, 2021
Co-Authored Article: “Rhetorics and Viruses” ● Published, Spring 2020 in Rhetoric Society Quarterly - Peer Reviewed Scholarly Journal ● Contributed mainly to first section, “Physical Viruses and Actual Bodies” ● I was proactive in organizing the collaborative effort with 7 other co-authors Co-Authored essay, with Dr. Holli Levitsky: “On (Not) Being There: Reflections on the Study Abroad Course ‘The Holocaust in Poland’ in the era of Covid-19” ● Published, Summer 2020 in the book, Creating Under Covid ● Published by the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Ed. Judy Baumel-Schwawrtz Abridged academic essay: “La Femme Noir”: Untranslated and Unread” ● Published, Summer 2021 in the Los Angeles Review of Books Blog
Teaching Experience: Certificate in Online & Hybrid Teaching and Learning: Awarded Summer 2020 Loyola Marymount University (Teaching Fellowship) Writing Instructor – Shared responsibility with Content Instructor for syllabus design, text selection, lesson plans, designing learning outcomes, assignment development, and grading. ● Classes taught: ○ “First Year Seminar: History of Race and Gender” (2 sections, Fall 2019) ○ “First Year Seminar: Gender and Pop Culture” (1 section, Spring 2020) ○ “First Year Seminar: Passing and Slumming” (1 section, Spring 2020) ○ “Rhetorical Arts” (1 section, Fall 2020 - Instructor of Record) ○ “Rhetorical Arts (1 section, Spring 2021- Instructor of Record)
Other Relevant Work Experience:
Gross 4
Jewish Studies Department & Huffington Ecumenical Institute October 2020 - Present Graduate Research Assistant | Los Angeles ● Assist Senior Administrative Coordinator, Margaret Butterfield ● Complete research-related tasks for Dr. Holli Levitsky ● Helped with implementation of digital event memorializing Kristallnacht ● Assist in accounting (processing invoices, assisting with budget, taxation paperwork) Off Menu Press - Small Press Print and Online Zine June 2018 - Present Founder, Editor-in-Chief | Los Angeles ● I created this zine to amplify femme millennial & gen-z experiences. Its mission has evolved into being a space that amplifies the voices of those with canonically excluded genders. ● The first print issue came out in early October 2018; the content focussed on harassment and assault. The second issue focused on “fem pain” and the third issue was themed “fem utopia.” ● I contact all contributors, work with them to commission art and writing for the zine, and edit the written content. ● In July of 2020, I registered this company as an LLC and began working with freelancers to begin making the transition from print-only to online & print publication. We now have 8 editions, and we are constantly growing. The Black Scholar Literary Journal March 2018 - Present Editorial Assistant to owner, Laura Chrisman | Seattle & Remotely ● Currently working on major archival project: Archiving all poetry published in the journal between 1969 and the present ● Research marketing, advertising, and fundraising opportunities for the journal Byron Randall Art March 2018 - Present Research Assistant | Seattle & Remotely ● I built and continue to monitor an educational digital humanities website complete with a timeline of Byron Randall’s life’s work ● I organize spreadsheets with contact information of hospitals, nursing homes, school districts, and public libraries; contacted these organizations to inquire about donating Byron Randall’s art. Kanstellation Literary Magazine Founding Editor, Prose Editor, & Commissioned Writer | Worked remotely ● Manage magazine’s Submittable account ● Correspond and collaborate with other readers & copyeditors ● Write commissioned pieces for magazine’s themed editions
Oct. 2019-June 2020
New York Times Bestselling Author, David Shields
Aug. 2018 -Oct. 2019
Gross 5
Research assistant | Seattle & Remotely ● Worked with team of research assistants to proofread and fact-check book, Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump, out now ○ Lead Quote/Fact-Checker on Chapters 4 and 5; point person for questions ● Proofread and fact-checked McSweeney’s article written by Shields ● Assisted with research on his recent film release Lynch: A History ● First-reader on screenplay adaptation of his book, That Thing You Do With Your Mouth The Daily of the University of Washington | Seattle Jan. 2015-June 2018 ● Writer/reporter for every section of the newspaper (News, Arts, Science, Wellness, Sports, Opinion) over the course of four years ● Opinion Editor for the newspaper for the 2018-19 school year ● Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper for the 2017-18 school year ○ Managed daily, 127-year-old, entirely student-run newspaper ○ Employed over 300 students ○ Advised and oversaw a team of 18 section editors, including print and multimedia Seattle Channel June 2017-June 2018 Social Media and Communications Intern | Seattle ● Worked with an award-winning Municipal TV station ● Managed all social media channels for TV Program, Art Zone, for 8/12 months ● Wrote and distributed a weekly email viewer guide with Mailchimp ● Drafted copy for the web and social media with Tweetdeck ● Assisted with writing scripts for TV program, Seattle News Now Cordelia Donovan Inc. June 2015- Sept. 2015 Public Relations Intern, Assistant to Firm’s Owner | Harlem, New York ● Informed news outlets of upcoming TV, Film, and Music releases ● Worked as a Production Assistant on TV and Music Video shoots ● Created email campaigns using Mailchimp to promote a nationally syndicated TV program ● Managed social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram) for the firm ● Copy-edited full-length play, which was performed at a Lower East Side theater
POPULAR & CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS: Flash Fiction: “Kisses I’ve Had in My Life”: In Stone of Madness Press Creative Nonfiction Essay: “The Sexual History of Promiscuous Woman”: In Teen Belle Magazine Flash Fiction: “Tetragrammaton”: In Terse Journal Flash Fiction: “Sucking on a disco Biscuit…”: In Seiren Quarterly Creative Nonfiction Essay: “Swallowing: Notes on Female Pain”: In the Variant Literature Article: “Ho & Neimetz: Women of a Modern Artistic Era, or How Two Women Brought Technology into Their Crafts”: In Entropy Magazine Featured in Los Angeles Progressive: ● Article: “Jim Carrey’s IndigNATION Ignites Progressive Politics” ● Article: “Striking in the Rain: Picket lines across LA County persevere despite the rain, for student and teacher rights”
Gross 6
● ●
Article: “Striking, Negotiating, and What’s Next for Public Education in LA” Op-Ed: “Voting Loraine Lundquist for City Council in District 12 is our Only Option”
REFERENCES: Dr. Holli Levitsky, Professor of English & Chair of Jewish Studies Department, LMU Email: Holli.Levitsky@lmu.edu Diana Kramer, Publisher of The Daily Email: dianakramer@dailyuw.com Dr. Laura Chrisman, Professor of English at UW & Owner of The Black Scholar Email: laura.h.chrisman@gmail.com