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Dr. Russell Nurick Receives PhD

Congratulations are in order for our very own English teacher Dr. Russell Nurick, who received his PhD in English last week from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Congratulations are in order for our very own English teacher Dr. Russell Nurick, who received his PhD in English last week from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. With his focus on African-American literature, Dr. Nurick's dissertation, Daring Depictions: An Analysis of Risks and Their Mediation in Representations of Black Suffering looked at how African-American authors from the antebellum period to the present represent different types of black suffering, how their texts are conscious and even sometimes self-conscious that they are taking bold risks. Within his work, Dr. Nurick examines the rhetorical strategies African-American writers employ to justify, mediate, and/or try to overcome those risks. The authors about whom Dr. Nurick writes are Frederick Douglass, Henry Bibb, David Bradley, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

With years of tremendous work behind him, Dr. Nurick says "I want to acknowledge how wonderful all of my students and colleagues at the French-American School of New York have been in helping me complete my dissertation and ultimately my PhD in English. The enthusiasm my students showed me as I taught them the books about which I was writing and while I worked out many of my ideas with them made me further appreciate the value of my research. I am grateful to my colleagues for taking interest in my project, providing terrific advice about it, and for the general support you have shown me on a continuous basis." 

Congratulations again, we cannot wait to see how this incredible accomplishment translates into English classes for years to come! 
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