Writing/Research | Dr. Jenny Strakovsky

I started out my career researching the meaningful life in fiction, media, philosophy, psychology, and education. I believed that when it comes to the question of well-being and flourishing, the humanities and sciences had much to learn from each other and could work together to help people pursue a more meaningful life. My interest in German literature turned into an insatiable curiosity about the psychology of optimism, human connection, empathy, and resilience. This work continues to inspire much of my curriculum design in career education and executive training, and has also led to some of the projects below:

Graduate Education for a Thriving Humanities Ecosystem (MLA Press)

MLA Press 2023

Co-editor: Stacy Hartman

This collection of essays features examples of innovations in graduate education in the humanities from across the United States. Our goal was to develop a framework for graduate education that is rooted in abundance, collaboration, community engagement, and personal well-being. We envision graduate education in the humanities as a training ground for careers of meaning, purpose, and joy.

I would like to thank the many contributors who submitted essays for this volume, as well as the Modern Language Association for believing in this project.

Purchase

The Search for Happiness: Gottfried Keller's Psychology of Flourishing
Dissertation, Stanford University (2017)

The field of positive psychology is a testament the 21st century's preoccupation with finding happiness, fulfillment, and well-being. How do the humanities complicate, complement, and converse with scientific approaches to the well-lived life? In this project, the optimistic fiction of 19th century Swiss novelist Gottfried Keller provides a point of departure to how story-telling can help us design a meaningful life. The book aims to imagine a model of personal growth that is informed by both science and the arts, bridging the humanities, psychology, and education.

Detailed Overview

Pursuing Meaningful Work: A Strategies Guide for PhDs and Postdocs

Textbook: Career Handbook of the Stanford Career Center

co-edited with Chris Golde

Stanford's handbook for PhDs and postdocs on the job market. This book covers the job search process for academic and non-academic jobs, from exploring career fit, networking, to preparing job market materials, interviewing, and negotiating offers.

Read the handbook

Peer Review Articles

“Radical Interdisciplinarity: Science, Technology, and the New Humanities in the 21st Century,” A. Stenport, J. Strakovsky, R. Gemilere. ADFL Bulletin.

Available here: https://www.maps.mla.org/bulletin/article/adfl.46.2.28/

"Trauma and the Promise of Modernity in Gottfried Keller's Dietegen."
Monatshefte. September 2018.

Available here: http://mon.uwpress.org/content/110/3/344.short

"Agency and Political Engagement in Gide and Barrault’s Theatrical Adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial."

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. Volume 19, Issue 3. September 2017.

Available here: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol19/iss3/6/

Selected Talks

Radical Interdisciplinarity: Building Sustainable Models of Collaboration with STEM
with Anna Stenport (Georgia Tech), MLA Convention 2019.

Career Design for Global Citizenship: An undergraduate course for FL majors
ADFL Summer Seminar, 2018

Marriage as Migration in the Adultery Novel (Talk);

Globalization in the 19th century" (Seminar co-chair)

co-organized with Jinyi Chu (Stanford Univ), Northeast MLA 2018.

Fact and Fiction: Soviet and East German Espionage
James Bond Convention, Atlanta, 2018.

The Conscience of Russian Spies in From Russia with Love and The Americans.
South Atlantic MLA 2017

Hacking the Communicative Modes (Online Tools for Language Instruction),
ACTFL Conference 2017

Writing in the Intermediate Classroom.
AATG sponsored panel,ACTFL Conference 2017

Empathy and Moral Judgment in Effi Briest (Talk); Comeuppance (Panel co-chair),

co-organized with Fritz Breithaupt (Indiana Univ Bloomington);

Annual Neurohumanities Conference, Kent State University, 2016.

Textbook: Career Handbook of the Stanford Career Center

co-edited with Chris Golde

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Stanford's handbook for PhDs and postdocs on the job market. This book covers the job search process for academic and non-academic jobs, from exploring career fit, networking, to preparing job market materials, interviewing, and negotiating offers.