- Room 102, 3 Endsleigh Place, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 585149
- alicja.syska@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Dr Alicja Syska
Learning Development Advisor
Learning Support & Wellbeing (Student Gateway - Student Life)
Role
I am also a Key Lead for an employability scheme called Stand Out
Qualifications
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Plymouth University, 2013)
Ph.D. in American Studies, Distinction (Saint Louis University, USA, 2008)
Graduate Certificate in Women Studies (Saint Louis University, USA; 2005)
M.A. in Sociology of Human Behaviour, First Class (Szczecin University, Poland; 2001)
B.A. in Sociology of Human Behaviour, First Class (Szczecin University, Poland; 1999)
Professional membership
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Association for Learning Development in Higher Education
British Association for American Studies
Teaching interests
As a Learning Developer, I focus on building students' academic confidence by helping them develop strong academic skills, such as writing, presentation making, doing good research and working collaboratively.
Open hours: Fridays 10-12, in the Writing Cafe.
In my role as a historian, I teach a range of modules including Visual History (with emphasis on film), US History, Popular Culture, and Dissertation Preparation. I also supervise undergraduate dissertations.
Advice and Feedback Hours: Thursdays 1-3pm, Rm 107, 5 Portland Villas; or by appointment.
Research interests
I work across two areas: learning development and history, and, as such, my research interests span both fields.
I'm interested in cognitive theories of learning, writing processes and verbal expression, but also cultural and historical memory, historical constructions of race, American cultural myths and issues of national identity, as well as film, cultural imagination, and women’s history.
Grants & contracts
Research and Innovation Grant, Atlanta Conference, 2013 (£1,000).
The Roosevelt Study Center Research Grant, Middelburg, the Netherlands, 2012 (£500).
HCA Spring Academy Dissertation Grant, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Germany, 2007.
Dissertation Grant at St. Louis University, USA, 2006.
Graduate Research Assistantship with full tuition remission and stipend at Saint Louis University, 2003-2006 ($64,000).
Review of African Americans and the Presidency: The Road to the White House, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Cary D. Wintz. Journal of American Studies (2011)
'In Search of Subjectivity: An Irigarayan Reading of the Body in Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo' in Women in the Arts: Eccentric Essays in Music, Visual Arts and Literature, edited by Barbara Harbach and DianeTouliatos-Miles (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010).
'Ambiguous Women: Debates within American Evangelical Feminism.' The European Journal of American Culture vol. 26, no.3 (2007): 167-180.
'Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: The Ambiguities of Josephine Baker’s Self-Representation.' Michigan Feminist Studies Journal Special issue no19, “Bodies: Physical and Abstract” (Fall 2005-Spring 2006): 51-72.*
* This article was used as a teaching resource at the California Institute of the Arts, USA between 2010 and 2014.
Reports & invited lectures
INVITED TALKS
'Dialectic of the Banana Skirt' at The Sheldon Art Galleries, Saint Louis, USA, 2006.
OTHER LECTURES
Eyes on America: Rethinking Popular Culture – English, History & History of Art 6th Form Conference, 2015
Annual lectures for the Shanghai Summer School as well as Open Days for Schools, at Plymouth University. Topics:
Making Sense of the Salem Witchcraft Trials (2015-16); Writing Academically in History (2016); Hollywood and History (2014); US Elections (2013); Imagining America (2012)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Poster presentation: ‘Stand Out: A Creative Approach to Employability for Humanities Students’, Vice-Chancellor’s 16th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. University of Plymouth, 2018.
‘Stand Out: Profiles in Employability’, Vice-Chancellor’s 15th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. University of Plymouth, 2017.
Poster presentation: Writing as a creative exploration with image as a pedagogical tool. Vice-Chancellor's 14th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, Plymouth University, 2016.
'Writing With Charlotte: Image as a pedagogical tool to facilitate academic writing'. Writing Development in Higher Education Conference, Plymouth University, 2016.
'The Science of Memory: W.E.B. Du Bois and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the Genealogical Trail to Membership in the Sons of the American Revolution'. BAAS 58th Annual Conference in Exeter, 2013.
'W.E.B. Du Bois as a "Memory Entrepreneur": A Genealogical Project for Membership in American Society'. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Wings of Atlanta Conference, Clark Atlanta University, 2013.
'Black Origins of the American Self: W.E.B. Du Bois's Nationalistic Project.' BAAS 57th Annual Conference in Manchester, 2012.
'Rhetorics of Vision: Narratives of Eastern Europe in American Discourse.' HCA Spring Academy, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 2007
'Methodological Challenges'—panel chair, Postgraduate Conference 'Thinking Gender' at the University of Leeds, 2006
'Tolerance for Ambiguity: Dialectics of Evangelical Feminism.' Postgraduate Conference 'Thinking Gender' at the University of Leeds, 2006
'Visualizing Distinctions: Constructing Public Identities Through Images'—panel chair, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006
'Remapping Eastern Europe in America: "Us" and "Them" in Photographs', Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006
'In Search of Subjectivity: An Irigarayan Reading of the Body in Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo.' 'Women in the Arts' Conference at University of Missouri–St. Louis, 2005
'Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: Who Made Josephine Baker?' National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference, San Diego, 2005
'Double Consciousness: W.E.B. Du Bois and Gender', Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, 2004
'"It’s Hard to be a Woman, but a Black One!"—W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dialectic of Feminism,' The Ninth Annual Barnes Club History Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia, 2004
Other academic activities
Gallery work (The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, USA: working with Curator on the exhibition Josephine Baker: Image and Icon, 2005; Co-curating a gallery exhibition on Minimalism in the Pulitzer Institute for the Arts, St. Louis, USA, 2006)
Filmmaking (Plymouth College of Art)
Conferences (Writers & Artists; PedRIO; ALDinHE; Teaching and Learning)
Editing for the Journal of Learning Development in higher Education
Additional information
Other things I do and derive joy from:
Long-distance running (currently training for the Brighton Marathon, April 2019)