Academic Record

Curriculum Vitae

Ayaat Ismail
PhD Candidate in English, Michigan State University
ismailay@msu.edu

Background

Education

2023–
Ph.D. English — Michigan State University
In Progress · Specialization: Women and Gender Studies
Graduate Certificates: Film Studies · Global Studies · Digital Humanities
2022
M.A. English — University of Louisville
Culminating Project: "Separate Lives" — a collection of personal essays on identity, race, and gender
2018
B.A. English — University of Louisville
Dean's List
2015
A.A. and A.S. — Elizabethtown Community and Technical College

Scholarship

Publications

Peer Reviewed

Miracle Monocle · Issue 19 · Spring 2023
"A Digital Roundtable Interview on Eco-poetry in the Face of Climate Change"
Miracle Monocle · Issue 20 · Dec 2022
"A Journey of Introspection and Decolonial Resilience: A Review of a Translation by Kristen Renee Miller of Marie-Andrée Gill's Heating the Outdoors"
Miracle Monocle · Issue 19 · May 2022
"A Uniquely American Vision in Kiki Petrosino's Bright"
Miracle Monocle · Issue 18 · Dec 2021
"Exploring Womanhood: A Review of Siân Griffiths's The Sum Of Her Parts"
Miracle Monocle · Issue 18 · May 2022
"A Digital Roundtable Interview with Gabrielle Ione Hickmon, Lena Mahmoud, and Ellen van Neerven"
Miracle Monocle · Issue 17 · May 2021
"The Definition of Goodness in Hayan Charara's These Trees, Those Leaves, This Flower, That Fruit"

Digital Projects

CHI Fellowship · MSU · 2025–2026
Cinematic Counter-Cartographies
awisma01.github.io/cinematic-refusals/
StoryMaps · MSU · April 2025
"Surveilled Spaces: Exploring Memory, Borders, and Resistance in Palestinian Cinema"
StoryMaps · MSU · March 2024
"A Palm Oil Project" (with April Best)

Recognition

Awards & Fellowships

2026
Research Enhancement Award
Michigan State University
2026
Graduate Travel Award
Michigan State University
2026
College of Arts and Letters Travel Award
Michigan State University
2026
DH@MSU Seed Grant Funding
Michigan State University
2026
CHI (Cultural Heritage Informatics) Fellowship
Michigan State University
2025
The Somers Award for Excellence in Teaching (IAH)
Michigan State University
2025
Summer Mentoring Fellows Award
Michigan State University
2025
FLAS Summer Fellowship
Michigan State University
2023–28
University Fellowship
Michigan State University
2023
Research Enhancement Award
Michigan State University
2021
Student Champion, College of Arts & Sciences
University of Louisville

Classroom

Teaching Experience

Sum. 2026
ENG/WS 153 Introduction to Women Authors
Instructor of Record · Online · Michigan State University
Sum. 2025
WGS 201 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
Instructor of Record · Online · Michigan State University
2024–
IAH 207 Race & Cinema
Graduate Teaching Assistant · Supervisor: Professor Jeffrey Wray · Michigan State University
2024–
IAH 207 Monsters
Graduate Teaching Assistant · Supervisor: Professor Bradley Deane · Michigan State University
Spr. 2023
ENGL 225 African American Literature
Adjunct Instructor · In-person · Bellarmine University
2022–23
ENGL 101/102 College Writing
Adjunct Instructor · In-person · University of Louisville
2021–22
ENGL 101/102/405 — Writing & Publishing
Graduate Teaching Assistant · University of Louisville
Spr. 2023
ENGL 225 African American Literature
Adjunct Instructor · Bellarmine University

Workshops

Workshops Organized

2025–2026
Moving Image Workshop Series (Coordinator, with Pedro Rodriguez & Rutuja Deshmukh)
Department of Film Studies, Michigan State University, Wells Hall, East Lansing, MI
  • Fall 2025:
    • "Oil-Built Worlding: Prospecting, Prehistory, and (Post)Colonial Time in the Sahara," 2 Oct. 2025
    • "Additive Voices, Timbral Currencies, and the Work of Localization," 24 Oct. 2025
    • "Mulholland Drive: BFI Film Classics," 7 Nov. 2025
    • "Mountains of Light: Virtual Aesthetics and the Imperial Imagination," 17 Nov. 2025
    • "Fandom and the Nonfiction Impulse: Videographic Approaches to Star Studies," 21 Nov. 2025
  • Spring 2026:
    • "Dig Our Graves First: On Hauntology and Spectral Return in Black Atlantic Horror Cinema," 22 Jan. 2026
    • Special presentation of Vieques: Archivo Vivo (2025), 20 Feb. 2026
    • "Cantamos sin miedo, pedimos justicia: Embodiment, Mourning, and Remembrance in Barrileras del 8M's Yubá Performance," 13 Mar. 2026
    • "Federal Narratives: The Hollywood Lives of the Bureau of Prisons," 2 Apr. 2026
    • "The Combined and Uneven Development Film in East Asia," 3 Apr. 2026
Spring 2026
Generations: Palestine, Trauma, & Arab American Subjects (Coordinator, with Salah Hassan & Jessica Saba)
Research Workshop, Michigan State University, Wells Hall B342, East Lansing, MI
  • Session 1: "Violence, Generational Trauma, and Arab American Subjecthood," 29 Jan. 2026
  • Session 2: "Palestine and Arab American Testimonials," 20 Feb. 2026

Research & Editorial

Research and Editorial Experience

2025–Present
Research Assistant, Graduate Editor, MSU Press
Michigan State University
2023–Present
Graduate Editor
Italian Feminism: A Transnational Praxis for Today and Tomorrow
2021–2022
Assistant Editor and Social Media Manager
Miracle Monocle (Issues 17–20)
Fall 2021
Managing Editor
Miracle Monocle Mini-Anthology MONSTER
Spring 2022
Instructional Editor, Cardinal Composition
University of Louisville
2020–2021
Writing Consultant, University Writing Center
University of Louisville

University Service

University Service

2024–2026
Social Events Coordinator, Association of English Graduate Students (AEGS)
English Department, Michigan State University
2021–2022
Student Representative, Graduate Committee
Department of English, University of Louisville
2020–2022
Secretary and Social Media Manager, English Graduate Organization
University of Louisville
2021
Chair, Creative Writing (Fiction) Panel
Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture (LCLC), University of Louisville

Memberships

Professional Organizations

  • Arab American Studies Association (AASA)
  • American Studies Association (ASA)
  • International Writing Center Association (IWCA)
  • Modern Language Association (MLA)
  • Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
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