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Senior Accepted into Stanford Ph.D. Program

April 26, 2012

Victoria S. Googasian '12 will be trading the black and gold of DePauw for Stanford cardinal this fall. Googasian was accepted into Stanford University's English Ph.D. program, where she will pursue a doctorate in contemporary literature.

An Honor Scholar and student in DePauw's 5-year dual-degree program (English literature and French horn performance), Googasian said she chose Stanford because of its close-knit English department.

"It seems like a place where graduate students are an important part of the department and are extremely supportive of one another," she says.

As a freshman, Googasian leaned towards a College of Liberal Arts major in physics, but changed her mind during her sophomore year and declared a major in English literature instead. She says she owes thanks to a number of DePauw's English faculty members for help on the the way to her accomplishment.

"There were many, many faculty members who have been extremely helpful to me over the course of the last five years," she says. "However, for the sake of brevity: Andrea Sununu helped me get started as an English major and supported me as my major adviser for my entire DePauw career; Michael Sinowitz encouraged me to think about a career in literary studies, worked with me extensively on my writing over the years, and coached me through the grad school application process; and Istvan Csicsery-Ronay encouraged my interests in contemporary literature and ecocriticism as the adviser for my Honor Scholar senior thesis."