Student: Zachary Singletary

Zachary Singletary has found his place at East Carolina University.

He’s close to family and his hometown of Roper, while being challenged and supported in graduate school by his English department faculty members.

Singletary came to ECU for his master’s degree after earning a bachelor’s in English with honors from Elizabeth City State University in 2017. He thought he would teach high school someday. But he expanded his view after taking a rural rhetoric class with Dr. Wendy Sharer.

Zachary Singletary walks across ECU’s campus.

“In that course we explored how things like place impacted the needs, wants, views, etc., of the people in those places,” he said. “After that course, I spoke with some current and former doctoral students, and ultimately made the choice to pursue a doctorate in rhetoric and writing.”

While the class was themed around Appalachia, Singletary saw eastern North Carolina.

“I felt while we had similarities, there were distinctions that needed to be made about how we navigate our home and the world around us,” Singletary said. “My hope with this work is that I’m able to just expand perceptions about what populations, and which people, are considered when we label people as ‘rural’ or ‘Southern’ or things like it. Ultimately, I hope that it’ll allow other people to consider how their own homes and communities are shaped by place, and how communication and negotiation are vital to understanding people and their ways of being.”

He’s now in his second year of the doctoral program at ECU, after earning his master’s in English with a concentration in rhetoric and composition in 2020.

Singletary works in the University Writing Center (UWC), teaches first-year writing and is graduate assistant director of writing foundations — all providing practical experience for what he’d like to do professionally.

“The UWC allowed me a space to work with folks on their writing in much more personal ways than I had in the past,” he said. “Seeing how much I enjoyed trying to give feedback, even though it’s not easy, showed me early on that I might’ve found a path that I could follow.

Early on in my master’s, I was able to finally teach at the college-level for the first time, and while I wasn’t — and still am not — the best, or as good as I hope to be, at the job, it’s been the most enjoyable, frustrating and fulfilling thing I’ve done since I’ve been at ECU or before. I’ve always wanted to teach, and this experience showed me I had a chance to do it on a level I had never really considered for myself before.”

Singletary has been able to work with other graduate teaching assistants to help develop their own materials and ways of teaching.

“In the same way I love working with students to figure out what they need and what they’re looking to get out of a class, I love going ‘behind the scenes’ and helping developing instructors ask themselves those same questions,” he said. “I learn so much from the folks I get to work with, and I never want to take that for granted.”

Outside of class, Singletary enjoys cooking and streaming shows. “I love trying new food in the area and seeing a recipe online and trying to make it at least taste OK when I make it,” he said. “Beyond cooking, I enjoy streaming and bingeing shows — which has been an excellent hobby to have during the pandemic.”

After graduation, Singletary plans to look for a position where he can teach and provide service to a university and its students. “I’d love to work as a writing program administrator with those same goals in mind,” he said. “My heart is in first-year writing, so I’d love to work with those instructors and students more specifically.”

STATISTICS

Name: Zachary Singletary

College: Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences

Major: Rhetoric, Writing & Professional Communication

Age:25

Classification/Year: Second-year Ph.D.

Hometown: Roper

Hobbies/interests: Cooking, food and TV

Clubs and Organizations: I’m a member of Sigma Tau Delta, and I’ve been affiliated with the English Graduate Student Organization when it’s active.

FAVORITES

Favorite hangout: My apartment.

Favorite place on campus: Tie between Bate and the University Writing Center

Favorite place to eat: Habibi Mediterranean Grill

Favorite class: Issues in Teaching Composition; Cultural Rhetorics

Professor who influenced you the most: Dr. Tracy Morse

Favorite TV show: “Futurama”

Favorite band/musician: J. Cole

Favorite movie: “Shrek”

Favorite website: Twitter.com

Favorite book: “All About Love” by bell hooks

MOTIVATIONS

Dream job: Rich “stay at home” dad, or a director of first-year writing in the South.

Role models: Drs. Morse and Sharer

Your words to live by: “Things will happen.”

What advice do you have for other students? Always be willing to ask for and offer help when and if you can.

What is something cool about ECU that you wish you knew during your first year? I think Joyner is just an awesome space, and there’s so much you can do in there. I wish I had spent the time sooner to explore the floors and exhibits and services.