Dr. Cara Messina, an Assistant Professor of English, joined JSU this fall. From Queens, NY, she received her PhD from Northeastern University. Her areas of expertise include professional and digital writing, digital humanities, and fan studies. Her dissertation – the Critical Fan Toolkit – “traces critical writing practices in fanfiction writing communities. [She uses] mixed methods, such as large quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis of interviews, and more.”

Messina was drawn to JSU because it lives up to its nickname as the “friendliest campus of the South.” She recalls, “During my interview, I felt a strong connection with several of the faculty and students I met — and that was just over Zoom!” Messina loves the welcoming atmosphere of the English Department. “It’s such a pleasure to see them in the hallways and learn from them in both professional development and more casual settings,” she said. Messina also appreciates that JSU is creating and listening to ideas that can help develop the current curricula and programs in place. She even enjoys that JSU is located somewhere warmer and more spacious than her previous homes of New York and Boston.

This semester, Messina is teaching Oral Communication, Technical Writing, and Writing for Podcasts. She looks forward to learning about and from her students in all courses, but is most excited about Writing for Podcasts, since her class will be “listening to a lot of different genres and formats [and] will be creating a bunch of different podcasts.” Currently, Messina’s favorite part of her job is being in the classroom; she says, “Because of the pandemic, I did not get to spend any time in the classroom over the past year and a half. I love teaching and hope that we are all safe this semester.”

During her time at Northeastern University, Messina received the Graduate Student Teacher Award and the Humanics Award. She also received the 2019 Kairos Teaching Award for her work at Northeastern University’s Digital Integration Teaching Initiative. 

At JSU, Messina hopes to bring attention to digital humanities and cultivate “interdisciplinary spaces for faculty and students alike.”  She explained, “Much of my work is dedicated to analyzing and visualizing data as a form of storytelling. Because of this, I often work with people across the disciplines. I hope to teach some data humanities and digital humanities courses, as well.” Messina encourages those with ideas for digital projects and research to reach out to her to collaborate.

Messina enjoys reading various genres, playing video games, and watching walkthroughs in her spare time, stating Overwatch is her “current obsession.” She also plays Dungeons and Dragons – she  is “currently playing a dragonborne fighter” in a campaign – and is hoping to find a party to play with in the area. Messina also hopes to create her own cosplays. She has even started gardening recently and has a lawn for the first time.

Currently, Messina is “revising an article on feminist coding practices” that will be published next year as a webtext (scholarly webpage). “I examine how the video game Doki Doki Literature Club represents these coding practices, such as glitches, disruptions, and documentation,” she elaborated. Messina is also working on an edition of Digital Humanities Quarterly on Black Digital Humanities with Alanna Prince and Dr. Izetta Autumn Mobley.

Messina’s advice to students falls in line with her expertise. She recommends, “Learn the ins and outs of digital technologies. These technologies are not going anywhere and will only become more and more prevalent in our everyday and professional lives. Most importantly, learn how these technologies are impacted by our society as well as how they impact society. Digital technologies and data are not neutral; they have real-life impacts and often replicate our social and cultural biases.”