Scholar, researcher, writer
Poetry and the environment
April D. Best Is a PhD student in the Department of English at Michigan State University. She Is working towards a certificate In Global Studies and Women and Gender Studies. She currently co-coordinates the Intersectional Environmental Feminisms Research Workshop and is on the Association of English Graduate Students board.
She received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelors of Education from York University in Toronto, Ontario where she majored in English and and minored in French. Her master’s degree in literature is from Grand Valley State University where she wrote her thesis on the role of the river in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones.
Teaching experience
Fall 2023 - IAH 207
Gothic Literature
Graduate Teaching Assistant | Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Arch
Spring 2023 - IAH 202
Europe and the World
Graduate Teaching Assistant | Supervisor: Dr. Salah Hassan
Fall 2022 - IAH 207
Afrofuturism
Graduate Teaching Assistant | Supervisor: Dr. Julian Chambliss
2020-2021 - ENG 113
Expository Writing
Instructor of Record
2010-2011 - ELA
Eighth grade English Language Arts
Instructor of Record
2009-2010 - French
High school
Instructor of Record
Research
The impact of palm oil on the environment
A project born out of a COIL collaboration with students in Indonesia researching the environmental impact of palm oil harvesting and farming.
Representations of the environment in poetry
This work remains in seed form through the formation of comprehensive exams reading list.
River as border in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones
A thesis investigating the role of the river as a space of geographical. linguistic, social, and experiential demarcation.
Papers and publications
Mutating Modes of the “Human” in W. E. B. DuBois’s “The Comet”
Presented at the Modernist Studies Association Conference in Brooklyn, New York
October 2023
Race and Mobility in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Presented at the Michigan College English Association Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan
October 2013
“The Veil of Water: The River in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones”
Presented at the Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media in DeKalb, Illinois
March 2012
“Mr. Guizac: Savior and Judge in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The Displaced Person’”
Presented at Midwest Conference on Christianity and Literature in Grand Rapids, Michigan
March 2012
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2013 - Grand Valley State University Master of Arts in English
2009 - York University Bachelor of Arts, English & French Bachelor of Education
AWARDS
Fall 2022 - Global Studies Graduate Student Recruitment Fellowship
Spring 2013 - Most Outstanding Student Award
Spring 2013 - Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award Nominee, Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools
FELLOWSHIPS AND FUNDING
Summer 2023 - College of Arts and Letters Summer Support Fellowship
Spring 2023 - COLA Fellowship
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Best, April D. “Mutating Modes of the ‘Human’ in W. E. B. DuBois’s ‘The Comet’.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Brooklyn, 2023.
Best, April D. “Race and Mobility in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Michigan College English Association Conference, Grand Valley State University, 2013.
Best, April D. “Mr. Guizac: Savior and Judge in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The Displaced Person’.” Midwest Conference on Christianity and Literature, Calvin University, 2013.
Best, April D. “The Veil of Water: The River in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones.” Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media, Northern Illinois University, 2012.
EMPLOYMENT
August 2022 – Present: Michigan State University
Graduate Teaching Assistant
August 2020 – December 2021: Hope College
Adjunct Professor
June 2013 – February 2020: Freelance
Content Writer, Editor
September 2011 – May 2013: GVSU, English Department
Assistant Editor, Graduate Assistant
September 2009 – August 2011: Grand Rapids Public Schools
High School French Teacher, 8th Grade ELA Teacher
April D. Best
Wells Hall
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824
bestapri@msu.edu