Alumni Feature: Kristina Gibby
2006 BA Humanities; 2009 MA Comparative Studies
Assistant Professor of Humanities, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, Utah Valley University. I teach introductory humanities courses, world literature, Latin American humanities, and Caribbean literature.
My path felt accidental in many ways, but now I see how God was making a way for me when I saw none. I didn't plan to become a professor, but I kept saying yes to opportunities and continued to pursue what I was passionate about. As an undergraduate, I choose to major in Humanities at BYU because the courses that were offered centered on what spoke to me, including art, cultures, and literature. I had no idea how that major would lead to a career, but I would not have thought about choosing any other major. After graduating with a BA in Humanities I was a bit lost, and my future seemed very uncertain; so I decided to return to school, where I had felt the most like myself. While a graduate student in BYU's Comparative Studies MA program I was required to teach a HUM 101 section and completely fell in love with teaching. I received my M.A. in 2009 and began teaching as an adjunct instructor for BYU and UVU. Three years later I felt pulled to pursue a doctorate. I was scared, but George Handley— one of my former BYU professors— counseled me to forget my fear and live my passion. I completed my PhD in Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University in 2017. I moved back to Utah and taught as an adjunct for BYU and UVU before becoming a lecturer at UVU in 2019. In 2022, I accepted a tenure-track position at UVU.
"I didn't plan to become a professor, but I kept saying yes to opportunities and continued to pursue what I was passionate about. As an undergraduate, I choose to major in Humanities at BYU because the courses that were offered centered on what spoke to me, including art, cultures, and literature. "
Organizing your thoughts and being able to articulate them, whether in writing or speech, is an extremely powerful skill that will serve you well in any career!
As an undergraduate, I avoided the "hard" professors, but as a graduate student I learned that those were the professors who helped me the most and encouraged my growth personally and academically. Get to know your professors and take advantage of their office hours. They will gladly help you when you need letters of recommendation and will be able to write stronger letters if they really know you.
I still love to read for fun (despite the years of assigned reading). I enjoy hiking, baking, music, and traveling. I recently published my first book, Ancestral Voices, Healing Narratives: Female Ghosts in Contemporary US and Caribbean Fiction.