Some students in high school language arts classes today are ready to close their books and leave discussions of literary characters and plot devices behind as soon as the bell rings.  

When Ewa McGrail was in high school, it was quite the opposite - she thought her literature classes ended too quickly and she continued to contemplate a character's issues long after the class had moved on to the next book.

"On one occasion, my teacher asked, 'Why don't you become a literature teacher? Then you would be able to read and discuss books all your life.' So I listened to this advice and became an English teacher," said McGrail, who earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees at Jagiellonian University in Poland.

She spent several years as an English instructor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Linguistics at her alma mater before coming to the U.S. to earn her doctorate in English education in the Reading and Language Arts Center at Syracuse University. 

In 2003, McGrail accepted a job in the College of Education's Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology (MSIT). She saw Georgia State University as a place that welcomed students, faculty and staff from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds - an important characteristic for a faculty member living and working thousands of miles away from her native Poland. 

"As a foreign-born person myself, I wanted to join an institution that appreciated and gave voice to a more diverse faculty and student body," McGrail said. "At Georgia State, the faculty hails from many different countries, continents and cultures."

To read more about McGrail and her work in the COE, click here.