Eric N. Chambers
Ph.D.
Linguist.
Researcher.
Educator.
All-around Cool Guy.
Helping people and organizations navigate the linguistic landscape
So many students are having such a rough time!
Things have been very difficult for students over the past few years:
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Transitioning to online learning
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Transitioning back to in-person learning
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Feeling unpaired by common core for college work
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Being asked to look at work in entirely new ways without guidance
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Feeling like they their professors are either unavailable or too overworked to give them the feedback that they want or need.
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Not knowing where to learn how to really succeed in "Academia"
I help students not only succeed academically, but develop tools to learn new skills, be awesome researchers and tradespeople, and great critical thinkers no matter what they want to do!
Some of the ways I've helped students are...
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developing strategies for how to read, understand, and write great academic papers, and not be afraid of them
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collaborating on college and graduate school admissions essays, CVs, and interviews
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learning how to write well-crafted and well-developed essays
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developing and strengthening proofreading and editing skills
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discovering how to judge the reputability of sources, and how to find quality sources for your research
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how to collect data in responsible, thorough, and ethical ways
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dealing with college in general
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being a soundboard for ideas, and giving intelligent and thoughtful feedback
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helping you understand course materials in all sorts of liberal-arts subjects
Think about language this way.
When we put words out there for people to hear, they go through a lot of different filters before it reaches their brain:
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our (the speaker’s) understanding of what words mean, which is influenced by the speaker’s own histories and experiences
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the different meanings that ‘society’ (including education, media, and politics) puts onto these words
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their (the hearer’s) understanding of what words mean, which is influenced by their histories and experiences
These filters affect how people hear us and we hear them, and this happens whether we mean them to or not. This is how misunderstandings happen:
Misunderstandings can lead to conflict, and conflict leads to inequity.
Paying attention to the words we use can help lessen that inequity by:
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understanding how histories and experiences can shape meanings of words
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understanding how all language use, including the most seemingly mundane texts, do reflect inequities of power (not just 'can' reflect these inequalities)
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bringing to the forefront those ‘unconscious’ ways in language reflects those inequities
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providing new ways of writing and speaking that promote greater inclusion and equity
What is it about language?
CV
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Linguistics, May 2019
The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, New York, NY
Dissertation title: "'Its something you do bro': Language and Identity on
a Male Erotic Hypnosis Messageboard"
Committee: Cecelia Cutler (Chair), Jillian Cavanaugh, Michael Newman
MA in Linguistics, 2016
The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, New York, NY
BA in Sociology and Russian, summa cum laude, 2004
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
TEACHING AND ADVISING EXPERIENCE:
Adjunct Professor, Department of Linguistics (since 2015)
State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY
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Currently teaching classes in Introduction to Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Semantics, and Etymology and Morphology
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Integrate multimodal learning styles into curriculum, including text, videos, music, and innovative in-class participation techniques
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Recruited students to enroll in SUNY New Paltz’s Linguistic Minor program and Contract Major program
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Mentored students in honors thesis projects, including assisting with background research, data gathering, data analysis, and academic paper-writing
Volunteer teacher (since 2016)
Lifetime Learning Institute, New Paltz, NY
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Taught classes on language and book repair/bookbinding to adults age 55 and older in volunteer capacity
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Provided hands-on tutorials and teaching materials on book repair techniques
ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Senior Editorial Associate, New Forms of Philanthropy (2008 - 2013)
The Foundation Center, New York, NY
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Maintained accuracy and currency of database of over 12,000 public grantmaking charities, including thorough proofreading and addition of new information into the Center’s Foundation Directory Online (FDO) database
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Compiled information on over 6,000 national and local grantmaking programs from a variety of disparate sources, including extensive web research, personal communication with nonprofit grantmakers, and collection of financial information from tax forms
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Proofread weekly department-wide updates and corrections to grantmaker databases for print and online publication, ensuring accuracy and proper presentation of information
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Assisted in special projects (including extensive research into internationally-based charities, celebrity-founded charities, fiscal sponsors, giving circles, and state publications) for publishing on the Foundation Center website and in print
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Rewrote the Center’s internal database manual, including explaining research methods, providing in-depth definitions, and detailing style guides, for new employees and outsourcers
What can I do for your organization?
What some collaborations have looked like:
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helping organizations get to deeper understandings about what inclusion means, and how it aligns with their missions and goals
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incorporating suggestions and opportunities for greater inclusionist language, including discussing larger ideologies of language use so that organizations can build to create even greater equity through language
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evaluating current organizational texts, and suggesting areas for potential improvement
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providing and moderating (including holding safe spaces for) discussions and teachings on various aspects of language use:
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gender and sexuality
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queer identity and Queer Linguistics
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race and ethnicity
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class
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age
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disability
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Critical Discourse Analysis
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language-as-activism
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collaborating with organizations to create style guides and perspective framings for future training of interns and staff
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
PUBLICATIONS:
'You're in the gym to BUILD IT BIG, not have social hour": Performing dumb jock masculinities on a male erotic hypnosis messageboard
to be published in Cutler, C.; Ahmar, M.; and Bahri, W., Digital Orality: Vernacular
Writing in Online Spaces (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2021)
'thaz how u kno ur dum': Jock identity and orthography on a male erotic hypnosis messageboard
Journal of Language and Sexuality, vol. 9, no. 2 (2020), 179-201
doi: 10.1075/jls.1920.cha
PRESENTATIONS:
Panel Presentation: From Memes to Mythos: Digital Co-Creation of and Trans Identity
Society for Linguistic Anthropology Annual Meeting, 2022
"Negotiating authentication and illegitimation: the case of hypnotic trances on a male erotic hypnosis messageboard"
Linguistic Society of American Annual Meeting, 2020
"Jocks and Coaches: A linguistic analysis of talk on a male erotic hypnosis messageboard"
Lavender Languages Conferences 23, 2016
INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE TALKS OR PAPERS? EMAIL ME FOR MORE INFORMATION!