Graduate School Marshal Takes Community-Engaged Approach to Scholarship

Graduate School marshal Andrew Ridgeway, a doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant in the College of Arts and Sciences’ composition and cultural rhetoric program (CCR), is no stranger to academic honors. In 2022, he won the prestigious Mary Hatch Marshall Essay Award and was one of nine graduate students to receive the Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work.  

Ridgeway has also served as graduate research assistant for the Engaged Humanities Network (EHN) and received a $10,000 grant from Humanities New York to help high school students at the North Side Learning Center create a speech and debate team. Those students went on to successfully compete in public forum debate tournaments, Model United Nations and New York State History Day.   

A native of Boise, Idaho, Ridgeway received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Boise State University and a master’s degree in literature from the University of Vermont. He says he chose Syracuse University for doctoral studies because of the unique community engagement emphasis of the composition and cultural rhetoric program.

Ridgeway recently discussed his experiences here, his passion for community-engaged scholarship and his plans after graduation.