Matt Harrington

Partial Transcript: "So, I arrived at Denison in the fall of 1980 and thought that I was either going to be a Theatre major or an English major."

Segment Synopsis: Matt Harrington recalls his college days and the series of courses and off-campus opportunities that led him to immerse himself in his English major.

Keywords: African-American; African-American Literature; American Literature; Authors; Bloomsbury Crew; Burke; Christian Literature; College; Communications minor; Don Consolo; English; English Degree; English Department; English Major; Fellows; Fellows Hall; Freshman Seminar; Harvard; Janet Freeman; Joyce Carol Oates; Ken Marshall; Liberal Arts; Lisa McDonnell; Literature; London; Measure for Measure; Museum; Nora Efron; Plays; Shakespeare; Stratford-upon-Avon; Survey Course; Theatre; Theatre Major; Zora Neale Hurston

Subjects: English; English Major; Harvard; Literature; London

Partial Transcript: "So, graduated in 1984--not the best economy in the world--and needed to figure out what I was going to do with the skills that I had obtained..."

Segment Synopsis: Matt reflects upon his expedient landing at Edelman, an advertising firm that translates technical jargon into digestible material for the general public.

Keywords: Advertising; Career; Computer Graphics; Cytex; Denison University; Dom Consolo; Economics; Financial Communications; Harvard; Israel; Job; Job Search; Job Skills; Press Release; Richard Edelmenn; Skills; Team; Technical Communications; Technology; Writing; Writing Skills

Subjects: Advertising; Career; College; Job

Partial Transcript: "You know, I think, the rejection from the numbers of jobs I did interview was frustrating--some was frustrating because they were dismissive of the degree, because they didn't know Denison, or dismissive of the major because that was a waste of four years, or having to come to terms with the fact that I didn't seem to have what they needed..."

Segment Synopsis: Matt comes to terms with the amount of rejections he received from firms who believed that an English degree was a waste of four years.

Keywords: Career; Consultancy; Corporate; Edelman; Interview; Job; Job Interview; London; PR; Struggles; Uncertainties

Subjects: Career; Interview; Job

Partial Transcript: "I had to learn to read a balance sheet, but that's not the fault of an English degree."

Segment Synopsis: Matt is grateful that he took the initiative to learn a few computer skills at Denison when most people still clung to their typewriters, but regrets not having taken a foreign language and learning other skills.

Keywords: Amy Gordon; Analytical Skills; Coding; Computer; Don Shackles; English; English Degree; Eras; Financial; Financial Regulatory Language; Floppy Disks; History; Job Skills; Knapp; Knapp Hall; Language; Patterns; Printing; Skills; Typing

Subjects: Computers; English; English major; History; Skills

Partial Transcript: "Yeah, you know, I've always been very proud that my writing doesn't get edited much..."

Segment Synopsis: Because of the writing skills he gained as an English major, Matt's work never has to be edited.

Keywords: CEO; English; English Degree; English Major; Mergers and Acquisitions; Speech; Writing; Writing Skills

Subjects: English; English Major; Skills; Writing

Partial Transcript: "At its root, it's storytelling."

Keywords: A Single Life; Anthony Trollope; Authors; Best Times of Our Lives; Books; British; British Writers; Favorite Authors; Fiction; Flannery O'Connor; Global; Global Literature; History; History Books; Journalism; Kindle; Latin-America; Latin-American Literature; Literature; Magazines; Newspapers; Non-Fiction; Patrick Kennedy O'Toole; Post-World War II Southern Christian Literature; Read; Readers; Reading; Story; Storytelling; Term Paper; The Illuminated