Ryan Dippre says that coaches – the athletic kind – have helped shape who he is today. Ryan himself has coached, mentored, and taught students in the art and craft of writing since 2006.
Ryan, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education with an emphasis in Language, Literacy, and Composition Studies, became a high school English teacher in Milford, Pa., straight out of Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he earned a B.A. in English and a Pennsylvania teaching certificate.
Ryan says he’s “had a lot of license plates,” having lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and now California. But the newlywed plans to stay put here for a while as he pursues his Ph.D. and his research into how students develop as writers.
Ryan shares what motivates him; how he relaxes; what he wished he had known before starting grad school; how he helps UCSB grad students as Writing Peer Advisor; and more.
Please tell us about your education.
Ryan DippreI am a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the school of Education. My Ph.D. will be in Teaching and Learning with an emphasis on Literacy, Language, and Composition Studies and an interdisciplinary emphasis in Writing Studies. I am expecting to graduate in June 2015.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in English at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where I also earned my Pennsylvania teaching certificate. I began teaching high school English after graduating in 2006, and I picked up a master’s degree from Wilkes in Educational Development and Strategies in 2010.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up primarily in northeastern Pennsylvania (born in Scranton), although my family moved around to New York and New Jersey on occasion. My parents moved to New York shortly after I graduated high school, and I moved back into Pennsylvania after I graduated college, so I’ve had a lot of license plates.
My fiancé, Lindsey, and I were married this past June [2013]. I have been in graduate school at UCSB since 2011, but Lindsey moved out here after completing her MA studies at CU Boulder shortly after the honeymoon.
Ryan and his wife, Lindsey, on their wedding day in Waverley, Pa., in June 2013.
Are there any events that had a big impact on you and/or helped shape who you are today?
Sports have played an enormous role in my life [he played center on his college’s football team], and I think the coaches that I both played for as a student and worked for as a coach have really shaped who I am. As for specific moments, I think being hired right out of college as a teacher really helped me. Instead of job hunting, I had time to grow as a teacher, which led me to my Master’s degree, some publications, and eventually the decision to go to graduate school.
Please tell us a little about your research and how you came to choose the topic.
I am interested in how students develop as writers in the context of their pasts, their relationships with teachers, and their interactions with other students in the classroom. While I was teaching high school, I saw the highly interconnected nature of writing development, social interaction, and personal history. When I arrived at UCSB, I started kicking around how I could look at the way those elements constituted one another. I started with research on my own commenting practices and worked from there into observations of other teachers’ classrooms.
What do you wish you had known before you started grad school?
I wish someone would have told me about how lonely it can get, especially at first, and even more especially after having taught K-12. I went from interacting with 200 people a day to only a handful of people, and that was a really big difference. I spent a lot of my first year wondering where everybody went. Eventually you adjust, you meet more people, and you end up too busy to think about it, but it was one big change that I did not see coming. Or, rather, one that I did not anticipate would necessarily be negative (I usually began hating my name around mid-April during the school year. “Mr. Dippre!” “Mr. Dippre!” “Mr. Dippre!”).
What do you like most about grad school and what do you like least?
I really love the freedom that our program has to let us explore what we find most important and most meaningful. I have milestones to reach, of course, but I also have time to explore areas besides my main focus and work on topics that I find interesting. I usually end up finding that these side topics inform the research being used for my milestones.
What has been a source of motivation or drive for you in your graduate studies?
I’m really motivated by my research topic, so that has been a driving factor for me in my work. I find it fascinating, and I like to look into it any chance I get. I think that has really helped me push my own work along. Also, I enjoy collaborative work with some of the other people in my Writing Studies emphasis, and they’re a lot of fun to work with, so that pushes me as well.
Who are your heroes or mentors and why?
Ryan Dippre (No. 57) played center on Wilkes University's football team in 2005.I have had a lot of mentors over the years. My high school and college coaches really guided me through a lot of challenges, and they helped me understand how to see things through. When I first began teaching, I was assigned a “mentor teacher,” Sue, who really lived up to her title. She helped me navigate the paperwork-laden world of high school teaching, and also helped me think about the bigger picture within which I was teaching.
What do you do to relax and have fun?
I am a huge football fan, so in the rare amounts of spare time that I get, I enjoy watching, reading about, listening to, or talking about football. If football’s not on, I tend to binge-watch Netflix or read. I also like to exercise, although right now my diet is so terrible I’m not sure if it’s a hobby or a survival skill.
What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
Whenever I say “my diet starts on Monday,” I’m lying. My closer friends may have already pieced this one together.
What do you hope to be doing five to 10 years out of graduate school?
I hope to be teaching and conducting research at the university level.
Do you have any advice for current grad students?
Make the most of your time in Santa Barbara. Go to all of the events that you can, both on-campus and off-campus. You want to come away from this time with more than just a degree.
Explain what you do in your role as Writing Peer Advisor. What are your goals as Writing Peer Advisor?
As a writing peer I hold workshops, write about writing for the GradPost, and work one-on-one with students on specific writing assignments. My goal as the Writing Peer is to help students tap into their already-extensive rhetorical knowledge and use it in new ways to accomplish the unique writing goals of graduate school. I also try to help students analyze and, when necessary, alter their writing habits.