Linguistics alumnus completes Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics, joins Northwestern University

We saw Scott Shell working hard and defending his M.A. thesis on dual-gender nouns in German and then saw him off to UC Berkeley in 2014 to further his studies. All the hard work has paid off and “life has been interesting” is how the now "Dr." Shell describes it.

Scott got his Ph.D. in Germanic linguistics from Berkeley in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, and then landed a job at Northwestern University as an administrator. The new job started in January of this year. 2022 will also see the publishing of Scott's new book The Application of Peircean Semiotics to the Elder Futhark Tradition: establishing parameters of magical communication, published by Peter Lang. The book focuses on historical Germanic (especially runology), Peircean semiotics and religious communication, and is a little unconventional in its approach.

Another life experience that is unconventional about Dr. Shell is that he was a first-generation high school graduate in his immediate family and then a first-generation college graduate, also from Wayne State, in German in 2010. He embraced a whole new world when he entered into academia.

He has shown great determination and resilience and overcame struggles with the uncertainty of what lay ahead for him. He made up his mind to lead by example for the disadvantaged. Having such an empathetic mindset has made him an effective instructor to all of his students, evidenced by him being awarded graduate student instructor of the year from Berkely in 2017.

Now back in the Midwest again after securing a position at Northwestern University, Scott said he would continue to research, publish, present and attend conferences. He'd also love to stop by his alma mater from time to time to check in and see how things are going, as he did a couple of years ago, when he ran into a new professor of ours, Dr. Natalia Rakhlin.

Wayne State's linguistics faculty and staff congratulate Scott for embodying Warrior and being a great role model for our students!