Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions
Tamara Watkins, Ph.D., is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, and her work focuses on communications. In addition to her work in Admissions, Watkins has taught classes on film, television, and writing topics in the VCU Department of English.
Watkins holds a Ph.D. in media, art, and text from VCU. Her dissertation, “(Re)Mediating the Spirit: Evangelical Christian Young Adult Media,” is an analysis of the structural and thematic similarities between evangelical Christian young adult media and secular young adult media. She holds a graduate certificate in media and leadership from VCU’s Robertson School. Watkins holds an M.A. in communication and multimedia from Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU). Her capstone project, “Verbville,” is a multimedia approach to English as a Second Language education that features animations and games she designed. She also holds a B.A. in English, language concentration, and a minor in philosophy from SVSU.
A first-generation college student, Watkins believes that one never stops being a student. She is also an unabashed word nerd who loves studying the history of languages. If given the opportunity, she will give a mini diachronic linguistics lecture about why we use “‘s” in modern English to show possession, even if the word ends with an “s.” She might also tell you why she wishes the letters þ and ð were still used in English. Despite all of this, Watkins insists that she actually is fun at parties.