Shannon Peifer
English, MA
April 2026
From studying American literature and culture to gaining work experience in Marketing and Product Management before arriving at Northeastern University for a graduate degree in English, Shannon Peifer’s background is a well-rounded path that traverses the business sector, research, creative writing, and archival work. Shannon Peifer earned a bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Marketing and a BA in English Honors.
Shannon took Black Digital Humanities with Professor Nicole Aljoe where they had the opportunity to work on the digital project of reframing of the Boston Inoculation Controversy of 1721.
Shannon co-founded the Health Humanities Group with fellow student Morgan Paik to discuss scholarship in the field and build community through related educational events.
They took Archives of Public Health with Professor Sari Altschuler and helped organize a digital exhibit of their class’s archival objects and research findings on Cholera in Nineteenth-century America.
Shannon developed a digital StoryMap of Salem to map connections to the Atlantic slave trade, and the “haunting” of racial capitalism in the course 18th Century Literature: Race, Gender, Capitalism.
“Getting my MA in English from Northeastern has been a very rewarding experience. I’ve enjoyed how interdisciplinary the department is and how open the faculty are for students to get involved in different research projects. I’ve also appreciated that most professors support students incorporating digital methods into research projects for classes. Overall, the faculty and staff at Northeastern are extremely generous in their support of students, leading writing workshops, offering candid advice, and encouraging us in our work.”
After graduation, Shannon plans to continue their research at a PhD program in English with a focus in health humanities and nineteenth-century American literature.
