Jacqueline (Jackie) Breen is the Administrative Officer of the Literature Section. She is responsible for the administrative and financial oversight of all Section activity including sponsored research, academic programs, human resources, and facilities. In addition, she works closely with staff in the Comparative Media Studies Program for which Literature is the administrative home. Jackie spent 20 years at the Harvard School of Public Health in various administrative roles and eight years at Tufts-New England Medical Center as a senior research administrator. More recently Jackie was the administrative officer for the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

When not working, Jackie enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially her grandson, Brian. Her hobbies include reading, golfing, painting, dancing and singing.

Jo Choi is the Undergraduate Academic Administrator for the Literature Section and the best source of information about requirements, registration, academic policies, class schedules, etc. Students with questions about any aspect of the Literature program should contact Jo.  Ms. Choi also handles subject offerings, degree requirements for Literature majors, and Course Catalog/Bulletin copy. Additionally, she serves as the liaison to the MIT Literary Society.

Jo enjoys reading literary fiction and magazines, traveling, writing, and watching 1940-1950s films. She is interested in art, indie/foreign films, pop culture, food, design, robots, and indie rock/electronic music. Her favorite writers include Lorrie Moore, Sandra Cisneros, Adam Gopnik, Neil Gaiman, Claire Messud, Chang-Rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Cynthia Voigt, Nick Hornby and Haruki Murakami.

Kevin McLellan provides financial and computer assistance for the faculty and staff of the Literature Section. He processes reimbursement requests, monitors accounts, and generates purchase requisitions. He also troubleshoots computer and facilities problems and acts as the Section's liaison with IS &T. He handles a wide variety of special projects.

Kevin enjoys reading modern, post-modern, and contemporary poetry. His recent writing has been most influenced by (but not limited to): Robert Creeley, Hans Faverey, Jorie Graham, Cesare Pavese, Carl Phillips, and Mary Ruefle. In addition to enjoying independent and foreign film, he loves spending time with his rural and urban family and friends. Even though he does not believe in reincarnation, he would like to return as a deer and/or the color white and/or any moving body of water.

Jamie Graham is the Publicity and Outreach Coordinator for the Literature Section.  She organizes Literature Events (such as the weekly Monday Teas, visiting authors and FPOP: Discovering Literature), designs internal advertising and informational publications including the bi-annual Supplement to the Bulletin, and is the liaison between the Section and Literature Alums.  Jamie also acts as the Section’s Parking Coordinator and updates the Literature website.

Jamie enjoys reading fantasy, historical fiction, and non-fiction that addresses US international relations; cultural eating habits and relationship with agriculture; and pop historical science.  She is often found spinning fire poi, learning esoteric English vocabulary, playing D&D/WW, and experimenting in the kitchen.  Jamie has returned to Boston to live at the For Science! House after living in France and Germany for over two years.

Douglas Purdy is the Manager of the Humanities Film Office. He handles all media and equipment requests for MIT Humanities faculty, maintains the film archives (a collection of over 3500 films), provides student projectionists and reserves rooms for film screenings. He also helps with certain projects for the Literature and CMS departments. He is the teaching assistant for an MIT film class, Kung Fu Cinema: Transnational Perspectives (21F.046).

Purdy has been a DJ at WZBC's Beyond the QE2: Future Funk Radio, one of Boston's longest-running dance shows. He has completed a horror novel and is currently plodding through the second. If he could invite any of his favorite writers to dinner, the list would include David Goodis, H.P. Lovecraft, Flannery O'Connor, Franz Kafka, Richard Wright and Ramsey Campbell - such a cheery bunch. He is a fan of all Boston sports teams, and he finds comfort swimming laps.

Brad Seawell coordinates the MIT Communications Forum and helps to promote and organize some CMS public events including the media-in-transition conferences. He is associate editor of the media-in-transition anthologies Rethinking New Media: The Aesthetics of Transition and Democracy and New Media. Prior to working at MIT, he was an editor at Banker & Tradesman, a business weekly based in Boston.