{"id":23585,"date":"2016-12-08T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=23585"},"modified":"2016-12-08T09:24:48","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T15:24:48","slug":"austin-peay-state-university-alumna-orton-heading-to-grad-school-at-cambridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2016\/12\/08\/austin-peay-state-university-alumna-orton-heading-to-grad-school-at-cambridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University alumna Orton heading to grad school at Cambridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – In certain academic circles, Dr. Simon Keynes, Elrington and Bosworth professor of Anglo-Saxon history at the University of Cambridge, is considered a \u201crock star.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to being the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin and the grandnephew of economist John Maynard Keynes, the renowned professor is a member of the British Academy and a fellow with the Royal Historical Society.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University alumna Brittany Orton<\/p><\/div>\n

As a scholar, he isn\u2019t easily impressed, but earlier this year, Keynes was intrigued enough by recent Austin Peay State University graduate Brittany Orton\u2019s research that he agreed to take her on as a graduate student next fall at Cambridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a rock star of Anglo-Saxon history,\u201d Orton said recently. \u201cThe opportunity to study under him will be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her acceptance into the nearly 800-year-old university is the realization of a life-long goal\u2014a goal she never expected to achieve. As a precocious eight-year-old, Orton became fascinated with the medieval history. She thought of becoming an archeologist, but herlack of motivation in high school almost stopped her from attending a university that existed during the medieval period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost didn\u2019t graduate high school because I failed too many classes,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to college at 18 and failed out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few years later, after marrying a U.S. Army soldier and having three children, she ended up earning her associate\u2019s degree in Alaska. Then, when her husband was reassigned to Fort Campbell, she suddenly found herself living near a university with strong history and language programs. Orton enrolled at Austin Peay and decided to take a Medieval England class taught by Dr. Cameron Sutt, associate professor of history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my last year here, I fell in love with Anglo-Saxon history,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is from the 5th century to the 11th century. My family has ties with the Anglo-Norman people, but I\u2019d never heard anything Anglo-Saxon until last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orton, a history major, began taking all the classes taught by Sutt, APSU\u2019s resident medievalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a wonderful student,\u201d Sutt said. \u201cShe got it. She knew what the main points were, understood the significance. When I was writing the recommendation for her (for Cambridge), I thought, \u2018She just might have a chance at this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Orton\u2019s fascination with Anglo-Saxon history and culture also took her into APSU\u2019s Department of Languages and Literature. To have a proper understanding of medieval history, and to be able to read many of the texts produced in that period, a scholar needs a strong background in Latin.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe took all of our Roman Civilization classes,\u201d Dr. Stephen Kershner, assistant professor of Classics, said. \u201cShe impressed me, and I nudged her toward other classes. I tried to steal her from Cameron (Sutt). She has a strong basis in Roman history, and I think that will do her well in English history.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320left]After earning her Bachelor of Science in history, with a Classics minor, Orton returned to campus to continue her studies. She began attending an Old English reading group, led by Dr. Lynn Simms, associate professor of English.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an informal group, and you don\u2019t have to have any background in Old English,\u201d Simms said. \u201cWe\u2019re working on \u2018Beowulf\u2019 in Old English. We translate outside of class and then read. Brittany brings a lot to the group. She brings in the history.\u201d<\/p>\n

When thinking back to her years in high school, Orton referred to herself as lazy. That word caused her professors to laugh when she recently mentioned it to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s doing all this with her husband on long deployments,\u201d Mary Winters, senior Classics instructor at APSU, said. \u201cShe\u2019s also taking care of her three kids. She recognized it\u2019s hard work, and she\u2019s willing to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Orton, who has never traveled overseas, applied to Cambridge\u2019s one-year graduate program in Anglo-Saxon history. The key to getting into the exclusive school, Sutt said, is to get one of its renowned professors interested in your research project. Orton submitted her application, hoping that Keynes would like her topic, \u201cQueenship in 9th century Wessex.\u201d She then waited to hear back, periodically checking her application status online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at the gym, getting ready to do my thing, and I thought, \u2018I\u2019ll just check it,\u2019\u201d Orton said. On her cell phone, she saw an offer for admission into Cambridge. \u201cI freaked out. I didn\u2019t have anybody to tell, except the gym people, and they just stared at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2017, Orton and her family will move to England for her to study under Keynes. By the next year, her name might join a distinguished list of Cambridge alumni that includes Stephen Hawking, John Milton, Lord Byron and Isaac Newton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – In certain academic circles, Dr. Simon Keynes, Elrington and Bosworth professor of Anglo-Saxon history at the University of Cambridge, is considered a \u201crock star.\u201d In addition to being the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin and the grandnephew of economist John Maynard Keynes, the renowned professor is a member of the British Academy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[6326,23,2021,262,27682,10161,825,29541,29542,29540,29543,29538,29537,12777,29539,19953],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-68p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23586,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23585\/revisions\/23586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}