English Professor Alice Maurice knows she is lucky to have a job.

“The academic job market is not very good and hasn’t been very good for a long time,” she said.

Maurice received a doctorate in English from Cornell University in January and landed a teaching job at the U just months later.

“I feel very lucky. I wasn’t really expecting to get a job this year, but I’m happy I got a job?a really good job,” she said.

The U English department hired Maurice as an assistant professor to begin teaching literature and film classes this fall.

Maurice helped produce the 1993 Academy Award winning documentary, “Defending Our Lives.” More recently she was an associate producer for “A Healthy Baby Girl,” a documentary film shown in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, which also won a Peabody Award.

Maurice’s understanding of cinema and English will be a great addition to the department, said Stuart Culver, English department chairman.

At the U, the film study program overlaps two colleges: the College of Fine Arts and the College of Humanities. Classes are often listed under both colleges.

“Film can be understood as a genre of literature. By its very nature, [film] stands between humanity and fine arts,” Culver said.

Maurice’s understanding and experience makes her a “perfect addition” to the English department, Culver said.

In a year where rumors of layoffs buzz through campus, Maurice’s position is made available because of the retirement of two English professors, Culver said.

Maurice describes herself as a “complete East Coast girl,” raised in Rhode Island, and educated in New York, but she believes she can quickly adjust to life in the West.