tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50626313573061598522024-03-13T23:15:06.444-07:00UIUC Department of English Blogtickyt23http://www.blogger.com/profile/08631613891844905043noreply@blogger.comBlogger249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-74522503087228943002016-08-10T10:28:00.002-07:002016-08-10T10:28:53.729-07:00Majoring in Creativity<style>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> Salutations! Fans of E. B. White will know who I am channeling, and perhaps why. As we prepare for the start of the semester, now that I have been Head of the department for almost six weeks, I would like to take this opportunity to remind students, parents, and perhaps even colleagues about what it the programs in English and Creative Writing offer.</span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
an economic downturn, the numbers of people who major in the liberal arts
decline. It is understandable: people become practical, and that pragmatism
makes them focus on the most immediate challenge: will this degree help me get
a job when I graduate? </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Liberal
arts advocates typically respond by enumerating the practical nature of the
skills students acquire in their respective disciplines: in English, we stress
the development of students’ analytical abilities, as well as their growing
command of the English language, deployed with increasing precision and even
eloquence. But there are other benefits that it can be harder to pinpoint: an
education in literature can also be an exercise in self-development,
self-discovery, and self-preservation. As the novelist Julian Barnes once wrote
of Mauriac’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">M</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">ém</span>oires
int</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">é</span>rieurs, </i>“He finds himself by
looking in the works of others.”</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why
be an English major? Why learn to read and understand the world’s most complex
and beautiful verbal compositions in the era of text messaging and Twitter? What
I am about to say next should be obvious, but it has been hidden in plain
sight. The liberal arts, as the Latin word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">libera
</i>suggests, are the arts of becoming free (or a little freer). Why do we have
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">learn </i>to be free? Because society
conditions its members to conform (or to rebel, which is not freedom but a
knee-jerk resistance to conformity). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
siren call to middle-class young people is to get a job, get married, and have
children. Be a success; look attractive; make money. There is nothing wrong
with those things, although the sixty-eight year old man sitting across from me
in the Flying Machine coffee shop didn’t seem to read the script: he is
knitting (very happily, by the look of it). Those who thoughtlessly heed the
siren call of society run a risk—the risk of someday seeing those decisions as
meaningless because they weren’t chosen but were simply adopted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What matters most is not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what </i>you do but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how </i>you
do it. Once we’ve learned to live in a given culture we then have to learn to
live beyond it: to think independently, to feel for those who are foreign or
different; to invent; to convey. Learning to interpret more autonomously can
provide antidotes to the fear and knee-jerk obedience that can creep up in
times of crisis. It is arguably in times of crisis that we most need “liberal”
education, which can give us unexpected tools for creative problem solving. And
creative problem solving can even be applied to the vexing challenge of finding
a fulfilling job. </div>
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Learning to read
literature has two major effects: it expands one’s horizons and it develops one’s
intellect, emotions, and imagination. This isn’t a short-term effect; it is a
long term one, and it is designed to help individuals live more fulfilling
lives. When times are hard, people sometimes forget that life is a marathon,
not a sprint. In his last play, Henrik Ibsen has one of his characters say,
“When we dead awaken we see that we have never lived.” In his play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endgame, </i>Samuel Beckett’s character Clov
mourns, “The earth is extinguished, and I never saw it lit.” Why did women and
slaves work so hard for the right to be educated? It was not only to have more
job opportunities; it was to enhance their experience of life, to get a more realistic perspective on life’s problems and to appreciate its beauty and its fun. As Einstein
once wrote, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you
everywhere.” That is the primary reason to major in English, one that supports all the others: learning to read
literature with precision and self-awareness kindles and then guides the
imagination; it becomes possible to go anywhere. It prepares you, not to start
a business or to build a bridge, but to find the extraordinary in the ordinary
in any occupation or situation.</div>
Vicki Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11088052476928321774noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-82883018500743599902016-03-07T09:02:00.003-08:002016-06-27T12:04:53.914-07:00Awards, Fellowships, and Teaching Excellence (Updated x 4!)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s the time of the year when it makes sense to start
tallying the awards and fellowships received by Department of English faculty
and students during the 2015-2016 year. The season is not over yet, and I will
update this list as other news comes in, but there is already a substantial
amount of good news to announce—and as anyone following the budget situation in
Illinois knows, we need all the good news we can get!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--FCPuyY6hKI/Vt21ZSlaBTI/AAAAAAAACkk/7G0fzueJKNI/s1600/award-of-excellence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--FCPuyY6hKI/Vt21ZSlaBTI/AAAAAAAACkk/7G0fzueJKNI/s320/award-of-excellence.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;">It thus gives me great pleasure to present the following, rather long list of awardees:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Derrick Spires</b> has received a fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Humanities;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Waïl Hassan</b> has received an ACLS Fellowship; <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Dennis Baron</b> has won a Guggenheim Fellowship;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Joy Harjo</b> won the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets; her book <i>Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings</i> was an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Irvin Hunt</b> has won a Rutgers University Postdoctoral Fellowship in African American Literature;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Janice Harrington</b> has received a Ragdale Residential
Creative Fellowship;<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Lori Newcomb</b> won a short-term fellowship at the Huntington Library; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><b>John Rubins</b> has received a residency from the Bush Creek Foundation for the </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Arts</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> in Saratoga, Wyoming;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Ryan Flanagan</b> has received a Writer's Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Manisha Basu</b> has received a fellowship from the Center for
Advanced Study;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Andrew Gaedtke</b> has been named co-winner of the IPRH Prize for Best Faculty Research;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Elizabeth Taveres</b> has been selected as the winner of the IPRH Prize for Best Graduate Student Research;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Patricia Fleming</b>, an English major, has been selected as the winner of the IPRH Prize for Best Undergraduate Research;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>John Moore</b> has been named a Humanities Without Walls
Pre-Doctoral Workshop Fellow;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Rebecah Pulsifer</b> has been named Andrew W. Mellon
Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Bio-Humanities at the Illinois Program for Research in
the Humanities;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Tim Dean</b> has received an IPRH Fellowship;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Graduate students <b>Christine Hedlin</b> and <b>Maggie Shelledy</b> have received
Graduate Student IPRH Fellowships;<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Eric Pritchard</b> and <b>Sandra Ruiz </b>are the co-winners of the Criticism and Interpretive Theory Junior Research Fellowship from the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J.B. Capino</b> has been awarded Humanities Released Time by the
Campus Research Board;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Rob Barrett</b> has received a Mid-Career Faculty Release-Time Award and has also won the LAS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate
Teaching;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Wendy Truran</b> has won the LAS Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants as well as the campus Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching award;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Dave Morris</b> has won the LAS Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching by Instructional Staff;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Kaia Simon</b>, <b>Debora Tienou</b>, and <b>Wendy Truran</b> have won
departmental teaching awards in the Graduate Teaching Assistant category;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Natalie Mesnard</b>, <b>Dave Morris</b>, and <b>Isabel Quintana Wulf</b> have
won departmental teaching awards in the Specialized Faculty category;<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><b>Carol Spindel </b>won the Campus Honors Program Broadrick-Allen Teaching Award;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And, last but definitely not least, a large number of
faculty and TAs from our BTW, Creative Writing, English, and Rhetoric classes
in fall 2015 have been included on the <b>List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by
Their Students</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Iryce Baron, Rob Barrett, Manisha Basu, Paul Beilstein,
Adrienne Bosworth, Andrew Bowman, Maria Carvajal Regidor, Michelle Chan, Erin
Chandler, John Claborn, Mary Rose Cottingham, Eleanor Courtemanche, David
Coyoca, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chekwube Danladi, Tim Dean, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Don, Dennis Dullea, Chelsea Farmer,
Ryan Flanagan, John Gallagher, Eman Ghanayem, Shawn Gilmore, Catharine Gray,
Joe Grohens, Ceridwen Hall, Jim Hansen, Joy Harjo, Janice Harrington, William
Hechler, Marilyn Holguin, Michael Hurley, Candice Jenkins, Damian Johansson,
Jamie Jones, Annie Kelvie, Katherine Kendig, Patrick Kimutis, Susan Koshy, Bruce Kovanen, Allison
Kranek, Aaron LaDuke, Mary Lindsey, Trish Loughran, Coral Lumbley, Michael
Madonick, Helen Makhdoumian, Bob Markley, Heather McLeer, Zach McVicker, Jessica
Mercado, Natalie Mesnard, Matthew Minicucci, Dave Morris, Justine Murison, Hina
Nazar, Katherine Norcross, Matthew O’Brien, Michael Odom, Robert Parker,
Alexandra Patterson, Alaina Pincus, Samantha Plasencia,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anthony Pollock, Rebecah Pulsifer, Julie
Price, Scott Ricketts, Carla Rosell, John Rubins, Ted Sanders, Julia Saville, William
Schwartz, Jordan Sellers, Alex Shakar, Michael Shetina, Kaia Simon, Christine
Sneed, Siobhan Somerville, Ramón Soto-Crespo, Andrea Stevens, Alison Syring
Bassford, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric Thomas, Carl Thompson, Nafissa
Thompson-Spires, Ted Underwood,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Elyse Vigiletti, </span>Jess
Williard, Gregory Webb, Kelly Williams, Jessica Witte, Jessica Wong, Jarvis
Young, and Jessica Young.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-19999797672092585982015-11-06T12:16:00.001-08:002015-11-06T12:38:07.890-08:00Why Liberal Arts? Why English?<br />
Today I had the opportunity to speak to prospective University of Illinois students and their parents at<br />
"Orange and Blue Day." My charge was to introduce the benefits of an education in the <a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">College of Liberal Arts and Sciences</a>, to say something about the value of the humanities, and to make a pitch for English as a major. All in five minutes. I ended up going a little over time and I still only scratched the surface, of course. But I made an attempt to articulate--to a very particular audience, with a very particular goal in mind--what it is we do here at the University of Illinois and why it is more worth doing than ever.<br />
<br />
Here's what I said. I'd love to hear back from you on the key questions: Why liberal arts? Why English?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good
afternoon. It is a pleasure to have the chance to talk to you today. As you’ve
just heard, I am Michael Rothberg and I am Head of the English Department.
Before getting to my main job—which is convincing you that English is the <i>only</i>
major you should seriously consider—I want to say a few words on
behalf of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The question you’re probably asking yourself
is: why come to LAS at UIUC? And you know, that’s really a very easy question: First
of all, you want to come to the <a href="http://illinois.edu/" target="_blank">University of Illinois</a> because it’s the top
public university in the state. There’s no other public school where you can go
to be educated by so many Nobel prize winners, Pulitzer prize winners, and
other award winning scientists, humanists, and artists. (Actually, there aren’t
too many private schools where you can do that, either.) Coming to a top
research university means coming to a place where new knowledge is being made
every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And if you come to Illinois you should
come to LAS. Why? Because LAS is the heart of the university. The core
disciplines and majors are found here: biology, history, psychology, English, math,
philosophy. It’s the place where you come to learn about the world: both the
physical world—its geography, geology, and chemistry—and the social world—its
sociology, anthropology, economics, and politics. It’s where you discover
“foreign” languages like German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Turkish—and
also where you re-learn our own national story—in departments like African
American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latina/Latino Studies (not to
mention history itself). In other words, if you come to LAS, you have the world
at your fingertips. With <a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/students/programs/majors/explore/" target="_blank">70 possible majors</a>, you’ve got more to choose from and
more opportunities to grow and explore than in any other college. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once you arrive in LAS, I hope you’ll
take advantage of the chance to choose classes in the humanities and to
consider majoring or minoring in one of the humanities fields. Put simply: the
humanities are the disciplines where you get to think about what it means to be
human; about who we are, what we know, the world we have created, the religions
we practice (or don’t practice), the cultures we inhabit, our relations to the
non-human world. You also get to shake things up a bit: to question and
critique the way things are, to imagine different and potentially better worlds.
The truth is that humanities courses tend to be the ones where you’ll have the
most contact with your professors; where you’ll have small classes and an
opportunity to read and talk with other smart people about the things that
matter to you. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;">[Credit: Allison Branson Photography]</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I also know what matters to your
parents: return on their investment. College is not cheap and in recent years a
lot of prominent voices have tried to tell you that it’s impractical to major
in the humanities; that it will hurt your career choices and leave you jobless.
But if you’ve been reading the newspapers and magazines lately, you might have
noticed that that tune is changing. More and more, the press is reporting on
the practical value of the humanities. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forbes</i>
magazine published an article last year called “<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/11/20/surprise-humanities-degrees-provide-great-return-on-investment/" target="_blank">Surprise: Humanities Degrees Provide Great Return on Investment</a>.” Just last week they published an <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2015/10/28/why-scientists-should-study-art-and-literature/" target="_blank">essay by a physicist</a> on why humanities courses are even beneficial for scientists. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forbes</i> is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/02/18/we-dont-need-more-stem-majors-we-need-more-stem-majors-with-liberal-arts-training/" target="_blank">not alone</a> in making the case
for the humanities. Why this change of tune? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let me turn to my own discipline,
English, to explain what’s going on here. In English—and the humanities more
generally—we do not prepare you for one specific job; we give you the capacity
to flourish in a rapidly changing world where you can’t possibly know what
careers will be out there even by the time you graduate. We also know that most
Americans change careers multiple times during their adulthood. What you will
get from English—besides what I hope will be a lifelong love of literature and
art—are foundational capacities that will serve you well in the “real world”:
we will teach you to analyze texts and contexts closely, to reason and
communicate more effectively, and we will foster the curiosity and agility that
you need to thrive in whatever career you decide you have a passion for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you’ve been following the news
lately, you know that being an English major can prepare you for almost any
post-graduate career: from snowboarding instructor to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/10/20/canadas-new-leader-justin-trudeau-was-a-schoolteacher/" target="_blank">Prime Minister of Canada</a>—and that’s just what one person did with his study of literature.
Admittedly, Illinois may not be fertile ground for either of those particular
jobs, but we do have alumni who go into politics: English grad <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/house/rep.asp?MemberID=1780" target="_blank">Kelly Burke</a> is
in the State Assembly, where she works on issues of health care, higher
education, and the enhancement of museums, arts, and culture; one of my own
students became a diplomat and now works for the State Department in Vietnam
(after previously being based in Nigeria and Indonesia)! Maybe you’re
interested in politics but not really in doing politics. Well, our alumna <a href="http://www.carolfelsenthal.com/" target="_blank">Carol Felsenthal</a>, who spoke at our graduation two years ago, is a journalist who
covers politics for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chicago</i> magazine;
she’s also the biographer of Bill Clinton and has been working on another
biography of, um, Rod Blagojevich. Perhaps you’re thinking of journalism and
writing, but politics isn’t your thing: remember that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert" target="_blank">Roger Ebert</a> studied in my
department (a little before my time). Or you’re more business-minded. Our
graduation speaker this past year was Matt Garrison, who majored in Creative
Writing. In 2014, Matt was on <a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/section/40-under-40-2014?recipient=Garrison" target="_blank">Crain’s Chicago Business “40 under 40”</a> list
because he runs one of the most successful real estate investment firms in the
city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those are just a few actual examples of
what English alumni have done. Right now we’re in the midst of creating new possibilities
for our future alums. Not only do we offer <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/undergraduate/courses/LiteratureCourses16.html" target="_blank">great courses</a> by <a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/faculty/awards/recipients/" target="_blank">award-winning teachers</a> on everything from
Shakespeare and American lit to graphic novels and video gaming; we also have a
fantastic <a href="http://publish.illinois.edu/englishadvising/" target="_blank">internship program</a> that will connect you to potential employers on
and off campus, we give you opportunities to edit and contribute to journals,
and we have a careers course that will help you develop now the skills you will
need later when you enter the job market. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ll be honest: I didn’t think about
careers when I was in college; I majored in English because I loved talking and
writing about literature, history, politics, and ideas. There are many reasons,
practical and idealistic, why you might find your way to us. Once you do, though,
you won’t look back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-13486736633439947802015-09-10T10:15:00.000-07:002015-09-10T10:15:05.387-07:00Joy Harjo Wins Prestigious Wallace Stevens Award<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am thrilled to announce that our new colleague in English, <a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/joy-harjo" target="_blank">Joy Harjo</a>, has won the prestigious <a href="http://www.poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/wallace-stevens-award" target="_blank">Wallace Stevens Award</a> from the Academy of American Poets! This award recognizes "outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry," according to the Academy. It also comes with a $100,000 stipend. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5wE8iC_I8Jc/VfG6Tv2Cw6I/AAAAAAAACig/r77DGjbAs7c/s1600/JoyHarjo_NewBioImage_Credit-KarenKuehn.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5wE8iC_I8Jc/VfG6Tv2Cw6I/AAAAAAAACig/r77DGjbAs7c/s1600/JoyHarjo_NewBioImage_Credit-KarenKuehn.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Karen Kuehn</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Past recipients of the award include a veritable "who's who" of American poets, including John Ashbery, Galway Kinnell, Yusef Komunyakaa, Adrienne Rich, Gary Snyder, and James Tate. It is wonderful to see Joy taking her well-deserved place in this community of poets!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The very apt citation from Academy of American Poets Chancellor Alicia Ostriker </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">reads as follows: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">“Throughout her extraordinary career as poet, storyteller, musician, memoirist, playwright and activist, Joy Harjo has worked to expand our American language, culture, and soul. A Creek Indian and student of First Nation history, Harjo is rooted simultaneously in the natural world, in earth—especially the landscape of the American southwest— and in the spirit world. Aided by these redemptive forces of nature and spirit, incorporating native traditions of prayer and myth into a powerfully contemporary idiom, her visionary justice-seeking art transforms personal and collective bitterness to beauty, fragmentation to wholeness, and trauma to healing.”</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Those of us here in Champaign-Urbana will have the opportunity to see Joy read from her work next <a href="http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/4639?eventId=32910931&calMin=201509&cal=20150910&skinId=10050" target="_blank">Wednesday, September 16 at the auditorium of the Spurlock Museum at 7:30</a>--an event hosted by the <a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities</a>. Please join us and take the opportunity to congratulate Joy Harjo!</span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-51874347992061586992015-08-27T12:54:00.001-07:002015-08-27T12:55:41.082-07:00Welcome to the New Academic Year<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s the beginning of the academic year here at the
University of Illinois, a good time to welcome new members of the department
and to recognize the achievements of our excellent corps of teachers! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I am pleased to report that we are joined by a number of new
colleagues as well as a new class of graduate students and over 100 new majors.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Last night was the New Faculty Reception sponsored by the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dean and Acting Chancellor Barbara J.
Wilson and her LAS team—which includes our colleague, Associate Dean Martin
Camargo—introduced all the new tenure-stream faculty in the college, including <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/sotocres" target="_blank">Ramón Soto-Crespo</a> and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/dean" target="_blank">Tim Dean</a>, who are joining the English Department from
SUNY-Buffalo. Ramón was our choice for a position in Global Anglophone
Literatures; he works on Caribbean and inter-American literatures. Tim was a
colleague of many in the department in the late 1990s and early 2000s and is a
noted queer and psychoanalytic theorist as well as a scholar of modern poetry;
it’s good to have him back and to be joined by Ramón as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LelUoWc2DgQ/Vd9ozCqMOxI/AAAAAAAACiA/AHmynrzagzo/s1600/Tim%2BBarb%2BRamon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LelUoWc2DgQ/Vd9ozCqMOxI/AAAAAAAACiA/AHmynrzagzo/s320/Tim%2BBarb%2BRamon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tim Dean, Acting Chancellor Barb Wilson, Ramón Soto-Crespo</div>
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Two colleagues who have already been affiliated with English
will now play a bigger role in the department. The poet <a href="http://joyharjo.com/" target="_blank">Joy Harjo</a> joins our
Creative Writing program after moving over from American Indian Studies, and the
critic and theorist <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jabyrd" target="_blank">Jodi Byrd</a> has also moved more of her line from AIS to
English.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In addition, we welcome two visiting faculty members.
<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/lcol" target="_blank">Lucinda Cole</a> joins us from the University of Southern Maine as a Visiting
Associate Professor, and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/thmpsns2" target="_blank">Nafissa Thompson-Spires</a> will hold a 25% appointment as
Visiting Assistant Professor in English/Creative Writing with the remainder of
her appointment in the Department of African American Studies. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The department is pleased to welcome (and in some cases welcomes
back) eight new Instructors and Lecturers: <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/don1" target="_blank">Michael Don</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/rpf" target="_blank">Ryan Flanagan</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/garton" target="_blank">Kyle Garton-Gundling</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/clhall3" target="_blank">Ceridwen Hall</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/khatibl2" target="_blank">Roya Khatiblou</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/laduke" target="_blank">Aaron LaDuke</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/apincus2" target="_blank">Alaina Pincus</a>,
and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/eseller2" target="_blank">E. Jordan Sellers</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We also have a new Director of Graduate Studies, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/ecourtem" target="_blank">Eleanor Courtemanche</a>, and a new Associate Director of Rhetoric,<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/kmcduff" target="_blank"> Kristi McDuffie</a>. I am
looking forward to working with Eleanor and Kristi and the rest of our team of
departmental officers and administrators. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Our new colleagues join a committed group of teachers. We
are a department that believes that teaching and research enhance each other
and we are dedicated to excellence in both areas. One indication of that
excellence is the yearly List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students.
As always, I’m pleased to see that so many of our courses and instructors are
recognized for their quality by our students.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is the list for Spring 2015 courses:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Iryce Baron, Manisha Basu, Paul Beilstein, Jodi Byrd, Maria
Carvajal Regidor, Debojoy Chanda, Jill Clements, Mary Rose Cottingham, Carrie
Dickison, John Dudek, Dennis Dullea, Ashley Emmert, Christopher Freeburg, Shawn
Gilmore, Philip Graham, Nolan Grieve, Joseph Grohens, Andrew Hall, Jim Hansen,
Janice Harrington, Christine Hedlin, Marilyn Holguin, Irvin Hunt, Michael
Hurley, Candice Jenkins, Kyle Johnston, Maggie Kainulainen, Katherine Kendig,
Allison Kranek, Linda Larson, Mary Lindsey, Trish Loughran, Joshua Lynch,
Michael Madonick, Vicki Mahaffey, Helen Makhdoumian, Michelle Martinez, Tom
McNamara, Zach McVicker, Jessica Mercado, Natalie Mesnard, Matthew Minicucci,
Dave Morris, Andrew Moss, John Musser, Richard Nardi, Katherine Norcross,
Valerie O’Brien, Michael Odom, Samantha Plasencia, Anthony Pollock, Joseph
Post, Julie Price, Rebecah Pulsifer, Isabel Quintana-Wulf, Scott Ricketts, Anna
Robb, Michael Rothberg, John Rubins, Steve Runkle, Lindsay Russell, Ted
Sanders, Julia Saville, Michael Shetina, Kaia Simon, Carol Spindel, Christine
Sneed, John Stone, Sarah Sutor, Alison Syring Bassford, Elizabeth Tavares, Eric
Thomas, Debora Tienou, Renee Trilling, Wendy Truran, Ted Underwood, Gregory
Webb, Rebecca Weber, Kirstin Wilcox, Kelly Williams, Zachary Williams, Jess
Williard, Elaine Wood, Charlie Wright, David Wright<o:p></o:p></div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-1649282769665534942015-03-09T12:08:00.001-07:002015-03-09T12:08:26.085-07:00Excellent Teaching and the English Major: It's Not Just a ListI am certain that one of the reasons I became an English major--and, later, an English graduate student--is because I had such excellent teachers. To be sure, that fortunate experience goes back a long way--at least to junior high, where I first really learned to write by being asked to revise essays again and again by a demanding teacher to whom I remain indebted; and to high school, where I was introduced to the canon of European literature by another demanding public school instructor.<br />
<br />
But it was definitely in college that I became an English major and a future English professor. The things that attracted me back then remain central to the way we do things today here at Illinois: small classes, lots of attention to student interests, encouragement of free-wheeling discussion, and an emphasis on the craft of writing and making an argument.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of good reasons to major in English, but the two main ones for me continue to be these: you get to spend your time reading and discussing really great books with interesting peers; and you learn to think and express yourself by working closely with teachers who care about your mind and your intellectual development. Of course these experiences will help you later in life when it comes to building a successful and fulfilling career; but they are also experiences worth having in their own right.<br />
<br />
Here in English, we know that great teaching cannot be reduced to a number between 1 and 5. Yet, we take student evaluations seriously because they do give us an indication of whether what we're doing in the classroom is coming across. I'm happy to report that, as per usual, faculty and graduate students in the English Department do very well when it comes to those evaluations.<br />
<br />
Without further ado, then, I'm pleased to give you the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Fall 2014 courses:<br />
<br />
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Iryce Baron, Rob Barrett, Manisha Basu, Paul Beilstein,
Maria Carvajal, Silas Cassinelli, Debojoy Chanda, John Claborn, Megan Condis, Mary
Rose Cottingham, Eleanor Courtemanche, Kristin Dean, Esther Dettmar, John
Dudek, Dennis Dullea, Meghan Dykema, Stephanie Foote, Philip Graham, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catherine Gray, Joe Grohens, Evin Groundwater,
Andrew Hall, Ceridwin Hall, Jim Hansen, Gail Hapke, Mary Hays, Janice
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Maggie Kainulainen, Brigit Kelly, Allison Kranek, Melissa Larabee, Jean Lee, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary Lindsey, Trish Loughran, Michael
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Mohamed, Dave Morris, Andrew Moss, John Musser, Hina Nazar, Richard Nardi,
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Wong, Elaine Wood, and Charlie Wright.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You can find the full list for the university <a href="http://citl.illinois.edu/services/for-instructors/instructor-and-course-evaluation-system-(ices)/lists-of-teachers-ranked-as-excellent" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-56197956697612815482015-02-21T10:00:00.000-08:002015-02-21T10:26:58.919-08:00Super Teachers, Super Scholars, and Superheroes<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to update this
blog and in that time a lot of good news has accumulated.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s been the season of awards and fellowships and our
colleagues and students have been winning a bunch. Just yesterday the campus
teaching awards were announced. <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/arstev" target="_blank">Andrea Stevens</a>, an Associate Professor and
specialist in early modern drama, and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/ahubert2" target="_blank">Ann Hubert</a>, a graduate student who just
finished a dissertation in medieval studies, both won Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching Awards! Earlier, Andrea had won our college’s LAS Lynn
Martin Award for Distinguished Women Teachers and Ann had won the LAS
Humanities Council Teaching Excellence Award. There are also departmental
teaching awards to announce: Ann Hubert (again!) and Jessica Mercado won the
awards for Graduate Teaching Assistants, and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/maryhays" target="_blank">Mary Hays</a> and Scott Ricketts won in
the category of Specialized Faculty. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Late last year we heard that a number of our alumni had won high-visibility
national fellowships. <span style="color: #10131a; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Mark
Neely, who received his BA with us, and Sara Gelston and Lillian-Yvonne
Bertram, who received their MFAs with us, all won</span> <span style="color: #10131a; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Creative Writing
Fellowships in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. Meanwhile, two
English PhDs, Humberto Garcia and Melissa Girard, won National Endowment for
the Humanities Fellowships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Back
on campus, current faculty and graduate students have been doing well in
university competitions. In 2015-2016, Professors <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/trilling" target="_blank">Renée Trilling</a> and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/tunder" target="_blank">Ted Underwood</a> will be appointed as Fellows of the Center for Advanced Study, the
most </span>prestigious research unit on campus. Professor <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/russellr" target="_blank">Lindsay Rose Russell</a> was
awarded Humanities Released Time for next year, and graduate students Silas
Cassinelli and John Musser have been selected as Fellows of the Illinois
Program for Research in the Humanities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Other good things are happening these days too. Our
non-tenure track faculty—Specialized Faculty, in the university’s terms—have
organized a wonderful series of research presentations called “Research Off the
Tenure Track,” which features monthly talks about the creative, critical, and
pedagogical activities of NTT faculty in English. Here's the schedule of events:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps the most surprising news of late has been the
ascendency of a new superhero in the orbit of the English department. Rowan Trilling-Hansen, the 11-year old daughter of faculty members <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jhansen1" target="_blank">Jim Hansen</a> and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/trilling" target="_blank">Renée Trilling</a>, has made waves around the world with <a href="http://www.thismess.net/2015/01/girls-read-comics-too-awesome-letter.html" target="_blank">her letter</a> calling for more (and
better!) representation of girls and women in superhero comics. As you will see
if you watch <a href="http://www.today.com/video/today/56998287/#56998287" target="_blank">Rowan’s interview with the Today show</a>, the critical skills you can learn from hanging out with English
professors shouldn’t be underestimated. They can be world-changing!<br />
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-88581740815254154252014-11-04T12:59:00.004-08:002014-11-04T13:14:08.185-08:00The Wallace Stevens Memorial Prize<br />
With the everyday busyness of the semester, it has been a while since I had a chance to update this blog. I hope some of you have had a chance to "like" our departmental Facebook page, though, since we've been announcing all sorts of good things over there. If not, please join us <a href="https://www.facebook.com/uofienglish" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I did want to take a moment to announce an exciting new prize we will be offering to graduate and undergraduate students, starting this year. It's called the Wallace Stevens Memorial Prize and it will be awarded once a year for the best critical essay written on modern American or British poetry. Here's an announcement for the first award cycle, which will be focused on graduate students:<br />
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This award has been made possible by the generosity of a donor, Harris Hatcher. Harris Hatcher is not an alumnus of our department, but he is a lover of modern poetry--and particularly the writings of Wallace Stevens, one of the great American poets of the twentieth century. We are so lucky to have found Harris and to have had the opportunity to connect him to our faculty, which is rich in expertise on modern poetry.<br />
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Last winter, Harris came to campus, and I had the pleasure of having lunch with him and introducing him to my colleagues. Although Harris is not an academic, he has the thorough knowledge of any specialist in the criticism of Stevens and modern American poetry--and he already knew the work of such English department faculty as <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/tnewcomb" target="_blank">Tim Newcomb</a> (author of a book on Stevens) and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/crnelson" target="_blank">Cary Nelson</a> (editor of a major anthology of American poetry)!<br />
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Here I am with Harris and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/vmahaffe" target="_blank">Vicki Mahaffey</a>, a leading modernist in our department…<br />
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Opportunities like this--to connect our work as scholars with an interested and knowledgeable public--do not happen every day. But they sure make our work worthwhile!<br />
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Thank you, Harris, for supporting us and our students!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-25046116522713117612014-08-24T11:48:00.000-07:002014-08-24T12:29:16.231-07:00Welcome (Back) . . . Teaching Excellence<div class="MsoNormal">
I am pleased to welcome everyone back for the 2014-2015
academic year! I hope you have managed to have a relaxing summer and are
feeling ready for the new semester.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m excited about the coming year not least because we’re
welcoming several terrific new colleagues to the department. Candice Jenkins
comes to us from Hunter College, where she was an Associate Professor of
English. She works on contemporary African American literature and especially
issues of sexuality and class. Irvin Hunt also joins us as a specialist in
twentieth-century African American literature; Irvin just completed a PhD at
Columbia University and has interests in comedy and satire. Candice and Irvin
will both have joint appointments with the Department of African American
Studies. We are equally happy to welcome Eric Pritchard, who comes to us from
the University of Texas at Austin, where he was an Assistant Professor of
African and African Diaspora Studies; he’ll be joining our Writing Studies
faculty and continuing his work on black queer literacies and other topics. We
also have two new Visiting Assistant Professors. John Gallagher just received a
PhD from the University of Massachusetts and works in the areas of writing
studies and digital media. Jamie Jones received a PhD from Harvard and joins us
from the University of Michigan. She works on environmental humanities and late
nineteenth-century American literature. In addition, Natalie Mesnard, a
graduate of our MFA program, is taking on a position as Lecturer, and Carrie
Dickison, a PhD candidate in our literature program, is taking on a position as
Instructor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are new faces among departmental leaders as well. Tim
Newcomb has taken over from Spencer Schaffner as Associate Head and Dale Bauer is
our new Director of Undergraduate Studies, replacing Lori Newcomb. I’m very
grateful to Spencer and Lori for doing so much to make my first year as Head as
smooth as possible, and I’m looking forward to working with Tim and Dale. I’m
also grateful to Andrea Stevens, who is serving as Graduate Placement Director
while Justine Murison is on sabbatical, and to Kirstin Wilcox, who has been
working with Dale to start a new internship program for our majors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In other news, we have recently received the new List of
Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for the spring semester. As
ever, we are well represented on this list. All of us—tenure-track faculty,
lecturers and instructors, graduate teaching assistants—are dedicated to our
students and it shows (among other ways) in how extensive the list always is:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Laura Bandy, Iryce Baron, Rob Barrett, Jensen Beach, Michael
Behrens, Martin Camargo, Sarah Cassinelli, Debojoy Chanda, Erin Chandler, John
Claborn, Mary Rose Cottingham, Esther Dettmar, Carrie Dickison, John Dudek,
Meghan Dykema, Patrick Fadely, Jill Fitzgerald, Jein Funk, Naida Garcia-Crespo,
Shawn Gilmore, Catherine Gray, Nolan Grieve, Joe Grohens, Ceridwen Hall, Jim
Hansen, Justin Hanson, William Hechler, Marilyn Holguin, Ann Hubert, DeAvery
Irons, Miguel Jimenez, Daniel Kelly, Mary Lindsey, Melissa Littlefield, Trish
Loughran, Sean MacIntyre, Michael Madonick, Vicki Mahaffey, Bob Markley,
Patrick McGrath, Lee McGuire, Erin McQuiston, Erica Melko, Jessica Mercado,
Natalie Mesnard, Matthew Minicucci, Feisal Mohamed, John Moore, Dave Morris,
Andrew Moss, Justine Murison, John Musser, Richard Nardi, Hina Nazar, Katherine
Norcross, Valerie O’Brien, Michael Odom, Audrey Petty, Catherine Prendergast,
Julie Price, Scott Ricketts, Gregory Rodgers, Richard Rodriguez, Carla Rosell,
John Rubins, Ariana Ruiz, Sandra Ruiz, Julia Saville, Spencer Schaffner, Jordan
Sellers, Alex Shakar, Michael Shetina, Siobhan Somerville, Carol Spindel,
Andrea Stevens, Elizabeth Tavares, Eric Thomas, Renee Trilling, Gregory Webb,
Sara Weisweaver, Lucilena Williams, Zachary Williams, Jessica Wong, and Jessica
Young.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s the news for now. Hope to see you back here soon on
the English blog…<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-29782239260926386642014-05-18T12:41:00.001-07:002014-05-18T12:42:40.893-07:00Convocation 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday I had the very special privilege of presiding over
the 2014 English and Creative Writing Convocation. Sitting together with a
couple dozen of my colleagues I watched as over 100 English and Creative
Writing majors received their diplomas and ten of our graduate students were
“hooded” by their advisors to mark the receipt of their Ph.D.s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterwards, we emerged out into a beautiful
sunny afternoon on the Illinois quad. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is always a moving event, but it was especially so for
me this year since it marked the end of my first academic year as department
head (although, to be sure, many projects remain <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in medias res</i>!). I am proud of our graduates, who have accomplished
so much during their four years at Illinois, and I am proud of my colleagues
who helped enable those accomplishments through their dedicated teaching and
mentoring. Not only do I believe an English degree—and more broadly a liberal
arts degree—prepares our students well for any number of <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2014/05/15/the-liberal-arts-majors-that-pay-the-most/?fb_action_ids=1474697919431672&fb_action_types=og.recommends" target="_blank">future possibilities</a>,
I also believe an English degree affords them four years of close contact with
faculty members who are dedicated to helping them become better writers,
thinkers, and ultimately citizens. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Convocation is a collective effort and I am grateful to
everyone who made it possible—not least our wonderful academic advisers Anna
Ivy and Jovaughn Barnard. I’m also grateful to Interim Associate Dean <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/cperry" target="_blank">Curtis Perry</a> (whom some of you may recognize as having occupied this blog in the years
before me!) for his remarks at the event. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And I’m especially thankful to our convocation speaker, the
writer and journalist <a href="http://www.carolfelsenthal.com/" target="_blank">Carol Felsenthal</a>. Carol graduated from our department in
the early 1970s and has gone on to an illustrious career as a biographer and
political commentator known for her portraits of such figures as Bill Clinton,
Michelle Obama, and Katherine Graham of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington
Post</i>. Carol gave a wonderful speech recounting her path to becoming a
writer. She told us about some of the roadblocks women faced at the time she
was starting out and also about the persistence—or chutzpah, as she put it!—needed
to break through into a writing career. It seemed like a good message for folks
about to set out on their own path towards what we hope will be similarly
successful careers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Michael, Carol, Curtis</span></div>
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I’m guessing that this blog will be a little quieter over
the next couple of months as we regroup and then gear up for another year. But
before you head off for your summer vacations, let me mention a few other
pieces of good news that I haven’t had a chance to post yet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/rcurry" target="_blank">Ramona Curry</a>, a scholar of film studies in the department,
has received a position as Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies at
Uppsala University in Sweden. Ramona will be taking up her post in spring 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/cdwright" target="_blank">Charlie Wright</a>, recently a winner of a campus-wide award for
graduate student mentoring, has also won the CARA Award for Excellence in
Teaching from the Medieval Academy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Our writing studies graduate student Pamela Saunders was
recognized for writing one of the best papers to be presented at the upcoming
Rhetoric Society of America meeting. Katie Irwin, who is based in
Communication, but works with colleagues in English and the Center for Writing
Studies, was also chosen for this Gerard A. Hauser Award.<br />
<br />
Congratulations to all of these colleagues and students, and
best of luck to all the new graduates! We trust you will keep in touch with us
as you go on your way…</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-21966770176270049302014-05-09T16:09:00.000-07:002014-05-10T17:29:41.680-07:00Launching Re:Search!<div class="MsoNormal">
This has been an exciting year for undergraduate research in
our department. We have a wonderful, active group of students in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/englishstudentcouncil" target="_blank">English Student Council</a>—the ESC—who have been working closely with Professor <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/lnewcomb" target="_blank">Lori Newcomb</a>, our Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Wendy Truran, a graduate
student in our program. A few weeks ago, we hosted part of the <a href="http://www.provost.illinois.edu/ugresearch/" target="_blank">Undergraduate Research Symposium</a>: panels considered “Gendered Spaces in British Literature,”
“Identity Issues,” “Research in the Writer’s Workshop,” and “Intersectional
Identities in American Women Writers.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Another roundtable at the symposium was dedicated to what I
think was the “big event” of the spring semester: the founding of <i><a href="https://ugresearchjournals.illinois.edu/index.php/ujlc" target="_blank">Re:Search: The Undergraduate Journal for Literary Criticism</a></i>. <i>Re:Search</i> joins
our literary journal <i><a href="http://montagejournal.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/new-journal/" target="_blank">Montage</a></i> as a new
voice for undergraduate research in the department.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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On May 8, a few dozen of us gathered in the newly
refurbished atrium of the English Building for the launch of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Re:Search</i>. At the launch party we got to
hear from Editor-in-Chief Nick Millman and Vice President Michael Chan, and we
met other members of the editorial board as well as the contributors. Among the
contributors to the first issue is Mary Baker, who recently won honorable
mention in the <a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/about/history/researchprizes.html" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities</a> essay contest
for her essay on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men</i>! Other
essays consider such diverse topics as children and space in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Secret Garden</i> (Kathryn DiGiulio),
superheros in the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Avengers</i>
and the graphic novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kingdom Come</i>
(David Rodgers), the subversion of domesticity in Victorian and neo-Victorian
novels (Leatrice Potter), Japanese war-period fiction (Genevieve Scheele), nostalgia
and empire in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Doctor Who</i> (Yue Yuan), race
and class relations in E.D.E.N. Southworth’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince of Darkness</i> (Caitlin MacDonald), and violence and
masculinity in video games (Mark Pajor). I am particularly impressed by the
range of texts and approaches that made it into this single issue—a true sign
of the creativity of our students and the vibrancy of our courses. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What is unique about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Re:Search</i>
is the mentoring system the students have set up. Every essay is peer-reviewed
by the editorial board and each contributor then works closely with a faculty
mentor in the lead-up to publication. I am certain this creates a very
productive intellectual exchange and accounts for the high quality of the
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Many people have made this exciting new publication possible—it’s
impossible to name them all here, but be sure to check out the extensive
acknowledgments in the journal, which is available both <a href="https://ugresearchjournals.illinois.edu/index.php/ujlc" target="_blank">online</a> and in
old-fashioned (but very lovely) <a href="http://uofibookstore.illinois.edu/site_EspressoBookMachine.asp" target="_blank">paper editions</a>. I do want to say a particular
thank you to the faculty mentors who worked with the authors and, especially, to
the journal’s hardworking faculty advisor Lori Newcomb, whose vision and guidance helped make this first issue such a success (that's Lori in the image above with the journal's Executive Board)!<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I remarked at the journal launch the other evening,
working on a journal in graduate school was one of the most intellectually
challenging and satisfying things I’ve ever done—I’m thrilled that our students
have this opportunity already as undergraduates. So much of what we do as
humanities students and scholars involves the solitary work of reading and
writing. Being part of the creation of a journal—and appearing in one!—allows
you to conceive of what you’re doing as part of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">larger conversation</i> about culture, about knowledge, about the
world. Joining that larger conversation means recognizing that you are part of
a community of other researchers, of people trying to understand the world in
new and better ways. And it’s a good feeling. That’s what we try to enable in the Department of
English. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-73266488022329527382014-04-16T10:28:00.000-07:002014-04-16T18:53:56.504-07:00Prendergast and Harjo Win Guggenheims!<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week I received the very exciting news that two English
department colleagues—<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/cprender" target="_blank">Catherine Prendergast</a> and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jharjo" target="_blank">Joy Harjo</a>—have been named Fellows of the <a href="http://www.gf.org/" target="_blank">John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation</a>. They are two of an unprecedented <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">five</i> Illinois faculty members who won this year—Asef Bayat in
Sociology, Stephen Taylor in Music, and Deke Weaver in Art and Design are the
others. Guggenheim fellowships are about as prestigious as things get in the
humanities and they recognize not just a particular project but the shape of a
career—these are very impressive and significant awards.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hbm67uDrh70/U069JWUFNiI/AAAAAAAABQE/kquuIvgu4IU/s1600/Catherine_Prendergast_150x150.original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hbm67uDrh70/U069JWUFNiI/AAAAAAAABQE/kquuIvgu4IU/s1600/Catherine_Prendergast_150x150.original.jpg" /></a></div>
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Cathy Prendergast is a long-time member of our department
and a leading figure in Writing Studies. Her first book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Literacy-Racial-Justice-Politics-Education/dp/080932525X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397668664&sr=1-1&keywords=catherine+prendergast" target="_blank">Literacy and Racial Justice: The Politics of Learning after Brown v. Board of Education</a></i>, won multiple national awards from the likes of the MLA
and the NCTE. Her second book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Buying-into-English-Investment-Capitalist/dp/082296001X/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397668699&sr=1-4&keywords=catherine+prendergast" target="_blank">Buying into English: Language and Investment in the Capitalist New World</a></i>, was a
prominently reviewed study of the efforts of Slovaks to learn English in the
wake of the Cold War and in a moment of European unification. Her new book
project, which she’ll be working on during the tenure of <a href="http://www.gf.org/fellows/17657-catherine-prendergast" target="_blank">her Guggenheim fellowship</a>, is a study of writers’ and artists’ colonies like Yaddo and
Carmel-by-the Sea. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Writer, Painter,
Banker, Thief</i> will be an institutional history that brings culture and
economics together—it’s an exciting and timely project and I can’t wait to see
what Cathy comes up with!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJnKd4D2nls/U069Lthv3PI/AAAAAAAABQQ/HDdonD9WXSw/s1600/JoyHarjo_150x150.original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJnKd4D2nls/U069Lthv3PI/AAAAAAAABQQ/HDdonD9WXSw/s1600/JoyHarjo_150x150.original.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://joyharjo.com/" target="_blank">Joy Harjo</a> is a brilliant new addition to the Illinois
campus. With a primary appointment in American Indian Studies and an
affiliation with English, Joy is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and is one of
our most prominent poets. She is the author of numerous award-winning poetry
collections, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/She-Had-Some-Horses-Poems/dp/039333421X/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=15TTRW7KVHVA4SHDVPXG" target="_blank">She Had Some Horses</a></i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Became-Human-1975-2002/dp/0393325342/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397668753&sr=1-1&keywords=joy+harjo" target="_blank">How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems</a></i>. But her Guggenheim is actually for <a href="http://www.gf.org/fellows/17593-joy-harjo" target="_blank">nonfiction</a>—a sign of
her versatility as a writer. I had the opportunity to hear her read from her
very powerful recent memoir <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Brave-Memoir-Joy-Harjo/dp/0393345432/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y" target="_blank">Crazy Brave</a></i>
last fall on campus, and I am very much looking forward to the follow-up. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crazy Brave</i> won the PEN USA Literary
Award for best creative nonfiction. I should mention that Joy is also an
accomplished musician who plays saxophone and tours with a band.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Congratulations, Cathy and Joy—and <a href="http://www.sociology.illinois.edu/people/abayat" target="_blank">Asef</a>, <a href="http://www.music.illinois.edu/faculty/stephen-taylor" target="_blank">Stephen</a>, and <a href="http://www.dekeweaver.com/home.html" target="_blank">Deke</a>!
These awards are just one more sign of how vibrant the humanities, arts, and
social sciences are on our campus.<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-28717796241003558522014-04-08T09:35:00.001-07:002014-04-08T19:34:52.508-07:00Interdisciplinarity, the IPRH, and Us<div class="MsoNormal">
The humanities at the University of Illinois are truly
interdisciplinary. This feature of intellectual life in Champaign-Urbana has
always struck me as our greatest asset. Part of that interdisciplinarity is
simply the outcome of the broad, border-crossing interests so many of us have;
our research leads us naturally into conversations with scholars from other
fields and areas both within and far beyond the humanities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That movement across disciplinary borders characterizes most
humanities work these days (not to mention work in the social sciences, natural
sciences, etc.); obviously it’s not just something happening in Illinois. But
what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> special about our campus is
that we also have intellectual and institutional infrastructure that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">enables</i> such research. One of the
reasons I came to Illinois was because of the <a href="http://criticism.english.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory</a>, a unique interdisciplinary space for high-level research
and teaching that cuts across the humanities and social sciences. It was a
privilege to have the opportunity to direct the Unit for a time—and a pleasure
to see it pass on to my colleague <a href="http://criticism.english.illinois.edu/directorGoodlad.htm" target="_blank">Lauren Goodlad</a> in the following years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are many other units on campus that facilitate this
kind of work—including our <a href="http://www.gws.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Department of Gender and Women’s Studies</a> and various
ethnic studies programs. Today I want to draw particular attention to the
<a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities</a>. The IPRH has had a string of
<a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/about/history/index.html" target="_blank">visionary leaders</a> and is now in the very capable hands of <a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/people/staff.html" target="_blank">director Dianne Harris and associate director Nancy Castro</a> (who also has English department
affiliation). Under Dianne, the IPRH has been extraordinarily successful at
attracting significant external funding, culminating in a recent $3 million
Mellon Foundation grant. That grant—<a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/programs/hww.html" target="_blank">Humanities Without Walls</a>—will help create a
new consortium of fifteen humanities centers in the Midwest. The IPRH already
sponsors faculty and graduate student fellowships, postdocs, lectures, and
interdisciplinary research clusters. It’s an essential part of the fabric of intellectual
community on our campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qAtaNkY7H3A/U0QlAIL56WI/AAAAAAAABP0/ovMu7Ecc0Zg/s1600/49776.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qAtaNkY7H3A/U0QlAIL56WI/AAAAAAAABP0/ovMu7Ecc0Zg/s1600/49776.jpg" height="162" width="320" /></a></div>
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I’m thinking with particular fondness of the IPRH today,
because I just found out that—once again—Department of English faculty and
students have been recognized in the annual IPRH Prizes for Research in the
Humanities. I am very pleased to announce that <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/ccf" target="_blank">Christopher Freeburg</a> has been
selected for the faculty prize for his essay “James Baldwin and the Unhistoric
Life of Race,” which was published in the <i><a href="http://saq.dukejournals.org/" target="_blank">South Atlantic Quarterly</a></i>. In addition, Christine Hedlin has received Honorable
Mention in the graduate student category for her essay “‘Was There Not Reason
to Doubt?’ <i>Wieland</i> and Its Secular
Age.” Christine’s essay was written for a graduate seminar with <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jmurison" target="_blank">Justine Murison</a>
and then revised in a professionalization seminar with <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/hutner" target="_blank">Gordon Hutner</a>. Her essay
will appear in the <i><a href="https://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=AMS" target="_blank">Journal of American Studies</a></i>! Last but not least, Mary Baker has received Honorable Mention in
the undergraduate research category. Her paper “The Maintenance of the
Mainstream: Policing Difference in Mad Men” was written for <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/sbs" target="_blank">Siobhan Somerville</a>’s class English 461: American Narratives of Passing. It will appear in the first issue of <i>Re:Search</i>, our department's new undergraduate journal of literary criticism.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
Congratulations, everyone! And thanks to the IPRH for
helping make this kind of research more visible!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-35378662776904131122014-03-31T14:16:00.000-07:002014-03-31T14:18:20.471-07:00Gail Hawisher Receives the Exemplar Award!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am very
pleased to report that our colleague <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/hawisher" target="_blank">Gail Hawisher</a>, Professor Emeritus of
English, has received a very impressive award from the <a href="http://www.ncte.org/cccc" target="_blank">Conference on College Composition and Communication</a> (CCCC). Together with her collaborator <a href="https://english.osu.edu/people/selfe" target="_blank">Cynthia Selfe</a>, Gail has been recognized with the <a href="http://www.ncte.org/cccc/awards/exemplar" target="_blank">Exemplar Award</a>, which the CCCC calls “its
most prestigious honor.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Il7pdHCCxcE/Uzna_-bkhII/AAAAAAAABPg/Zd-6eXbQ3l8/s1600/hawisher.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Il7pdHCCxcE/Uzna_-bkhII/AAAAAAAABPg/Zd-6eXbQ3l8/s1600/hawisher.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Exemplar
Award, given this year for the first time ever to a collaborative
authoring/editing team, singles out those “whose years of service as an exemplar for
our organization represents the highest ideals of scholarship, teaching, and
service to the entire profession. The Exemplar Award seeks to
recognize individuals whose record is national and international in scope, and
who set the best examples for the CCCC membership." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The citation
from the Award Committee notes how Gail and her collaborator “led our field
(sometimes kicking and screaming!) into the 21st century, a period marked by a
transition for writers and teachers of writing, to digitally-mediated forms of
written communication.” It draws particular attention to their editing of the
groundbreaking journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/english/cconline/" target="_blank">Computers and Composition</a></i> and to the influence of such co-written books as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Literate-Lives-Information-Age-Narratives/dp/0805843140" target="_blank">Literate Lives in the Information Age: Narratives of Literacy in the United States</a></i> (2004) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://ccdigitalpress.org/transnational/" target="_blank">Transnational Literate Lives in Digital Times</a></i> (co-authored in 2012 with
our own alum <a href="http://as-cascade.syr.edu/profiles/pages/berry-patrick.html" target="_blank">Patrick W. Berry</a>!) as well as to their service to the profession
over many years. You can read the complete citation <a href="http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Groups/CCCC/Convention/2014/program/awards.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Congratulations,
Gail, for this well-deserved honor!</span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-69821344574526764922014-03-10T09:14:00.001-07:002014-03-12T09:36:16.180-07:00Teaching SuccessAs you know from my <a href="http://uillinoisenglish.blogspot.com/2014/02/awards-round-up.html" target="_blank">recent post</a>, the English department is well represented in college and campus teaching awards. Now, I'm pleased to report, instructors in English courses are, once again, numerous on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students, which is compiled by the <a href="http://cte.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5PhQ4eHu9co/Ux3kqgqsyVI/AAAAAAAABPI/gC5kJsRLmv8/s1600/EnglishBuilding_167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5PhQ4eHu9co/Ux3kqgqsyVI/AAAAAAAABPI/gC5kJsRLmv8/s1600/EnglishBuilding_167.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The usual disclaimers apply--we know that excellence in teaching comes in more forms than can be measured by filling in bubbles on a standardized form--but I am still pleased to see these kinds of results. English courses offer rigorous instruction in writing critically and creatively, in reading closely, and in thinking freely--the fact that our students appreciate what we're offering is always a good sign!<br />
<br />
Here then is the list of teachers ranked excellent for courses offered in fall 2013.<br />
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Laura Bandy, Jensen Beach, Michael Behrens, Martin Camargo,
JB Capino, Sarah Cassinelli, Debojoy Chanda, Jill Clements, John Claborn, Mary Rose
Cottingham, Carrie Dickison, Dennis Dullea, Patrick Fadely, Stephanie Foote, Andrew
Gaedtke, Shawn Gilmore, Catherine Gray, Nolan Grieve, Joe Grohens, Andrew Hall,
Jim Hansen, Justin Hanson, Gail Hapke, William Hechler, Marilyn Holguin, Ann
Hubert, DeAvery Irons, Miguel Jimenez, Brigit Kelly, Annie Kelvie, Melissa
Larabee, Mary Lindsey, Trish Loughran, Sean MacIntyre, Heather McLeer, Erin
McQuiston, Michael Madonick, Calgary Martin, Jessica Mercado, Natalie Mesnard,
Matthew Minicucci, Libbie Morley, Dave Morris, Andrew Moss, Justine Murison,
John Musser, Hina Nazar, Katherine Norcross, Valerie O’Brien, Michael Odom,
Robert Dale Parker, Catherine Prendergast, Julie Price, Paul Prior, Isabel
Quintana-Wulf, Scott Ricketts, Anna Robb, Carla Rosell, John Rubins, Rachel
Samanie, Ted Sanders, Spencer Schaffner, Jordan Sellers, Michael Shetina,
Andrea Stevens, Debora Tienou, Renee Trilling, Kristin Walters, Gregory Webb,
Rebecca Weber, Sara Weisweaver, Kirstin Wilcox, Zachary Williams, Gregory
Wilson, Charlie Wright, David Wright, Noel Zavala<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well done, all!</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-58398685623891163662014-02-17T09:59:00.002-08:002014-02-17T09:59:48.500-08:00Richard Powers joins the Gallery of Excellence!<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am very pleased to report that the novelist Richard Powers has been selected to be part of the College of Liberal Arts and Science's online <i>Gallery of Excellence</i>, where he joins <a href="http://uillinoisenglish.blogspot.com/2013/10/faculty-honors.html" target="_blank">Nina Baym</a>. The <i>Gallery of Excellence</i> is part of the centennial celebrations of the college and is meant to honor "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">brilliant teachers and researchers who spent their careers on campus [as well as] alumni who left to make their mark elsewhere."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.richardpowers.net/" target="_blank">Richard Powers</a> is all that and more: an alumnus of our department, a beloved (former) colleague, a writer of engrossing and brilliant novels. Above all, he's a kind, ethical, and deeply humane person whom I feel fortunate to know and to have worked with for a number of years here at the University of Illinois. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">Congratulations, Rick, for another well </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">deserved honor!</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aqUSwEIbFzE/UwJMA8Y3ElI/AAAAAAAABO4/38G2dwO_0AY/s1600/powers-r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aqUSwEIbFzE/UwJMA8Y3ElI/AAAAAAAABO4/38G2dwO_0AY/s1600/powers-r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here is the citation from the <i><a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/100/excellence/" target="_blank">Gallery of Excellence</a></i>:<br />
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There was a time, believe it or not, when Richard Powers was known more for his computer prowess than his writing. After graduating from the U of I, he was working as a computer programmer in Boston in the early 1980s when one day he walked into the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and saw a 1914 photo of three farm boys headed to a dance. Something about it sparked an idea, and within 48 hours he quit his job to write his first novel.</div>
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The result was <em style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, </em>published in 1985 to wide acclaim. Powers has been writing novels ever since, winning the National Book Award in 2006 for <em style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Echo Maker,</em> and named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award prior to his 2006 win.</div>
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After the success of his first book, Powers (BA ’78; MA ’80, English) moved to Holland to write without distraction, but he was drawn back to the Midwest, and in 1992 he returned to the U of I as a professor of English and writer-in-residence. During his time at Illinois he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received a MacArthur “genius” fellowship, among many other honors.</div>
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“His generosity to colleagues and students in English is truly legendary,” says Curtis Perry, professor and former head of the Department of English. Powers recently retired from his position, and in fall 2013 he joined the Stanford University Department of English as a professor of creative writing.</div>
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Technology is often at the core of his novels, but complex characters and ideas drive the plot.</div>
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“The need for knowledge is as passionate as any other human obsession,” he once told <em style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Believer</em> magazine.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-56212234501857834382014-02-13T12:43:00.000-08:002014-04-01T13:44:20.030-07:00Awards Round-Up<div class="MsoNormal">
(<i>Updated April 1, 2014</i>)<br />
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Things have been busy around the English Department during
the first weeks of the semester, and this is my first chance to return to the
blog! We have three searches going on for positions in Writing Studies, African
American Literature, and Global Anglophone Literatures that we hope will bring several
wonderful new colleagues to campus next year. I wish I could tell you more, but
really all I can say right now is that we’ve had a string of excellent job
talks that have provoked stimulating discussions in the English Building. More
news to come as the semester continues…<o:p></o:p></div>
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While we’re in the middle of those searches—and much else!—I
did want to take a moment to share some good news about various honors that
faculty and graduate students have won in recent weeks. (There's been a lot recently, so if I've inadvertently forgotten something, please let me know!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/ccf" target="_blank">Christopher Freeburg</a> won the <a href="http://melvillesociety.org/programs/hennig-cohen-prize-award-winners" target="_blank">Hennig Cohen Prize</a> of The
Melville Society. The prize is “<span style="color: #0a090b; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">an annual award for the best article, book chapter, or essay in
a book about Herman Melville.” Chris received the award for his</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> chapter "Embodying the
'Assaults of Time': 'The Encantadas,'" from his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Melville and the Idea of Blackness: Race and Imperialism in
Nineteenth-Century America</i> (Cambridge University Press, 2012).</span><span style="color: #0a090b; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> </span>As the award committee
wrote in their appraisal: “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Freeburg’s
insistence that Melville’s representations of race are both historically
concrete and philosophically abstract (bearing on questions of ontology and
epistemology) makes this book crucial for thinking about how
Melville’s writings address the complex relation between literature and
history.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/sandruiz" target="_blank">Sandra Ruiz</a>
(English & Latina/Latino Studies) and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jcapino" target="_blank">J.B. Capino</a> have been awarded Faculty Fellowships from the <a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities </a>(IPRH) for the
2014-2015 academic year. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">*Ariana Ruiz and Ben Bascom,
two of our excellent graduate students, have also been awarded fellowships from
the IPRH—our campus humanities center—that will provide a stipend allowing them to focus on their research during the 2014-2015 academic year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/cprender" target="_blank">Catherine Prendergast</a> and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/wright3" target="_blank">David Wright</a> have both been named Associates of the <a href="http://cas.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Advanced Study</a>, our most prestigious cross-campus research unit for the
2014-2015 year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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*Four faculty
members received Humanities Released Time awards from the <a href="http://crb.research.illinois.edu/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Campus Research Board</a>
for 2014-2015: <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/gaedtke" target="_blank">Andrew Gaedtke</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/hnazar" target="_blank">Hina Nazar</a>, <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/lnewcomb" target="_blank">Lori Newcomb</a>, and <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/rtrodrig" target="_blank">Richard T. Rodriguez</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/eseller2" target="_blank">Jordan Sellers</a>, another excellent graduate student, has won the 2013-2014 LAS
Humanities Council Teaching Excellence Award.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/dbauer" target="_blank">Dale Bauer</a> has won the 2013-2014 Lynn M. Martin Award for
Distinguished Women Teachers <i>and</i> the campus Undergraduate Teaching Award. <o:p></o:p></div>
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*<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/cdwright" target="_blank">Charlie Wright</a> has the won the campus award for Graduate Student Mentoring.<br />
<br /></div>
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Congratulations to all of these deserving honorees! I hope the
number and range of awards will give you a sense of how seriously we in the
English department take both research and teaching.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-70484886167831429442013-12-29T12:06:00.000-08:002013-12-29T12:06:30.990-08:00A Chicagoan of the Year!A few months back I blogged about the publication of Audrey Petty's terrific and important book High Rise Stories. Well, on the basis of that book Audrey has just been chosen one of the Chicagoans of the Year by the Chicago Tribune!<br />
<br />
Congratulations Audrey for that wholly deserved honor!<br />
<br />
Here's the front page of the Tribune's Arts and Entertainment section with a great photo of Audrey:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_4DCVR6Xk7Q/UsCAcdX3pOI/AAAAAAAABOo/DM1KggRvm2E/s1600/Audrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_4DCVR6Xk7Q/UsCAcdX3pOI/AAAAAAAABOo/DM1KggRvm2E/s320/Audrey.jpg" width="155" /></a></div>
<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-12217895320132989962013-12-23T10:00:00.001-08:002013-12-23T10:00:15.760-08:00Semester's End and Winter ConvocationOn Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the LAS Winter Convocation, during which a few hundred students received their BA, MA, and PhD degrees.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vIP7onIcwjU/Urh1qCpMNVI/AAAAAAAABOI/zFo4VU4Xt0g/s1600/IMG_0491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vIP7onIcwjU/Urh1qCpMNVI/AAAAAAAABOI/zFo4VU4Xt0g/s320/IMG_0491.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Although there were relatively few English students graduating mid-year, I was still pleased to be part of the festivities. The Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts was filled to the brim, and it's always a moving moment to see students honored for years of hard work.<br />
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<br />
<br />
I especially liked hearing the applause and shouts of family and friends when particular names were called--even though the college requests guests "to withhold their applause" in order "to enhance the dignity and ensure the smooth flow of the ceremony!" Who can exercise that kind of restraint when their loved one is being recognized for such an achievement?<br />
<br />
Although department business continues into the holiday break, the convocation also marked the end of my first semester as department head. Thanks to my hard-working colleagues and the wonderful staff in the department, it has been about as smooth a first semester as I could have hoped for. More than anything, I've learned an incredible amount in the last few months about our department and about how the university works. It's been a challenge, but a satisfying one.<br />
<br />
We have many exciting initiatives under way--from graduate student conferences to innovative course development and a new undergraduate journal--so I'm optimistic about the semester to come. We also have three searches going on and I am confident we'll be adding terrific new colleagues in needed areas to our faculty in the next year.<br />
<br />
I wish everyone a restful break and a Happy New Year!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-57267057848435270492013-12-09T06:03:00.001-08:002013-12-10T08:46:28.865-08:00Imagining the Lives of Others: The Importance of Studying Literature<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Recently I posted on some of the successful and surprising <a href="http://uillinoisenglish.blogspot.com/2013/12/alumni-career-paths.html" target="_blank">career paths</a> our alumni are taking. In response I received a really wonderful letter
from another alum. With permission, I am posting his note below—I think this is
one of the most eloquent accounts of the importance of studying literature I’ve
seen. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>[Update: I just read <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Theres-No-Substitute-for/143363/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en" target="_blank">this essay</a> by Lisa Zunshine in </i>The Chronicle of Higher Education<i> on the cognitive benefits of reading literature and I think it only confirms Jarrett Dapier's comments below (password may be necessary).]</i></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Dear Mr.
Rothberg,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I am a
graduate of the English department (B.A. '01) and have enjoyed the department
newsletters I've been receiving in the mail as well as reading new content on
the blog. Your efforts to keep in touch with alumni have renewed an
appreciation in myself for the education I received while I studied English and
creative writing at Illinois. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In the 10 years since graduation, I have followed
a course that may appear scattershot to a lot of people, but is one that I've
found deeply rewarding. I've taught reading enrichment classes to students of
all ages for a private reading instruction firm, worked as a legal assistant at
the ACLU of Illinois on their racial justice and reproductive rights projects,
acted as the assistant publisher at <i>In These Times </i>magazine in Chicago
(where I wrote for the magazine's blog and published occasional articles), and
am now beginning my 5th year as a teen services/young adult librarian at the
Evanston Public Library in Evanston, IL. Outside of my professional life, I
recently published an original stage adaptation of <i>My Antonia </i>by Willa
Cather which was produced at the Station Theatre in Urbana, I have performed at
Lookingglass Theater, the Goodman Theatre, and the White House, and I worked
twice as an assistant director at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. I also am
married with two children. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I have been very happy in all my pursuits and I
credit the writing and reading guidance, critical thinking skills, and
encouragement I received from my creative writing and English teachers - along
with the local theater artists with whom I worked in Urbana during my time
there - for my abilities to work creatively and professionally in disparate
work environments. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But, I think there's an even deeper commonality between the
jobs I've worked in the last decade: despite the different structures and missions
of each organization for which I've worked, despite the differences in
responsibilities at each job, each has drawn on my ability to imagine the lives
of others and approach them from a place of compassion and respect. I feel like
the passion for literature, respect for characters, and belief in literature's
ability to encourage connections between people and across communities I
absorbed from my professors at Illinois have encouraged a level of empathy that
has helped me in work and life. I'm thankful for it. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I remain stricken at the
thought that English departments - particularly at state universities - are
struggling. They're crucial in ways the usual metric cannot measure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Thanks again
for keeping us in the loop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Sincerely, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Jarrett Dapier</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-18314272644315120092013-12-06T10:11:00.001-08:002013-12-06T10:12:46.564-08:00Mocking for Success<div class="MsoNormal">
Last night was the annual English Department event we call
Mock Interviews. Organized by our indefatigable Placement Officer <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/jmurison" target="_blank">Justine Murison</a>, the mock interviews give our graduate students an opportunity to hone
their interviewing skills—and receive instant feedback—in advance of the annual
<a href="http://www.mla.org/convention" target="_blank">Modern Language Association Convention</a>. Various pairs of faculty sit in their
offices, pretending they’re in some anonymous convention hotel, and the
students circulate among us, so that they get a chance to have at least two
different practice interviews. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
These days more and more interviews are taking place via
Skype and the interviewing season has become earlier and earlier, but MLA is
still one of the primary components of the job search in English. This year’s
convention will take place in early January and will be conveniently located in
Chicago. I’m looking forward to seeing our job candidates there as well as many
colleagues and friends. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although most search committees (including some of our own!)
are still in the process of making their way through applications, I have been
pleased to hear that a number of our job candidates have already received calls
for interviews. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I have to admit that each year I have the same experience
with the mock interviews. In the run-up to the event, I’m always a bit peeved.
Who wants to return to the office at 7:00 pm for two more hours of work? But
every time it turns out the same: mock interviews are fun! They’re fun because we
get to see our wonderful graduate students in action and hear what they have
been working on. As in the past, I was really impressed by the great
dissertation projects our students have and by their creative ideas for
teaching (some of which I will surely steal!). It’s also always a pleasure to
be paired with a colleague you might not otherwise work closely with—this year
I was lucky to mock with <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/mml" target="_blank">Melissa Littlefield</a> and I learned a lot from her
questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This year’s mock interviews took place against a dramatic
backdrop. With temperatures dropping and the weather forecast promising snow,
we learned late in the afternoon that Facilities and Services would be turning
off the heat in part of our building because of an unspecified emergency! This
was really not what Justine and I wanted to hear a few hours before the
interviews. In the end, though, the snow never materialized and the venerable
English Building seemed to stay pretty warm (maybe because of all of those
circulating, nervous bodies!). From my perspective, the event seemed to go off
without a hitch. Thanks to Justine and all the faculty who participated!<br />
<br />
The most important message, however, is this. If you happen
to be reading this as a search committee member at another school, we’ve got
some terrific, professional, and brilliant candidates for your jobs: hire them!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-18908616351840077542013-12-02T06:41:00.000-08:002013-12-02T06:43:07.365-08:00Alumni Career Paths<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
A few weeks ago we sent out our
annual English Department newsletter. Besides being a way of letting folks know
about what has been going on around the department, the newsletter also serves
as a way for us to hear from our alumni—and for alumni to hear from each other.
In addition to the pleasure of reading the many alumni notes that were
submitted to the newsletter, I have also been gratified to hear from some
alumni directly (and would love to hear from even more!). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I was especially excited to receive
an email from a former student of mine, Jim Jay, who wrote an undergraduate
honors thesis with me about a decade ago on the novels of Don DeLillo and
Philip Roth. After graduating, Jim went on to do a law degree here at Illinois
and then worked as a prosecutor for the state for eighteen months. At that
point, his career took a fairly dramatic turn and he joined the State
Department. Since switching paths, he’s worked at US missions in Lagos and
Jakarta, and in 2015 he’ll head to Ho Chi Minh City. As Jim wrote to me, “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The State Department is not where I
would have imagined I would end up when I was taking your class and working on
my thesis, but I have trouble seeing how things could have worked out better.” I’m
thrilled that things have turned out so well for Jim—and I’m also pleased to
hear that he still returns to some of the books we read together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I also heard from an alumna who had graduated before my time in
Illinois. Michelle (Kelley) Crane was a double major in Rhetoric and Spanish
and, like Jim, has gone in directions that you might not have guessed.
Immediately after graduating, Michelle started a career in television and
worked first as a reporter for a local Champaign station. She then made a leap
to the national level—joining CNN as a field producer and subsequently working
for many years producing documentaries for A&E. She’s now struck out on her
own and is building her own production company, producing and writing videos
for television, hospitals, corporations, and non-profit organizations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Like Jim, Michelle has volunteered to be part of the department’s
<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/alumni/" target="_blank">Alumni Mentoring Network</a>—an effort coordinated in our Academic Advising Office by
<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/aivy" target="_blank">Anna Ivy</a>. The network puts current majors in touch with alumni working in all
sorts of fields in order to give students a sense of the range of possibilities
for post-college careers. Michelle summed up the spirit of the program well:
“If anyone needs advice on how
they should go about pursuing their future career, I would love to help. My
oldest son is a junior in high school, so I definitely see the value in helping
college bound teenagers and those about to graduate from college!”<br />
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> There is no doubt that college students today are on the front lines of
a rapidly changing economy; they are facing the rising costs of education and a
challenging job market. There’s no avoiding the serious implications of those
facts, but I have to say I am heartened by the stories of Jim, Michelle, and
other alumni who have forged satisfying and successful career paths. Precisely
because we live in a world of rapid change and increasingly networked
communication, an English major remains a great choice. We help foster the
abilities that everyone can benefit from: close reading, clear thinking, lucid
writing. Those also happen to be the skills that employers are looking
for—something I’ve heard directly from colleagues in business and computer science
lately. There’s much more to an English major than acquiring job skills, but
it’s inspiring to see the unexpected things our majors have done with what
they’ve learned here at Illinois.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-54838300431274253962013-11-04T10:15:00.000-08:002013-11-04T10:15:27.697-08:00More honors!October was a busy month for me, with lots of campus deadlines and a <a href="http://diasporicmemories.weebly.com/" target="_blank">conference</a> to organize, so I have fallen a little behind on this blog.<br />
<br />
But now that I have a quick minute I just wanted to pass on some more good news: I am very pleased to report that <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/lcacho" target="_blank">Lisa Cacho</a>, an Associate Professor of Asian American Studies, Latina/Latino Studies, English, and Gender and Women's Studies, has won the 2013 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize of the American Studies Association for her book <i>Social Death: Racialized Rightlessness and the Criminalization of the Unprotected</i>. Named after one of the most distinguished American historians of the twentieth century, the John Hope Franklin Publication Prize is given annually to the best published book in American Studies. This is a huge honor for Lisa and for our campus.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x5b5UpYQ6cQ/UnfjR1s04QI/AAAAAAAABN4/2PSVRekS_fM/s1600/9780814723760_Full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x5b5UpYQ6cQ/UnfjR1s04QI/AAAAAAAABN4/2PSVRekS_fM/s1600/9780814723760_Full.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
NYU Press, Lisa's publisher, has a page announcing her prize <a href="http://www.fromthesquare.org/?p=5673" target="_blank">here</a> and you can read more about the book <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=10831#.UnfiPBZ7Tdl" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
On a personal note: Lisa and I were part of the same fellows' seminar at the <a href="http://www.iprh.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities</a> when she was in the early stages of working on this project, so it's a particular thrill for me to see how the book has fulfilled the promise that was already evident then. Congratulations, Lisa!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-21926619455522734002013-10-14T09:50:00.001-07:002013-10-15T06:22:43.885-07:00Faculty Honors...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences here at Illinois is
celebrating its centennial this year. As part of the celebration, we’ve already
heard about the naming of <a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/2013/centennialscholars/" target="_blank">Centennial Scholars</a>. Now the College has announced a
new set of honors. A “<a href="http://www.las.illinois.edu/100/excellence/" target="_blank">Gallery of Excellence</a>” has gone up on the LAS website
that will highlight the teachers, researchers, academic programs, and alumni
who have been responsible “for some of the most important ideas and discoveries
of the 20<sup>th</sup> and 21<sup>st</sup> centuries.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m pleased to report that English is represented in the
first round of honorees that is now available. I can’t think of a more
deserving person to be singled out than <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/baymnina" target="_blank">Nina Baym</a>, emerita professor of
English, who is indeed responsible for many important ideas and discoveries!
Nina held a number of the most prestigious titles available on this campus
during the course of her career, including Swanlund Endowed Chair, Jubilee Professor
in the College of LAS, and Center for Advanced Study Professor of English. What
is important is of course not the names of those positions but the work that
stands behind them: Nina is universally recognized as a major figure in
changing the way we think about American literary history. She is especially
and rightly renowned for expanding the canon of American literature so that it
would take into account and value many women writers previously left out of the
picture. Among her numerous important books during the course of a very rich
career are <i>Women’s Fiction</i> (1978), <i>Feminism and American Literary History</i>
(1992), and <i>Women Writers and the
American West, 1833-1927</i> (2011). Among the signs of her prominence in the
field are her ongoing editorship of <i>The
Norton Anthology of American Literature</i> (since 1985), and the many awards
she has won, including the Modern Language Association’s <a href="http://als-mla.org/HubbellMedal.htm" target="_blank">Jay B. Hubbell Award</a>
for lifetime achievement in American literary studies (2000). Congratulations,
Nina! You honor us by being part of our community.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While we’re on the topic of honors, I’m also very happy to
report that <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/fgm" target="_blank">Feisal Mohamed</a> has received a new award. His co-edited collection <i>Milton and Questions of History</i> (2012) has
just been awarded the <a href="http://miltonsociety.org/" target="_blank">Milton Society of America</a>’s Irene Samuel Memorial Award,
the highest honor from the society for a collection of essays. This is the second consecutive year that Feisal has received an award from the MSA. The award will
be bestowed at the upcoming Milton Society Association conference in Chicago.
Congratulations, Feisal, for receiving this further recognition of your work!<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062631357306159852.post-88142517198635872792013-10-03T10:53:00.001-07:002013-10-03T11:33:09.172-07:00Journals!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The other day I had the great pleasure of attending a
planning meeting for a new Undergraduate Literary Criticism Journal that our
English majors are creating. This new journal will join <i>Montage</i>, a student-run creative writing and visual arts periodical
with a long presence on campus. (You can read about both journals <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/undergraduate/activities/" target="_blank">here</a>.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was extremely impressed by the energy and commitment of
the many students who attended, some of whom I enjoyed teaching last spring in
my course on Critical Approaches to Literature! The meeting was led by Michael
Chan and Clara Mount (see the picture below), but other students have also been involved in getting
this initiative going, as you can read in <a href="http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/article_5185a03a-ae0c-11e2-ac26-0019bb30f31a.html" target="_blank">this</a> <i>Daily Illini</i> article from last spring. The students are getting
great support from our Director of Undergraduate Studies <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/lnewcomb" target="_blank">Lori Newcomb</a> as well
as from our advisors, the University Library, and the <a href="http://provost.illinois.edu/our/" target="_blank">Office of UndergraduateResearch</a>. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c_jDrV4tb4k/Uk2vo8daU0I/AAAAAAAABNo/1xpFYY8WR0o/s1600/meeting.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c_jDrV4tb4k/Uk2vo8daU0I/AAAAAAAABNo/1xpFYY8WR0o/s1600/meeting.gif" /></a></div>
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When it appears next semester, this new journal will join
what is already a very impressive array of publications coming out of our
department. In addition to <i>Montage</i>
and our award-winning literary magazine <i>Ninth
Letter</i> (edited by Jodee Stanley and our wonderful Creative Writing
faculty), we now serve as the home base for no less than <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/resources/journals/" target="_blank"><i>six</i> other faculty-edited journals</a>. One very established journal, <i>College English</i>, has just arrived
with our new colleague Kelly Ritter, and another about-to-appear journal, <i>Resilience</i>, is the brainchild of
Stephanie Foote, who is becoming a leading figure in the new environmental humanities.
<i>Configurations</i>, the official journal
of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, was recently taken over
by Melissa Littlefield, and Bob Markley, Charlie Wright and Martin Camargo, and
Gordon Hutner continue to edit <i>The
Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation</i>, <i>Journal of English and Germanic Philology</i>, and <i>American Literary History</i>, respectively.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As you can see, this is a remarkable and diverse lineup that
covers a huge terrain of “traditional” literary areas along with emerging
interdisciplinary fields. Together with the great teaching and research that
goes on in our department, this kind of editorial work is one of the signs of
our intellectual vitality. Editing a journal is enormously hard work—as our
majors are about to find out!—but it is also incredibly rewarding. And it’s a
crucial service to our profession and to society at large, because it ultimately
involves the preservation and transformation of our literary and cultural
heritage. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I told the students when I attended their meeting the
other day, editing a <a href="http://web.gc.cuny.edu/csctw/found_object/start.htm" target="_blank">journal</a> in graduate school was one of the most enjoyable,
challenging, and educational experiences I ever had as a student. Journals are
the lifeblood of our profession: they are the way we most frequently get new
ideas out into the world. It pleases me greatly that my colleagues and students
are contributing in such a fundamental way to the creation and circulation of
new works of literature, criticism, and theory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14637764650141491951noreply@blogger.com0