New Student Award — I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Deborah S. Bosley Technical Writing Award. This new award is designed to support annually one graduate student in the English Department who is pursuing an MA with a concentration in Technical/Professional Writing or a Graduate Certificate in Technical Communication. The student who wins this award will receive $500. Deborah has provided the funding to support this award, and Mai Li Munoz, the Director of Development for CLAS, has shepherded this award through all of the official channels. As of last week, the paperwork has been processed, and we are now ready to grant this award for the first time during this year’s award ceremony. Please join me in thanking Deborah for her generosity in establishing this award.
Prospect for Success Courses — As many of you know, Kirk Melnikoff and Kent Brintnall are among the very first faculty to teach the Prospect for Success courses. These interdisciplinary courses are tied to our General Education Program, and they are administered by John Smail, the Dean of University College and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies. I recently received information from John informing me that two more English faculty members have been selected to teach Prospect courses. Ralf Theide and Daniel Boisvert from Philosophy will jointly teach a course, and Jen Munroe will teach a course on her own.
Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. Here is the latest news:
Balaka Basu and Juan Meneses participated in the first brown bag of UNC Charlotte’s newly formed Digital Arts, Sciences, and Technology group (DAST http://pages.charlotte.edu/dast/) on Thursday, January 30, where they talked about their research and teaching activity.
Lara Vetter has been invited to be one of two keynote speakers at a symposium entitled “Women Modernists and Spirituality” at the University of Stirling in Scotland, 22-23 May 2014.
Quirky Quiz Question — The Prospect for Success courses make reference to our region’s gold-mining history. Our university mascot also relates to this history. What is the name of our mascot?