Monthly Archives: July 2014

Summer Research Symposium — Last week the Charlotte Research Scholars Program (CRS) culminated in an event called the Summer Research Symposium. English faculty and students made their presence known at this symposium. The purpose of the CRS is to have undergraduate students become involved in faculty members’ research projects. This year the following five CRS projects came out of the English Department:

Janaka Lewis worked with a student named Ashley Burch on a project titled “Images and Perceptions of Happiness and Success by African American Female Authors.”

Greg Wickliff worked with Christopher Burton on a project titled “John William Draper’s Contribution: Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution at Oxford, 1860.”

Alan Rauch worked with Melanie Carty on a project titled “Private Subscription Libraries in Nineteenth-Century England: Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle.”

Kirk Melnikoff and Alan Rauch worked with Nadia Clifton on a project titled “A Study of the Princess Augusta Sophia (1768-1840) Collection at the Atkins Library.”

Sarah Minslow worked with Katherine Galindo on a project titled “Using Children’s Literature to Teach the Holocaust in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Middle Schools.”

All of the students who participated in the CRS Program prepared detailed posters about their research projects, and these posters were put on display during the symposium. The students then gave presentations related to their posters. The posters and presentations were judged, and awards were presented at the end of the event. Three of the students who worked with our faculty received awards. In the category of Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Work, the Best Poster Award went to Nadia Clifton. Both Katherine Galindo and Melanie Carty received Honorable Mentions.
Of the nine awards presented, one third of them went to the students who worked with English faculty members. Plans are afoot to put all five of the posters tied to English on display in our faculty lounge in the near future.

My congratulations go to all of the English faculty and students who participated in this year’s Charlotte Research Scholars Program.

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:

Paula Connolly has been recently conducting research on nineteenth-century children’s literature as an Invited Visiting Scholar at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Paula Eckard recently published an article titled “Thomas Wolfe and ‘the great engine’ of Johns Hopkins Hospital” published in the Thomas Wolfe Review.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

August 5 — The last day of class for the second summer term.

Quirky Quiz Question — The students who participated in the Summer Research Symposium created posters. Those of us in English are not used to creating posters, but in other fields posters are well established. In fact, some artists are famous for their posters. What is the name of the French painter who became famous for posters related to the cabaret scene in Paris?

Equestrian Connections — I have been reading the reviews of Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War, and they all comment favorably on Aaron’s ability to capture the special relationship between humans and horses. Horses figure prominently in Aaron’s novel. In fact, a horse is introduced in the very first sentence: “He saw the horse before the rest of his team and thumbed the selector on his rifle to SAFE.” When Scott Simon interviewed Aaron on NPR, he asked Aaron how he came to have such a deep understanding of horses, and Aaron answered, “I grew up on a cattle ranch, so I was around … horses a good deal.” In thinking about Aaron’s experiences with horses, I realized that Aaron is not the only member of our department who has equestrian connections.

Like Aaron, JuliAnna Ávila developed an interest in horses as a child. I asked her when she first became interested in horses, and she told me, “My interest goes back to being lifted onto a horse at age ten, bareback. ” She recalled “tearing across the Arizona desert when I rode her. I never fell off, which seemed like a sign.” Currently JuliAnna owns a horse named Angel, and she rides Angel on a regular basis. Julianna is especially interested in the style of riding associated with the California vaquero tradition, and she has started researching the cultural, historical, and geographical aspects of this tradition.

Lil Brannon and Cy Knoblauch also have a longstanding interest in horses, but their interest is tied to their daughter, Susan Knoblauch. In addition to being a nurse, Susan is a nationally ranked competitor in the sport of show jumping. For years, Susan competed with her horse Carneval, but she recently sold Carneval. Susan and Cy are currently in Belgium where Susan just purchased a young stallion that Susan will soon began training.

Given the department’s connections to horses, maybe we should change our name to the Department of English and Equestrian Studies.

Sanskrit — The 2014 issue of Sanskrit came out this summer, and just took a look at it. Sanskrit is the literary-arts magazine that is produced by the University’s Student Media Board. Although Sanskrit has no official connections to the English Department, our students and faculty certainly played a role in the production of this issue. Two of the editors, Notrina Simmons and Leah Chapman, are English majors. Three of our faculty—Chris Davis, Kirk Melnikoff, and Aimee Parkison— served as “Literature Jurors.” Like previous issues, the 2014 issue of Sanskrit is a professional production, and I am proud that our students and faculty helped make this issue a reality.

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:

Pilar Blitvich recently returned from Great Britain where she participated in the 8th International Politeness Conference. She co-organized a panel on the language of aggression and conflict and presented a paper as part of this panel. Earlier this summer she presented a paper at the EPICS conference in Seville. Her paper related to the “language violence against women.”

Maya Socolovsky presented a paper on Julia Alvarez’s novel Return to Sender at the International Latina/o Studies Conference in Chicago.

Quirky Quiz Question — As I was contemplating the department’s equestrian connections, I started thinking about famous fictional horses. See if you can identify the original sources in which these three fictional horses appear:

1. Shadowfax
2. Silver
3. Spark Plug

This summer session I am teaching a graduate seminar on “Children’s Literature Award Winners.” Most of students in the seminar are teachers, and they often share their classroom experiences during our discussions. It has been a pleasure for me to discuss children’s literature with these teachers, for they are often able to talk about how their students would likely respond to the books that we are studying. As their comments reveal, these teachers have a tremendous dedication to their students and to their profession despite the general lack of support that our teachers face on a daily basis. This lack of support, however, does not extend to the English Department.

Over and over again this summer I have been impressed with the efforts of our faculty to serve area teachers. Here are just a few examples. For the first summer session, JuliAnna Ávila developed and taught a special online graduate course for teachers on Children’s Literature and Childhood Trauma. This summer Paula Connolly and Alan Rauch have already started working with the teachers who are participating in their Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) seminars, and Alan represented CTI at the July Intensive Session of the Yale National Initiative to Strengthen Teaching in the Public Schools. For the past few weeks, Ron Lunsford has been working with area teachers who teach AP English courses. This second summer session, Lil Brannon is working with area teachers as part of her work with the UNC Charlotte Writing Project, which is now housed in the English Department. Through such efforts, English faculty members have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to our area teachers. I am hoping that our political leaders will follow suit.

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 recently presented a paper titled “Anne’s Grandchildren: WWII and the Continuing Story of the Anne Universe” at the L. M. Montgomery 11th Biennial Conference, which took place in Canada. Also, she served as the editorial advisor for a recently published volume of Short Story Criticism.

Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War just received a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal.

Meg Morgan published a chapter titled “Leaders Becoming Transformed” in an edited volume called Sharing Our Intellectual Traces: Narrative Reflections from Administrators of Professional and Scientific Communication Programs.

Quirky Quiz Question — Balaka Basu’s recent conference paper (see above) relates to Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. In what province in Canada is this classic novel set?

Orange is the New. . . If you have been in the English Department lately, you have surely noticed the change in the main office’s color scheme. The three people who spend the most time in our front office area are Monica, Jennie and Angie, so it seemed fitting to me that they pick the new color for the office. All I asked is that they pick a cheerful color. They selected a cheery shade of orange. Eddie Seegars, the painter, is applying the third coat this afternoon, and we expect to have this project finished up in the next week or so.

I know that for people who grew up surrounded by beige or white walls, our new orange walls must seem a bit on the dramatic side. For me, however, orange walls bring back the days of my youth. My mother’s favorite color was orange, and the mountain house where I grew up had orange walls in the kitchen and dining area and a bright orange front door. My mother died some years ago, but yesterday was her birthday. If she were still alive, I would have called her yesterday and I would have been sure to tell her about our new orange walls. I am sure she would have been pleased.

New Display Case — For a number of years, we have had a display case in main office, and we have used this case to display recent books by members of our department. I am aware, however, that not all members of our department write books. Some faculty members publish in fields in which most scholarship appears as articles in journals. In an effort to celebrate the recent journal publications, I have arranged for a new display case to be installed near our current case. This new case will be used to display recent articles by members of our department. If you have a recent article that you would like to have displayed, please provide me with a copy of it in the next week or two.

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:

Daniel Shealy published an article titled “Louisa May Alcott’s World” in the most recent print edition of Exchange: The Magazine of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Angie Williams recently completed an obstacle course race along with Shannon Zurell from the Honors College. Officially called the Ridiculous Obstacle Course Race, the event took place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Quirky Quiz Question — The office’s new color scheme brings to my mind a classic fiddle tune about a train. Can anybody guess the name of this tune?

Some families take relaxing, leisurely vacations, but that’s is not how my family rolls. We just returned from a whirlwind, four-day visit to New York City during which we filled nearly every New-York minute with adventures of one sort or another. We visited friends and ate at a wide variety of restaurants, including a revolving restaurant located at the top of high-rise hotel. We saw Les Misérables and Pippin on the same day. We toured the Intrepid, a 1940s aircraft carrier that is now a museum where the space shuttle Enterprise is on exhibit. As a fan of both the NASA and Star Trek, Nancy loved being able to see the Enterprise up close.

The underlying theme of our vacation related to Gavin’s study of architecture. He especially wanted to visit two of New York’s most notable examples of landscape architecture: The High Line and Teardrop Park. The High Line is a linear elevated park that follows the course of an abandoned railway. Here is the link to the official website: http://www.thehighline.org/ We spent an afternoon walking along the High Line, and Gavin pointed out a number of famous buildings located on either side of the park. The next day we visited Teardrop Park, a small park designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh: http://www.mvvainc.com/project.php?id=2 Famous for its distinctive rock work, Teardrop Park evokes a sense of wilderness right in the middle of lower Manhattan. Gavin then introduced us to one of his favorite buildings—the new academic building at Cooper Union: http://www.cooper.edu/about/history/41-cooper-square. We also visited several of New York City’s iconic skyscrapers, including the Chrysler Building and the Flatiron Building. I’ve loved the Chrysler Building since I was a boy, but this visit marked the first time I actually entered the building and observed the lobby with all of its art deco flourishes.

For Nancy and me, one of the great pleasures of visiting these architectural landmarks with Gavin was listening to him talk about the significance of these sites. As a professor, I often play the role of the educated expert, but I know that young people have their own areas of expertise. Over the years, I have learned much from my son and my students. I have always liked the phrase “community of learners,” for it implies that the act of learning transcends the divisions between parents and children, teachers and students, the mature and the young.

Amazing News about Sponsored Awards — Last week I received a report from the University’s Office of Research and Economic Development. This report lists the number of externally funded grants generated by each department during the previous 12 months (fiscal year to date) as well as the number of grants from the previous fiscal year. According to this report, the English Department brought in 10 sponsored awards between 7/1/2013 and 5/31/2014. Compared to the other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, we came in third, right behind Physics and Optical Science with 21 awards and Biology with 12. We also doubled the number of awards compared to the previous fiscal year. We went from 5 to 10. No other department in CLAS had such a big jump during this reporting period. Needless to say, I am very proud of the department and all of our faculty members who proving that English professors can write grants as well as books and articles.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

July 1 — The first day of class for the second summer term is July 1.

July 2 — The last day to add or drop a class for the second summer term is July 2.

Quirky Quiz Question — It was about 11:00 at night when Nancy, Gavin and I exited the theatre where we saw Pippin. As we slowly made our way to Times Square to catch the subway, I kept humming to myself the 1963 hit “On Broadway.” What is the name of the group that made this song famous?