Monthly Archives: June 2017

Monday Missive - June 26, 2017

June 26, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Synergy — There is something magical about synergy, for it defies the basic mathematical expectations associated with addition.  The dictionary defines synergy as the “interaction of two or more agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.”   This type of synergistic magic happens on occasion in the English Department.  Two examples just took place this month.

Three members of the English Department recently traveled to Detroit to participate in the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment Conference, which took place from June 20 to June 24.  Katie Hogan delivered a paper titled “Resisting the Urban/Rural Divide in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.”  Juan Meneses presented a paper titled “Shedding Light:  Environmental Destruction and the Politics of Visibility,” and Matthew Rowney gave a presentation titled “‘It ate the food it ne’er had eat’: Plastic, the Albatross, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”  Their participation in this conference adds up to much more than three conference papers.  In a very real sense, their participation shows how the members of our department are working together to make ecostudies a core part of what we do in the English Department.

A few days after Katie, Juan and Matt headed north to Detroit, Sarah Minslow, Alan Rauch, Ralf Thiede, and I headed south to Tampa to participate in the Children’s Literature Association Conference.  Sarah gave a presentation titled “Exploring Imagined Futures by Revisiting the Past:  Strategies of Time Travel in Children’s and YA Holocaust Literature.”  Alan gave a talk titled “Writing the Scientific Mother:  Understanding Women as the Source of Knowledge,” and Ralf delivered a presentation titled “Baby Einstein to Baby Chomsky:  Neurocognitive Science and the Future of Early Children’s Books.”  Ralf and I were on the same panel.  Speaking immediately after Ralf, I gave a talk on “LeVar Burton’s Leadership Role in Shaping the Future of Reading Rainbow.”  These four presentations underscore the expansive and diverse nature of our children’s literature program.  Sarah’s presentation relates to Holocaust studies, Alan’s relates to women’s studies and the history of science, Ralf’s relates to linguistics and cognitive studies, and my presentation relates to media studies.  The children’s literature programs in many English departments are relegated to a small silo situated in a corner of the department, but our children’s literature program has magically escaped the silo curse and in the process has become far more than the sum of its parts.

Needless to say, I am a true believer in the power of synergistic magic.

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:

Nadia Clifton, who received her M.A. in English in May and will begin an M.S. in Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill in August, has been selected as a 2017-2019 Association of Research Libraries (ARL)/Society of American Archivists (SAA) Mosaic Fellow. The benefits of the award include a tuition stipend, a paid internship at UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library, financial support to attend the SAA Annual Meeting and the 14th Annual ARL Leadership Symposium in 2018, and financial support for enrolling in digital archives specialist courses provided by the SAA.

Nancy Gutierrez, the Dean of our College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a member of the English Department, recently published an essay titled “Storytelling and the Deanship” in From the Desk of the Dean:  The History and Future of Arts and Sciences Education,co-edited by Mary Anne Fitzpatrick and Elizabeth A. Say (University of South Carolina Press).

Thomas Simonson, who recently received his B.A. with honors in English, was awarded a 2017 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship.  He will use this fellowship as he begins his graduate studies at Wake Forest University this fall.

Quirky Quiz Question —   The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment Conference was sponsored by the largest university located in Detroit.  Does anybody know the name of this university?

Last week’s answer: Patty Jenkins
The new Wonder Woman movie is the first superhero movie to be directed by a woman.  Does anybody know the name of the woman who directed this film?     

Monday Missive - June 19, 2017

June 20, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Wonder Women — This past Saturday, my wife (Nancy) asked me, “So what do you want to do for Father’s Day?”  I suggested that we go see the new Wonder Woman movie.  “It seems more like a Mother’s Day movie to me,” she said, “but let’s go.”  And so we did.

I had heard good reports about this movie, but I did not expect to like it as much as I did.  I especially liked the depiction of the central character.  I liked her determination to make a difference in the world, to help others in need, and to face frightening situations with bravery and confidence.  These qualities come to the surface when she finds herself in Europe during the closing days of World War One.  She repeatedly says, “Take me to the front.”   Perhaps the reason I appreciate these aspects of Wonder Woman is that I recognize these same qualities in women I know in my home and work life.

One such woman is Jen Munroe.  Like Wonder Woman, Jen is facing a formidable foe, and like Wonder Woman, she is determined to meet her foe head on.  In Jen’s case, her foe is breast cancer.  In her conversations with me about her recent diagnosis, she has made it clear that she is ready to go to the front and do battle.  At the same time, though, she remains committed to working with her students, collaborating with her research partners, and helping me respond to administrative developments.  Just as Wonder Woman took the time to help the beleaguered residents of an occupied town even while she was heading into battle, Jen took time out of her schedule today to help a struggling student deal with a suspension appeal.  Jen might not have have Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth, but she has Wonder Woman’s indomitable spirit.  I know that Jen is going to prevail in her battle.

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:

Andrew Hartley just published a young adult novel titled Firebrand. For more information about this novel, please click on the following link: http://inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2017-06-12/distinguished-professor-shakespeare-publishes-new-young-adult-fantasy.

Alan Rauch recently presented a paper titled “Eyes, No Eyes, and Visualization: Text and Image in Children’s Books” at the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing Conference, which took place in Victoria, Canada.

Quirky Quiz Question — The new Wonder Woman movie is the first superhero movie to be directed by a woman.  Does anybody know the name of the woman who directed this film?

Last week’s answer: President Carol Quillen
From its founding in 1837 until the 1970s, Davidson College admitted only male students (with a few unusual exceptions), but the times have changed.  Now Davidson College has its first female president.  Does anybody know that name of the woman who currently serves as the president of Davidson College?

Monday Missive - June 13, 2017

June 13, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Sustaining a Sense of Community — This past weekend, my wife (Nancy) participated in her 40th class reunion at Davidson College.  The class of 1977 holds a special place in the history of Davidson College, for it was the first class to include a cohort of women students.  As a member of this class, Nancy has long felt a deep-seated bond with the other members of the class of ’77 and especially with the other women who transformed Davidson College into a coeducational institution.

The reunion lasted for three days and concluded with a dinner on Saturday.  I joined Nancy for the dinner, and I watched with a tinge of envy the interactions of this group of former classmates.  They clearly cared for each other. They asked with sincere interest about what everyone had been up to since they last saw each other.  They celebrated as a group the various accomplishments of the members of their class.  As an outsider looking in, I could tell that these people shared a genuine sense of community.

Franconia College From Main Street, Open in 1963

Like Nancy, I graduated from a small college in the mid-1970s.  My alma mater, Franconia College, was one of a handful of experimental colleges from the 1960s and ’70s, but it closed a few years after I graduated.  As a result, there are no regularly scheduled reunions or institutional structures to help former students stay in touch with one another.  As a graduate of Franconia College, I have no sense of belonging to a larger extended community of former classmates.  I thought about such matters during the dinner on Saturday.

Fretwell building, UNC Charlotte

However, before I started feeling too sorry for myself, I realized that I, too, belong to an extended community of colleagues who care for each other, who take a sincere interest in the lives of one another, and who celebrate the successes of everyone in the community.  This community is called the English Department.  Like the members of the Davidson class of 1977, the members of the English Department value and make an effort to sustain the sense of community that binds us together.

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:

Bryn Chancellor’s new novel, Sycamore, was selected for O: The Oprah Magazine’s “20 Books of Summer” at #7; it also was chosen for the June Indie Next List and featured in reading recommendation lists in Glamour, Bustle, and the New York Post. She also published an essay, “How to Write Suspense,” in Publisher’s Weekly.

Boyd Davis recently published a chapter titled “Other Interviewing Techniques in Sociolinguistics” in Mallinson, Childs, van Herk, eds., Data Collection in Sociolinguistics,  2nd edn. NY: Routledge, 114-117. https://sociolinguisticdatacollection.com/2017/03/03/welcome/

She also delivered a presentation titled “Combining Corpora and Collaboration at Two Ends of the Spectrum: Enhancing Language and Social Interaction for Nonverbal Youth with Special Needs and for Cognitively Impaired Older Persons” as the Faculty Colloquium, Speech Pathology/Special Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, May 2017.

Paula Eckard recently learned that her latest book, Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature, as been nominated for the 2017 Ragan Old North Award presented by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.

Allison Hutchcraft has been awarded a residency from the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, where she will be a resident for the Spring 2018 semester. The Sitka Center, located on the Oregon coast, was founded in 1970 and hosts writers, artists, musicians, and scientists whose work often engages with nature and the environment.

Jen Munroe participated in the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability (INSS) Conference at UNCC (June 5-7); at the conference, Jen lead the graduate student symposium, an all-day event on June 5.

Quirky Quiz Question — From its founding in 1837 until the 1970s, Davidson College admitted only male students (with a few unusual exceptions), but the times have changed.  Now Davidson College has its first female president.  Does anybody know that name of the woman who currently serves as the president of Davidson College?

Last week’s answer: Tom Reynolds

The Charlotte Research Scholars Program is sponsored by the UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School.  Does anybody know the name of the current Dean of the Graduate School? 

 

Monday Missive - June 5, 2017

June 05, 2017 by Angie Williams
Categories: Monday Missive

Charlotte Research Scholars — Every summer the Graduate School sponsors its Charlotte Research Scholars Program.  This program is intended to provide high-achieving undergraduate students with opportunities to collaborate with faculty members on research projects.  Another goal of the program is to encourage the student participants to pursue graduate degrees.  This summer four members of the English Department are working with undergraduate students as part of this program.

Janaka Lewis is working with Chelsea Moore on representations of black girlhood and natural spaces in literature popular culture of the twentieth and twenty first centuries.  Examining such works as Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything (currently featured in film), Chelsea is exploring how nature comes to serve as freedom from more disciplined and restricted spaces for black girls in more contemporary texts.

Sarah Minslow is working with McKenzie Fortner on a project on war-affected children.  For this project, McKenzie is researching child soldiers and displaced children with an emphasis on the different roles that children play during violent conflicts and how this influences their identity development.

Jen Munroe is working with Jenna Hainlen on a project that that involves transcribing from the manuscript recipe book of Lettice Pudsey (ca. 1675), which she is using to conduct original research that uses manuscript recipe books to rethink the role of such books and women’s domestic work in our understanding of the social history of the book.

Malin Pereira is working with Kelly Brabec on a project on contemporary African American poetry.  As part of her research, Kelly is examining how African American poetry relates to questions of identity, race, and aesthetics.

Another way in which members of the English Department are contributing to Charlotte Research Scholars Program is by giving presentations on writing for the students in the program.   Greg Wickliff gave a presentation on “Professional Writing in Science and Engineering,”and Sarah Minslow gave a presentation on “Professional Writing in the Humanities.” In an email to me about these presentations, Greg wrote, “We talked with the students about the process of entering a research community though reading and writing, the role of peer review, the value of conference papers, abstracts, proposals, and publishing articles in the discipline.”

I am very pleased that the English Department is so well represented in the Charlotte Research Scholars Program.  For more information about this program, please click on the following link: http://graduateschool.uncc.edu/deans-office/partnerships-and-initiatives/charlotte-research-scholars

Quirky Quiz Question — The Charlotte Research Scholars Program is sponsored by the UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School.  Does anybody know the name of the current Dean of the Graduate School?

Last week’s answer: Charleston

Angie’s Aunt Lou grew up in West Virginia, and she will be buried in Montgomery, West Virginia.  One of the major cities in West Virginia has the same name as a major city in South Carolina.  In this tale of two cities, what is the name that these cities have in common?