Commencement— Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its winter commencement ceremony. Jen Munroe, Lara Vetter and I took responsibility for lining up our graduating students in alphabetical order before they filed into the Dale F. Halton Arena. Thanks to Jen’s organizing efforts, our students made quite an impression when they they all participated in a makeshift “wave” while they were waiting to enter the arena.
For 78 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates. A total of 6 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 72 undergraduate students are listed. I am especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.” Of the 72 students, 12 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 6 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 5 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0). This total comes to 23 students. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 5 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude. Their names are Desiree Michelle Brown, Susan Collins, Meredith Nora Harris, Mary Ellen Mercer Kurtz, and Susanna Ellen Parkhill. Susanna also graduated with English Honors and University Honors.
Kudos — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department. Here is the latest news:
Meghan Barnes recently wrote a piece titled “Tough Choices” for the homeless literacies program. You can check it out by clicking on the following link: https://www.urbanministrycenter.org/tough-choices/
Clayton Tarr recently published an article titled “For British Eyes Only: Arrested Development and Neo-Victorian Television Comedy” in Neo-Victorian Studies. Clayton’s article is available under “current issue” at the following link: http://www.neovictorianstudies.com/
Ralf Thiede published a review of Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century in the current issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.
Lara Vetter‘s A Curious Peril: H.D.’s Late Modernist Prose recently received a very positive review in Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 37.2 (2018).
Upcoming Events and Meetings — Here is a list of upcoming events and deadlines:
January 9 — First day of classes for the Spring 2019 semester.
January 16 — Last day for students to add or drop a course with no grade.
January 29 — The Personally Speaking presentation featuring Janaka Bowman Lewis will take place on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City. Janaka’s presentation on her book Freedom Narratives of African American Women will begin at 6:30 p.m. A book signing and reception will follow her presentation. For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://exchange.uncc.edu/how-early-womens-writings-led-to-civil-rights-discourse/
Quirky Quiz Question — As far as I know, this winter’s commencement marked the first time that our graduating students did “The Wave.” In sports circles, however, there is a great deal of debate about when “The Wave” made its first appearance. The first documented example of sports fans doing “The Wave” occurred on October 15, 1981, during a baseball playoff game between the Athletics and the Yankees. What is the name of the city where the Athletics play?