Mark West

Hidden Gems — Student Niner Media recently published a tabloid called Welcome Back to UNC Charlotte 2015.  I thumbed through it this weekend and came across an interesting article titled “Hidden Gems in the UNC Charlotte Course Catalog” by Casey Aldridge, the Opinion Editor for the student paper.  In her article, she features several of the most “exciting” courses offered at UNC Charlotte this fall, and nearly half of them are classes being taught by members of our department.  She especially highlights “Sexing Shakespeare,” which Kirk Melnikoff and Kent Brintnall are co-teaching.  She also includes Tony Jackson’s “I Can’t Believe My Eyes:  Storytelling, Movies, Science Fiction” and Valerie Bright’s “Blood, Sweets, and Beers:  Forbidden Food in Literature and Culture.”

As this article underscores, the English Department is offering a wide range of engaging courses, and the preliminary enrollment figures indicate that a record number of students are signing up for these classes.  The current enrollment figures for our undergraduate courses (including LBST courses) add up to a total of 2,335 seats filled.  Last fall semester, we had 2,079 seats filled.  This represents a 12% increase.  In reviewing these figures, I am very pleased that the English Department is having such success in attracting so many students to our courses.

News from Our English Learning Community — Tiffany Morin, the Director of our English Learning Community, recently sent me the following report:

The members of the English Learning Community are settling in after completing their first week of college. This year we have 18 very enthusiastic students, who are ready to start planning their Fall Events.  They are currently completing their profile collages, so you can soon learn more about the individual members from the ELC bulletin board, located by 290-B. If you would like to involve the ELC in any upcoming events, please contact Tiffany Morin.

As I thought about these three chance encounters, I realized that one of the reasons I have no desire to retire is that it would limit my opportunities to share my love of children’s literature and to make a difference in students’ lives.  I consider myself fortunate that my job and my interests so closely align.  This fall semester marks the beginning of my 32nd year as a member of the English Department, and as always I am looking forward to teaching my children’s literature class.  I am also looking forward to working with all of you as we kick off a new academic year.

News from Our Foreign Bureau — This summer I have been reporting on news about members of our department who have been globe trotting this summer.  This week I am featuring Heather Vorhies.  I asked Heather about her European adventures, and she sent me the following report:

I presented “Transatlantic Adaptations of Hugh Blair’s Lectures on Rhetoric” at the International Society for the History of Rhetoric in Tubingen, Germany, on July 29. It was the perfect place for the conference–the Rhetoric Department at the University of Tubingen is 500 years old. We didn’t get too much other travel in around the conference, but my husband and I did make it to Baden-Baden for the thermal spas (105 degree water coming up from the ground!) and to Frankfurt to walk around the skyscrapers and find locks all over the bridges.  It seems that couples go to bridges with an inscribed lock to “solidify” their relationship (most had the two names and the date).  The bridges were absolutely COVERED with them! And I was surprised to see that you could get an inscription on a combination lock.

 

Jen Munroe’s Latest Blog Post.  Jen recently sent me a report about her blog dealing with early modern recipes.  Here is her news:

Here is the link to my latest blog post for the Recipes Project. It deals with the question of “earth” and sustainability in a recipe from a book I’ve been working with. At the end, you will see that transcription credit goes to Kailan Sindelar, one of our grads. She and Breanne Weber have been working with me this summer (Kailan as part of a DR and Breanne just for fun) to transcribe the manuscript recipe book of Lady Frances Catchmay (digitized from the Wellcome Library in London but on the Folger software system we have partnered with). It’s been incredibly difficult work for them, too, as the entire book is in multiple hands, all secretary, which is a difficult handwriting to read, and the hand in this book is especially challenging. So, kudos to them! And the least I could do is give Kailan transcription credit for the recipe I used in my post. Their transcriptions are part of the EMMO (Early Modern Manuscripts Online) database that is housed at the Folger and will be part of the EMROC (Early Modern Recipes Online Collective) database once we parcel the two.  So, here is the link to my blog: https://recipes.hypotheses.org/author/jennifermunroe

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 recently learned that Tor Publishing will bring out Steeplejack, the first volume in his new YA fantasy series, in June 2016.  For more information about Andrew’s summer activities, please click on the following link:  http://ajhartley.net/whats-going-on/summer-2015/

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

Here is a list of upcoming meetings and events that will take place this month:

–University Convocation     Thursday, August 20    9:00am coffee, 9:30-11 Convocation

 McKnight Hall

–Day of Convocation           Monday, August 24     11:00-5:00pm (faculty arrive at 10:15)

 Halton Arena

–CLAS All Faculty Mtg & Breakfast     Friday, August 28       8:30-10:00am

 Fretwell 100

–English Department Mtg   Friday, August 28          11–12:15pm

Fretwell 290B

Quirky Quiz Question — Heather Vorhies’s account of her recent trip to Germany reminds me that Heather is not the only member of our department who presented a paper at a conference in Germany this summer.  Can you name the other member of our department who presented a paper in Germany this summer?

Last week’s answer: Mortimer

In my upcoming presentation at the Waltonwood retirement community, I will talk about the history of Disney’s animated movies, including his Mickey Mouse movies.  When Mickey made his first film appearance, he was not called Mickey Mouse.  What was Mickey’s original name?

You Ought to Be in Pictures — In 1934 Rudy Vallee recorded “You Ought to Be in Pictures,” and the song went on to become a smash hit.  Rudy Vallee might not have realized it at the time, but his song relates to Janaka Lewis.   Janaka recently sent me an email about her summer adventures, and she included news about her new career as a movie star:

On August 1, I took a trip to Durham to see the premiere of the film When We Free, directed by Julia Roxanne Wallace and produced by Dr. Alexis Gumbs of Durham (who both discussed the making of the film on behalf of Black Feminist Film School on campus last fall). When I had the opportunity to visit the first set in Mebane last August, I was put in costume and invited to participate in the scene setting up a table at a church meeting, which earned me a few seconds of screen time and credits, by name, as “Congregant #2.”

Quirky Quiz Question — In my upcoming presentation at the Waltonwood retirement community, I will talk about the history of Disney’s animated movies, including his Mickey Mouse movies.  When Mickey made his first film appearance, he was not called Mickey Mouse.  What was Mickey’s original name?

Last week’s answer – Jen Munroe

Bryn Chancellor spent part of this summer writing in Wyoming.  Bryn is not the only member of our department who has Wyoming connections.  In fact, one member of our department has a BA degree from the University of Wyoming.  Do you know whom this faculty member is?

Bryn Chancellor                        Photographer: Christy Whitney

Bryn Chancellor Is in the House — I am pleased to report that Bryn Chancellor, our new creative writing professor, has arrived and is already settling into her new office.  Bryn has had a very busy summer.  She spent a month at the Jentel Artist Residency, a retreat for visual artists and writers in rural Wyoming. While there, she worked on a draft of a new novel and gave a reading as part of “Jentel Presents” in the nearby town of Sheridan, Wyoming. She was awarded this residency as part of the Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. Also this summer, she served on the fiction faculty at the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference at the University of the South, working with talented high school age creative writers.   Please join me in welcoming Bryn to the English Department.

Charlotte Research Scholars Program — This summer both Sarah Minslow and Malin Pereira mentored undergraduate students as part of the Charlotte Research Scholars Program.  Sarah mentored Kenia Rios.  Kenia’s research project examines how child soldiers are depicted in contemporary popular culture with a focus on some of the texts and films that have been among the most successful. This research specifically examines child soldiers in Ender’s Game, Harry Potter, The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games.  Malin mentored Shanon Murray.  Shanon titled her project “The Anatomy of Racism: Racial Oppression and Social Injustice in the Work of African American Poet Wanda Coleman (1946-2013).”  She focused on Coleman’s “didactic poetics.”  Both Kenia and Shanon gave poster presentations on their research at the Summer Research Symposium last month.

Sarah Minslow and Kenia Rios

Shanon Murray

News from Our Foreign Bureau — This summer I have been reporting on news about members of our department who have been globe trotting this summer.  This week I am featuring Pilar Blitvich.  I asked Pilar about her European adventures, and this morning she sent me the following report:

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:

Jeffrey Leak was a guest on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks last week.  He participated in a panel discussion on the national debate over the display of the confederate battle flag and related issues.

Kirk Melnikoff gave the invited talk “Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Mighty Line’: Language and Power on the Elizabethan Stage” at the University of Cologne on July 2.

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

August 3 — Last day of classes for the second summer session.

August 10 — Grades due for all classes taught during the second summer session.

Quirky Quiz Question — Bryn Chancellor spent part of this summer writing in Wyoming.  Bryn is not the only member of our department who has Wyoming connections.  In fact, one member of our department has a BA degree from the University of Wyoming.  Do you know whom this faculty member is?

The Enduring Power of Books — As I was flying back to Charlotte last night, I reflected on my week in New York City.  Over the course of the week, I focused much of my attention on researching Theodore Roosevelt’s personal library at his Long Island home, which is called Sagamore Hill.  However, I also took advantage of some of the unique cultural opportunities available in the city.  I went to the Morgan Library where I saw their exhibition titled “Alice:  150 Years of Wonderland.”  I also saw Matilda:  The Musical, which is based on Roald Dahl’s last children’s novel, also titled Matilda.  In reflecting on these experiences, I realized that they all relate to the enduring power of books.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Books — I am about to travel to New York City where I will be conducting research on President Theodore Roosevelt’s personal library. Roosevelt’s books are still located in his home in Long Island. Named Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s home is now owned and administered by the National Park Service. For the past three and a half years, Sagamore Hill has been closed to the public while a major restoration project has taken place, but the home reopened to the public earlier this month. The Park Curator has agreed to talk with me about the restoration project and Roosevelt’s library.

Roosevelt called himself a “book lover,” and he devoted part of nearly every day to reading books. He often wrote letters to the authors of his favorite books, and he sometimes invited these authors to visit him. His library reflects his passions, his political causes, and his literary tastes. Through my research, I hope to develop a better understanding of Roosevelt as a reader and collector of books.

Writing Project — Anyone who has been in the English Department during the past few weeks has undoubtedly noticed all of the activity and excitement generated by the participants in the Writing Project. I asked Lil Brannon, the Director of UNC Charlotte’s Writing Project, for more information about what the Writing Project’s participants are up to this summer. Her response is listed below:

I would be delighted to tell you what all the Writing Project has been doing. You know that the Writing Project was started in l980 by Sam Watson and Leon Gatlin as an English Department Partnership with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. Our site (The UNC Charlotte Writing Project) has offered Invitational Summer Institutes (like the one we were doing these last three weeks) every summer since then. We are one of the original sites of the National Writing Project. So for 35 years, the UNC Charlotte Writing Project has grown and prospered.

This summer, the next to last week of June, we held our Partnership School Institute along with our Teacher Research Institute. The UNC Charlotte Writing Project has several partnership schools who send teachers to our campus for professional development in the teaching of writing. The Writing Project Teacher Consultants provide workshops for partnership teachers in a week-long conference-like setting on-campus. This year, we held one-day of the Institute at the Center City Campus so that partnership teachers could learn more about “museum pedagogy,” having their students take advantage of the many wonderful museums in downtown Charlotte. We focused attention on Discovery Place, the science museum in downtown Charlotte, with whom we have a partnership. We also had a writing marathon in NoDa, starting out at Amelies with side visits to Makerspace Charlotte and coffee at the Smelly Cat.

The Teacher Research Institute ran in conjunction with the Partnership Institute. Teacher Research brings experienced Writing Project teacher consultants to campus for a week of writing and of reflecting on our practices as teachers of writing. Heather Coffey and I lead this group, many of whom were professional articles, drafting dissertation chapters, rethinking curriculum, and catching up on reading in the professional literature.

Between the two groups we had over 40 teachers that week working in the seminar room, conference room, and at the various coffee shops on campus.

The last week of June through July 16, we hosted 15 area teachers at the Invitational Summer Institute. Each February teachers apply to participate. The Writing Project interviews all the applicants and selects out 15 outstanding teachers to come. The Institute contains three strands: teacher as inquirer (researcher); teacher as leader, and teacher as writer. So the days are filled with writing; with inquiring into questions about the teaching of writing and of engaging the professional conversation about writing; and with these teachers and the Writing Project leaders all conducting teaching demonstrations from their classroom and reflecting on those practices. Once teachers complete the institute they continue with the Writing Project as Teacher Consultants.

During all of these activities, we had meetings of the Education Innovator team of middle grades teachers who worked with the Writing Project this year on “Making Their Worlds,” a grant we have with the National Writing Project and the MacArthur Foundation to bring the idea of “make” to middle school English language arts classrooms so that students can do larger projects on social justice issues that matter to them and their communities. We also are working with Discovery Place and the Renaissance West community in Charlotte to plan a CMS K-5 school which will open in 2017 so that “make” and literacy are central to the work of the school. This coming year, the Writing Project and Discovery Place will be hosting maker faires and literacy activities (performance poetry, writing marathons) as the community builds and designs the new elementary school in partnership with us.

So it has been a very busy summer, with lots of people in our Fretwell digs, and it was exciting to be in our English home and feel the energy, support, and excitement of our Department.

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:

Aaron Gwyn’s novel Wynne’s War is now available in a handsome paperback edition published by Eamon Dolan/Mariner Books.

Alan Rauch recently presented a paper titled “The Enchanting Life (and Death) of Charles Darwin” at the North American Victorian Studies Association Meeting held in Hawai’i.

Angie Williams recently received the Golden Nugget Award from the Staff Council for “going above and beyond the call of duty and representing UNC Charlotte in a manner in which we can all be proud.”

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

August 3 — Last day of classes for the second summer session.

August 10 — Grades due for all classes taught during the second summer session.

Quirky Quiz Question — One of Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite novels was The Virginian. Who wrote this novel?

 
Last week’s answer: receipts
As Bonnie and Jen well know, recipes have been around for a long time, but the term “recipes” did not come into widespread use until the second half of the 19th century. What term was used before then?

Transitions — The 2015-2016 academic year is now upon us, and with this change come other transitions. Two of our long-time colleagues—Meg Morgan and Cy Knoblauch—now officially have emeritus faculty status.

Meg joined the English Department in 1987. Over the course of her career, she has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. Her strength as a teacher is reflected in the fact that she won the Bank of America Award for Teaching in 2008. Her commitment to teaching is also reflected in her two published books: Strategies for Reading and Arguing about Literature, which she co-authored, and Strategies for Technical Communication: A Collection of Teaching Tips, which she co-edited. She has served in several administrative positions, including the Director of Rhetoric and Writing from 1994 through 2003. Recently Meg has taken responsibility for the English Department’s internship program, and I am pleased to report that she will continue playing this role as a part-time faculty member.

Cy joined the English Department as Chair in 1998. During his 17 years at UNC Charlotte, Cy played several key administrative roles. He served as the Chair of English from 1998 to 2007, as the Interim Chair of the Department of Biology from 2008 to 2011, and as the Director of First Year Writing from 2011 to 2012. He has also taught a wide variety of courses in rhetoric, writing, and British literature. Over the course of his career, Cy has written or co-written six books. Perhaps his most important publication is a recently published book titled Discursive Ideologies: Reading Western Rhetoric.

Both Meg and Cy have made many important contributions to our department, and I am pleased to include them among our impressive list of retired professors who have emeritus faculty status. In the near future, the English Department’s website will provide a complete listing of the former members of our department who have emeritus faculty status. Alan Rauch and Anita Moss are working together on this project, and my thanks go to both of them.

150 Years of Alice — This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This classic work of children’s literature can actually be traced back to July 4th, 1862, when Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a shorter version of the story while they were on a boating trip on the River Thames. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary the book’s publication, the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City is sponsoring an exhibition called Alice: 150 Years of Wonderland (http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/alice).

Alice is quite at home in our department. Carroll’s classic is regularly taught in our children’s literature and Victorian literature classes, and several members of the department have written about the book. For example, Sarah Minslow devoted much of her dissertation to analyzing Carroll’s approach to nonsense literature, and Balaka Basu is writing about Alice in her current book project tentatively titled Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature.

News from Our Foreign Bureau — A few weeks ago I started featuring news about members of our department who have been globe trotting this summer. This week I am featuring Ralf Thiede.

Ralf recently returned from a trip to Germany. I asked him about his adventure, and here is what he had to say. “I saw very little of Mainz, Germany, where I went to attend (and present at) the world’s first colloquium on the linguistics of children’s literature, but thank goodness the meeting room was air conditioned. So, the Europeans are a bit ahead of us here: I took copious notes on a day’s worth of papers on such fascinating research as how adults interact with children during shared picture book reading. It’s a discipline in the making, and I thought that our department probably has the combined knowledge and skill set to become the leader in the US. Anyone interested?”

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.

Boyd Davis presented two co-authored papers at the 13th annual Communication, Medicine & Ethics conference (COMET) held in Hong Kong on June 25-27. One paper was titled “Dropped cues: Missed opportunities in the talk of tele health encounters,” and the other was titled “Politeness strategies in response to directives in the preliminary English version of the Assessment Battery for Communication.”

Paula Martinac’s short story, “Eds and Meds,” was a finalist in the 2015 Prime Number Short Fiction Contest. Prime Number is a literary journal published by Press 53 in Winston-Salem. Her story was one of the 10 stories chosen from 225 entries.

Joan Mullin recently presented a paper titled “Expanding or Limiting Access: Re-visioning the Calls For and Affordances of International English-Medium On-Line Publication,” at the European Association for Teachers of Academic Writing in Tallinn, Estonia.

Jen Munroe co-lead (with Rebecca Laroche) a workshop titled, “Teaching Recipes in the Digital Age” at the Attending to Early Modern Women Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin June 18-21.

Malin Pereira just returned from presenting a paper in Liverpool, UK, at the Collegium for African American Research bi-annual conference. Her paper was titled “The Politics of Memorializing Family and Place: The ‘Phototexts’ of Natasha Trethewey and LaToya Ruby Frazier.”

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to writing the Alice books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University. What subject did he teach?

Last week’s answer: Charlie was Steinbeck’s dog

Travels with Charlie — The other day a professor asked me about the advantages and disadvantages of moving into university administration. I opined that a major advantage to having an administrative position is that one gets to know colleagues outside of one’s home department. Over the course of my administrative career, I have come to know many colleagues outside of the English Department, and in some cases these colleagues have become good friends. Charlie Brody is a prime example.

I got to know Charlie in 2002 when I was the Associate Dean for General Education and Charlie was the Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. My charge at the time was to launch the then new General Education Program. I worked with all of the department chairs, but none was more helpful than Charlie. Some years later, I worked alongside Charlie when I served as the Interim Associate Dean for Student Services and he served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In more recent years, I have worked with Charlie in my role as Chair of the English Department. In all of my interactions with Charlie, I have found him to be one of the most professional and helpful administrators on our campus. He has a remarkable ability to solve problems, defuse potentially explosive situations, and bring people from a wide variety of backgrounds together. He has been a tremendous supporter of the English Department, and he has helped us deal with some very complicated assessment issues.

As many of you know, Charlie has now left UNC Charlotte. As of July 1, he will become the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Misericordia University in Pennsylvania. I know I speak for all of us who have worked with Charlie during his fourteen years at UNC Charlotte when I say that he will be missed. I have enjoyed my administrative travels with Charlie, and I hope our paths will cross again in the not too distant future. As Roy Rogers would have said, happy trails to you, Charlie.

News from Our Foreign Bureau — Last week I started featuring news about members of our department who have been globe trotting this summer. This week I am featuring Andrew Hartley and Tiffany Morin.

Andrew recently returned from a trip to the epicenter of the current European financial fiasco. I asked him about his adventure, and here is what he had to say. “I just returned from Greece where I spent almost 3 weeks between Athens, Crete and Delphi. The official purpose of the trip was to teach for the British Council/Kingston a week’s course on writing suspense fiction. I had a dozen mainly Greek students who worked with me each evening, which meant that I had the daylight hours to wander Athens by myself. Though I’ve visited the city a few times before I’d never had the chance to really get to know it, and there were archaeological sites like the temple of Haphaestus which I’d never actually seen. The class was, as such things tend to be, both challenging and rewarding, the former being inevitable when you are working with students who are writing in a second language. It struck me as weirdly ironic–even presumptuous–to be teaching three act structure in a classroom only a couple of miles from the theatre of Dionysius where the plays of Sophocles and Euripides got their first public airing two and half thousand years ago! The second leg of the trip–to Crete, partly to revisit the Minoan ruins of Knossos–was more obviously holiday, though I came away with the idea for a new novel, so that’s good.”

Tiffany just came back from a trip to the past. I asked her about her adventure, and here is what she had to say. “I just returned from a ten-day trip to Israel. I was there primarily to participate in UNC Charlotte’s Mount Zion Dig with the Religious Studies Department in Jerusalem. It was exciting to dig into the earth and uncover items that had not been touched in over a thousand years. Even just walking around the Old City, where I stayed, felt like an adventure as I observed the stunning architecture and many cultures around me. I was also fortunate to visit Masada and Qumran, where Professor James Tabor guided us on a tour. On that same day, I swam in the Dead Sea, which was far more beautiful than I expected. I think my favorite part of the trip though was meeting so many new people from so many different places. It was an amazing experience, and I hope to incorporate it somehow into my work.”

Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. Today’s Kudos section is being brought to you by the letter M.

Kirk Melnikoff delivered the paper “From the Talbot to Duck Lane: The Early Publication History Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London” at The Ladies of London in Context Conference at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Juan Meneses presented a paper titled “Reading Images, Seeing Words” at the ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) conference at the University of Idaho.

Julia Morris, a graduate student in our children’s literature concentration, received an offer from the Old Dominion University Darden College of Education for a admission to their PhD Program in Education, concentrating in curriculum/instruction with an emphasis in Literacy Leadership for children’s/young adult literature. She received an assistantship as the research coordinator for a three-year NSF grant that deals with first-year writing and peer review in literature classes.

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

June 29 — Classes for the second summer session begin on June 29.

June 30 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — I am not the only person to write about travels with Charlie. John Steinbeck used this phrase as the title of one of his nonfiction books. What role did Charlie play in Steinbeck’s life?

Last week’s answer- The Raven