Monday Missive

Summer — The builders of Stonehenge seemed to think that the start of summer had something to do with the summer solstice, for they designed the monument so that the the sun rises above a stone known as the Heel Stone on the morning of the summer solstice. What the builders of Stonehenge apparently did not understand is that the real start of summer is the first day of the first summer session at UNC Charlotte, which falls on the 18th of May this year.

This summer the English Department will be offering a little more than two dozen classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Of these classes around half are 100% online courses. The English Department faculty are also teaching seven Liberal Studies courses for the General Education Program. As of Friday, our English and LBST courses had about 600 of their seats filled, which is a record high at this point in the summer registration process. In addition to our regular summer offerings, the English Department is offering several new topics courses, such as Reading the Whedonverse (ENGL 2090), African-American Writers Writing the Sixties (ENGL 3050) and Children’s Literature and Childhood Trauma (ENGL 6070). My thanks go to Kirk for organizing our summer schedule.

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

May 18 — Classes for the first summer session begin on May 18.

May 19 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — Summer is a special time of the year in the lives of young people, which might explain why so many coming-of-age stories take place during the summer. Below are descriptions of three classic coming-of-age novels all of which have the word summer in their title. See if you can name the titles of these books:

1. This classic story of first love takes place in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in the late 1930s.

2. This novel deals with a Jewish girl who befriends an enemy soldier who escapes from a prison camp in Arkansas.

3. This novel is set on Nantucket Island and deals with an adolescent boy’s infatuation with a young woman whose husband is killed during World War Two.

Last week’s answer: Prospero

Remembering Ken Burrows — Ken Burrows died on the first day of May, but for those of us who had the privilege of knowing him, he will live on in our memories for years to come. Ken ran the summer programs at UNC Charlotte for many years, and it was because of this role that I came to know Ken.

Ken was always ready to experiment with new programs offered during the summer. He thought that the campus should hum with activity during the summer and that the University should offer summer programs for people of all ages, including children. For these reasons, he started our Camps on Campus summer enrichment program. Ken knew of my background in children’s literature, and he asked me if I would be willing to develop a summer camp based on children’s books. I liked the idea and said that I would give it a try. A few weeks later, he contacted me again and said that he thought that the camp should have a tighter focus. At the time the Harry Potter phenomenon was all the rage, so I suggested that we focus the camp on Harry Potter. With Ken’s help, I wrote a description of the camp in which I said that for one week in the summer our UNC Charlotte campus was going to be transformed into Hogwarts Extension. Over the next several months, Ken and I met many times to plan the camp, and our efforts were rewarded beyond anything we had imagined. The kids had a great time, their parents thanked me endlessly for providing their children with this opportunity, and the camp attracted a tremendous amount of press coverage. Running this Harry Potter camp proved to be one of the most memorable experiences in my career at UNC Charlotte, and I owe it all to Ken.

Commencement Notes — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its commencement ceremony. For nearly 90 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates. A total of 19 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 70 undergraduate students are listed.

I was especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.” Of the 70 students, 14 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 7 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 4 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0). This total comes to 25 students, which means that 36% of our graduating seniors earned this special distinction. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 4 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude. Their names are John Stuart Cloer, Ashley Michelle Helms, Jessica Katlin Lamp, and Taryn Kandace Summer Walls.

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:

Allison Hutchcraft has been awarded the Hillary Gravendyk Memorial Scholarship from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. She will travel to Squaw Valley, CA, this June to attend their 2015 Poetry Workshop Program. Allison also has four poems appearing this month in a special feature of eco-poetry in the Kenyon Review.

Maya Socolovsky’s Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature received a very positive review in the most recent issue of Latino Studies.

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

May 18 — Classes for the first summer session begin on May 19.

May 19 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to running UNC Charlotte’s summer programs, Ken Burrows also participated in several UNC Charlotte theatrical productions. He played a central role in a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. What is the name of this character that Ken brought to life?

Last week’s answer: Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Old Man of the Mountain — My undergraduate degree is from Franconia College, which was a small and now defunct experimental college located in northern New Hampshire. During my college days, I often traveled between Boston and Franconia, and I always went through Franconia Notch on these trips. In my native state of Colorado, we would have called Franconia Notch a canyon, but in New Hampshire they like the term notch. On my many drives through Franconia Notch, I always looked up and marveled at an amazing rock formation known as the Old Man of the Mountain. This famous stoney profile collapsed on May 3, 2003.

This past weekend, I paused to remember the Old Man of the Mountain, which brought up memories of Franconia College. It’s all gone now. The Old Man has been reduced to broken rocks, Franconia College has long since closed, and the buildings where I studied have disappeared without a trace. But my memories persist. I can remember in detail the adventure-filled trips I took to Boston, the hikes I took through New Hampshire’s beautiful White Mountains, and the stimulating courses I took at Franconia College. As we come to the close of another semester, we should be mindful that we are helping shape the memories of our students. Someday they will look back on their college days, and I hope that their memories are as precious to them as my memories are to me. Here’s to you, Old Man of the Mountain.

Community Engagement — When I think about the English Department’s efforts in the area of community engagement, I tend to think of members of the department participating in programs and events sponsored by organizations and institutions in the Charlotte area. However, community engagement also involves bringing people from the Charlotte area to our campus. Last week members of our department sponsored two such examples of community engagement. On April 28, Greg Wickliff hosted ten members of the Charlotte chapter of the Society for Technical Communication at an exhibit of student work related to our courses in technical and professional writing. I attended this event, and I was very impressed with the interactions between our students and these working professionals. On May 2, Lil Brannon hosted a day-long gathering of Charlotte-area teachers that took place in our seminar room. This event was the orientation to the Invitational Summer Institute for the UNC Charlotte Writing Project. While I did not participate in this event, I was in the office while it was taking place, and I sensed the the energy and enthusiasm of the participants.

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 just returned from NEMLA in Toronto, having co-chaired a panel called Queer/Geek: Theorizing the Convergence of Fandom, Camp, and Other Deviances, for which she co-wrote an introduction called “Eve Sedgwick’s Unicycle.”

Maya Socolovsky recently presented a paper titled “Documenting the Undocumented: The Drama of Epistolary Writing in Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender” at the U.S. Latina/o Literary Theory and Criticism Conference, which took place in New York City.

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

May 9 — The Commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will take place May 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM in the Halton Arena: https://exchange.uncc.edu/event/commencement-college-of-liberal-arts-sciences-may-2015/

May 11 — Final grades for the Spring 2015 term must be submitted by Monday, May 11 at noon.

Quirky Quiz Question — I am not the only person who was inspired by the Old Man of the Mountain. A famous America author wrote a story about this rock formation titled “The Great Stone Face.” Who wrote this story?

Last week’s answer: Richard Armitage

Celebrating Shakespeare — No one knows for certain the exact date of William Shakespeare’s birth, but parish records indicate that he was baptized on April 26, 1564. Many historians and biographers believe that he was likely born on April 23. By coincidence, he died on April 23, 1616. Thus, next year will mark the 400th anniversary of his death. In commemorating these important dates, we celebrate not only Shakespeare’s legacy, but we also celebrate the Shakespeare’s unparalleled contribution to literature, theater, and the humanities in general.

The study of Shakespeare’s plays has a long and rich history in our English Department. In the early days of the University, Roy Moose helped build the foundation for Shakespeare studies in the department. In recognition of his excellent teaching, he received the North Carolina National Bank Teaching Award (the forerunner to the Bank of America Teaching Award) in 1969. In subsequent years, a number of other English professors have taught Shakespeare courses, including Ann Carver, John McNair, Esther Richey, and Dennis Kay. Today, our Shakespeare courses are taught by Andrew Hartley, Kirk Melnikoff, and Jen Munroe as well as by Sonya Brockman, one of our excellent part-time faculty members.

In addition to offering courses on Shakespeare’s plays, several of our faculty members organize university and community events related to Shakespeare. For example, Kirk recently took a group of our students to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, where they saw Hamlet and Much Ado about Nothing. Much of this work is tied to the the Shakespeare in Action (SIA) Initiative, which Andrew, Kirk and Jen founded and run. Next year SIA will sponsor seven events, including a production of Hamlet.

Our faculty also publish books and articles related to Shakespeare’s plays and give presentations on this topic. Here are just a few recent examples. In 2014 Andrew published Hamlet, a Novel (co-authored with David Hewson). Kirk has just received an invitation to serve as the keynote speaker at the University of South Carolina next year at an event focused on the First Folio. Jen just gave a talk last week titled “King Lear and Environmental Justice.” This talk is related to her forthcoming monograph titled Shakespeare and Ecofeminist Theory (co-authored with Rebecca Laroche).

Although Shakespeare died nearly 400 years ago, his work lives on around the world and right here in our English Department. Happy belated birthday, William Shakespeare.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:

Jessica Morton, one of our graduate students, recently received Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award offered by the Graduate School. She has been remarkably active in both EGSA and CLGO. She has a chapter titled “Lover, Son, Brother, Batman: The Homosocial Evolution of (the) Robin(s)” forthcoming in a collection of essays.

Lara Vetter’s edition of H.D.’s By Avon River was reviewed in this week’s Time’s Literary Supplement.

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

April 28 — On Tuesday evening, April 28th, at 6:30 pm here in the foyer of Fretwell, we will host an Exhibition of Work for students with interests in Technical/Professional Writing or Language and Digital Technology. Professional writers and editors from the Charlotte Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication will be joining us to talk with students about their work. All students and faculty are welcome. Light refreshments will be provided.

April 29 — The English Department meeting will be on Wednesday, April 29 at 11:00am in Atkins 127.

April 29 — The English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 29 at 12:30 in the Dale Halton Room of the University Library.

Quirky Quiz Question — The audio version of Andrew Hartley’s Hamlet, a Novel features the voice of a famous actor. Does anybody know the name of this actor?

Last week’s answer: Gaylord Nelson

Earth Day — The 45th celebration of Earth Day will take place on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. In my mind, Earth Day is associated with sustainability, eco-criticism, and nature writing. These topics all relate to the work that takes place in the English Department. I could list many examples, but I will limit

myself to the work of three of our faculty members. This semester, Jen Munroe is teaching two courses that consider issues of “sustainability”–the first a graduate seminar titled “Thinking Green: Ecological Approaches to Texts” and the second a grad/undergrad course on “Shakespeare and Ecofeminism.” In both courses, students wrote a blog post where they considered a current environmental issue with a specific focus on its implications for questions of race, class, and/or gender. Greg Wickliff also teaches courses that relate to environmental issues. Last summer he taught a course in which he had his students write about the natural and historic dimensions of a specific place. Alan Rauch frequently writes about nature and sustainability in his scholarly work. Within the past month he has given two scholarly presentations on the environmental themes in the work of W. H. Hudson, the author of Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest (1904). As these examples demonstrate, the English Department honors the values associated with Earth Day all year long.

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:

Lil Brannon recently learned that the UNC Charlotte Writing Project has been awarded $10,000 of federal funds for the second half of the $20,000 two-year award for the site’s 2014-2016 SEED Teacher Leadership Development Grant.

Alan Rauch recently gave a presentation titled “Terra Rima: W. H. Hudson, Environmentalism, and the Collapse of Nature” at the 10th Annual meeting of the British Society for Literature and Science in Liverpool.

Greg Wickliff recently published an article titled “Draper, Darwin, And The Oxford Evolution Debate Of 1860” in Earth Sciences History. He also presented a paper titled “Toward New Imponderables: John William Draper’s Chemistry and Physics Experiments, 1836 – 1842” at the Southern
History of Science and Technology Conference that recently took place at VCU in Richmond.

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

April 21 — Jen Munroe will give a talk titled “King Lear and Environmental Justice” at 4:30 in Fretwell 290B. Her talk is part of the the Shakespeare in Action’s “36 in 6” initiative.

April 24 — Matthew Rascoff (UNC VP of Learning Technology & Innovation) will be driving in from General Administration on Friday, April 24, to give a talk on UNC’s vision for the future of on-line teaching. The talk will be in the seminar room (290B Fretwell) from 2:00-3:30.

April 26 — The English Department Spring Party will take place on Sunday, April 26, from 5:00-8:00 at the home of Pilar and Tom Blitvich.

April 28 — On Tuesday evening, April 28th, at 6:30 pm here in the foyer of Fretwell, we will host an Exhibition of Work for students with interests in Technical/Professional Writing or Language and Digital Technology. Professional writers and editors from the Charlotte Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication will be joining us to talk with students about their work. All students and faculty are welcome. Light refreshments will be provided.

April 29 — The English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 29 at 12:30 in the Dale Halton Room of the University Library.

Quirky Quiz Question — The celebration of the first Earth Day took place in 1970. Does anybody know the name of the Senator from Wisconsin who is responsible for making Earth Day an annual event?

Last week’s answer: American Literature

Public Intellectuals — For the past six years, I have been participating in the Public Intellectuals Conference, which until this year, has taken place at Harvard University. Last year I co-organzied the conference, and this year I am helping host the conference here in Charlotte. The 6th Annual Public Intellectuals Conference will take place at UNC Charlotte Center City on April 10-11, 2015. This conference is not a gathering of public intellectuals although some of the participants could be classified as such. Rather, it provides a forum for scholars to discuss the careers and contributions of prominent public intellectuals. A good example of such a person is Melissa Harris-Perry, who spokeat UNC Charlotte last week. In some cases, presenters focus on particular public intellectuals while in other cases, the focus is on political or cultural movements in which public intellectuals participate.

Over the history the conference, we have have never agreed on a precise definition of what constitutes a public intellectual, but this hasn’t stopped us from having lively discussions. In fact, I think the inherent vagueness of the term contributes to the liveliness of these discussions. Last year, for example, I made the case for Dr. Seuss being a public intellectual even though the members of the public with whom he shared his ideas were young children. One could argue that preschoolers are too young to understand intellectual discourse. For me at least, such debates contribute to the pleasure of participating in this conference.

As I contemplate the topic of public intellectuals, I am impressed with how many members of our English Department can be seen as public intellectuals. I am aware of numerous examples of members of our department who make an effort to share their work as intellectuals with a broader public. Here are some examples from the past month. Paula Connolly spoke to over 150 people about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010 as part of the Personally Speaking series. Ron Lunsford was featured in an article published in the Charlotte Post in which he shared his expertise on the evolution of language. Alan Rauch received a two-year appointment to the Baldwin Library Scholars Council with the expectation that he will help develop programming for the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, which is located in Gainesville, Florida. These are just three recent cases of members of our English Department sharing their academic expertise and intellectual insights with the larger public. Such engagement is a hallmark of public intellectuals.

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:

Katie Hogan recently presented a paper titled “Nature as ‘Safe House’ in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home” at UNC Asheville’s Navigating Normativities: Queer Studies Conference.

Paula Martinac, who teaches a creative writing course as a part-time faculty member, recently presented a paper titled “The Magical History Tour: Imagining the Lesbian Past” at UNC Asheville’s Navigating Normativities: Queer Studies Conference.

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

April 8 — Matt Johnson will give a presentation titled “Pressing Matters: The Conservation of Books and their Enduring Legacy” as part of the Julian D. Mason Talks on Rare Books. The event will take place at the Atkins Library’s Halton Room and will begin at 3:30 p.m.

April 8 — A poetry reading featuring Anne-Marie Fyfe and C. L. Dallat will take place in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B) from 5:00-6:00 pm.

Quirky Quiz Question — In thinking about Melissa Harris-Perry as a public intellectual, I am reminded that she both a professor at Wake Forest University and a host of a weekly television program. Does anybody know the name of the network that airs the Melissa Harris-Perry Show?

Women of the World — UNC Charlotte’s International Women’s Day Celebration took place on March 26, 2015. Both Pilar Blitvich and Boyd Davis were among the 2015 Honorees who were celebrated at the event. This much deserved recognition underscores the prominent roles that the English Department’s faculty, staff, and students have long played in supporting women’s and gender studies on our campus. I think it worth noting that the first director of UNC Charlotte’s Women’s Studies Program was Shelley Crisp, who taught in the English Department at the time, and the current director of the the Women’s and Gender Studies Program is Katie Hogan, who is also a member of the English Department.

A literal example of women from the English Department playing feminist roles can be seen during Tuesday’s performance of The Vagina Monologues. This production will take place on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at 7:00 pm in the McKnight Hall. The performers include Janaka Lewis, Tiffany Morin, and Angie Williams from the English Department as well Shannon Bauerle and Allison Walsh, who are part of our department’s greater sisterhood. When Eve Ensler wrote this play in 1996, she wanted to express support for female solidarity on a global level. This theme also runs through her more recent work titled I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls around the World, which came out in 2010. Given Ensler’s global perspective, Tuesday’s performance of The Vagina Monologues is a perfect follow-up to last week’s International Women’s Day Celebration.

Sanskrit — When our friend and colleague Jim McGavran passed away at the end of last year, he was serving as a juror for Sanskrit, UNC Charlotte’s literary arts magazine. Two other members of the English Department, Chris Davis and Lara Vetter, also served as the literature jurors for this year’s edition of Sanskrit. This edition is now published. I thumbed through the issue this weekend, and I was pleased to see that it is dedicated to Jim McGavran.

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:

Sonya Brockman’s article titled “Social Anxieties and Social Metamorphosis in The Taming of the Shrew” has been published in Journal of Early Modern Studies and available online at http://www.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/15808.

Paula Connolly was interviewed by the New Books Network. The interview is part of the New Books Network’s discussion of African American Studies. Here is a link to the interview: http://newbooksinafroamstudies.com/2015/03/26/paula-t-connolly-slavery-in-american-childrens-literature-1790-2010-u-of-iowa-press-2013/

Dina Massachi, one of our graduate students, presented a paper titled “What Makes a Child’s Utopia: Thomas More and L. Frank Baum” at UNC Greensboro’s Power of Place conference.

Hannah Mayfield, one of our graduate students, presented a paper titled “Gender in the Gift Economy: Where Gender Stands in Discourse 2.0” at UNC Greensboro’s Power of Place conference.

Kirk Melnikoff has been given a contract to edit James IV by Robert Greene. The play will be printed in the Anthology of Non-Shakespearean Drama, Ed. Jeremy Lopez (Routledge, 2019).

Liz Miller recently presented a paper titled “(In)convenient fictions: Ideologies of multilingual practice and repertoires as resource for constituting identity and social order” at the Georgetown University Roundtable conference. She also presented a paper titled “The Ideology of Agency and the Neoliberal Self” at the American Association of Applied Linguistics conference in Toronto. Both papers were part of colloquia she helped organize.

Julia Morris, one of our graduate students, recently presented a paper titled “The Evolved Female Métier in Anna Kanvan’s Let Me Alone” at the 7th Annual Southeast Regional Graduate Conference held at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

Olivia Rines, a current grad student and co-president of EGSA, has been accepted into the Applied Linguistics Ph.D. at Arizona State University. She is one of only three applicants to have been offered financial support in the form of a generously funded TAship, tuition waiver and health benefits.

Becky Roeder presented a paper titled “Conflict & Community: Spanish in the Linguistic Landscape of Charlotte, NC” at the Georgetown University Roundtable in Linguistics (GURT) conference.

Megan Weaver, a graduate of our M.A. Program, has been accepted into a PhD program at Old Dominion University (with a first-year fellowship).

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

March 31 — A performance of The Vagina Monologues (faculty and staff cast) will take place on Tuesday, March 31, at 7pm in McKnight Hall (Cone Center). Angie, Janaka, and Tiffany will each be performing in this important event. This year’s production is being directed by Shannon Bauerle, a former English grad student, ELC Coordinator and part-time instructor. All proceeds will benefit Safe Alliance. Admission tickets are $10. For admission ticket and a t-shirt $15. ONLY CASH will be taken at the door. To purchase tickets online:https://ecom.uncc.edu/C21561_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=104&SINGLESTORE=true

April 2 — Micah Nathan, our visiting creative writing professor, will have a reading/book signing at Park Road Books (4139 Park Road) on Thursday, April 2, at 7:00 pm. If you need directions to the bookstore, please click on the following link: http://www.parkroadbooks.com/

April 8 — Matt Johnson will give a presentation titled “Pressing Matters: The Conservation Books and their Enduing Legacy” as part of the Julian D. Mason Talks on Rare Books. The event will take place at the Atkins Library’s Halton Room and will begin at 3:30 p.m.

April 8 — A poetry reading featuring Anne-Marie Fyfe and C.L. Dallat will take place in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B) from 5:00-6:00 pm.

Quirky Quiz Question — In remembering the role that Shelley Crisp played in establishing UNC Charlotte’s Women’s Studies Program, I am reminded that Shelley went on to become the Executive Director of a major nonprofit organization in North Carolina. Does anybody know the name of the organization that Shelley headed?

Last week’s answer: University of Iowa Press

Tuesday — As the days of the week go, Tuesdays are usually unremarkable, but every now and then a remarkable Tuesday comes along. David Wiesner’s picture book Tuesday deals with such a day. In this Caldecott-winning book, an amazing phenomenon occurs one “Tuesday evening, around eight.” Hundreds of frogs are sitting on their lily pads in a quiet pond when suddenly the lily pads levitate. Flying on their lily pads, the frogs swoop into a nearby town and have a series of wild nocturnal adventures. Well, in our own way, we are about to have a remarkable Tuesday, too. We will start soaring tomorrow at 11:00 with the first of our English Major Day events, and we will continue with our adventures into the evening with Paula Connolly’s presentation for the Personally Speaking Series.

This year’s English Major Day features three workshops and a keynote address by Micah Nathan. The first workshop is titled “The English Major as Preparation for a 21st-Century Career” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 11:00-12:15. The second workshop is on “Preparing for Graduate School” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 12:30-1:45. The final workshop is titled “Publishing a Book” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 2:00-3:15. Micah’s keynote address is titled “In Defense of the English Major.” He will speak in Storrs 110 starting at 4:00 pm. For more information about English Major Day, please click on the following link: http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/English_Majors_Days_2015_R.pdf

Paula Connolly’s presentation for the Personally Speaking Series will begin at 6:30 pm in the Halton Reading Room of Atkins Library. She will talk about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010. A reception and book signing will follow at 7:30 pm.

As you make your plans for Tuesday, please make every effort to attend as many of these events as you can fit into your schedule. Also, please encourage your students to participate in these events. If you are flying in on a lily pad, let me know and I will try to arrange for special lily pad parking for you.

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:

JuliAnn Ávila recently published a chapter titled “Traveling Down a Desire Line: Surviving Where Community and Academia Meet” in a volume titled Reimagining the Public Intellectual in Education: Making Scholarship Matter.

Pilar Blitvich recently presented a paper titled “Transnational Identity and Citizen Discourse: Latinos Versus Immigrants” at the Georgetown Round Table on Linguistics Conference: Diversity, Super-diversity: Socio-cultural Linguistics Perspectives. The conference was held at Georgetown University on March 13-15.

Lil Brannon had an essay titled “Unintended Consequences” published in the February issue of College Composition and Communication.

Nicole Cruse, one of our graduate students, has been accepted into the linguistics PhD Program at the University of Connecticut. She has also been chosen as an IGERT Fellow, which includes a substantial stipend. She’ll start there in the fall.

Laura Erturk, a graduate of our M.A. program, has been accepted into the linguistics PhD Program at the University of South Carolina. She’ll start there in the fall.

Jeffrey Leak recently participated in the Virginia Festival of the Book. He was one of the featured authors for a panel on “African Americans in Mid-Century America: Power, Literature, and the Black List.”

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

March 24 — The English Major Day will take place on March 24. The event will include three workshops and a keynote address by Micah Nathan.

March 24 — Paula Connolly will give the fourth and final presentation in this year’s Personally Speaking Series. The event will take place at the Atkins Library and will begin at 6:30 p.m. She will speak about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010.

March 27 — The English Department Meeting will take place in the Conference Room from 11:00-12:30.

March 27 — Balaka Basu will deliver a presentation titled “Play the Game: Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature” in the Conference Room from 1:00-2:00. This presentation is sponsored by the English Department’s Faculty Development Committee.

Quirky Quiz Question — Paula Connolly’s talk for the Personally Speaking Series will focus on her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010. This book was published by the same press that published two of Jim McGavran’s collections. Does anyone know the name of this press?

Last week’s answer – Dennis Kay

Studying Abroad — Last week I received a report about our English majors who are studying abroad during this academic year. The report includes a listing of the countries where our majors have gone to study. These countries include Australia, Brazil, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. What stands out in this report is the large number of our students who went to London over the spring break as part of our Shakespeare in England course (ENGL 4050/5050). Andrew Hartley is the faculty member in charge of this class. I recently asked Andrew about the course, and he provided me with the following information:

“Fourteen students (mainly English and theatre majors) spent a week in London and Stratford, a packed trip which included six theatre productions and visits to such landmarks as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Hampton Court. One of the highlights was a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament by Baroness Josie Farrington, a sitting peer in the House of Lords, including observing Question Time and being admitted to the thirteenth century undercroft chapel which is not generally open to the public. In Stratford the group got to relax in the pub with the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Productions we had seen (Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, and a stunning staging of Dekker’s Shoemaker’s Holiday). We had performance workshops there and at the Globe, and the students learned the delights of pasties, pints of bitter, and some of the best Indian food in the world! They were a wonderful group: punctual, amiable and enthusiastic throughout.”

I have talked with several of the students who went on this trip, and they describe it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As these students know, the experience of studying abroad is often a highlight in our students’ college years. I know that for my son (who turns 22 today) the experience of studying architecture in Barcelona last fall proved to be a wonderful and very memorable semester. I encourage all of us to help make this experience a reality for more of our students.

Seuss-a-Thon — This past Saturday the fourth annual Seuss-a-Thon took place at Park Road Books, and it was a great success. Co-sponsored by the English Department and Park Road Books, the Seuss-a-Thon is tied to the National Education Association’s Read Across America event. I am very pleased with the English Department’s enthusiastic support of this event. Numerous faculty and staff members participated, including Valerie Bright, Sarah Minslow, Meg Morgan, Tiffany Morin, Anita Moss, Jen Munroe, Alan Rauch, and Angie Williams. The participants also included a number of our current students, including Angelica Chakraborty, Shannon Homesley, Amanda Loeffert, Julia Morris, Joye Palmer, and Nancy Partridge. Tiffany Morin and the English Learning Community ran a crafts table where children created all sorts of Dr. Seuss-related art projects. Two faculty members from the College of Education—Heather Coffey and Adriana Medina— also participated. For more information about the Seuss-a-Thon, please click on the following link: https://exchange.uncc.edu/2015-seuss-a-thon-to-feature-favorite-author-books/

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 recently published an article titled “Reframing History: Insider/Outsider Paradigms in Ten Books about Slavery” in Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 6.2 (Winter 2014): 134-147.

Adam Padgett, a graduate of our M.A. program, has been accepted into the Composition and Rhetoric PhD Program at the University of South Carolina. He’ll start there in the fall with an assistantship, tuition waiver, and stipend.

Ralf Thiede recently published a review of Hugh Crago’s Entranced by Story: Brain, Tale and Teller, from Infancy to Old Age. His review appeared the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 40.1 (Spring 2015): 85-88.

Heather Vorhies recently learned that her paper “Doing Business Over There: Misunderstanding Early Nineteenth Century Women’s Writing in the Place of Business” has been accepted for presentation at the Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference to be held at Arizona State University, October 28-31, 2015.

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

March 16 — In collaboration with Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, the Early African American Women Writers class (ENG 3050) will host Dr. Trimiko Melancon, author of Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation and co-editor of Black Female Sexualities, on Monday, March 16 at 5 pm in Fretwell 206 for a talk on Black Women, Sexuality, and Culture. Books will be available at 4:30. This event is open to interested faculty, students, and the public.

March 24 — The English Major Day will take place on March 24. The event will include three workshops and a keynote address by Micah Nathan. Here is a link to the schedule: http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/English_Majors_Days_2015_R.pdf

On March 24 — Paula Connolly will give the fourth and final presentation in this year’s Personally Speaking Series. The event will take place at the Atkins Library and will begin at 6:30 p.m. She will speak about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010.

Quirky Quiz Question — This semester Andrew Hartley is teaching the Shakespeare in England course. As many of you know, Andrew is the Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare. Andrew is the second professor to hold this position. Does anybody remember the name of the first person to hold this position?

Last week’s answer: Beth Gargano and Susan Gardner