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?

I just returned from Columbia, South Carolina, where I attended the Children’s Literature Association Conference on “Diverging Diversities: Plurality in Children’s and Young Adult Literature.” Our children’s literature faculty, graduate students and former graduate students were not only well represented in terms of numbers, but they also gave excellent presentations.

Anita Moss delivered a paper that she and Boyd Davis co-authored on “Diversity from Trauma and Dementia in Literature for Children and Adolescents.” Daniel Shealy gave a presentation on “Louisa May Alcott’s Lost Wonder Book,” and Paula Connolly read a paper titled “Integrating the New Republic: Representations of Race in Early American Children’s Literature.” Sarah Minslow presented a paper on “Victorian Attitudes Towards Otherness: Exclusion and Diverging Diversities in Edward Lear’s Nonsense,” and I presented on “Dr. Seuss’s Globalism.” Balaka Basu participated on a panel on “Building a Career in Children’s Literature” and was honored during the awards banquet for winning a Children’s Literature Association Faculty Research Grant.

Several of our graduate students and former graduate students presented papers. Brook Blaylock delivered a paper on “Exploring the Ghost of Voodoo Haunting: The Narrative Construction of Nick Lake’s In Darkness.” Julia Morris presented a paper titled “Inequality of Education and Its Damage to Women and Children in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions.” Traci Cruey, who just graduated from our MA program in May, read a paper on “The Girl in the Tower: The Patriarchal Worlds of Disney’s Tangled and Naploi’s Zel.” Finally, Joanne Rohan, who graduated from our MA program a few years ago, presented a paper titled “Soupy Grits and Turnip Greens: Negotiating Culture and Gaining Acceptance at the Southern Table in Dori Sanders’ Clover.”

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:

Aimee Parkison recently returned from Athens, Greece, where she taught a course on flash fiction at the International Creative Writing Summer School, which is affiliated with Kingston University.

Alan Rauch’s Dolphin recently received a glowing review from the Times Literary Supplement.

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 — This year’s Children’s Literature Association Conference took place very near the campus of the University of South Carolina. Among the members of the English Department, who graduated from the University of South Carolina? There is more than one correct response.

Charlotte Research Scholars — For many faculty members in the English Department, summer is when they focus on their research. This summer, however, a number of faculty members in our department are involving undergraduate students in their research. These faculty members are participating in the Charlotte Research Scholars (CRS) program. Started in 2012, this program provides high-achieving undergraduate students with opportunities to work alongside faculty members on research projects. Initially, CRS emphasized the sciences, but now the program draws students from across a wide range of disciplines, including English. As part of this summer program, Sarah Minslow and Greg Wickliff are leading writing workshops for the CRS students. The faculty members from English who are serving as CRS mentors this summer are Janaka Lewis, Kirk Melnikoff, Sarah Minslow, Alan Rauch, and Greg Wickliff.

Janaka is the research mentor for a student named Ashley Burch. The title of Ashley’s project is “Images and Perceptions of Black Women in African American Literature.” In addition to assisting with Janaka’s research, Ashley is conducting her own research on representations of success and perceptions of social and physical mobility for African American women writers in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Kirk and Alan are jointly mentoring English student Nadia Clifton as she researches the remarkable collection of plays, pantomimes, and operas (ranging from the 17th to the early 19th centuries) that are part of the Princess Augusta Sophia Collection in Special Collections at the J. Murrey Atkins. Nadia is learning about book history and textual bibliography as she works through the collection guided by a spreadsheet (designed by Alan and Kirk) that includes categories for marginalia, binding, royal monographs, ownership stamps, along with conventional bibliographic data.

Sarah is working with Kate Galindo to assess the use of children’s and young adult literature to teach the Holocaust in Charlotte Mecklenberg Schools (CMS) middle schools (grades 6-8). The study of this literature is the core of Sarah’s War and Genocide in Children’s Literature course. For this project, Kate will complete a literature review to establish what critics see as the essential aspects of the Holocaust that should be taught to middle school students and what children’s literature critics see as the general guidelines of writing about war and genocide for young audiences. Kate and Sarah will also administer a survey for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) middle school teachers that will be emailed to all History/Social Studies and English teachers. Kate and Sarah will begin developing a curriculum guide for middle school teachers that relates to teaching the Holocaust and other genocides using children’s and young adult literature.

Alan is mentoring Melanie Carty on a project titled “Private Subscription Libraries in 19th-Century England: Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.” These libraries represent a cross-section of industrial or recreational cities in the early nineteenth century, where the interest in science and technology amongst members was strong. Melanie will examine the records of these libraries between 1800 and 1830 in an effort to determine: 1.) who readers were; 2.) what books were being purchased; 3.) what books were being borrowed/read; and, 4.) how books were being used. As the project moves forward, she will develop a strong sense of library history and practices, as well as a deep understand of book history, to say nothing of how knowledge was disseminated in the Regency Period.

Greg is working with Christopher Burton on a project titled “John William Draper and 19th-Century American Science.” They are conducting primary research for an article about John William Draper’s June 1860 paper given at Oxford on Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Draper’s paper is one of the earliest responses to Darwin’s book by a member of the scientific community.

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 three poems published in the Summer 2014 issue of The Kenyon Review, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. One of her poems is also featured on The Kenyon Review website, which can be found here: http://www.kenyonreview.org/journal/summer-2014/selections/allison-hutchcraft/

Lauren Klein, an English major, was selected as a winner of the United Nations Academic Impact Contest for an essay titled “Many Languages, One World.” Lauren wrote her winning essay in Russian.

Juan Menses has been appointed editor of H-Empire, an interdisciplinary online network under the H-NET Commons academic platform.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

June 21 — Jeffrey Leak will sign copies of Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas at Park Road Books at

2:00 pm on Saturday, June 21, 2014

. Please click on this link for more information: http://exchange.uncc.edu/event/jeffrey-leak-book-signing/

Partnerships — The University’s website includes links to recent press releases, and last week one of these releases caught my attention. Titled “Charlotte Teachers Institute Partners with Discovery Place and Gantt Center,” this release relates directly to two faculty members in the English Department: Alan Rauch and Paula Connolly. Both Alan and Paula are leading seminars for the Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) in 2014, and both are drawing on the resources of Charlotte museums. Alan is leading a seminar on “The Intersections of Science, Technology and Culture,” and his seminar will meet at Discovery Place. Paula’s seminar is called “Visual Storytelling in Children’s and Young Adult Literature,” and she is holding her seminar at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture. For more information about these partnerships, please click on the following link: http://publicrelations.uncc.edu/news-events/news-releases/charlotte-teachers-institute-partners-discovery-place-and-gantt-center

Alan and Paula are by no means the only faculty members in the English Department who have partnered with Charlotte-area institutions and organizations. Two other examples that immediately come to mind are Jeffrey Leak and Lil Brannon. Through his work as the Director for the Center for the Study of the New South, Jeffrey often collaborates with the Levine Museum of the New South, and he has held several programs at the Levine Museum. About a year ago, he worked together with the museum’s administrators and staff in co-sponsoring a conference. Through her work with the Charlotte Writers Project, Lil has collaborated with a number of Charlotte organizations. Recently Lil received a substantial grant from the National Writing Project to fund a collaborative program involving the Charlotte Writing Project and Discovery Place. Titled “Making STEAM,” this program encourages Charlotte-area students to write across numerous disciplines, including science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). Through such partnerships, the faculty members in our department have an impact that extends well beyond the boundaries of our campus.

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:

Brittney Chalmers, one of our graduate students, is spotlighted in the Graduate School’s newsletter (The Graduate Source) for being the recipient of 2014-15 John Paul Lucas, Jr. Scholarship for Educational Leadership.

Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War received a rave review from the Chicago Tribune. Here is the link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/chi-wynnes-war-aaron-gwyn-20140606,0,4346196.story

Jeffrey Leak will be a guest on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks on Thursday, June 19. He will talk about his new book Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

June 21 — Jeffrey Leak will sign copies of Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas at Park Road Books at 2:00 pm on Saturday, June 21, 2014.

Quirky Quiz Question — The above mentioned news release about the Charlotte Teachers Institute seminars reminds me that English faculty have led more CTI seminars than the faculty from any other department at UNC Charlotte. Who is the English faculty member who led a CTI seminar in 2013?

June — Did you ever see the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel? I always think about Carousel around this time of the year because it features the famous song “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over.” When I was a junior in high school I performed in Carousel. The director made sure I had one of the few non-singing roles. I played the part of the stodgy banker who ends up shooting Billy Bigelow, the central character in the play. Nevertheless, I have great memories of being in the play, and I believe that the experience of performing a role in this play has carried over to my teaching career. When I teach, for example, I often act out scenes from the books that I am covering.

Another way in which performing and teaching can go together is when professors have their students take a performative approach to the texts that they are studying. Several professors in the English Department take such an approach in their classes. I know that that Kirk Melnikoff and Jen Munroe have their students act out scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. Similarly, Beth Gargano has her students perform versions of fairy tales. Lil Brannon encourages the students in her English education courses to engage in role playing. I am sure that there are other examples, and I would love to hear about them. Sometimes stories need to bust out from the pages of books. As I see it, June is a great time for stories to be bustin’ out all over.

Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. For those people who think English faculty sit back and relax over the summer, the following listing will prove them wrong. Here is the latest news:

Paula Connolly recently received a Caleb Loring, Jr. Fellowship from the Boston Athenaeum for 2014-2015 (for a 4-week residency). Also, her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature just received a glowing review from the Journal of American History.

Amanda Dykema, a former graduate of our M.A. program in literature, received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland last weekend. She has accepted a two-year Visiting Assistant Professor position at Rhodes College.

Aaron Gwyn recently published an essay in the Huffington Post titled “Nine Classic Contemporary Westerns You Need to Read” Here is the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-gwyn/9-classic-contemporary-we_b_5397760.html?utm_hp_ref=books

Jeffrey Leak presented a paper titled “Robert Hayden: A Man of Few Poetic Boundaries” at the Ninth Biennial MESEA (Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas) Conference, which took place at Saarland University in Saarbruken, in Germany.

Malin Pereira presented a paper titled “Crossing Race, Class, and Nation: Natasha Trethewey’s Mixed Race Interrogations in Beyond Katrina and Thrall” at the Ninth Biennial MESEA (Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas) Conference, which took place at Saarland University in Saarbruken, in Germany.

Daniel Shealy presented “‘Playing with Edge Tools’: Teaching Louisa May Alcott’s Moods” at the American Literature Association conference on 24 May in Washington, DC. Also, his book Little Women: An Annotated Edition just received a glowing review from The Lion and the Unicorn.

Lara Vetter delivered a keynote address entitled “H.D., World War II, and Forms of Mysticism” at a conference on Women Modernists and Spirituality at the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK, on May 23, 2014.

Quirky Quiz Question — Carousel takes place in the state of Maine. Maine is also the home of several prestigious colleges, including the college where Nathanial Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were once students. What is the name of the college?

Today is Memorial Day.  Although it is a federal holiday and there are no classes today, the University does not close on Memorial Day.  While thinking about what I should say about Memorial Day in today’s Monday Missive, a series of associations came to mind.

Memorial Day is intended to commemorate members of the military who lost their lives in the line of duty.  I am fortunate in that no one in my immediate family died while in service, but I had a high school friend who died in the Vietnam War, and I always think about him on Memorial Day. Angie’s son, Josh Edwards, served in Afghanistan along with his best friend, whose name was also Josh.  Angie’s son survived his tour in Afghanistan, but his best friend, Josh Blaney, was killed in action.  Angie has a photograph of the two Joshes in her office, and every time I see that photograph, I am reminded of the high cost of war.

Memorial Day got its start shortly after the Civil War.  Initially it was called Decoration Day because on this day people decorated the graves of soldiers who died during the Civil War.  In a sense, Memorial Day is one of many reminders of the continuing impact of the Civil War on our culture.   In reflecting on this aspect of American history, I am reminded that both Daniel Shealy and Paula Connolly have taken a scholarly interest in this topic.  Daniel is currently working on a book about the pivotal role that the town of Concord, Massachusetts, played in the Civil War, and Paula has written extensively on the impact of the Civil War on American children’s literature, especially as it pertains to the issue of slavery.

Of course, Memorial Day is also associated with the beginning of summer. For many people Memorial Day means backyard cookouts, family gatherings, and NASCAR events.   For me, the kick-off of summer has associations with planting tomatoes. My father always waited until the end of May before he put his tomato plants outside, which made sense for him, given that he was gardening in the mountains of Colorado where it often snowed in May.  In Charlotte, we don’t get snow storms in May, but I still waited until yesterday to plant my tomatoes.    

My last association with Memorial Day has to do with my birthday, which is tomorrow.   Since Memorial Day and my birthday are always so close together, the two days blur together in my addled brain.  However, I will always remember that on my second birthday I got a wonderful birthday present, although I did not recognize it at the time.  My sister, Anna, was born on my second birthday.  According to my parents, when they brought Anna home from the hospital, they told me that she was my birthday present, and I reportedly said, “But I wanted a truck.” 

So those are my associations with Memorial Day.  Whatever you are doing on this Memorial Day, I hope it’s a day to remember.

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 received a 2014 Faculty Research Grant from the Children’s Literature Association for a project titled “Playing the Game:  Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature.”

Ron Lunsford presented a paper titled “Manipulative Arguments in Political Speech” at EPICS VI:  Sixth International Symposium on Intercultural. Cognitive and Social Pragmatics, which took place in Seville, Spain, from May 12-15, 2014.  

Liz Miller recently learned that her co-edited volume titled Interdisciplinary Approaches to Theorizing and Analyzing Agency and Second Language Learning has been accepted for publication by Multilingual Matters. Her co-editors include Ping Deters, Xuesong Gao and Gergana Vitanova.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

May 27 — Aaron Gwyn will read from his new novel, Wynne’s War, at Park Road Books at 7:00 pm.

Quirky Quiz Question — The subject of Balaka Basu’s recent faculty research grant (see above) relates to her larger research project on the relationship between games and children’s literature.  She is currently on a research trip related to this project.  Where is the world is Balaka Basu? 

Of War and Literature — With the publication of Wynne’s War, Aaron Gwyn joins an impressive list of authors and poets who have responded through their writing to war and al of war’s complexities and high costs. As is the case with Aaron’s novel, many war stories combine intensely personal stories and far larger stories of geo-political conflict. This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War One, and there are many great works of literature that respond to this war. In my view, Wynne’s War and its depiction of the complexities of the current war in Afghanistan pairs up well with some of the war novels that deal with the complexities of the First World War. Here is a list of a few literary works about World War One that I recommend:

C.S. Foster’s The African Queen (1935)
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms 1929).
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside (1921).
Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
Jeff Shaara’s To the Last Man (2005)
Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun (1939)
Candace Ward’s World War One British Poets (1997)

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:

Liz Miller recently presented a talk to the Linguistic Circle at the University of Edinburgh titled “Adult Immigrants’ ‘Theories of Agency’ as Dialogical Performatives.”

Meaghan Rand received her Ph.D. in the Urban Literacy (English) at the recent commencement ceremony. Tony Scott directed her dissertation, and Lil Brannon participated at the ceremony to “hood” her. She currently is a full-time Lecturer in the FYW program.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

May 20 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade for the first summer session.

Quirky Quiz Question — Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War deals with the current war in Afghanistan. The publication of this novel reminds me that Angie William’s son served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Does anyone know his first name?

Commencement — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its first stand-alone commencement ceremony, and for nearly 90 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates. A total of 14 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 74 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 74 students, 15 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 5 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0). This total comes to 27 students, which means that 36.5% of our graduate seniors earned this special distinction. 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 Kristin Nichole Brown, Yekaterina N. Dolmatova, Mary-Elizabeth Greene, Sarah Elizabeth Story, and Breanne Elaine Weber.

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:

Monica Alston recently completed all of the training workshops to earn certification in the Grants and Contract Administration Program. She will receive her certificate this afternoon during a special ceremony for the staff who have completed this rigorous training program.

Ron Lunsford recently learned that a book he co-edited some years ago titled Linguistic Perspectives on Literature has just been re-released by Routledge Library Editions.

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

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

May 20 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — The recent re-release on Ron Lunsford’s book Linguistic Perspectives on Literature underscores for me many ways in which members of our department combine linguistics and literature. Another example of this approach is the recent publication of a special issue of the Southern Journal of Linguistics on “Linguistics and Child Literature.” Who is the member of our department who served as the guest editor of this issue?

Two long-time friends of the English Department are about to retire.  Jo Ann Fernald (the Director of the Office of Disability Services) and Pamela King (the Director of Sponsored Research for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) are both retiring at the end of this academic year.  Like many of you, I have had extensive contact with both of these colleagues, and I have long been impressed with their professionalism and dedication.   Over the years, Jo Ann has helped me better serve my students who have various disabilities, and I know that she and her staff have helped countless students succeed in their studies at UNC Charlotte.   My connections with Pam King go back to the day she interviewed for her current position.  I was working in the Dean’s office at the time, and I remember thinking that she would be a perfect person for the position.  In her ten years at UNC Charlotte, Pam has not only provided leadership and expertise in the area of sponsored research, but she has also played a major role in cultivating the College’s support for research.  I’ve long been impressed with her willingness to help all faculty members with their grant proposals even if their grants were for comparatively small amounts of money.  Both Jo Ann and Pam are looking forward to their new adventures, and I know that we all wish them well, but they should also know that they will be missed.

Graduate Program News — Pilar Blitvich and I recently talked about encouraging developments in our graduate program, and we thought we should share some of this news the department.  In addition to our regular seven TAships, tied to the WRC/FYWP, this year we were able to secure two exceptional student awards, which waive the student’s first-year tuition costs, and two New Time Limited Assistantship funds ($10,000 each). Furthermore, our three prospect courses (taught by Jen, Kirk, and Ralf) also generated Taships.  Moreover, we were able to offer a Dean’s Graduate Scholar Award to an incoming English Education student.  We are also very pleased to report that Robin Kello was awarded the Russell Robinson Scholarship.

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 published a co-authored article titled  “Despierten, Latinos” (Wake up, Latinos): Latino Identity, US politics, and YouTube” in Journal of Language and Politics.  She has also had a number of other articles and book chapters recently accepted for publication. 

Kaitlyn Chapman, an undergraduate student in Jen Munroe’s interdisciplinary honors course on food systems and sustainability, won first place for the Honors College for her poster at the recent Undergraduate Research Conference. 

Nicholas DeArmas, one of our graduate students, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in rhetoric and composition at the University of Central Florida with full funding. 

Alan Rauch recently learned that Scientific Americans : The Making of Popular Science and Evolution in Early-twentieth-century U.S. Literature and Culture by John Bruni was just published in the series that Alan edits (with Martin Willis)  for University of Wales Press (distributed in the US by University of Chicago Press) called Intersections in Literature and Science.  It is the first book in the series.  Also,  Alan was the sole guest on Charlotte Talks on April 25th (http://wfae.org/post/alan-rauch).  He discussed his book Dolphin.

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

May 10 — The CLAS Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 10^th beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Please forward the letter to all EPA and SPA staff members in your departments.April 30 — The English Department meeting will take place in the Library (Atkins Room 130) from 11:00-12:30.

May 12 — Final grades for the Spring 2014 semester must be submitted by Monday, May 12th at noon. 

Quirky Quiz Question — Alan’s news about being a recent guest on the radio show titled Charlotte Talks underscores for me the importance of this show in terms of Charlotte’s cultural scene.  Who is the host of this show?  For extra credit, who are some other English faculty members who have recently been guests on Charlotte Talks?