I just got back from presenting a paper at the 5th Annual Public Intellectuals Conference. \u00a0This conference has a cap of 25 participants, and it’s unlike any other conference that I regularly attend. \u00a0Everyone sits around a conference table for two days. \u00a0Each participant gives a presentation for about 15 minutes, and then the entire group discusses the presentation for another 15 minutes. \u00a0The conference is amazingly interdisciplinary in nature. \u00a0This year the participants included scholars from English, history, sociology, psychology, communication studies, political science, and philosophy. \u00a0 The experience of interacting in a scholarly way with academics from such diverse backgrounds underscored for me the value of approaching problems and topics from a variety of academic disciplines.<\/p>\n
From my perspective, one of the great strengths of our English Department is our receptivity to interdisciplinary studies. \u00a0This strength is reflected in the active participation of our faculty in the American Studies Program, the Center for the Study of the New South, the Gerontology Program,\u00a0the IDEAS (Infrastructure, Design, Environment, and Sustainability) Center,\u00a0the M.A. Program in Liberal Studies, the Minor in Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. \u00a0 There are more faculty from the English Department represented among the directors of such programs than from any other department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.<\/span><\/p>\n Jennie Mussington and Her Super Powers<\/span><\/b> \u2014 A month or two ago I was channel surfing when I came upon a show on the History Channel called Stan Lee’s Superhumans: \u00a0Real Humans with Super\u00a0Abilities. \u00a0<\/i>I watched for a few minutes and saw a young man jump over a car racing toward him at 60 miles per hour (do not try this at home or the parking deck). \u00a0I know only one person with\u00a0super\u00a0human abilities, and that person is Jennie Mussington. \u00a0Jennie has an uncanny ability to win\u00a0contests. \u00a0Over the years, Jennie has won five\u00a0TVs, a Jeep, a camper, a bicycle, a trip to San\u00a0Francisco\u00a0to watch a 49ers game, sports\u00a0memorabilia, and lots of smaller prizes. \u00a0This past weekend she won $104 from a local radio\u00a0station. Jumping over moving cars is\u00a0impressive, but I am even more impressed with Jennie’s super powers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Kudos<\/span><\/b>\u2014 As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to \u00a0share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. \u00a0Here is the latest news:<\/span><\/p>\n Boyd Davis<\/span><\/b>‘s proposal to the Veterans Administration, “Story-Call: E-mobile Support for Community Caregivers of Veterans with Dementia,” has been selected for funding. This is a 3-year project.<\/span><\/p>\n Susan Gardner<\/span><\/b>, together with Vail Carter (UNC Charlotte’s first Native American\u00a0graduate), gave a presentation at UNC Pembroke this past weekend. The title of their\u00a0presentation\u00a0is “Why Is Telling Our Lives a Subversive\u00a0Thing to Do?” \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Janaka Lewis<\/span><\/b> recently\u00a0<\/span>presented a paper titled “A Black Woman’s Guide to Freedom and Southern Conduct” at the College Language Association Conference in New Orleans. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Kirk Melnikoff<\/span><\/b> led the workshop “Digital Resources for the Early Modern Book Trade”\u00a0at the annual Shakespeare Association of America meeting in St. Louis.<\/span><\/p>\n Juan Meneses <\/span><\/b>has an essay in the recently published collection\u00a0The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World<\/i>\u00a0(Palgrave).\u00a0<\/i>The title of the essay\u00a0is\u00a0“‘Like in the Gringo Movies’: Translatorese and the Global in Roberto Bola\u00f1o’s\u00a02666<\/i>.”<\/span><\/p>\n Upcoming Events and Deadlines<\/span><\/b>\u2014\u00a0Here are some dates to keep in mind:<\/span><\/p>\n April 15<\/strong> \u2014 Elly Bavidge from Kingston University in London will give a presentation titled “London on Film” in the English Department Seminar Room from 3:30-4:30.<\/span><\/p>\n April 30<\/strong> \u2014 The English Department Student Awards Ceremony will take place in the Dale Halton Room in the Library from 12:30-2:00. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Quirky Quiz Question<\/span><\/b>\u00a0\u2014 The faculty in the English Department serve as the directors of several interdisciplinary programs\/centers. \u00a0Name the directors of the following interdisciplinary programs\/centers:<\/span><\/p>\n American Studies Program<\/span><\/p>\n Center for the Study of \u00a0the New South<\/span><\/p>\n M.A. Program in Liberal Studies<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just got back from presenting a paper at the 5th Annual Public Intellectuals Conference. \u00a0This conference has a cap of 25 participants, and it’s unlike any other conference that I regularly attend. \u00a0Everyone sits around a conference table for two days. \u00a0Each participant gives a presentation for about 15 minutes, and then the entire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-missive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}