{"id":2058,"date":"2019-11-25T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2019-11-25T09:38:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T14:38:10","slug":"monday-missive-november-25-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2019\/11\/25\/monday-missive-november-25-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – November 25, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Giving Thanks<\/strong>\u00a0— With Thanksgiving just around the corner and the end of my term as chair of our English Department just around the next corner, I decided to devote this Monday Missive to expressing my thanks to all of you. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank you for not factionalizing along disciplinary lines.\u00a0 We are a very diverse department, encompassing\u00a0creative writing, digital studies, film studies, linguistics, literature, pedagogy, technical communication, and several other fields of study.\u00a0 We could have easily broken up into competing\u00a0factions, but I am grateful that we chose not to go down that road.\u00a0 Instead, we try to support and learn from one another.\u00a0 I think it is significant that Liz Miller (a linguistics professor) recently served as a literary judge for\u00a0Sanskrit<\/em>, the students’ literary\/arts journal.\u00a0 Such willingness to reach across disciplinary lines is more the norm than the exception in our department.\u00a0 Fulfilling my responsibilities\u00a0as chair would have been much more difficult if we were a factionalized department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank you for taking such a supportive interest in our colleagues’ work and for wholeheartedly\u00a0celebrating our colleagues’ successes.\u00a0 Whenever I announce a faculty member’s accomplishment, such as the publication of a book or the awarding of a grant, the whole department chimes in with congratulatory emails.\u00a0 This aspect of the department carries over to our\u00a0curricular and administrative successes.\u00a0 At last week’s department meeting, we spontaneously applauded the accomplishments of faculty members who have built curricular programs, such as our new dual-degree MA\/MFA program in creative writing with Kingston University and our highly successful departmental honors program.\u00a0 Many academic departments are divided by rivalry but not our department.\u00a0 For me, serving as the chair of such a community-oriented department has been a source of pleasure and satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank you for your ongoing commitment to teaching our students.\u00a0 We have a strong record in research and publishing, but our success in the areas of research and publishing does not lessen our dedication to teaching.\u00a0 One of the highpoints for me during my time as chair came in 2017 when the Department of English received\u00a0the Provost\u2019s Award for Excellence in Teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank our amazing staff for their many contributions to the smooth functioning of our department and for helping me in my role as chair.\u00a0 Throughout my seven and a half years in this role, Angie, Jennie, and Monica have made my job much easier.\u00a0 Because of Angie, I have been able to deal with the department’s budget. \u00a0 Whenever I need information about particular courses, Jennie always has the answer.\u00a0 When I decide to install a new exhibit in the departmental display case, Monica joins forces with me and adds her own creative touches.\u00a0 These are just a few of the many examples of how I have benefitted from the help provided by the legendary terrific trio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I thank everyone in the English Department, both past and present, for recognizing the value of children’s literature.\u00a0 One of the reasons\u00a0our English Department is recognized in the English-speaking world as a major center for the study of children’s literature is because the entire department has given its support to the development of our children’s literature program.\u00a0 In fact, a number of our faculty members who were not originally hired as specialists in children’s literature have taken an interest in children’s literature and have published in the field.\u00a0 Examples of such faculty members include Janaka Lewis, Maya Socolovsky, and Ralf Thiede.\u00a0 This level of support is not the norm in many English departments.\u00a0 I know children’s literature specialists from other\u00a0English departments who often feel that they have to defend the legitimacy of their courses and their scholarship.\u00a0 I am grateful for the support that you have given me and the other children’s literature faculty members over the years. \u00a0
I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birth of a Journal<\/strong>\u00a0— \u00a0After noticing that there was not a North Carolina state journal for English teachers, Meghan Barnes worked with colleagues at NC State (Michelle Falter) and UNC Greensboro (Amy Vetter) to develop one. Meghan, Michelle, and Amy successfully proposed the journal to the NCETA board last fall and have just published their first issue as co-editors. The journal is titled\u00a0Fringes<\/em>, to represent and celebrate the practices and research that educators are doing that are unconventional and peripheral, or fringe. The journal is peer-reviewed and publishes a combination of empirical research articles, practitioner articles for teachers, and creative pieces. For more information about\u00a0Fringes<\/em>, please click on this link:\u00a0http:\/\/www.ncenglishteachersassociation.org\/journal\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kudos<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.\u00a0 Here is the latest news:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meghan Barnes<\/strong>\u00a0recently delivered the following two papers at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference in\u00a0Baltimore: \u00a0“Drafting A Win-Win: Maximizing Learning for Pre-Service Teachers and Students Through Digital Writing Spaces”\u00a0and” Creating Spaces for Inquiry through Expanded Notions of Communities and Texts.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmin Gonzalez Caban<\/strong>, a recent graduate of our M.A. program, recently presented a paper titled “A Multiplicity of Monsters: Coping with Death in\u00a0A Monster Calls<\/em>\u00a0by Patrick Ness” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference held in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon Murphy<\/strong>, one of our graduate students, recently presented a paper titled “Circe as Monster? Redefining the Monster in Madeline Miller\u2019s Circe<\/em>” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference held in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clayton Tarr<\/strong>\u00a0recently published an article titled “Big Oil: Petroleum Politics in Edward Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s\u00a0The Coming Race<\/em>\u201d in\u00a0Symbiosis\u00a0<\/em>19.2 (Fall 2019).\u00a0 He also presented a related paper titled\u00a0\u201cEdward Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s Petroleum Politics: Democracy and Vril in\u00a0The Coming Race<\/em>\u201d at the Victorians Institute, Charleston, SC (November 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Events and Deadlines<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 9 — The English Department holiday party will be held from 11:30-1:30 on Monday, December 9, in the department lounge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirky Quiz Question<\/strong>\u00a0— There are many traditions associated with Thanksgiving, including a large parade in New York CIty.\u00a0 What is the name of this parade? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week’s answer: Look Homeward Angel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Rebecca Denny’s interest in the writings of John Milton overlaps with Paula Eckard’s interest in the writings of Thomas Wolfe.\u00a0 The title of one of Wolfe’s novels is based on a line from Milton’s poem\u00a0<\/em>Lycidas.\u00a0\u00a0What is the title of this novel by Wolfe? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Giving Thanks\u00a0— With Thanksgiving just around the corner and the end of my term as chair of our English Department just around the next corner, I decided to devote this Monday Missive to expressing my thanks to all of you. \u00a0 I thank you for not factionalizing along disciplinary lines.\u00a0 We are a very diverse […]<\/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-2058","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\/2058","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=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2084,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/2084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}