{"id":2089,"date":"2019-12-16T10:18:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:18:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:18:09","slug":"monday-missive-december-16-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2019\/12\/16\/monday-missive-december-16-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – December 16, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Turning Over the Keys<\/strong>\u00a0— \u00a0On August 1, 2012, I began serving as the Interim Chair of the English Department, and on August 6 of that year, I sent out my very first Monday Missive.\u00a0 Since then I have sent you a Monday Missive every week.\u00a0 The only exceptions have been during the weeks when UNC Charlotte has been closed for the holidays and one week in March 2017 when Jen Munroe wrote the Monday Missive because I was hospitalized.\u00a0 I did some quick calculations, and I am pretty sure that today ‘s edition is the 370th Monday Missive.\u00a0 It is also the last one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I searched through my old email and found my first Monday Missive.\u00a0 In it, I used David Bowie’s song “Changes” as a springboard to discuss the changes that were taking place in the English Department at the time.\u00a0 Today’s Monday Missive is also about changes.\u00a0 At the end of this week, I am literally turning over the keys of the English Department to Paula Eckard.\u00a0 She officially becomes the new chair of our department on January 1, 2020, but she has already transformed the chair’s office and has made the space her own.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time that Paula is taking on the role of English Department Chair, Liz Miller is assuming the role of Associate Chair\/Director of Undergraduate Studies from Jen Munroe, and Beth Gargano is assuming the role of Director of the English Honors Program from Kirk Melnikoff.\u00a0 Lara Vetter is staying on in her role as the Director of Graduate Studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This current period of transition is not the first time that I have turned over the administration of a program to Paula.\u00a0 When I became an associate dean in 2002, I needed to step down as the Director of the American Studies Program.\u00a0 Paula took over the administration of the program at the time.\u00a0 During her long and successful tenure as its director, she has done an excellent job of building the American Studies Program.\u00a0 When I turned it over to her in 2002, there were\u00a0about 50 students minoring in American\u00a0Studies. Today, the program has more than 350 minors, making it one of the largest minors in the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as she did when she became the Director of the American Studies Program, Paula will draw on her experience and excellent judgment in her new role as the Chair of the English Department. \u00a0As I conclude my time as your chair, I pledge to do all I can to help Paula and the department through this period of transition. \u00a0I know that I am leaving the English Department in good hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commencement Report<\/strong>\u00a0— Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its winter commencement ceremony.\u00a0 Jen Munroe, Liz Miller, Lara Vetter and I took responsibility for lining up our graduating students in alphabetical order before they filed into the Dale F. Halton Arena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 76 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates.\u00a0 A total of 9 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 67 undergraduate students are listed.\u00a0 I am especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.” \u00a0Of the 67 students, 12 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 10 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 3 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0).\u00a0 This total comes to 25 students.\u00a0 Also, 4 of our students graduated with English Honors.\u00a0 I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 3 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.\u00a0 They are Riley Michelle Davoren, Britney Lussier, and Amy Eileen Murray.<\/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

Everyone in the English Department<\/strong>\u00a0— \u00a0I commend all of the members of the English Department (both past and present) for building and sustaining an inclusive department that is dedicated to teaching high-quality courses, producing thoughtful and innovative scholarly and creative publications, and promoting a sense of departmental citizenship. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Events and Meetings<\/strong>\u00a0— Here is a list of upcoming events and deadlines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 8 — First day of classes for the Spring 2020 semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 15 — Last day for students to add or drop a course with no grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirky Quiz Question<\/strong>\u00a0— In my first Monday Missive, I asked the following Quirky\u00a0Quiz Question: \u00a0“I am not the first Interim Chair of the English Department.\u00a0 Who was the last person to serve as the Interim Chair of our department?” \u00a0Paula Eckard was the first person to provide the correct response (Jay Jacoby), and this seems very fitting to me. \u00a0 Here is my last Quirky Quiz Question–what is the connection between Jay Jacoby’s current place of residence and Paula Eckard’s research interest in Thomas Wolfe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week’s answer: Mathematics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to writing children’s books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University.\u00a0 What subject did he teach? <\/em>
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Turning Over the Keys\u00a0— \u00a0On August 1, 2012, I began serving as the Interim Chair of the English Department, and on August 6 of that year, I sent out my very first Monday Missive.\u00a0 Since then I have sent you a Monday Missive every week.\u00a0 The only exceptions have been during the weeks when UNC […]<\/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-2089","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\/2089","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=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2091,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions\/2091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}