UW-L English Studies Blog

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English Major Pilots Supplemental Instruction Leader Program

This semester, senior English (Rhetoric and Writing Emphasis) major Chelsea Dolan will be getting a little time to practice what she hopes will be her future profession: teaching college English. She’ll be a Supplemental Instruction Leader in Eng 110 as part of a grant to pilot the SI program on UWL’s campus. The grant, written by Murphy Learning Center Director Lee Baines (Biology) and Writing Center Director Virginia Crank (English), will provide funds to integrate SI into Dr. Baines’ Bio 105 courses and Dr. Crank’s Eng 110 course. Supplemental Instruction is a program designed to provide guided study and work time for students in first-year or gen ed classes; the goal is to improve course performance and confidence with material, thereby increasing retention rates. The SI Leader is a fellow student who has taken the class and has some knowledge about how to succeed in it; the Leader attends every class session and then hosts out-of-class SI sessions to work with students on understanding and applying the course concepts.

CFP: 12th Annual Red River Graduate Student Conference - "The Field in Motion: Past, Present, and Future of English Studies"

12^th Annual Red River Graduate Student Conference

"The Field in Motion: Past, Present, and Future of English Studies"

March 27 and 28, 2015

North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 

The English Graduate Organization at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, in conjunction with Undergraduates Inc. invites graduate and undergraduate presentations on diverse issues within the field of English Studies for our 2015 Red River Graduate Student Conference. We encourage submissions from all branches of the field including literature, rhetoric, linguistics, writing studies, cultural studies, history, anthropology, and communication studies. 

This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Amy Devitt, Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Kansas. Dr. Devitt’s research interests include rhetoric and composition, English language studies, writing and writing pedagogy, genre studies, variation and standardization, and Standardized Edited English. 

We are also pleased to announce that Dr. Erin Mae Clark, Assistant Professor of American Literature at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota will be presenting our opening keynote presentation on the afternoon of Friday, March 27. 

The Red River Graduate Student Conference will be held Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28, 2014 in Fargo, ND at the NDSU Memorial Union. Both panel and individual submissions are welcome. More information may be found at http://www.ndsu.edu/english/rrgsc/. RRGSC welcomes topics including, but not limited to: 

• Business & Technical Communication

• Comedy and Humor Studies

• Communication and Global Politics

• Computers and Writing

• Creative Writing

• Pedagogy

• English Education

• ESL

• Film, Television, and Video Game Studies

• Gender Studies

• Genre Studies

• New Media

• Scientific Rhetorics

• Sociolinguistics

• Sonic Rhetorics

Submissions

Please send panel proposals for 3-4 participants (1000 words max) and/or individual abstracts (500 words max) via e-mail attachment (.doc, .docx, or PDFs only, please) to [email protected], by Friday, January 23, 2014. If you have any specific audio-visual or technological needs, please specify these at the bottom of your proposal. 

There is a registration fee of $25.00 for conference participation. This registration fee includes conference materials and Saturday's lunch. Payment information will be communicated via email upon receipt of submission. Important conference updates will be periodically sent to presenters via email. Any other questions regarding lodging, transportation, etc. can be directed to [email protected]. 

Follow @RRGSC on Twitter to get updates on the conference and use the hashtag #RRGSC15.

What Can I Do With an English Degree?

Choose Your Own Adventure
By: Madeline Marquardt

If you are an English major, or if you have ever considered majoring in English, then you have probably asked yourself, “What can I do with my degree?” The typical answer to this question is to teach. According to Montclair State University, only 30% of English majors go on to become teachers. Teaching is only the third highest occupational field that employs individuals with a B.A. in English. According to the College Majors Handbook, the highest
occupational field is arts and communication. This is where English majors become employed as artists, broadcast and print journalists, technical writers, communication specialists, and public relations specialists. The second highest occupational field that English majors work in, is the business field as top and midlevel managers, executives and administrators. 

UW-L English majors can choose this major along with a Literature emphasis, a Rhetoric and Writing emphasis, or an English Education emphasis. No matter which emphasis a student selects, a major in English is versatile and will provide students with the skills and knowledge to pursue a career in business, art, journalism, or even law to name a few. What makes English majors so marketable and able to work in such a variety of fields are the skills they possess.

Read More:  Download Peerspectives 2014 [Fall]

Writing Center Finals Hunker - December 10, 6:00pm-9:00pm, Murphy Learning Center

The Mochila Review is seeking fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art submissions for the 2015 issue

The Mochila Review is seeking fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art submissions for the 2015 issue; we are currently accepting submissions until January 1, 2015. All information about regular submissions can be found at 

https://www.missouriwestern.edu/apps/mochila/submit.php.

Also, encourage your students to submit to our Undergraduate MoRe Prize for Writing!

Beginning this year, The Mochila Review is offering a writers’ contest to undergraduate students. This year, the contest will be open to poetry submissions only. Contest submissions will be accepted through our website from October 1 to December 1. The winning poet, selected by our guest judge, spoken-word poet Taylor Mali, will be announced January 1. He/she will receive a $50 prize and publication in our 2015 issue. The Undergraduate MoRe Prize for Writing is separate from our regular submissions and there is a small entry fee of $5. 

The 4th Annual UW­L College Writing I Symposium -- Call for Proposals

The 4th Annual UW­L College Writing I Symposium

Call for Proposals

 Missed Connections­­

Symposium Seeking Students

I saw you in College Writing I this year. I was synthesizing scholarly research; you were analyzing rhetorical approaches. I know we were both discovering the power of written communication. I don’t want to leave my discoveries just on the page, what about you? How about we present our favorite papers at this year’s College Writing I Symposium? 

The English Department’s Composition Committee invites ENG 110/112 students to submit proposals for undergraduate writing projects that showcase their ability to engage in thoughtful, critical, and innovative work. 

We are particularly interested in projects that demonstrate how students understand

• how to find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize a variety of texts.
• how students integrate the ideas of others with their own.

These projects could take the form of any number of genres­­research­based essays, rhetorical and/or visual analyses, letters to the editor, op­ed essays, argument­based essays, project proposals, audience analyses, personal essays, etc. We have intentionally designed this thematically open (proposals on any topic will be accepted) call for proposals to encourage as many students as possible to participate in this year’s symposium. 

Submission Guidelines

Students should submit a title and a brief proposal of 100 words or fewer by Friday, November 14th. The format of the symposium will be one­hour concurrent sessions. Students should budget presentations for approximately 10­15 minutes per presenter. To submit a proposal for this year’s symposium, please use the Qualtrics link below: https://uwlacrosse.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_a5GiJfrzjuECqRD 

The Composition Committee will run two paper presentation workshops in early December for students who would like additional help in preparing for the symposium. 

Symposium Date: Monday, November 24th 

If you have additional questions, please contact Dr. Darci Thoune, Freshman Writing Program Coordinator ([email protected]).

Writing Grad School Essays/Personal Statements, Oct. 30, 6:30-8:00 pm (in the Writing Center)

Writing Grad School Essays/Personal Statements

Oct. 30, 6:30-8:00 pm (in the Writing Center)

Register: http://bit.ly/10kFDCo 

London Study Tour 2015: 3 English Classes!

Dr. Rebekah Fowler will be leading several classes to London during the Spring 2015 Spring Break Study Tour:

 

Two sections of ENG 200: Literature and the Human Experience: Medievalisms is linked to the study tour, so if students are looking for their Humanistic Studies credit and want a brief, but rich study abroad experience, this would be ideal. While it's not yet a "for sure" stop, the tour may be visiting Merton College at Oxford U, Tolkien's turf, which would be a great complement to the class' reading of The Hobbit. 

Upper level folks are certainly not left out. For those needing their Language requirement in the majors, ENG 330: History of the English Language is associated with this tour, and the tour will be getting in plenty of historical context for the development of the language, including the opportunity to hear the English language in British (and other) accents! 

Finally, for those needing 400-level and genre/period/author-specific literature courses, ENG 463: Chaucer class is teaming up with the study tour. The tour will be visiting Chaucer's tomb in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey and visiting medieval sites like the Tower of London to provide some wonderful historical context. 

 

The 2015 Spring Break Study Tour information meeting is Monday, October 27, in the Ward Room, Cartwright Center, at 6:00 p.m.

 

For more information, please contact Dr. Rebekah Folwer ([email protected]). 

Writing And Social Justice: A Performance and Talk by Sean Thomas Dougherty - October 29, 7:00pm, 102 Wimberly Hall

Writing And Social Justice: A Performance and Talk by Sean Thomas Dougherty

10/29/14, 7:00 PM

Wimberly Hall, Room 102

 

Craft talk on prose poetry: 5:30 PM, Wimberly 117

 

Late night set: The Root Note, 10:00 PM

 

For three decades, Sean Thomas Dougherty has created a powerfully inclusive, demanding American art in the tradition of jazz, Walt Whitman, and American gospel. His poems and stories connect American life from the street to the symphony, chronicling passion, loss, work, and commitment. Raised in a working class, multi-racial family, Dougherty’s work stays true to his roots, calling on vital traditions in its constant effort to rise. Join Dougherty for a performative talk on language, art and social justice, featuring works from his highly acclaimed retrospective, All You Ask for Is Longing: New and Selected Poems. This event is free and open to the public, sponsored by the UWL English Department. 

 

“These soul-infused, deftly crafted stanzas pulse with the rhythms of a poet who lives his life out loud. Sean Thomas Dougherty has always shunned convention in favor of his fresher landscapes—and this book will be the one that stamps his defiant signature on the canon.”

—Patricia Smith

 

"There is a remarkable range of references here, from Edith Piaf to Biggie Smalls, from Jackson Pollock to Killer Kowalski. Above all, however, there is empathy, that essential element of poetry and humanity, for a dying grandfather, for the insomniacs of the city, for all the forgotten histories the poet cannot forget. To him I say: Keep singing."—Martín Espada