Sigma Tau Delta Closes Out the Year Strong with New Inductees and Events

AU's chapter of the English Honorary Society Sigma Tau Delta ended a very successful fall semester with a range of activities, including an election, a writing workshop for the local Girl Scouts, open mic nights, and an induction ceremony in which seven new members were welcomed into the society.

Pictured are Sara Ludwig (Co-President) and new inductees Rachel Barkley (Co-President), Audrey Ashbrook, Emily Beaver, Sarah Norris, Naomi Sims, Liz Bucci (not pictured), and Kellie Pleshinger (not pictured).

The department looks forward to Sigma Tau Delta's contributions in the spring semester!

Creative Writing Alumna María Cardona Reflects on Her Graduate Studies and New Job

The department congratulates María Cardona who recently completed her Masters in Translation Studies at University College Cork in Ireland and has started a new position as writer, editor, and marketing specialist for a Nebraska-based Hispanic Ministry magazine. Cardona had these reflections to share on graduate school and finding work as a writer.

What Can You Even Do With A Writing Degree?

Marieugenia Cardona

When I finished my Creative Writing degree in 2017 I was excited but also terrified. As happy as I was that I’d pursued my dream to become a writer, I was also nervous about what kind of job my degree could translate to. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I wasn’t cut out to be a teacher which eliminated the go-to career choice. I still wanted to be a writer and to this day I still do, but I knew I needed something else to keep a roof over my head and food on the table.

            A few months after graduation I shipped off to Cork, Ireland to complete my Masters in Translation Studies. After having done a semester of my undergrad at UCC, I was sure I wanted to go back and I was looking forward to it. Studying in Ireland was one of the greatest experiences of my life. While I did have a bit of trouble adjusting to no longer being an English major but a Translation one, as I settled into my new role and my new home, great things happened and amazing people came into my life.

            However, when summer came, the same dread of “what now?” that I’d experienced upon completing my BA returned and I was faced with a difficult position. I’d fallen in love with Ireland and Europe in general and I wanted nothing more than to stay. By now I’d had a poem and a personal essay published so I felt more confident in my ability to “make it” but these publications weren’t paying any bills.

            I spent most of my summer working a housekeeping job, completing my MA thesis, and looking for work in Europe. This proved to be quite a hardship. Countless applications and interviews for content writing and editing jobs kept leading to the same results: I was qualified enough, but they just couldn’t swing the visa. I was feeling helpless and frustrated with myself because I felt that had I pursued a more traditional degree, job hunting would be easier.

            In fairness, I knew this wasn’t true because many of my friends (both European, Puerto Rican, and American) were struggling to find jobs in their field. I was at least thankful that I’d been doing content writing and editing during my undergrad which gave me the experience most jobs required. Regardless, I was still frustrated by jobs requiring ridiculously high years of experience as well as skills that weren’t directly connected to a Creative Writing degree.

            When October came, I had to leave Ireland and I felt truly discouraged. I’d lost out on so many opportunities due to Visa issues and I was sick of the job hunting process. Over 200 job applications to 10 different countries later, I received an email inviting me to a final interview for a job as a writer, editor, and marketing specialist for a Hispanic Ministry magazine based in Nebraska. Every day after I got the job I kept expecting a call or an email saying something had gone wrong and the job was no longer mine.

            Thankfully, that didn’t happen. I’ve just moved out to Nebraska and feel so happy to be able to actually make money from my writing while also being able to help others. And as cheesy as it may sound, I am grateful for the English department at AU every day because I know every single success I’ve had has been because of the amazing faculty in the department. If you asked me a year ago what I was going to do with a Creative Writing degree, I would’ve said I had no idea, but now I finally have an answer to that pesky question: I’m going to write.

Integrated Language Arts Major Corinne Spisz Accepts Job in South Carolina

Hilton Head Island High School emblem

Senior Integrated Language Arts major Corinne Spisz had accepted a job at Hilton Head Island High School in Hilton Head, SC. She will be teaching 11th-grade American literature. Spisz, who graduates later this month, has spent her final semester student teaching in South Carolina. In addition to her teaching excellence as evidenced by her upcoming job, Spisz has been an active and integral part of the department as a member of the English honorary society Sigma Tau Delta and as a dedicated Writing Assistant at the campus writing center. Spisz has also demonstrated her mastery of high-quality literary analysis through her presentation earlier this year, titled "'To His Coy Mistress': The Irony of Time and Love," at Ashland University's Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium (URCA).

The department is holding a graduation reception to celebrate Spisz's accomplishments on Wednesday, December 12 from 2-3 PM in the Bixler Lounge.

Dr. Deborah Fleming's Forthcoming Book: Resurrection of the Wild

Dr. Deborah Fleming's forthcoming book, Resurrection of the Wild: Meditations on Ohio's Natural Landscape, is slated to appear in April 2019 from The Kent State University Press. The book is comprised of fourteen connected essays which the press describes as

lyrical meditations [that] delve into life on Fleming’s farm, the impacts of the mining and drilling industries, fox hunting, homesteading families, the lives of agriculturalist Louis Bromfield and John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed), and Ohio’s Amish community. Fleming finds that our very concept of freedom must be redefined to include preservation and respect for the natural world. Ultimately, Resurrection of the Wild becomes a compelling argument for the importance of ecological preservation in Ohio, and Fleming’s perspective will resonate with readers both within and beyond this “forgotten” state’s borders. 

Acclaim for Dr. Fleming's book includes a blurb by esteemed essayist Scott Russell Sanders. Fleming has also been invited as one of 60 authors to be featured at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment's conference at the University of California, Davis in June 2019. She will also represent River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative and Ashland Poetry Press at a book fair at Lakeland Community College later this month and will conduct a workshop on fiction for students from several community colleges.

Resurrection of the Wild is only the latest contribution by Dr. Fleming to her considerable body of work. Dr. Fleming is an equestrian, mountain climber, and organic gardener who writes poetry, fiction, essays, and works of scholarship. The recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, and Ashland University, she has published books on Yeats, Jeffers, and Synge and has edited two collections of essays on Yeats. Three of her poems have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes.

Sigma Tau Delta Members Organize Writing Workshop for Local Girl Scouts

On November 8, Sigma Tau Delta members invited local Girl Scouts to campus for a writing workshop during which participants engaged in story-telling and collaborative writing. Nine young writers were in attendance to hone their creative skills. 

Senior Integrated Language Arts (ILA) major Zoe Jenkins reflects that "This event was meaningful to me because I will be teaching students how to write someday. Even though these girls were much younger than the students I will teach, it was rewarding to see how excited they were to write. Their responses were really creative." Junior Creative Writing and English major Emily Beaver, who also helped facilitate the event, had this to share: "As an English major, this event was meaningful to me because when I was their age, I was always writing or drawing stories. I loved having the opportunity to be included in their excitement for writing and to even feel like a child again." Asked what the most memorable thing about the workshop was for her, Beaver replied that it was "seeing how enthusiastic the girls were while they were writing and sharing their stories."

Zoe Jenkins assists participants during the workshop.

Dr. Maura Grady Gives AU Book Talk on The Shawshank Experience: Tracking the History of the World's Favorite Movie

Dr. Maura Grady delivered a talk on November 6 on her book, The Shawshank Experience: Tracking the History of the World's Favorite Movie (Palgrave, 2016), which she co-authored with Dr. Tony Magistrale (Professor of English, University of Vermont). As noted in the Ashland University official press release, the book

features an in-depth analysis of the world’s most popular movie, The Shawshank Redemption, delving into issues such as: the significance of race in the film, its cinematic debt to earlier genres, the gothic influences at work in the movie, and the representation of Andy’s poster art as cross-gendered signifiers. In addition to exploring the film and novella from which it was adapted, this book also traces the history of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, which served as the film’s central location, and its relationship to the movie’s fictional Shawshank Prison. The last chapter examines why this film has remained both a popular and critical success, inspiring diverse fan bases on the Internet and the evolution of the Shawshank Trail, fourteen of the film’s actual site locations that have become a major tourist attraction in central Ohio.

 
In addition to her published work on the film, Dr. Grady is an innovative teacher who has involved Ashland undergraduates in research on film tourism in the local area. She teaches the popular screenwriting course for the department and has also engaged students deeply regarding issues of prison reform through her use of the Reacting to the Past game in her classes.

Creative Writing Major Jackson Schultz Attends Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Workshop in Utah

Sophomore Creative Writing and Geology dual major Jackson Schultz recently attended a three-day workshop in Bryce Canyon, Utah as part of his role as co-editor of the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (UReCA) journal, a publication associated with the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). Schultz had this to say about the workshop in Ashland University's official press release about the event:

Our team of 18 editors and three faculty advisers met in Bryce Canyon, Utah, for a three-day workshop, also referred to as the UReCA Bootcamp...The retreat is a valuable part of the UReCA experience, solidifying the team and setting up the success of the next issue. The team tent-camped, hiked and spent long hours reviewing and fine tuning UReCA to maintain momentum and improve systems such as soliciting, marketing, Web site design, selection rubrics and the editorial process.

The students next gathered at the recent national NCHC conference in Boston (November 7-11), celebrating the most recent issue of UReCA, which invites all undergraduates currently enrolled to submit work according to the journal's submission guidelines.

Spring 2019 English Department Course Offerings

English 302:  Writers Workshop:  Prose

Dr. Deborah Fleming

TTh 9:25-10:40 Required for Creative Writing Majors and Minors; ILA Major elective

This is a seminar in the writing of fiction and creative nonfiction.  Professors with extensive publication experience conduct the workshop. Classes will consist of discussion of professional and student work.  Students will complete exercises and write their own fiction and creative nonfiction and demonstrate understanding of narrative technique by discussing their own work and the work of other students in the class.

English 304: Short Story
Dr. Jayne E. Waterman
T Th 12:15-1:30 p.m. 
Core Humanities, elective in the English and Creative Writing majors and minors 

This course will consider the following underlying questions: What is a short Story? Who reads short stories? Why read short stories? From the canonical to the experimental, this course will analyze a wide range of short stories included in Ann Charters’ anthology, The Story and Its Writer, as we debate the purpose, function, and merits of this genre. We will explore the cultural, historical, and political implications and contexts of key stories alongside issues of craft, style, and form. The elements of this short fiction, authorial insights into the creative process, and critical approaches to this literature will broaden, enhance, and complicate our understanding of the short story. This is a reading-intense, writing-intense, and discussion-intense course.

English 309: African American Literature

Dr. Sharleen Mondal

MWF 1:00-1:50

Core Humanities, elective for English and ILA majors

This course examines African American poetry, non-fiction, and novels, focusing especially on twentieth and twenty-first century writing.

Likely texts might include:

Nella Larsen’s Passing

Richard Wright’s “Between the World and Me”

Readings from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me

Readings from James Baldwin’s Notes from a Native Son

Richard Wright’s Native Son

Ava DuVernay’s 13TH

Assignments include two long papers, two exams, and shorter response papers, in addition to reading quizzes and regular class discussion.

English 317: Shakespeare 
Dr. Russell Weaver 
MWF 1
Core Humanities, requirement in English and ILA , elective for English and Creative Writing minors

We will be reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Two papers and two presentations.

English 370: Russian Novel 
Dr. Russell Weaver 
MWF 2
Core Humanities, elective in the English and Creative Writing majors and minors

We will be reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Two papers and two presentations.

English 371.A Literature & Film

Dr. Maura Grady

T/TH 1:40-2:55 p.m.

Requirement for Integrated Language Arts Major, Elective for English and Creative Writing

This course examines the relationship between writing and cinema by focusing on film adaptations of literary genres such as the novel, short story, nonfiction essay, theatrical play and poem. We will consider theories of film adaptation as well as historical and industry-specific issues to address our central question: “How can studying film adaptation allow us to better understand what it is that literature does, and vice versa?” You’ll see that this is a very contentious issue, so expect to read and discuss different points of view about the value of adaptations, to watch film adaptations outside of class, to engage in class discussions, and to examine one adaptation for a final project. There are also a number of shorter written assignments. The course is designed as a discussion-focused seminar with substantial weekly reading, informal and formal writing assignments. In Spring 2018, we will focus on films of the 1990s, arguably a new “golden age” in American cinema as well as a time of technological and industry transition.  

Possible films:

• The Player (1992), adapted by Michael Tolkin, directed by Robert Altman from Tolkin’s novel
• Quiz Show (1994), adapted by Paul Attanasio, directed by Robert Redford from the nonfiction historical memoir Remembering America by Richard Goodwin
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994), adapted and directed by Frank Darabont from the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995),  adapted and directed by Carl Franklin from the novel by Walter Mosley
• Out of Sight (1998), adapted by Scott Frank, directed by Steven Soderbergh from the novel by Elmore Leonard
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), adapted and directed by Anthony Minghella from the novel by Patricia Highsmith
• The Insider (1999), adapted by Eric Roth and Michael Mann, directed by Michael Mann from Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair story “The Man Who Knew Too Much”

Required texts for purchase will be confirmed by January 1st but will likely include:

• John Desmond and Peter Hawkes: Adaptation: Studying Film and Literature (ISBN: 978-1308648538)
• Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue Dress (ISBN: 978-0743451796)
• Elmore Leonard: Out of Sight (ISBN: 978-0062227874)
• Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (ISBN: 9780393332148)
• Michael Tolkin, The Player (ISBN: 978-0802135131)

Additional readings will be on Blackboard

English 405:  Problems in Creative Writing

Dr. Deborah Fleming

TTh 10:50-12:05 Required for Creative Writing Majors

This course is intended to acquaint creative writing majors, minors, and other students interested in literature with some current trends in the state of contemporary American expressive writing (prose and poetry).  It is concerned with the development of individual style and voice in student writing.  Students write and revise their own works and discuss their colleagues’ work in a seminar setting.  The course is conducted by professors with extensive publication experience.  There will be one critical paper.

English 415:  Capstone Course in Creative Writing

Dr. Deborah Fleming

TTh 12:15-1:30 Required for Creative Writing Majors

English 415 is the capstone course of the creative writing program and the major. The work of this class is the completion of a final draft of your thesis. As a prose writer, your thesis should be from 100-150 pages in length and can be a collection of essays, a memoir, a collection of short stories or a short novel.  Poetry writers should present 20-30 poems, or the equivalent of a chapbook-length collection.  The primary work of the class is reading and workshopping the prose and poetry of the students in the class.

ENG 417: English Grammar & Usage
MWF 12:00-12:50
Dr. Donatini
Requirement in the Integrated Language Arts major and Middle Grades Language Arts Minor; elective in English major
Prerequisite: ENG 102

This course will provide students with knowledge of grammar, syntax, and mechanics. It is designed for those preparing to be teachers of English and Language Arts as well as for those who wish to extend their knowledge of the language.

Book: Martha Kolln, Linda Gray, and Joseph Salvatore, Understanding English Grammar, 10th ed. (Pearson)

English 426: American Literature II: 1845-1890
Dr. Jayne E. Waterman
Th 6:00-8:30 p.m. 
Elective in the English and Creative Writing, and ILA majors, Elective in the English and Creative Writing minors

This course will examine a particularly vibrant mid-nineteenth century literary period. In addition to an examination of a wide range of authors and texts, the course will pay close attention to contexts. In an era marked by significant cultural moments and shaped by influential socio-historical forces, the course will consider a number of key issues that will inform our textual analysis. From the excesses of industrial wealth to abject slum-dwelling poverty or the New England commune to westward expansion, the course will assess the literary impact of various cultural impulses. In addition, discussion will focus on acute textual issues of social justice from slavery and the Abolitionist movement to the Civil War and emancipation, as well as the emerging notions of American womanhood, the woman’s suffrage movement, and the New Woman. Alongside essays, novels, stories, and poems, the course will be attuned to developing genres from nineteenth-century slave narratives, magazines, periodicals and muckraking journalism to innovations in literary forms and literary realism. The course asks what this new American literary landscape articulates and will rely on key literary and cultural criticism to help explore the implications of this question. Readings may be selected from Emerson, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Fuller, Fern, Child, Alcott, Stowe, Jacob, Harding Davis, Douglass, James, and Riis.

Eighteenth-Century Literature Class Reads Through Cato Together

Dr. Hilary Donatini’s Eighteenth-Century English Literature course gathered at the Eagles’ Landing on campus, on Friday, October 12, to transport themselves back to 1713, when Joseph Addison’s Cato was first performed. Students in attendance brought Addison’s language to life, as they each took on roles in a read-through of the entire play. This is only one example of the many creative approaches to understanding literature found in AU’s English Department.

Below are some reactions to the experience:

Participating in the dramatic reading of Cato broadened my understanding of the tragedy. Hearing the words come to life evokes different feelings that reading doesn't provide. As I read Marcia's lines, I found myself connecting to her character, her values, and most importantly, her emotions. The further into the play, the further I fell into the role of Marcia. Being a part of the reading helped me better understand and make a personal connection to the characters that I didn't have from only reading it in class. The reading experience was very useful for making personal connections to the reading material from class, and I am glad that I was a part of it.

--Sarah Norris

Reading my character (Marcus) aloud, as well as hearing the other characters in the play read aloud, gave me a better understanding on the range of emotions and reactions experienced by these characters throughout the text. From Marcus' (almost heated) passions of love, to the scheming of Sempronius -- all this read aloud helped make the play that much more memorable to me.

--Andreas Cook

I found the experience helped me find out more about the values the characters had. This will help me with my paper immensely. I also found it more entertaining, since we had all these people playing the roles instead of just reading it.

--Andrew Potosky

It was easier to tell who was on stage depending on who was reading at that time. Hearing it out loud made the play easier to understand. By this I mean that the characters had more life simply because an individual was speaking as a specific character. It was fun to read it aloud as well.

--Cassie Shaffer

The read-through really helped me get a better grasp of the content of the play. It was so helpful in allowing me to hear the words of each character and really understand their meanings.

--Alyssa Ferrell

I think that the group reading of Cato helped immensely in understanding the text better. First of all, it helped me be able to distinguish between the different characters within the play because different students in the class were reading the different parts. Secondly, it was helpful because I was able to see the exaggeration put into different phrases that the characters were exclaiming as the students in the class were reading through the lines.

--Skylar Roberts

For me, the experience showed how performance can affect meaning, as we recognized how a character’s tone of voice could create an interpretation of the words on the page. This was especially important when we were assessing the nature and extent of Cato’s heroism.

--Hilary Donatini

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English and Creative Writing Majors Contribute to 24-Hour Theatre Project

On September 29, English and Creative Writing majors Naomi Sims and Schuyler Kunkel participated in the Ashland University Theatre Department's 24-Hour Theatre Project, which involved the writing, production, and performance of an original script within a 24-hour period. Sims and Kunkel drew heavily on their finely-tuned writing skills to contribute to the project. Kunkel offers the following reflection on her experience, highlighting how her writing skills as an English and Creative Writing major assisted her with the project:

I was on the writing team, costume design team, and lighting team, and I also helped out with other teams, such as scenic design, when they needed extra hands.

I learned so much from this project. Going into it, I was very unsure as to how the script writing was going to work since there were five of us that were going to be trying to write at the same time; however, the writing process was really interesting, and it worked out quite well. We each took a scene to write the original draft of, and then we went through three rounds of edits—during which we traded scenes so that there would be one continuous voice through out as opposed to five distinct voices. In addition to writing, I learned a lot in the other areas that I contributed in as well. I would say that I was definitely most out of my comfort zone when I was helping move the lights for the set because I had to go up in a lift, and I’m a bit afraid of heights. 

The most rewarding thing about this project by far was seeing our idea go from simply a concept to a full production, and it was really amazing being able to be a part of the project in so many different ways. Despite the fact that, by the time I got home, I hadn’t slept in over 40 hours, I was so glad to have been able to contribute throughout the entire process. The production surpassed all my expectations, and I am beyond thankful to have been able to be a part of such an extraordinary opportunity.

 Reflecting further on the overall experience, Sims offers these thoughts:

I was the Producer and Lead Writer for this year's 24 Hour Theatre Project. As Producer I organized all the participants into teams and ensured each department had all of the information and tools that they needed in order to create a show from scratch. We held production meetings with the team leaders every week leading up to the event to check in and plan ahead as much as we could. During the 24 Hours I coordinated the event and made sure we stayed on schedule (as much as we could). It was an exhilarating and intense experience. It was challenging and required a lot of creative problem solving to troubleshoot issues we never saw coming. What I loved most was getting together with an amazing group of people who were committed to getting the job done no matter what. Many of us went without sleep for most if not all of the 24 hours but no one complained and everyone just worked very hard throughout the whole process. It was an amazing experience to see something that I had been planning since before the school year started, and something that I wrote, to come together on stage and make the audience laugh. It was so gratifying and I could not have been happier with the results. It is hard to describe the joy and feeling of accomplishment we felt after the show when all of the hard work, sweat, and tears paid off. It was well worth the lack of sleep and I would definitely do it again! It was an unforgettable experience.

The department congratulates Kunkel, Sims, and Eric Breeden (ILA major who also worked on the 24-hour theatre project) on their valuable contributions to the arts at Ashland University.

English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta: New Leaders Plan for the Year

Sigma Tau Delta recently elected sophomore Creative Writing and English major Rachel Barkley to serve as Co-President alongside junior English and Creative Writing major Sara Ludwig. Both leaders were asked to share Sigma Tau Delta's upcoming activities, as well as plans for the year.

Sigma Tau Delta has a lot of plans which we are both very excited about! This fall, in addition to monthly open mic nights, we also plan to do a number of different activities. Sigma Tau Delta will be hosting a writing workshop for local Girl Scouts. This is a great opportunity to connect to the surrounding community and help share our passion for writing with others. We also plan to have a booth on October 22nd celebrating National Writing Day. This will allow fellow students to share with the campus why they love to write. Sigma Tau Delta is also working on expanding the Ashland English Department’s social media presence!

In the spring there will be a lot of exciting opportunities which are still being planned. Sigma Tau Delta plans to renovate the Bixler study lounge as soon as possible in order to create a fresh environment for students. We are also considering fundraisers and other events to bring everyone together.

Additionally, the organization is planning a department outing to the Ashland University Theatre Department's performance of BASKERVILLE: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery in early April. The department is grateful to Barkley and Ludwig for their leadership.

Rachel Barkley

Sara Ludwig

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Hilary Donatini

Q: How many years have you taught at Ashland?

A: This is my twelfth academic year here.

Q: What are some of the courses that you teach?

A: Eighteenth-Century English literature, Seventeenth-Century English literature, Themes and Topics in Literature (Satire), Studies in Shakespeare, The Poem, A History of the English Language, British Literature, and Composition I and II

Q: What do you enjoy most about being a professor?

A: I love to witness the process by which students move from confusion to comprehension and even enjoyment--the essence of intellectual growth. I teach many older works, and it’s often a struggle to understand what is happening on the page, let alone build an interpretation. Seeing students put effort into this process is infinitely satisfying, and it never gets old for me. Working  together on challenging texts allows us to explore the beauties of language and the deep questions of our existence through literature. We are often reaching across centuries to encounter worlds that are both familiar and strange, and it’s a delightful way to spend our time.

No matter the subject, one of the most important aspects of my job is to identify and help bring out students’ intellectual potential. I like to tell students that their ideas matter, and that I’m genuinely interested in what they have to say, because it’s the truth. Interacting with students never fails to make me consider ideas and issues through fresh sets of eyes. I can’t count the number of times a student has, for example, brought my attention to a new detail, or offered an innovative interpretation, of a text I’ve read dozens of times. It’s a testament to the richness of language and the human mind that this can happen with such frequency, and I’m so grateful that I have the privilege of learning from my students every day.

Q: What made you decide to become a professor?

A: I’ve always been an extremely curious person, and from an early age I was a voracious reader. I simply wanted to learn about anything and everything, and so I read not only literary works, but any printed matter that happened to be sitting around my relatives’ houses--The Farmer’s Almanac, Popular Mechanics, newspapers, encyclopedias, etc. My parents got me a library card in kindergarten and let me loose there, too, where I would wander through the stacks and set my mind free. Exploring imaginary worlds was a central part of my childhood experience, especially because I come from a small town—a place where it was necessary to make our own fun and be inventive about entertaining ourselves. Eventually I understood that I could make a career out of reading, writing, and talking about books. A teaching career always appealed to me, but I also realized that I had the patience and drive to do research as well.

Q: What scholarly (or creative) projects are you working on?

A: As I think about my early love of imaginary worlds, researching eighteenth-century literature allows me to immerse myself in both the real and imaginary worlds of the past. My current large-scale project is a book on the representation of the justices of the peace in eighteenth-century British literature. I’ve already written a chapter on Tobias Smollett’s depictions of these legal figures, and now I’m drafting one on Joseph Addison’s periodical The Spectator and presenting parts of it at academic conferences. The book project involves interpretation of literary techniques as well as research into law and various branches of history.

Q: What else would you like to share with the readers of this blog?

A: This is my sixth year as chair of the English Department, and although this administrative position takes me out of the classroom for a significant portion of my work week, I get to interact with students regularly and in a variety of settings and, most importantly, help solve problems. I do a great deal of work behind the scenes to keep the department running smoothly and ensure that students can move through their programs with as few obstacles as possible.

I’ll end by letting students know that I’m accessible, ready to listen, and willing to help with any question or concern relating to the English Department!

Dr. Christian Kiefer begins position as West Coast Editor for the Paris Review

The Paris Review recently announced that Dr. Christian Kiefer, Director of Ashland University's MFA Program in Creative Writing, will be taking on the newly created role of West Coast Editor. Emily Nemens, Editor of The Paris Review, writes that 

Christian’s inveterate energy, good taste, and large network have already proven valuable to my first issue, and we should all be thankful that he connected us with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose Art of Poetry interview is now underway.

Dr. Kiefer joined Ashland's English Department in January 2017. In addition to directing the low-residency MFA program, Dr. Kiefer is also a musician and a prolific writer of numerous works, including his novel The Infinite Tides and the novella One Day Soon Time Will Have No Place Left to Hide. His forthcoming novel, Phantoms, will be published in April by Liveright.

English Major Jordan Martin Completes Grant Writing Internship

English major Jordan Martin shares what she learned from her summer internship.

This past summer, I interned in the University Grants and Foundation Relations Office at Ashland University. Through this internship, I was able to learn the different aspects of writing proposals and managing earned grants. For example, I performed many hours of research regarding different foundations that accept grant requests and wrote multiple letters of intent to various foundations. I learned how programs at AU are started and executed. Additionally, I was able to use and improve my critical thinking, researching, and writing skills in this position as I worked with my mentor, Sharon Lowe. The main objectives of my internship were to 1) learn how to write grant proposals and other important documents and 2) advance Ashland University through the projects my mentor had planned. I enjoyed serving Ashland University in a way that will deliver visible results in the next few years.

This internship opportunity has been invaluable to me. I appreciate getting hands-on experience in seemingly every aspect of grant writing. Additionally, Sharon has been an amazing mentor who encouraged me throughout my internship. The greatest takeaways I have from this experience are learning that I have the capability to be successful in this career field and that I definitely want to pursue a career in grant writing. This internship has given me confidence that I can be successful in writing grant proposals for nonprofit organizations and that I can make a difference through my work.

Jordan is committed to writing excellence in a variety of contexts. In addition to perfecting her skills with grant writing, she is also a Writing Assistant at the University Writing Center, where she assists other students in developing their own writing skills.

Megan Connor Begins New Position as Director of the University Writing Center

The English Department welcomes Megan Connor, who recently joined AU as Director of the University Writing Center. In this role, she will oversee the many services offered by the Writing Center, including one-on-one appointments between Writing Assistants (WAs) and undergraduate students seeking assistance in any subject, the training and continued professional development of the WAs, graduate and Seminary writing consultations, and English 110 (the writing lab connected with the Composition Program). Megan describes her training and previous work as follows:

For the last four years, I taught 11th grade English Language Arts at Bio-Med Science Academy, a STEM high school located on the Northeast Ohio Medical University’s campus. While there, I established and developed a student-staffed writing center. Going through this process re-ignited my passion for writing centers.

I have been involved with writing centers for over ten years and have worked with them in almost every capacity - as a student, as a peer tutor, as an assistant director, and as a director establishing a new center. I have my Master’s in Rhetoric and Composition from Kent State and am currently enrolled in the Curriculum and Instruction doctoral program at Kent State. My main research interests include the teaching of writing, writing centers, peer review, new literacies, and critical social justice education.

In addition to her training and expertise, Megan brings with her a warm enthusiasm for the AU community. She writes,

I have been awed by how welcoming everyone has been. There seems to be a real sense of community at Ashland, and I am really looking forward to becoming a part of that community.

The department looks forward to Megan's contributions in her new role!

Dr. Maura Grady Returns to English Department Faculty

This academic year, the English Department welcomes Dr. Maura Grady back to the faculty. Dr. Grady joined the department in 2011 as a full-time faculty member, then served in an administrative position from 2016-2018 as Director of Composition and Director of the University Writing Center, and now returns to a full-time faculty role, which includes directing the Composition Program. Dr. Grady had these thoughts to offer on the invaluable work she has contributed over the past two years.

My job in the English department has recently undergone a transition.  From June 2016-August 2018, I served the university in an administrative role with the very long title of Director of the Composition Program and the University Writing Center.  Prior to June 2016, these were two separate positions but for various reasons (turnover, transitioning administrative leadership, and a different budget picture), these roles were combined into one position.  Recently, the decision was made to re-separate them again since the work required of each has grown and changed so much in recent years.  Since I took over as Director, the Writing Center has expanded and updated its services-- we are now serving undergraduate and graduate students, college credit plus students and online students.  The writing center is playing an important role in the new Accent on Writing initiative that is entering the pilot stage in Fall 2018.  The writing center now has an extensive formal training program for new and continuing WAs and as of January, the Director is joined by an Associate Director and a Part-time Administrative Assistant, along with the most important people in the Center-- the undergraduate peer Writing Assistants and the Graduate Writing Consultants.

The Composition program has also undergone some pretty significant changes since I began serving as its director in January 2016. We now have many more part-time faculty teaching in our program and are offering courses in many more platforms-- traditional online, College Credit Plus high school locations, correctional online, and face-to-face correctional education.  The Composition Program consists of four courses-- ENG 100, ENG 110 and ENG 101 (Core) and 102 (Core).  Making sure that students receive consistent and competent instruction that provides the transformative educational experience Ashland is known for is my #1 priority.  To that end, we want to provide faculty with training and support and to conduct meaningful assessment of our teaching and student learning.  The Composition courses can have such a huge impact on student success, since so much of what students are evaluated on comes down to writing skills.  In the next year, I'm looking forward to collaborating with others to improve our training and support for faculty teaching Composition and to better coordinate resources for students.

My current research is focused on creating better assessments of student learning so we can determine how to improve our teaching to help more students succeed.  I recently completed a thesis for my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction that focuses on our ENG 100 course at Ashland.  About 20% of our traditional undergraduate students start in this course, which provides additional writing practice before ENG 101. 

In teaching, I'm always trying to help students see how important their own experiences and interests are when they write, even if those don't get direct commentary in their papers.  One of my other areas of scholarship is film studies and I've spent the last several years studying the film The Shawshank Redemption and its lasting legacy in Ohio where it was filmed.  Starting in 2013, I've involved students in that research and have been fortunate to publish several articles and a book-- The Shawshank Experience: Tracking the History of the World's Favorite Movie-- on the subject.  I'm now on the board of the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, a non-profit dedicated to preserving the historic prison where Shawshank was filmed.  Teaching my students the novella, the film and the real history of our local area has been so rewarding and I think it has made me a better teacher.  I'm so glad to be returning to the faculty, though it's bittersweet-- I'm going to miss the hustle and bustle of the Writing Center!  I'm looking forward to making our Composition program the best it can be so that every Ashland student can become a stronger and more confident writer.

Dr. Grady will be giving a book talk on The Shawshank Experience at Main Street Books in Mansfield, OH on Friday, September 7 from 6:00-7:30 PM, and all are welcome to attend. The English Department is delighted to welcome back to a full-time faculty role such an exceptional scholar, extraordinary teacher, and beloved colleague.