Students and Faculty Recognized at Honors Convocation

L to R: Sara Ludwig, Outstanding Sophomore; Bethany Meadows, Outstanding Senior; and Julia Swanson-Hines, Outstanding Junior

 

 

On Sunday, April 22, Sara Ludwig, Julia Swanson-Hines, and Bethany Meadows were honored as the outstanding students in the English Department at the annual Honors Convocation ceremony. We are proud of their achievements!

Dr. Russell Weaver was recognized as a finalist for the Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award, and Dr. Deborah Fleming was recognized as a finalist for the Excellence in Scholarship Award. Considering the stiff competition for these awards, their finalist status is impressive. Well done, professors!

Dr. Grady's Shawshank Book is Out in Paperback; New Book Chapter Published as Well

Congratulations to Dr. Maura Grady, Director of the Composition Program and the Writing Center, for two publications!

The Shawshank Experience is now out in paperback, and she has a chapter in the book Fandom as Classroom Practice: A Teaching Guide (University of Iowa Press, 2018), called "Researching the Shawshank Trail: Fan Pilgrimage and Service Learning" with Richard J. "Robby" Roberson, Jr. and Erika Gallion (AU '14) as co-authors.

Graduating Creative Writing Majors Hold Reading

On Monday, April 16, the five graduating seniors in Creative Writing read from their original works.

Garrison Stima, Amanda Wise, Madison White, Maggie Andrews, and Jakob Demers

Jakob Demers was awarded the Richard Snyder Prize for his outstanding capstone project. In this photo, Professor Joe Mackall has just given a plaque to Demers.

English Department Students Present at URCA 2018

Wednesday, April 11 marked the ninth annual College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, with seven students from our majors and minors participating. We are proud of the effort that our students put into these impressive presentations. Congratulations to you all!

Maggie Andrews, Creative Writing, English, and Public Relations major (left), presented a poster with Hanna Stryker (right) titled, "Patient-Centered Communication: A Catalyst for Disclosure"

Sara Ludwig (right) with her faculty sponsor Dr. Sharleen Mondal (left). Ludwig presented "The Oppressed Woman: A Look at Exceptionalism in the Treatment of Women in Americanah."  The presentation was adapted from work in Dr. Mondal's Literature and Gender course. 

Garrison Stima, Creative Writing and Religion major, presented an excerpt from his senior thesis in Religion, "A Conversation With the Late René Girard."

From left to right: Sabrina Maristela, Dr. Hilary Donatini, and Jakob Demers. Both Maristela, an English minor, and Demers, a Creative Writing and English major, gave presentations adapted from essays in Donatini's seventeenth-century English literature course.  Maristela presented "'To Justify the Ways of God to Men': Just Punishment in Paradise Lost" and Demers presented "'From Man's Effeminate Slackness It Begins': Masculinity in Milton's Eden"

Corinne Spisz, Integrated Language Arts major, also adapted an essay from Dr. Donatini's seventeenth-century course in her presentation, "'To His Coy Mistress': The Irony of Time and Love."

Amanda Wise, Creative Writing major, reads from her short story, "Starry Night." Her faculty sponsor was Dr. Joe Mackall.

AU Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta Marks 25th Anniversary

The AU English Department received this fine plaque in the mail recently, reminding us that our chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society has existed for twenty-five years!

Our student leadership team will be holding a membership meeting on Tuesday, April 10, at 9:00 p.m. in the Bixler lobby. Current and prospective members are welcome. Come and learn more about the opportunities in this wonderful organization!

Bethany Meadows and Dr. Maura Grady Present at Writing Center Conference

Dr. Maura Grady, director of the Writing Center, and Bethany Meadows, senior English/Integrated Language Arts major and Writing Center intern, presented a paper at the East Central Writing Center Association Conference (ECWCA) held at Ohio State University in Columbus (3/23-5). Grady and Meadows conducted a semester-long assessment in the AU Writing Center examining the Writing Center's effect on students’ understanding of and confidence in their writing process. The East Central Writing Center Association (ECWCA) was created to foster communication, encourage scholarship, promote research and develop effective practices among colleagues in secondary, community college and university writing centers. A member of the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA), a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Assembly, the ECWCA includes in its designated region Michigan, Northern Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.