Longwood University

English Majors’ Newsletter Spring 2009

Important Registration Announcement Except for freshmen who started at Longwood in Fall of 2007, English majors registering for fall classes will discover that some of the 300-level period courses required on their degree audits are no longer being offered because of changes in the English curriculum. Students should make the following substitutions: If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 321, the student should register for ENGL 325 instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 322, the student should register for ENGL 326 or ENGL 365 (each course can only be taken once) instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 323, the student should register for ENGL 326 or ENGL 365 (each course can only be taken once) instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 324, the student should register for ENGL 327 instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 331, the student should register for ENGL 335 instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 332, the student should register for ENGL 336 or ENGL 362 (each course can only be taken once) instead. If degree audit indicates that the student needs ENGL 333, the student should register for ENGL 336 or ENGL 362 (each course can only be taken once) instead. Please contact your advisor if you have any questions.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FRESHMEN Students who entered the program in Fall 2007 must register for the new required course, ENGL 209: Introduction to Literary Analysis in the Fall 2008 semester if they aren’t taking it this semester. ENGL 209 is not required for majors who started at Longwood before Fall 2007, though they are welcome to take it as an elective if they would like to improve their writing skills. (The course will not count toward the major for these students.)

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Fall 2009 Courses Course  Engl 209‐01  Engl 303‐01  Engl 315‐01  Engl 316‐01  Engl 317‐01  Engl 318‐01  Engl 319‐B03  Engl 325‐01  Engl 326‐01  Engl 327‐01  Engl 335‐01  Engl 336‐01  Engl 350‐01  Engl 356‐01  Engl 362‐01  Engl 365‐01  Engl 380‐01  Engl 380‐02  Engl 380‐03  Engl 380‐04  Engl 380‐50  Engl 381‐01  Engl 381‐02  Engl 381‐50  Engl 382‐01  Engl 382‐02  Engl 382‐03  Engl 382‐04 

Professor  TBA  Welch  Hursey  Faulkner  Carroll‐Hackett  Stinson  Welch  Tracy  Taylor  Van Ness  TBA  Lynch  Butler  McGee  TBA  S. Smith  McGee  Miskec  McGee  Miskec  McGee  Brock‐Servais  Miskec  Brock‐Servais  R. Smith  R. Smith  Rogers  Butler 

Course Title  Introduction to Literary Analysis  Visual Rhetoric and Document Design  Dramatic Writing  Writing Fiction  Writing Poetry  Writing Non‐Fiction  Technical Writing  British Literature:  Medieval to Renaissance   British Literature:  Restoration to Romanticism  British Literature:  Victorian to Contemporary  American Literature:  Colonial to Realism  American Literature:  Naturalism to Contemporary  Linguistics  Art of Film  Literature of Diversity  Shakespeare  Children's Literature  Children's Literature  Children's Literature  Children's Literature  Children's Literature  Young Adult Literature  Young Adult Literature  Honors Young Adult Literature  Grammar  Grammar  Grammar  Grammar 

Day  MWF  TR  TR  MWF  T  MWF  TBA  MW  MWF  MWF  MWF  TR  MWF  M  MWF  TR  MW  TR  TR  TR  TR  MW  M  MW  MWF  MWF  TR  TR 

Time  10:‐00‐10:50  9:30‐10:45  2:00‐3:15  11:00‐11:50  6:15‐9:00  10:00‐10:50  TBA  4:00‐5:15  2:00‐2:50  9:00‐9:50  12:00‐12:50  9:30‐10:45  11:00‐11:50  6:15‐9:00  11:00‐11:50  2:00‐3:15  4:00‐5:15  8:00‐9:15  11:00‐12:15  2:00‐3:15  9:30‐10:45  4:00‐5:15  6:15‐9:00  4:00‐5:15  9:00‐9:50  10:00‐10:50  9:30‐10:45  12:30‐1:45 

Engl 382‐05  Engl 384‐01  Engl 413  Engl 416  Engl 432  Engl 444  Engl 461  Engl 461‐02  Engl 470  Engl 476  Engl 478  Engl 479 

Butler  Miskec  Van Ness  Heady  Tracy  Lynch  S. Smith  Taylor  Rogers  Carroll‐Hackett  Faulkner  Southall 

Grammar  Diversity in Literature for Young Readers  Novel: 20th‐Century American Novel  Bible as Literature  Gender & Power in the Middle Ages  Contemporary Apocalyptic & Post‐industrial Literature  Senior Seminar:  Literary Criticism  Senior Seminar:  Literary Criticism  Professional Writing  Advanced Fiction  Advanced Non‐Fiction  Writing Theory for Middle and Secondary Schools 

TR  TR  MWF  MWF  M  TR  MW  T  TR  M  T  MW 

2:00‐3:15  12:30‐1:45  10:00‐10:50  1:00‐1:50  6:15‐9:00  11:00‐12:15  4:00‐5:15  6:15‐9:00  11:00‐12:15  6:15‐9:00  6:15‐9:00  5:30‐6:45 

Engl 480  Engl 482  Engl 483‐01  Engl 483‐02  Engl 483‐03  Engl 483‐04  Engl 483‐05 

Southall  Southall  Butler  Lettner‐Rust  R. Smith  Lettner‐Rust  R. Smith 

Teaching of English  Directed Teaching  Writing Theory  Writing Theory  Writing Theory  Writing Theory  Writing Theory 

MW  TBA  MWF  TR  TR  TR  TR 

4:00‐5:15  TBA  1:00‐1:50  9:30‐10:45  12:30‐1:45  12:30‐1:45  2:00‐3:15 

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FALL 2009 UPPER-LEVEL AND VARIABLE TOPIC COURSE DESCRIPTIONS English 303, Visual Rhetoric and Document Design. Dr. Welch. This course will explore theories that reveal visual images as rhetorical constructs as well as how our interpretive practices lead us to engage with them. In the second half of the course, we will engage in praxis; that is, we will construct workplace documents (letters, brochures, flyers, memos, reports, websites) that accomplish communicative goals on a visual as well as a textual level. (Required for all Rhetoric and Professional Writing students for the concentration as well as for the minor. It replaces English 210, Introduction to Journalism.) ENGL 413: Twentieth-Century American Novel. Dr. Van Ness. Authors include Cather, Anderson, Hemingway, West, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Pynchon, Updike, and Cormac McCarthy. The course will focus on the changing nature of fiction as well as how each novel reflects the times in which it was written. ENGL 416: The Bible as Literature: Dr. Heady. This course will both study the Bible as a work of literature and glance at its appropriation in later literary works. Students will examine the Bible itself primarily through the lens of the principal genres of biblical literature: wisdom writings, liturgical poetry, theological history, prophecy, gospel, epistle, and apocalypse. Students will also look at how the Bible is treated in later literature as both a generally accepted source of literary authority and a contested site of interpretive debate. English 432: Gender and Power in the Middle Ages. Dr. Tracy. One of the most enduring misconceptions about the Middle Ages is that women were a marginalized and oppressed faction of medieval society. This course, designed for undergraduate and graduate students, will challenge that assumption through a detailed study of medieval works written by medieval women and about medieval women, and how gender figures into medieval power structures. Works will include religious and secular texts by Marie de France, Christine de Pizan, Geoffrey Chaucer, women troubadour poets, anonymous religious works about women saints, and a sampling of medieval philosophical treatises about the nature and ³place of women². Classes will be based largely on in-class discussions, on-line Blackboard sessions, and in-depth research and literary and theoretical material. English 444: Contemporary Apocalyptic and Post-Industrial Literature. Dr. Lynch. Since man first set words to print he began to create stories concerning an apocalypse. In this course, we will examine the contemporary ideas surrounding the dangerous directions our culture has taken and the consequences which potentially result from our actions. This is not just a look at a variety of science fiction works dealing with future societal disasters and end of the world scenarios but a course that looks at a series of serious speculative novels. In particular we will examine issues of morality, cultural values, questions of identity, including what it means to be human and what it means to be human in the face of life-altering, potentially life-ending crises. FALL 2009 HONORS PROGRAM COURSES Honors English 380: Children's Literature. Dr. McGee. English 380 is a literature course not restricted to future teachers. We will explore representations of childhood in many popular contemporary and classic children's texts, including films (primarily the work of Disney), novels, and picture books. Students will be responsible for outside critical and theoretical articles which will be of benefit to any student of literature. Honors English 150-50: Writing and Research. Dr. Van Ness. In their study of style and rhetorical modes, Honors students will read essays by canonical writers as well as contemporary essayists. An extended non-fiction work will be the basis of the research paper. All English majors with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher are invited to take honors courses. See Dr. BrockServais for placement. 4

SENIOR SEMINAR ACADEMIC CONFERENCE The spring Senior Seminar Conference will be held on Saturday, April 18, in Grainger 207. All English majors are encouraged to attend. This is a wonderful opportunity to listen to, and ask questions about the capstone projects of senior English majors. It will also give students an idea of what to expect when they take senior seminar. Coffee and muffins will be available in the morning, and soda and cookies in the afternoon. Contact Dr. Heady for more information. The conference schedule will be available by mid-April at: http://www.longwoodshakespeare.net/litcrit/conferencespring2009.html ENGLISH EDUCATION ANNOUNCEMENTS Dr. Gena Southall and secondary English education students Allison Fetko, Amy Henry, and Kristen Taylor participated in a panel session, Across the Commonwealth: Perspective from Pre-Service Teachers, at the Virginia Association of Teachers of English conference in Roanoke, VA on October 24, 2008. Anyone wanting or needing information on secondary English licensure should contact Dr. Southall ([email protected], 395-2362, Grainger 108).

THE ENGLISH AND MODERN LANGUAGES SPRING SOCIAL AND AWARDS CEREMONY The annual department spring social and awards ceremony is scheduled for 31 March, from 3:30-5:00 pm in the Ruffner common area. Please mark your calendars.

GOAL 15 COURSES (INTERNSHIPS) Education 370 Practicum II, English 482 Directed Teaching in the Secondary Classroom, English 490 Independent Study, English 492 Internship in English, and English 498 Honors Research in English may be used to satisfy Goal 15. Students may satisfy this goal by arranging with the professor of a 300- or 400-level English literature course to take a one credit Independent Study in conjunction with the other course to satisfy the requirement. Students may also find an internship that a professor will agree to supervise. English majors should consult with their advisors about internship possibilities, as well as the process involved in getting internships approved. In recent semesters, English majors have completed both on-campus and offcampus internships, including those with newspapers, bookstores, and healthcare organizations. The Longwood Career Center is willing and able to help students find internships. Information on Longwood internships is available at: http://www.longwood.edu/career/internships/Internship_Guidelines.htm A copy of the department’s Internship Learning Contract is available at: http://www.longwoodshakespeare.org/internship.pdf

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STUDY ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAJORS IN ENGLISH Study abroad is not just for language majors! Here are some opportunities for English majors to study abroad; discuss the options with your advisor and come by the Office of International Affairs, Ruffner 146, for more information.

The Office of International Affairs provides $1,000 scholarships to ALL students who study abroad for an entire semester, regardless of the program, and this helps pay for your airfare and some other expenses. All study abroad programs awarding at least 3 credits are considered “approved international experiences” and waive Goal 9. In addition, study abroad courses usually satisfy other major, minor or General Education requirements. Semester Abroad: English majors can spend a semester abroad while taking courses toward the major, minor or some General Education requirements. Please stop by the Office of International Affairs to explore the possibilities; you can study abroad in almost any country in the world. In addition, Longwood University has “One-for-One” exchange programs* with these universities: University of Plymouth, England; University of Derby, England; University of Geneva, Switzerland. You will work with your advisor to plan the courses you will take, and how the study abroad semester will fit into your overall graduation plan. *“One-for-one exchange” programs are usually much more affordable than some other study abroad programs because students in the exchange programs pay their own university (Longwood) and do not pay anything to the university abroad. In some exchange programs, students pay for the room and board through Longwood also, and in others, they pay for the room and board abroad. Summer Programs: There are many 4-week, 6-week or 8-week summer programs around the world. The Office of International Affairs can help you find a program in your area of interest; you will work with your academic advisor to plan which courses to take and how they will transfer. The Office of International Affairs provides $500 scholarships to ALL students who spend at least 4 weeks in an independent study abroad summer program. Short Summer or Winter Programs: Short Summer or Winter Programs: Longwood University provides many short 2-week and 3-week summer or winter intersession group programs abroad, led by Longwood faculty. Please check with the Office of International Affairs for a complete listing of programs available. Most of the programs satisfy one or more requirements, either for General Education, or major or minor requirements. There are a few summer 2009 group programs still accepting applications, but you should act immediately.

So plan ahead for Winter 08 and Summer 09 as you work with your advisor and plan your General Education and major course schedule. Access the latest information and instructions: www.longwood.edu/studyabroad 6

FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Dr. Rhonda Brock Servais will be presenting the following conference papers: "My Love! My Vampire! My Pedophile?" (WGST talk Wednesday April 1 3 pm), "Time After Time: The Gothic Novel's Resistance to Time" (International Association for the Fantastic in Arts March 2009), and "The New Cinderella in a Very Old Story: Three Contemporary Cinderella Films for Young Audiences" (Children's Literature Association Annual Conference June 2009). Dr. Gena Southall was chosen as a NCTE/NCATE program reviewer and attended the training workshop at the NCTE national conference in San Antonio, TX, on November 19-20, 2008. Dr. Southall also presented at the National Reading Conference in Orlando, FL, on December 5, 2008. Her co-authored paper, Dispelling the Myths: Teacher Knowledge of and Beliefs about Dyslexia, will appear in an NRC publication later this year. Dr. Craig Challender’s porm, “Sayler’s Creek: May, 1998,” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He also has a poem forthcoming in the Southern Humanities Review. Dr. Brett Hursey’s plays -- "Scrambled," "Night of the Living Debutante," "Kung-Foolery," "The Stand-In," and "Straight Talk" have appeared in twenty-two productions thus far this year. Ten of those productions were performed off/off-off Broadway in Manhattan. Mary Carroll-Hackett, Coordinator for Creative Writing at Longwood, was the featured plenary reader at this year’s Southern Humanities Council Conference in Durham, North Carolina in February. She recently had fiction appear in Stone Table Review, SNReview and her feature-length script The Fisherman’s Daughter was a semi-finalist for the Page Awards. She has an essay forthcoming next fall in Crab Orchard Review. CAREER CENTER AND ENGLISH MAJORS English majors go into a variety of career fields after graduation, including writing, editing, publishing, public relations, advertising, and education. Let the Career Center staff help you learn more about these career fields and others in which you may have an interest. The Career Center staff will help you in finding internships, writing resumes and cover letters, and preparing for interviews. Review all the workshops the Career Center offers each semester by viewing: http://www.longwood.edu/career/Calendar.htm. Review and practice professional dining etiquette by signing up to attend the Professional Dining Etiquette dinner—one offered each semester. Applying to graduate school? See the resources the Career Center has for writing a personal statement, researching graduate programs, etc. Check out the Career Center Library, Lancaster Hall, Ground Floor, and the Career Center web site, , for job information, including salary statistics, employment outlook, internship listings, job listings, graduate school information, and more. Schedule an appointment to talk with one of the staff by calling x2063. CONCENTRATION IN RHETORIC AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING Check out the Rhetoric and Professional Writing bulletin board outside of G01 for information about this new concentration, or contact Dr. Welch. 7

ENGLISH GRADUATE STUDIES AT LONGWOOD Did you know that you can stay right here at Longwood and earn your MA in English? The English graduate program has four concentrations: Literature, Education and Writing, Creative Writing, and Initial Licensure. Graduate students enjoy more individual attention and seminar classes reserved for them alone. There are a limited number of assistantships available through the Office of Graduate Studies. Please talk to Dr. Tracy about whether one of these options can help you toward your future.

TEACH ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) Are you majoring in Liberal Studies or English Education? Have you thought about teaching ESL? Many of the courses you are already taking could satisfy the requirements for endorsement in ESL. Virginia is short of ESL teachers right now and you could really make a difference in the life of someone new to Virginia. Because of ESL’s critical status, students who are eligible can receive a scholarship for up to $3,720. To be eligible, you must be enrolled on a full- or part-time basis in the ESL teacher preparation program, be at or beyond the sophomore year, have a GPA of at least 2.7, and be a resident of Virginia. Also, students must be recommended by their university. For the loan to be forgiven, you must teach ESL for four semesters in any Virginia public school. If you have any additional questions or would like to know more about the ESL education program at Longwood, please contact Dr. Susan Hildebrandt.

SENIOR HONORS RESEARCH PROGRAM The Senior Honors Research Program, which is distinct from the Longwood Honors Program, involves the student and a faculty director in a research project in the student's field. It culminates in a professional paper. It is excellent preparation for graduate school, and some people have compared it to a mini-Master's thesis. Complete details about the program are under “Honors Programs” in the front part of the current university catalog. This is a year-long program, and students earn six hours of academic credit. The usual time table is as follows: • Second semester of junior year: Student and advisor propose a project and present it to the Senior Honors Research Committee for approval. • First semester of senior year: Student enrolls in Honors 498 in his or her field and does the research for the project. Faculty advisor provides guidance. • Second semester of senior year: Student enrolls in Honors 499 and writes a paper based on the research. The student orally defends his or her work before an examining committee. Assuming the defense is successful, the student graduates with Senior Research Honors. This is a demanding program which should be undertaken by our top students. Students contemplating a project should be juniors, and they cannot register for Senior Honors Research while they are student teaching, which means student teachers or those in full semester internships need to propose their project fall semester of their junior year. Students who are interested in doing a project next year need to propose the project this semester. If interested, consult with your academic advisor.

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CREATIVE WRITING Longwood Creative Writing students presented in a variety of panels and readings at this year’s Southern Humanities conference: undergraduates included: Sarah Barr, Lia Carroll-Hackett, Amy Donaldson, Melissa Clampitt, Thomas Scott, Stacy Wood, Jon Norcutt, Troy Bishop, and Samari Batista. Creative Writing graduates students presenting included Austin Eichelberger, Alex Odom, Katherine Ringley and Jennifer Parkes. Creative Writing students also attended the annual conference hosted by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs in Chicago. Students comprising the editorial staff of The Dos Passos Review represented our press and journal alongside some 500 other literary presses, journals and publishers in the bookfair at the largest gathering of writers in the world. Ms. Carroll-Hackett and Kerri Cushman, Assistant Professor of Art, are serving as co-curators for a groundbreaking artistic collaboration entitled Somewhere Far from Habit: The Poet and the Artist’s Book, to open at the Pierre Menard Gallery on Harvard Square November 2009. The show is a museum quality pairing of ten of the nation’s top poets with ten of the nation’s top book artists, in which the book artists are producing one of a kind artist books inspired by the poets’ work. Poets involved include: Joy Harjo, Aaron Smith, Tom Sleigh, Lucie BrockBroido, Michael Burkard, Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey, former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, and E. Ethelbert Miller, as well as work from the late Liam Rector and Jason Shinder. Book artists include: Richard Minsky, founder of the The Center for Book Arts in New York, Beatrice Coron, Karen Kunc, Ben Blount, Buzz Spector, Shawn Sheehy, Margot Ecke and Kerri Cushman. The opening will feature readings from some of the included poets, and the Pierre Menard will host the show for the entire month of November. Briery Creek Press, the small literary press hosted by Creative Writing at Longwood, in partnership with the Robert Russa Moton Museum, will be republishing Bound for Freedom: An Educator's Adventures in Prince Edward County by Neil V. Sullivan, the educator handpicked by John and Robert Kennedy to address the egregious wrongs being done to the children of Prince Edward County at that time, and Bound for Freedom, Sullivan's personal memoir, details his successful efforts to open a federally-funded Free School in Prince Edward in 1963, the year prior to the Supreme Court's resolution of Brown v. Board. The Prince Edward County “Free Schools,” funded through foundation support, operated during the 1963-64 school year.. Published originally by Little, Brown, Inc. in 1965, Bound for Freedom is one of the most important books concerning this chapter of our nation's civil rights history, a personal account of Neil Sullivan's efforts, the stories of the teachers he recruited, the white families of Prince Edward who believed “What's right is right,” and most importantly, the African American children who wanted more than anything to attend school. Our goal is to reintroduce the book to a contemporary audience, with a specific eye toward bringing the book into classrooms and to other educational venues where new generations can come to know both the historic struggle and victory that took place in a small corner of Southside Virginia. Briery Creek Press, on March 18, will release the third winner of the annual Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry. This year’s winning manuscript, chosen by judge E. Ethelbert Miller, is Manna Sifting by Garrett J. Brown, a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Examining the sacred in the mundane, Manna Sifting is available for sale in Grainger 112.

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