Welcome, Fall 2011!

On behalf of the entire graduate faculty in the Department of English, we would like to welcome the nearly fifty of you who will begin your master’s studies this month. To the nearly two hundred students who are returning to DePaul after a summer away from workshops and seminars, we extend to you a warm “Welcome back!” We send greetings as well from Ms. Jan Hickey, the assistant director of the English department’s two graduate programs.

From Prof. John Shanahan: This is an exciting time in the Master’s in English program. We are running innovative new literature seminars this year such as Prof. Marcy Dinius’ “Writing Black Radicalism,” Prof. Rich Squibbs’ “English Literature and the French Revolution,” and Prof. Bill Gonzales’ “Border Writing.” We will continue offering more courses in literature of all periods and in teaching topics. I believe that a vibrant and rigorous Master’s degree is a vital resource in today’s economy, and a report on the Master’s degree in English issued this summer by the Modern Language Association confirms that our curriculum, for which training in pedagogy is stressed as well as original research, is ahead of the national curve. I intend in the coming years to do all that I can to enhance the program further and to continue to foster excellent scholars and teachers. We can look forward this year to visiting writers, student socials and readings, faculty lectures, and the Spring Conference. Please feel free to make an appointment to speak with me so we can discuss your academic plans.

From Prof. Michele Morano: I’m delighted to begin directing the MA program in Writing and Publishing this fall and look forward to working with all of you. This year we have a particularly robust slate of courses in both areas of our program, from fiction, poetry, nonfiction and multi-genre workshops to classes in digital publishing, literary editing, and the independent press. We’re also thrilled to welcome professor and poet Chris Green as our dedicated internship coordinator. Prof. Miles Harvey is putting together a terrific slate of visiting writers for the year, and we’re planning a number of events to showcase the work of both graduate students and faculty members. In addition, the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) will take place inChicagoduring winter quarter (Feb. 29-March 3), and we strongly encourage graduate students to attend. Keep an eye on Ex Libris as the time draws near for more information, including opportunities to become involved in the conference. In the meantime, please stop by the graduate suite and say hello.

Ex Libris, the monthly newsletter for the M.A. in English and M.A. in Writing & Publishing programs, provides MAE and MAWP students with timely news and notices about the two programs as well as about scholarly activities and opportunities that will be of interest to many of you. The only way you can ensure that you will receive this is to keep your preferred email address up to date on your Campus Connection account and also to let Ms. Hickey know of these changes. Ms. Hickey relies on contact information supplied by you to send out important announcements about deadlines, scholarships, conferences, jobs, and internships. Please send any email address changes to Ms. Hickey at jhicke11@depaul.edu.

Maria Hlohowskyj, a first-year student and Graduate Assistant in the Master of Arts in Writing and Publishing, is the new editor of Ex Libris. Ex Libris is the online newsletter for both programs, so please remember to check it regularly for updates. Please send Maria news about yourself and about events and organizations that would interest students and faculty in the MAE and MAWP programs. We are also interested in suggestions that would help Ex Libris serve you and the MAE/MAWP programs better. Send all emails to Maria at mhlohows@depaul.edu.

We hope you’ll avail yourself of the many activities that EGSA, the English Graduate Student Association, is planning for the coming year. For information about EGSA activities, check the Ex Libris blog.

Best wishes for a successful fall quarter and for an exciting, rewarding academic year. Graduate study is hectic, challenging, draining, but also exhilarating, fulfilling, and all too short. Come June 2012 (or 2013, 2014, …), we will see you cross the stage at the commencement ceremony to receive your Master of Arts degree. And with this you will commence the next stage in your life as a thinker, scholar, reader, and writer.

Very best wishes,
John Shanahan and Michele Morano

And now, congratulations are in order for several of our alumni and faculty for their recent achievements:

Steve Bogdaniec (M.A.W.P. ’11) has been hired at Wright College as an adjunct this coming fall.

Toni Apicelli (M.A.W. ’98) has self-published a book entitled A Sixties Story. Toni began writing this book while in the former Masters in Writing program at DePaul, which she credits with teaching her “much more than I ever expected.” Get more information on Toni’s new publication at www.asixtiesstory.com.

Faculty member Paula McQuade‘s article “A Knowing People: Early Modern Motherhood, Female Authorship, and Working-Class Community in Dorothy Burch’s A Catechism of the Several Heads of the Christian Religion,” Prose Studies 32.3 (December 2010): 167-86 has been selected by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women as the winner of the 2011 SSEMW Essay and Article Award.  This award is given each year to the best essay published on early modern women writers.  Paula will travel to the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in October to receive the award.

Professor James Murphy will give a lecture on Sunday Sept. 18 as a part of a multimedia presentation on “Yeats and the Irish Peasant” at the Irish American Heritage Center. Prof. Murphy’s lecture will address the role of early nineteenth-century Irish novelist William Carleton in Yeats’s writing and reputation. The presentation will take place at 2-4 pm and tickets are $10 at the door.

Regarding Fall 2011 changes in English Department leadership, Department Chair Lucy Rinehart has written the following:

“I am delighted to announce that Michele Morano will take over at the start of Fall term as Director of the Masters in Writing and Publishing Program.  At the same time Craig Sirles will step up as Associate Chair (with responsibilities for coordinating class scheduling and supervising non-tenure-track faculty).

Craig has directed the English Department’s graduate writing program for twelve years; during this period the program has doubled in size to its current enrollment of almost 150 students.  In 2008, he oversaw the transition from the Masters in Writing to the Masters in Writing and Publishing.   On behalf of the department, I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his dedicated leadership of the graduate writing programs through a challenging period of growth and change—and his continued willingness to serve the department in a new capacity.

Thanks are also due to Ted Anton, outgoing Associate Chair.  Ted will be on leave in Fall, finishing his book, Mortal Coils:  The Strange Race for the Secrets of Longevity.  This month Ted agreed to a contract offer on the book from the University of Chicago Press, the manuscript to be delivered at the end of his leave.  Congratulations, Ted!”

The deadline for the Glimmer Train Press Short Story Award for New Writers is this Wednesday, August 31st. The contest is open to writers whose fiction has not appeared in any print publication with a circulation over 5,000. First prize includes $1,200 and publication in Glimmer Train Stories issue 85; second- and third- prizes include monetary awards and possible publications. For submission guidelines and further details, please visit http://www.glimmertrain.com/shorawfornew2.html.

And one final reminder for new MAE and MAWP students: The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Graduate Student Orientation is scheduled for Tuesday, September 6 at the Schmitt Academic Center (SAC). Check-in, refreshments, and an optional campus tour are to take place from 5:00-6:00pm and the orientation itself will take place from 6:00-8:00pm. If you have not already registered, please do so using Campus Connect.