GRADUATION PHOTOS ARE HERE!

Our Department Graduate Ceremony was really stellar. Some laughed, some cried, some declared greatness.  We all enjoyed it! To see a large slide show, click here .  Thank you to Richard B. Ressman for donating his time to take the photographs. To see more of his work, check out Photography on the Cutting Edge (www.photosurgeon.net).

DOROTHY WRIGHT AWARD WINNERS

A belated congratulations to all of the Dorothy Wright Award winners! To see the list of names or read what students wrote about these award-winning teachers, please click here . 

WELCOME NEW MAJOR'S ADVISORS

Dr. Persis Karim and Dr. Susan Shillinglaw are our new Undergraduate Major Advisors.  They are taking over from Dr. John Pollock who has retired after 40 years (!) of service to our Department.  To contact them, look for their information here.

NEW CREATIVE WRITING CONCENTRATION FOR FALL 2008

Good news for all of those undergraduate creative writers! The English major Concentration in Creative Writinghas been approved and will be offered beginning in Fall 2008.  For more information, see the requirements hereor contact Professor Alan Soldofsky, Coordinator of the Concentration (soldofsk@email.sjsu.edu).

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST FACULTY!

Dr. Cathy Gabor joins our full-time faculty in Fall 2008. She comes to us from Sacramento State with a Ph.D. from Texas Christian University (2004). Her teaching and research interests include writing processes in electronic environments, service-learning and K-12/college collaborative literacies. Professor Gabor will teach the Seminar in Advanced Composition (Engl 105) and Introduction to Career Writing (Engl 129).

BATH, ENGLAND STUDY ABROAD FOR SPRING 2009

Dr. Andy Fleck is taking a group of students to study in Bath England for the Spring 2009 semester. Students will complete their upper-division GE requirements and may also take English 144, another course required of the English major. For further information, contact Dr. Fleck at afleck@email.sjsu.edu or consult the program website: http://web.mac.com/proffleck DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY!

NEW LURIE CHAIR ANNOUNCED

The Department welcomes the 2008-2009 Lurie Chair , Dr. Sandra Gilbert , Distinguished Professor of of English Emerita at the University of California, Davis, is the author of seven collections of poetry as well as, more recently, The Italian Collection (Depot Books). Belongings, her latest book of poems, appeared from Norton in 2005, and a prose work, Death’s Door: Modern Dying and The Ways We Grieve, was published by Norton in 2006.  To read her full bio, please see here.  Dr. Gilbert will offer readings and teach during Spring 2009.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW TEACHING ASSOCIATES & GRADUATE ASSISTANTS

The competition was tought this year! Teaching Associate Positions were awarded to Charanya Arjun, Maria Judnick, Matt McCoy, Tanja Nathanael, Georgia Saratsiotis, and Candice Wynne.  In addition, Ben Jonas, Gary Shapiro, Stacey Knapp, and Mary Williams will continue on for a second year as TA’s.  Graduate Assistant positions were awarded to Vince Bergamo, Josh Cembellin, Lara Hubel, Tommy Mouton, Heather Stanger, and Gary Wong.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW STEINBECK FELLOWS

Cora Stryker is a former Tropical Field Biologist and Urban Gardener and is currently at work on her first novel, Manzanita, which is set in a post-petroleum San Francisco.  Jasmin Darznik received her doctorate in English literature from Princeton University in 2007.  The Good Daughter, her memoir of Iran, will be published by Grand Central in 2009. Cristine Gonzalez recently earned an MFA from Columbia University and is writing a memoir about four generations of her mother's family in Japan, Peru and the United States called The House in Solitude Square. Look for readings by Fellows next Fall & Spring.

CONGRATULATIONS TO GRANT WINNERS

Professor Nick Taylor won a Jr. Faculty Professional Development grant to work on his second novel this Summer. Dr. Katherine D. Harris won a College Release Time grant to write a conference paper as well as to continue working on her digital project.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR. WARNER

Dr. Mary Warner has been invited by SJSU to become a tenured faculty member and has also been promoted to Associate Professor.  Dr. Warner was also awarded a sabbatical in Spring 2009!! The Department congratulates Dr. Warner on a job well done!

ALUMNI EVENT CELEBRATES NICK TAYLOR'S NOVEL

Alumni and faculty gathered in April to celebrate the publication of Prof. Nick Taylor's first novel, The Disagreement.  To see a larger version of the slideshow, see this page .

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL DEPARTMENT AWARD WINNERS!!

On Friday, May 2, many of the Department's awardees gathered to receive a hearty congratulations for both student-submitted and faculty-nominated awards.  Awardees include Casey Fedde, Kelly Ricker, Jessica Duidotti, John MacPherson and many, many others.  Click here for a pdf list of award winners.  To view a larger version of the picture slideshow, see this page.

Emeritus Professor Still Making Her Mark

PWC Publishes Spring 2008 Newsletter!

The Poets & Writers Coalition took over creating this semester's Newsletter .  At a whopping 34 pages, this newsletter offers creative as well as informational articles. Pick up a print copy at the English Dept. office (FO 102) or download a pdf copy here.

Congratulations to all Dean's & President's Scholars!

Several English Department students participated in last Friday's (April 25th) Honors Ceremony .  Faculty in attendance were proud to support our students.

Steinbeck Fellows Receive Prestigious Awards for their Writing

Current and former Steinbeck Fellows, Peter Nathaniel Malae and Roxanna Font, have received prestigious awards for their writing: In Fall 2007 (after becoming a Steinbeck Fellow) Malae received the prestigious Joseph Henry Jackson Award from the San Francisco Intersection for the Arts for the manuscript of his novel, What We Are. Also in Fall 2007, Font received the prestigious Mary Tanenbaum Award from the San Francisco Intersection for the Arts for the manuscript of her memoir, The Fig Tree, the project on which she worked as a Steinbeck Fellow in 2004-2005. Both awards are sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation and administered by Intersection for the Arts since 1991. Both Malae and Font’s works were chosen from over 150 manuscripts of fiction (novels and short stories), poetry, nonfiction prose, graphic novel, and drama.

The English Department Congratulates 2 MFA Students on Recent Publications

Ted Cox recently published several feature stories in the Sacramento News & Review: "Bye-bye Birdie?"  examines the disappearing bird species in California and "The Young and the Sexless" looks at abstinence training as part of comprehensive sex ed programs. Shaquana Mitchell's thesis, "Beauty Secrets," won 1st Place in the Feature Film category of the BEA Student Scriptwriting competition.

New Website Feature

We've added a search engine to our Department website!  See the search box on the Home page.

APPLY FOR AN AWARD OR SCHOLARSHIP with the Department!

They're here! They're here! We have over $10,000 in scholarships and awards to give away to both undergraduate and graduate students. Applications are available online.  Applications are due by 5pm on April 2nd.  Awards ceremony will take place on May 2 @ 1:30pm in WSQ 207.  Don't miss it!!

RSVP for Department Graduation Celebration

Are you graduating this semester? Please join our festive Department graduation ceremony honoring English Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts Graduate Class of 2007-2008, including those graduating Summer or Fall 2007 and Winter or Spring 2008. You'll need to RSVP by filling out the bottom portion of this flyer  (pdf).  ...and CONGRATULATIONS!

Apply for the Chandler Scholarship

The College of Humanities and the Arts invites nominations for the 2007/2008 Dr. Josephine Chandler Humanities Scholarship Award. Academic excellence and a commitment to the study of the humanities shall be the primary criteria for awarding this scholarship. You may begin the application process and request a faculty member to nominate you.  See the application here . Due April 14th.

The English Department Congratulates Faculty for Sabbaticals

Congratulations to Professors Bonnie Cox (Spring 09), Samuel Maio and Nancy Stork(Fall 09) for being awarded sabbaticals for 2008-2009. During her sabbatical, Professor Stork will continue work on translations from the Inquisition Records of Jacques Fournier, Bishop of Pamiers, France (1318-1325). 

The English Department Congratulates the CLA 

Kelly Harrison , Co-Director of the Center for Literary Arts, received a CSU minigrant to benefit the Center for Literary Arts and the project Author Events Video Editing 2007-2008 season. The grant will fund computer equipment and a student assistant who will help edit and produce a DVD of a CLA event from this season. The CLA hopes to use this edited DVD as a proof-of-concept piece when applying for an NEH grant to fund digitizing and conversion of existing video in the CLA collection.

The English Department Congratulates Nick Taylor

Nick Taylor , Assistant Professor of English, celebrates the publication of his novel, The Disagreement, due in bookstores April 1, 2008. Beverly Swerling writes about his novel: “ ...Here is a story about our soul-destroying fratricidal war that uses the narrowest of prisms to offer a wider vision. A genuine accomplishment.” Prof. Taylor will read from his novel on April 9 & 10 at SJSU. Stay tuned for details: http://www.readthedisagreement.com

Reed Magazine Celebrates Its 61st Issue

To launch this latest issue of the student-produced Reed Magazine , attend the roll-out party on Monday, April 21, at 4PM, in the Spartan Memorial Chapel. All are invited. $5 gets you a copy of Reed, food, drinks, and a program including readings from the new issue.

The English Department Congratulates Mary Warner

Mary Warner , Assistant Professor of English,  presented a paper, "God Haunted and God Hunted: The Characters of Graham Greene and Flannery O'Connor Illuminating the Inscrutability of God," at the Oxford Round Table in July 2007 and will publish the talk in Forum on Public Policy.

Did you know......

...that SJSU maintains a Facebook page? Check here for helpful tips or to ask a question.

Giving to English

The next time you're shopping on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Powells, consider helping the English Department . If you already purchase your books, DVDs or holiday gifts from either of these online entities, we ask that you consider navigating to these sites using the links at the "Giving to English" section of our website. By clicking these links and purchasing "stuff," you indicate that you came from our Department and referral fees will begin to accumulate.

Spring Graduate Newsletter (Feb. 2008)

Graduate students: Check on important deadlines, exams, congratulatory salutes and courses for next semester in the Spring Graduate Student Newsletter .