ENGLISH 2017–18 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Six New Faculty Join English in Fall 2018

n the fall of 2018, MAT JOHNSON will join the everything in between” “handled with ruthless IDepartments of English and Creative Writing candor and riotous humor.” where he will teach courses in literature, fiction Johnson is a regular contributor to writing, and comics studies. Professor NPR’s Fresh Air, where he reads Johnson is the author of the novels on-air essays about subjects Loving Day, Pym, Drop, and Hunting including biracial identity, in Harlem; the nonfiction novella caring for an ailing parent, The Great Negro Plot; and graphic and the Obama presidency. novels including Incognegro, Right He is a recipient of the State, and Dark Rain. Graduate American Book Award, the students and faculty in English have United States Artist James written about, studied, and taught MAT JOHNSON Baldwin Fellowship, The Johnson’s celebrated third novel, Pym, Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, which responds to Edgar Allan Poe’s The the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and the John Dos Passos Prize for Litera- with a wildly funny academic satire that becomes ture. Johnson is a graduate of Columbia a profound adventure narrative. The New York University’s MFA in Creative Writing. Times calls Pym “an uproarious and hard-driving He previously taught at Bard College and journey into the heart of whiteness.” A reviewer comes to the University of Oregon from for The Los Angeles Times calls Johnson’s the Creative Writing Program at the Uni- most recent novel, Loving Day, an “unrelenting versity of Houston. examination of blackness, whiteness and continues on page 6 Thorsson Receives Faculty Excellence Award

ssociate Professor COURTNEY THORSSON of Women in Society. Starting in Fall A received a Fund for Faculty Excellence 2018 she will serve as Associate Award for the 2017–18 academic year. The award Director of the Black Studies was presented by Vice Provost Scott Pratt at the Program, headed by Professor May Department meeting because Thorsson spent Curtis Austin of the History last year on sabbatical leave. She is credited with Department. putting African American literary studies on the The Fund for Faculty map at the UO. Both her prominent scholarly pro- Excellence was established duction and her efforts to bring important African in 2006, thanks to generous American writers and literary critics to campus gifts from Lorry I. Lokey to SCOTT PRATT AND have made a vital impact. Thorsson’s first book, Campaign Oregon: Transform- COURTNEY THORSSON Women’s Work: Nationalism and Contemporary ing Lives. The fund is designed African American Women’s Novels, made critical to support the university’s strategic contributions to the field. Thorsson is complet- commitment to improve its overall aca- ing a series of articles about foodways in African demic quality and reputation by rewarding, recog- American literature and working on a book about nizing, and retaining nationally competitive fac- Black women’s literary networks in the 1970s. ulty who have a record of excellence in research, An exceptional teacher and colleague, as well as scholarship, creative accomplishment, and educa- scholar, Thorsson has made unique contributions tion. Previous English Department recipients of to the English Department and to several interdis- this award include Ben Saunders and Lisa Gilman ENG ciplinary programs, including Women’s, Gender, (2016–17) and Gordon Sayre (2014–15). and Sexuality Studies and the Center for Study Writing, Speaking, and Critical Reasoning: Notes from Department Head Capabilities for Our Time David Vázquez

nglish contributes in vital ways to helping stu- such as History of Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Ethics, t the end of my first term as head of English, In addition to the folks who will join us Edents develop into effective participants in de- Public Speaking as a Liberal Art, Oral Controversy AI am simply in awe of my colleagues and our next year, I am very pleased to announce an- mocracy, in a world in which engaged citizenship and Advocacy, Inventing Arguments, and Critical wonderful students. Although we have weathered other high-profile hire: during the fall of 2019 DAVID VÁZQUEZ seems to have become both more urgent and more Reasoning. Among the new courses, those teach- a year of big changes—ranging from retirements, STACY ALAIMO will join UO English. Dr. Alaimo is complex. Rapidly changing political realities, and ing oral argument represented the return of public to realignments at the college and central admin- one of the top environmental studies and ecocriti- increasingly bewildering modes and conventions speaking classes to the University of Oregon after istrative levels, to a spate of new hires—we have cal scholars in the world. She comes to UO after of public debate require citizens to understand the University’s Speech Department was eliminat- consistently rallied around one another. I am many years at the University of Texas at Arlington. how arguments work, how to assess arguments ed in the 1980’s as a result of “Measure 5” budget proud to call this group of people my friends and You can read more about her scholarship in the logically as well as ethically, and how to formu- cuts.The irony of a controversial state-wide ballot colleagues, and I’m grateful for the scholarly com- accompanying profile, but Alaimo brings expertise late and express effective arguments in support of initiative causing the demise of public speaking munity that we’ve built together. Above all, I am in feminist science studies, new materialism, and their ideas. Fortunately, argumentative discourse, at the University was finally addressed when the proud to say that we have a top-notch group of multiethnic literary studies to UO. in the broadly humanistic rhetorical tradition, is English Department stepped up with a proposal faculty, students, and staff that make English one We also welcome SUSAN COOKE-WEEBER as our an area in which the English Department excels to teach speaking alongside its already strong of the most exciting units on campus. second Postdoctoral Fellow in Ethnic American both in research and in teaching. The English De- writing curriculum. The Department’s national Before I go further, I would like to honor and Literature and Cultural Productions. Susan’s ex- partment meets this timely educational challenge prominence in scholarship on Rhetoric goes back celebrate JOHN GAGE, WARREN GINSBERG, STEVEN pertise is in African American literature and cul- head-on by offering a unique curriculum in “Writ- to the 1960’s when Professor Albert Kitzhaber SHANKMAN, and BILL ROSSI, who are retiring after ture. She joins UO after holding another postdoc- ing, Speaking, and Critical Rea- brought his expertise to Oregon illustrious careers. They will all continue to be toral fellowship at the Frederick Douglass Institute soning,” in the form of a Minor as a site for the U.S. Department around in various capacities, but we will miss for African and African American Studies at the and a more rigorous Certificate of Education “Project English,” their wisdom and intelligence as daily presences University of Rochester. We look forward to the re- for undergraduate students from focused on the study of writ- in the department. We also say goodbye to JOR- search, teaching, and programming she will bring any major at the University. ing and reading pedagogy in DACHE ELLAPEN, who will be leaving us for the to campus next year. Following up on the success The Department’s WSCR Minor higher education. Kitzhaber was University of Toronto. of the Ethnic Lit Postdoc, we are currently work- has for 13 years been providing joined by other rhetoricians on Fortunately, we had a spectacularly successful ing on securing funding for the long-term future of undergraduates with an op- the faculty, and was succeeded hiring season this year with five new colleagues the program. English is published portunity to learn skills that are in 1980 by Professor Emeritus set to join us next year, and another coming on In addition to the wonderful new people join- annually by members of the needed to effectively participate JOHN GAGE, who currently su- board in 2019–20. You can read more about the ing us, I am excited to report that our new major UO Department of English. in the complex world of contro- pervises the WSCR program as individual hires in their profiles in this newsletter, is flourishing. The new Foundations of the Major versy. Students enrolled in the Director of the Department’s but I’ll preview those sections by giving shouts out sequence team taught by HEIDI KAUFMAN, WAR- Please contact us with your Minor or Certificate take courses Center for Teaching Writing. to our new colleagues. First, the renowned novel- REN GINSBERG, and PRISCILLA OVALLE has by every news or comments at: designed to help them under- Gage is the author of a widely- ist and comics creator MAT JOHNSON joins us for measure been a smashing success. We look forward [email protected] or stand how arguments function adopted textbook: The Shape a joint appointment with Creative Writing. Mat to our second cohort of scholars teaching in the Elizabeth Bohls in the public sphere and to en- of Reason, and among his most will teach courses in English on comics, African Foundations course for the next two years. They Newsletter Editor able them to advocate effective- recent work on argumenta- American, and American literature. We welcome are LARA BOVILSKY, BEN SAUNDERS, and PAUL PEPPIS. Department of English ly for their ideas in written and tion is his edited volume The KATHRYN KELP-STEBBINS as an Assistant Professor Our students are fortunate to have such an accom- 1286 University of Oregon oral modes.Required courses Promise of Reason: Studies in of Comics Studies, who joins us after four years plished group teaching the Foundations sequence! Eugene OR 97403-1286 are divided into three general The New Rhetoric (Southern at Palomar College. Kate pointed out to me in a One of the best parts of this job is celebrating areas: Written Argument, Oral Argument, and Illinois University Press, 2011). Gage and Profes- recent conversation that hers is the first dedicated the many achievements of our dedicated and ac- This year’s newsletter was Reasoning. These areas are united by their con- sor Crosswhite, along with David Frank of the Comics Studies hire in the country—a fact that we complished colleagues. First, I congratulate KIRBY prepared by: nection to the academic discipline of Rhetoric, a Clark Honors College, have brought Oregon into are proud to celebrate! Also joining us as our new BROWN, a specialist in Native American literature, long-standing strength of the English Department’s the spotlight of argumentation studies by organiz- Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and QUINN MILLER, a specialist in television studies WRITERS curriculum. The WSCR minor began in 2007 when ing an international conference, developing work- is JOSÉ MANUEL CORTEZ, who comes to UO after a and queer theory, for their promotions to Associate Elizabeth Bohls English Professors JAMES CROSSWHITE and ANNE shops and presentations at the Rhetoric Society of year at the University of Utah. José’s work brings Professor with indefinite tenure. We are also de- Corbett Upton LASKAYA were awarded a grant from the Williams America, and editing special issues of the journals new energy to both our Composition and Rhetoric lighted to congratulate EMILY SIMNITT and CORBETT Council to develop the undergraduate emphasis. Argumentation and Argument and Advocacy. crew, as well as our Latinx studies group. We also UPTON for their promotions to Senior Instructor, FACULTY EDITOR They organized faculty from English, Philosophy, Crosswhite has won international acclaim for his welcome FAITH BARTER who will be our new Assis- and MIKE COPPERMAN and TINA BOSCHA for their Elizabeth Bohls and the Clark Honors College to discuss texts that book Deep Rhetoric (University of Chicago Press, tant Professor of 19th Century African American promotions to Senior Instructor II. All were excep- influenced them to think about the nature of rea- 2013), a philosophical study of the theoretical and Literature. Faith comes to UO from Vanderbilt tionally worthy candidates for promotion as top- ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR soning and communication. The group studied ethical dimensions of reason. The Department where she has been working as a Lecturer in Eng- notch researchers, teachers, and administrators. Susan Meyers works by Plato and Aristotle, Martin Heidegger, recently hired JOSÉ CORTEZ, Ph.D. in Rhetoric from lish and Women and Gender Studies. Finally, I am Although this has been a year of change, I Jürgen Habermas, Chaïm Perelman, Martha Nuss- the University of Arizona, to join the English fac- happy to welcome MARCEL BROUSSEAU who joins am heartened by the good will and solidarity DESIGNER baum, and Wayne Booth, among others, and col- ulty in this flourishing field. The courses offered us as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Latinx and among my colleagues. It is an honor to serve as Peg Freas Gearhart laborated on the design of a curriculum based on regularly include “Public Speaking as a Liberal Native American literatures. Marcel received his head among such a distinguished and productive their insights. The resulting WSCR minor com- Art,” “Inventing Arguments,” “Oral Controversy PhD from UC Santa Barbara and has been a post- group. I look forward to continuing to learn from bined existing courses in English and Philosophy and Advocacy,” “Scientific and Technical Writ- doctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Austin and serve them as my second term commences with a set of new courses. These included courses continues on page 28 for the past two years. next year.

2 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 3

Universe is really a transmedia multiverse. As a one of the most original and successful fantasy Curating the Marvel Universe with Ben Saunders curator for this project, could I convey this range franchises in the history of modern entertainment? —drawing out the implications of the iterations Could we pay tribute to some of the men and rofessor BEN SAUNDERS recently served an eighty-page illustrated script—a kind of and variations of a single character such as Spider- women who laid the foundations of the Marvel Pas Chief Curator for a major exhibition at elaborated narrative of the proposed exhibition Man, say—without confusing and losing our audi- Universe, honoring their imaginative labor and MoPOP, the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. with a rough floor plan and wish list of objects. I ence? consummate craftsmanship? In the process, could Founded by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, shared this script within the larger curatorial team, I also wanted to win over the potential skeptics we also teach the audience something about that MoPOP is one of the most popular tourist which included my fellow academics, Professors in the audience who regard the entire genre as an craft? attractions in the Northwest, Randy Duncan and Matthew Smith, as well as two infantile power fantasy. I wanted to paint a more We decided that we would attempt all of these attracting 800,000 visitors a former Marvel writers/editors, Annie Nocenti and nuanced picture of the relationship between the things. It was a hugely ambitious undertaking— year. Saunders’ exhibition is Danny Fingeroth; they provided suggestions for Marvel Universe and our own world by drawing but it was an ambition suited to the grand, devoted to the transmedia revision, which I incorporated. That document out the social, symbolic, and richly allegorical operatic sweep of the subject matter. By the time history of Marvel Comics then went to Marvel for approval; we held meetings nature of these characters and stories. the show leaves Seattle it’s possible that more than (from the 1930s to the in LA with Brian Crosby of Marvel Themed If these challenges were not enough, I also felt 500,000 people will have seen it. I doubt I’ll ever present). Made up of Entertainment, and I revised the script a third time driven to tell the real-world history of Marvel. have a chance to work on such a scale again, and over three hundred to reflect his input. How did a tiny publishing company with a deriva- I’ll always be grateful to the producers for giving objects—including Throughout, I also worked in constant tive line of trend-chasing funny books evolve into me the opportunity. rare pages of comic collaboration with several different groups. I book production art, exchanged many, many emails with a superb specially commissioned German design team, Studio TK; they also flew Travels of an English Major sculptures, costumes me out to Munich for some production meetings. and props from Marvel Studio TK built all the installations and designed n his honors thesis, “Flying Low: The Travels in the oh-so-familiar dullness of the present, Studios, interactive digital the media tables and infographics based on Iof a Drone Pilot in Polynesia,” Robert D. whether it be brushing teeth or searching for that BEN SAUNDERS media tables, and dozens of the content we provided, and generally made Clark Honors College student and English major missing pair of glasses. Instead, Larison presents eye-catching infographics—the everything look incredibly cool. I also worked ZACHARY J. LARISON evokes one of the oldest forms vivid moments that reveal show opened to great fanfare on with an LA-based design company called Gentle of narrative: Where did you go? What did you see? more about the past and April 20th. Celebrities such as film director Giant. They constructed our life-sized sculptures, Who did you meet? This travel narrative, crafted present of these Kevin Smith, actor James Marsters, and comic based on my design concepts—creating some of in close collaboration with Professor ELIZABETH islands than any book writer G. Willow Wilson were in attendance, the biggest “gosh-wow” moments of the show. BOHLS, carries on centuries of written tradition archaeological and Hip Hop legend Pete Rock spun the discs as Overall, I wanted spectacle and photo-ops as well from explorers and adventures the world over to report might. DJ for the after party. Ticket sales for the opening as historic sweep and fine detail—and I got what I recount a two-year journey across the Polynesian From eating weekend exceeded expectations; indeed, the show wanted! pacific. From the earthquake-shaken suburbs of chicken is turning out to be one of the most successful in I also worked closely with a group of private Christchurch, New Zealand, to a historic heiau cooked in MoPOP’s eighteen-year history. collectors who loaned many objects to the show. in Hana, Hawai’i, to the rocky shores of Rapa Nui an umu We asked Professor Saunders some questions Marvel Comics did not keep an archive, and so (Easter Island), Zachary Larison’s “Flying Low” (earth about this unusual and exciting event. the rarest pieces of surviving comic book art are gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into the oven), to now in private hands. The most desirable pieces adventures of an archaeological drone pilot for husking HOW DID YOU COME TO BE INVOLVED IN of art sell for hundred of thousands of dollars, Dr. Terry Hunt, Professor of Anthropology and coconuts CURATING THIS EXHIBITION? and I’m beyond grateful to the lenders of those former Dean of the Clark Honors College (now in Hana, It started when two of MoPOP’s curators, Jacob precious works for trusting us with their prized at University of Arizona). In the air and on the to fishing McMurray and Brooks Peck, visited Eugene to possessions; because of their generosity, the public ground, “Flying Low” is a firsthand look into Dr. for the see my EC comics exhibition at the JSMA, two has a unique opportunity to see some of the most Hunt’s ongoing research in Polynesia and the colorful summers ago. They suggested working together beautiful, dynamic, and influential works of evolution of the methods of archaeology. The moon wrasse on a comics-themed show for MoPOP, and I had commercial illustration of the last hundred years archaeology that began with hand-drawn sketches with a piece of a sabbatical coming up so I was able to say yes. at this show. and written descriptions now continues in the PVC pipe off the ZACHARY J. LARISON Shortly afterwards, an independent European And of course, I was regularly in contact with hands of drone pilots like Larison who carefully coast of Rapa Nui, production company approached MoPOP with a Marvel, and with the filmmaker, Britta Wauer, who maneuver quadcopters around sacred artifacts “Flying Low” proves that view to collaborating on a major show devoted created the short opening movie for the show, and for modeling, measurement, and discovery. the age of exploration is not over, exclusively to Marvel; they brought a large budget with the whole team at MoPOP. This thesis is an ode to the future of sustainable but instead is flourishing and necessary. As science to the table (in the millions), and had ambitions I guess maybe it’s a bit like being a film director research methods and a tribute to the incredible and technology push further and further away from to create a truly historic exhibition that would in that dozens of people worked tremendously past of these islands. the supposed ineffectiveness of our human (and tour the world for several years to come. The folks hard to produce the final result—but I was Through face-to-face encounters across three therefore error-prone) senses, this travel narrative at MoPOP kindly put my name forward for the the primary nexus-point, in touch with every islands, Larison presents the individuals of his reminds us of the profound power of the “plain, Chief Curatorial position—and for the next several stakeholder. Polynesian travels as windows into their culture unvarnished tale” (as African explorer Mungo Park months working on the show was pretty much my and ancestry in a collection of intimate episodes. would say). The intimate episodes of this thesis, full-time job. WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF To achieve this, Larison enters the intersection crystallized in matter-of-fact writing, remind us that THE EXHIBITION? between fact and fiction that every travel writer we all share a perennial hunger for exploration and WHAT DOES THE WORK OF A CURATOR The fabric of the Marvel Universe is woven must traverse. The reader hardly spends a moment a perennial hunger to hear about it. INVOLVE FOR AN EVENT OF THIS SCALE? out of story elements that date back almost eighty I spent the first six or seven weeks so producing years. What’s more, what we call the Marvel

4 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 5

New faculty continued A Banner Year for DH@UO by Heidi Kaufman

Johnson recently completed his latest graphic His essay entitled his was an exciting year for DH@UO. May 2017 have held played out in Oregon during the ‘silent novel, Incognegro: Renaissance, which will be “Of Exterior and Tmarked the official approval of the new minor era’ and within specific communities. Students released in hardcover fall 2018. He is currently Exception: Latin in Digital Humanities (DH). This academic year enrolled in this course contributed to a major, col- completing his fifth novel, an exploration of the American Rhetoric, we focused on developing new DH courses for the laborative DH project, The Oregon Theatre Project. nature of partisanship. He is looking forward to Subalternity, and the minor and growing our community of practice. On In the process, they studied effective and ethical trading in Houston’s blistering summers for Or- Politics of Cultural both fronts interest in DH has grown. I’ve especially uses of digital tools in building new knowledge in egon’s temperate ones and to becoming part of the Difference” is forth- enjoyed seeing newcomers experiment with digital the humanities. Aronson and Peterson will contin- vibrant English and Creative Writing Departments, JOSÉ MANUEL coming in the jour- tools in their courses or attend some of our new ue to develop this DH project with each new group where he can engage in creative writing, literature, CORTEZ nal Philosophy and hands-on workshops and lectures. To learn more of students who enroll in their course. The online and comics. Rhetoric. Previous about DH activities, visit: dh.uoregon.edu. During map at the heart of the Oregon Theatre Project FAITH BARTER received her Ph.D. in 2016 from to his hire at UO he the school year we keep a regular blog with discus- charts the history of movie exhibition in a number Vanderbilt University. She also holds a J.D. from was Assistant Professor at the University of Utah sions about issues or accomplishments in the DH of Oregon cities and towns over the first quarter of American University and worked as a in 2017–18. He joins us as Assistant Professor of community. In addition, on Fridays we post DH job the 20th century. lawyer for some time before turning rhetoric and composition. announcements, calls-for-papers, conferences, grant Funding from CAS and UO Libraries sup- to literature; her research on nine- KATE KELP-STEBBINS received her Ph.D. in Com- and fellowship opportunities, and events pertain- ported a vibrant speaker series, “Why DH? Why teenth-century African American parative Literature from the University of Califor- ing to Digital and Public Humanities. DH Now?” We had an opportunity to hear from literature brings her legal expertise nia at Santa Barbara This year undergrads at UO had the oppor- scholars around the country who are learning how to bear on this rich area of literary in 2014. Her research tunity to enroll in our new introduction to DH to think about the ways that the digital turn in lit- history. Her dissertation is entitled interest in comics course, English 250: Literature and Digital Culture. erary culture can open up new ways of thinking “Human Rites: Deciphering Fictions and graphic novels Taught by English faculty member EMILY SIMNITT, about the work we do in an English department. FAITH BARTER of Legal and Literary Personhood, is long-standing, and the course integrates methods of studying litera- Siobhan Senier, Professor of English and Women’s 1830–1860.” Her publications include she has published ture with new technologies. Students learned Studies at University of New Hampshire, pre- “Lessons in Legal Literacy: Democratizing numerous articles how to build dynamic digital maps, to sented her digital archive of New England Legal Critique as a Means of Resisting Racial Injus- KATE and chapters, in- create digital archives, to build online Native literature and culture. Ryan tice” and “Bartleby, Barbarians, and the Legality of KELP-STEBBINS cluding such titles timelines, and analyzed the uses and Cordell, Assistant Professor of English Literature.” She is also an award-winning teacher as “Hybrid Heroes misuses of data-driven visualiza- at Northeastern University, shared who has taught classes in Women and Gender and Graphic Posthu- tions—all while studying literature his work on the “pre-history of fake Studies as well as in English, including such top- manity: Comics as a Media Technology for Criti- about homes, homelands, and news” where he used algorithms and ics as “Women in Law and Literature” and “Narra- cal Posthumanism;” “Undead in Suburbia;” and homelessness. This wildly success- visualization tools to trace the cir- tives of Slavery in Law and Literature.” She joins “Comics as Orientation Devices.” She is currently ful course drew students from majors EMILY SIMNITT culation of fake news in 19th-century us as Assistant Professor of African American finishing a book entitledGraphic Positioning Sys- all across campus. I had the opportunity American newspaper culture. Finally, literature. tems: Global Comics, Radical Literacies. She is an to guest lecture on a few occasions where we heard from Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Pro- MARCEL BROUSSEAU received his Ph.D. in Com- accomplished teacher who received the 2017–18 students used digital tools to analyze Edgar fessor of English at Stanford, and Gordon H. parative Literature from the University of Califor- Distinguished Faculty of the Year Award at Palo- Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher.” Chang, Professor of History at Stanford, nia at Santa Barbara in 2015 and spent mar College, where she taught from 2014 until this On a later occasion I heard student about their joint project, Chinese Rail- two years as a Carlos E. Castañeda year. She joins us as Assistant Professor of comics presentations on digital timelines road Workers in North America. They postdoctoral fellow at the Center for studies. they created in response to Jeanette shared the development of their Mexican American Studies at the SUSAN COOKE WEEBER will join us as our sec- Walls’s The Class Castle. I was im- digital project and the challenges, University of Texas at Austin. His ond Postdoctoral Fellow in Ethnic American Liter- pressed by how well our students rewards, and innovative possibilities research interests include Latinx atures. She received embraced the opportunity to experi- of using digital scholarship. and Indigenous studies, border her Ph.D. from ment with new tools and methods of MIKE ARONSON Complementing the DH Speaker MARCEL studies, and critical cartography as Pennsylvania State studying literature. Series were a number of hands-on DH BROUSSEAU well as digital humanities and eco- University in 2016 MIKE ARONSON, Associate Professor of workshops aimed at helping faculty and criticism. He has published articles in and spent a year as Cinema Studies, and ELIZABETH PETERSON of graduate students learn how to use digital the journals Boom California and Native a postdoctoral fel- the Library (Ph.D. in English and Cinema tools and discover ways of applying these American and Indigenous Studies and is finish- low at the Frederick Studies) were awarded a CAS grant tools to their work. Workshop topics ing a study entitled Hyperborders: Cultural Tech- SUSAN Douglass Institute for to develop a new DH course for the ranged from “Excel basics for Human- niques of the Trans-American Borderlands. He COOKE WEEBER African and African- minor. Their course, Cinema Stud- ists” to “Podcasting in the Class- joins us as Visiting Assistant Professor of ethnic American Studies ies 335: Exhibitions and Audiences, room.” We are excited to continue American literatures. at the University of focused on how audiences under- creating new opportunities in the JOSÉ MANUEL CORTEZ received his Ph.D. in Rochester. Her dissertation is entitled “Poetics of stand movies, particularly in relation ELIZABETH future for students and faculty as we Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of Eng- Interruption: Media and Form in 20th-Century to the way that movies are shown or PETERSON continue to grow our community. lish in 2017 from the University of Arizona. His Black Radical Literature,” and her research in- exhibited. The course examined how the research interests include Latina/o studies, Latinx terests include critical race theory, Caribbean social class, gender, race, politics, national rhetoric, and decolonial/postcolonial studies as literature, and prison literature as well as African identity, and other cultural values audiences might well as composition studies and critical theory. American literature and culture.

6 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 7

take risks in their writing or to trust their peers to next year with the help of TEP. Antiracist assess- Visiting Scholar Leads Workshop on Inclusive Pedagogy provide valuable feedback. However, the students ment practices drawing on Inoue’s principles also reacted positively and reported that, having risked will play a key role in a workshop in the Teaching n his introduction to his monograph Antiracist implications of difference, identity, and power in more, they learned more than they expected to Difference, Inequality, and Agency Pathway at IWriting Assessment Ecologies, ASAO B. INOUE academic writing. learn in a first-year writing class.” TEP’s first-ever Summer Teaching Institute. More writes, “Because we are all implicated in racism “Professional development opportunities like Boscha used labor-based contract grading in information about the symposium can be found at in our classrooms and in society, because race is the symposium revitalize our teaching and nurture two sections of WR 121. “To put it inelegantly, arwa.uoregon.edu. already constructed for us historically, because a community of teachers committed to innovating I was blown away by our work with Dr. Asao Asao B. Inoue is Professor and Director of Uni- racism already exists, because we already our teaching practice to better meet the Inoue,” said Boscha. “After reading through his versity Writing at the University of Washington live in racial contradictions, we needs of our students,” said CAROLYN materials and dissecting the theory and practice Tacoma. Among his many articles and chapters on should be engaging in an antiracist BERGQUIST, Director of the Composi- behind contract grading, I crossed a threshold I writing assessment and race and racism studies, project.” The Composition Pro- tion Program. “What we learned at had been toeing for a long time: I can no longer Inoue’s article, “Theorizing Failure in U.S. Writing gram and English Department the symposium continues to re- recognize the utility or efficacy of the traditional Assessments,” won the 2014 CWPA Outstanding with the support of Center for verberate throughout the initia- model of grading.” Scholarship Award and his recent book Antiracist Teaching Writing, the Teaching tives the Composition Program The symposium grew out of discussions in Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and As- Engagement Program (TEP), and has been working on this year.” the Composition Program’s Inclusive Pedagogies sessing for a Socially Just Future (2015) won the the offices for Academic Excel- Writing teachers immediately Reading Group about how to recognize the needs 2017 NCTE/CCCC Outstanding Book Award for a lence and Undergraduate Studies began implementing the prin- of diverse student writers and is an example of the monograph. In November of 2016, he co-edited a brought Inoue and his message ciples of contract grading follow- English Department’s commitment to equity and special issue of College English on writing assess- to campus in Fall 2017 to explore ASAO B. INOUE ing the symposium. In Winter 2018, inclusion in the classroom. The English Depart- ment as social justice, and is currently finishing a teaching and assessing writing as an KATE MYERS and TINA BOSCHA imple- ment is leading a contract grading pilot over the co-edited collection on the same topic. antiracist, social justice project. mented contract grading in their WR 123 The resulting October 27th “Social Justice and WR 121 classes, respectively. Through Antiracist Writing Assessment” sym- “The symposium with Asao Inoue had a pro- Stacy Alaimo Joins Department in 2019 posium drew more than 75 faculty from the found effect on the ways I engage students and Composition Program, English Department, and assess their writing. Having learned about contract n the fall of 2019, STACY ALAIMO will join the for ecocriticism; and Exposed: Environmental writing-intensive courses across campus, as well grading as an antiracist model for assessment, I IDepartment of English, where she will teach Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times (2016). as UO leaders in antiracist efforts. The symposium volunteered to pilot a contract-grading strategy courses in environmental and environmental She co-edited Material Feminisms (2008) with Su- included a morning workshop on labor-based con- in my WR 123 class in winter term,” said Myers. justice literatures; contemporary theory; cultural san J. Hekman and the 28-chapter volume Matter tract grading, a lunch meeting about antiracist as- “I anticipated that my students would resist this studies; and gender studies. Dr. Alaimo is cur- (2016) in the Gender series of Macmillan Interdis- sessment across the curriculum, and an afternoon style of assessment because they were used to re- rently Professor of English and Distinguished ciplinary Handbooks. She is currently co-editing a meeting in which Composition faculty reflected on lying solely on the instructor to validate the qual- Teaching Professor at the University of new book series, “Elements,” with Nicole their own and the program’s grading practices and ity of their work and would remain reluctant to Texas at Arlington, where she served Starosielski and Courtney Berger for policies. as the Academic co-chair for Duke University Press. Alaimo Inoue’s award-winning work in Rhetoric and the President’s Sustainability has more than 45 scholarly Composition, focused on social justice, addresses Committee and established articles and chapters pub- the disproportionate barriers to success for students and directed a cross-disci- lished and forthcoming on of color, first-generation college students, and other plinary minor in environ- such topics as sustainabil- students from diverse backgrounds, particularly mental and sustainability ity, gender and climate in writing assignments. In the morning workshop, studies. She chaired change, queer animals, Inoue demonstrated how his version of labor-based the inaugural MLA anthropocene femi- contract grading seeks to remove barriers to stu- Forum on Ecocriticism nisms, marine science dent success. His method begins in the premise and the Environmental studies, blue humanities, that writing assessments privilege white discourse Humanities, served on material ecocriticism, and and offers what Inoue argues is a more equitable the international evalua- new materialist theory. alternative. In Inoue’s version of contract grading, tion team for the massive Her work has been/is being students are assessed based on their adherence to a Environmental Humanities translated into Swedish, Por- contract they negotiate that outlines the amount of program competition in Stock- STACY ALAIMO tuguese, Polish, Greek, German, writing the student needs to do for each grade level holm, was the Wang Distinguished and Korean. She is currently writ- (A, B, C, etc.). Professor in Residence at George Wash- ing Composing Blue Ecologies: Science, In a contract-graded classroom, student agency ington University, and is currently serving as the Aesthetics, and the Creatures of the Abyss. More and reflection are central. All members of the Co-President of ASLE, the Association for the on her research can be found at stacyalaimo.com. classroom community are responsible for helping Study of Literature and Environment. Alaimo’s She is thrilled to be joining a department and each other learn. Students negotiate their contracts publications include Undomesticated Ground: university with such strong programs and impres- at the beginning of the term, create rubrics that Recasting Nature as Feminist Space (2000); Bodily sive research in English studies, gender and ethnic reflect and value the voices of the classroom com- Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material studies, and environmental studies. munity, and are responsible for being careful read- Self (2010), which won the Association for the ers of each other’s writing. The teacher becomes Study of Literature and Environment book award one of many readers who react and respond to writing. At the same time, students examine the

8 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 9

“Claude McKay’s Amiable with Big Teeth and Northwest Women Writers Symposium featured the Paradoxes of the Archive” writer Laila Lalami and English faculty

n 2009, Columbia University graduate student As Cloutier and Edwards explained, this he theme for the 2018 Center for the Study of seminar—funds from which helped bring Lalami to Iin English Jean-Christophe Cloutier was process uncovered not only a lot of revelatory TWomen in Society (CSWS) Northwest Women campus—for their observations, saying they were working in the Columbia archives on cataloguing information about McKay—and, by extension, Writers Symposium—“The Border and Its Mean- the ones who “crystallized my understanding of the collection of Samuel Roth—a notorious mid- about the Harlem Renaissance, especially in ing: Forgotten Stories”—was meant to open Campbell’s final heroic element, the ‘elixir’ or new- century editor, publisher, and pornographer— its later phases—but about the nature of “the conversations about contemporary issues around found power Mustafa brought with him when he encountered an unusual-looking file. On archive” itself. Through an exhaustive search of Muslim life in the West and the plight of undocu- into the final return.” opening it, he saw a 300-page manuscript bound McKay’s archive in the hope of proving the novel mented immigrants in the U.S. and around the Liz Bohls, professor of in cardboard covers bearing the title “Amiable was written by him, they found correspondence world. English, commented on a with Big Teeth,” by Claude McKay. As Cloutier of his to a publisher negotiating over the work. Held April 25 and built around the experience passage near the end of knew, McKay was a prominent figure in early They then had the novel authenticated by a group and expertise of Moroccan-born writer Laila the novel, after the four of experts in African American literature—who Lalami, the symposium featured a panel survivors of the Span- considered how the novel echoed characteristic discussion on the UO campus and a keynote ish expedition have stylistic and verbal choices of McKay’s, as well talk at the downtown Eugene Public Library. A crossed the North as how it discussed themes and historical issues Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2015 for her novelThe American continent affecting Harlem in ways it was likely only Moor’s Account, Lalami also writes a column for and arrived in New he could have done. After this authentication The Nation and contributes regularly to the New Spain. She discussed was successfully completed, and after getting York Times Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. “the novel as a story of permission from McKay’s estate, the novel She often focuses on border issues in northern travel, slavery, empire appeared with Penguin in 2017 to widespread Africa and around the Mediterranean area, as well and colonialism, in which acclaim. Such a process, they argued, revealed as in the United States. the protagonist undergoes a the archive as dynamic and never completed, as The Moor’s Account opened the conversa- number of personal transfor- LAILA LALAMI regularly changed by new demands placed on it tion further, to a historic look at an ill-fated 1528 mations, starting in Morocco and and by new questions asked, and as continually expedition of Spanish conquistadors (recorded ending somewhere in the Southwest. altered by new connections that come to light and officially by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza De Vaca) and I’m particularly interested,” she said, “in by new additions that change the meaning of what their interactions with Native Americans as they his transitions from free to enslaved and was there before. traveled from Florida into northern Mexico. Lal- back again, and his ‘Moorish’ identity The novel, written in 1940, deals with the ami’s novel is an imagined memoir written in the that enables him to observe the Castilian issues of African American protest and activism voice of one of four survivors of the expedition, a conquistadors’ actions as an outsider. His at the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and Moorish slave considered the first black explorer sense of his identity shifts as he moves twentieth century black literature—a pioneering with the growing influence of communist ideas in of America. When juxtaposed against De Vaca’s among the various groups, Spanish and poet of Jamaican dialect, a leftist radical who the U.S. during the Great Depression, especially historic record of this journey, Lalami’s novel, as Indians, belonging to neither. ‘Who was I published searing anti-capitalist poetry and within the “popular front” coalition against The Huffington Post puts it, “sheds light on all of in New Spain?’ he asks.” had spoken in front of Lenin and Trotsky at fascism that arose in the mid-1930s. Its discovery the possible New World exploration stories that Angela Joya, assistant professor of the Kremlin, and a luminary of the Harlem shed light on McKay’s late-career rejection didn’t make history.” The ongoing themes of the International Studies, whose current re- Renaissance who wrote its bestselling novel, of communism, as well as on his extensive novel include the power of voice, the significance search focuses on the current migrant/ Home to Harlem. Yet he had published only interest in depression-era political and cultural of storytelling, and the relationship of personal refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, com- three novels, with one unpublished; there was institutions in Harlem. freedom to storytelling. mented on a passage in which Mustafa no mention of any other lengthy fictional work of Attended by an audience of around 60 faculty, The symposium began with a panel of UO sells himself into slavery in the hope of saving the McKay’s anywhere in his bibliographic record. So graduate students, and undergraduates, the talk scholars who discussed passages they had lives of his mother, brothers, and sister. began the story outlined this spring in a talk to the was a chance to share in the excitement of this selected from The Moor’s Account. Commentators Michael Najjar, associate professor of Theatre UO community by Cloutier—now an Associate landmark discovery with the scholars who made included MIRIAM GERSHOW, LIZ BOHLS, Angela Arts, whose passage selection overlapped with Professor at the University of Pennsylvania— it, as well as to talk about the joys, the revelations, Joya, Lamia Karim, and Michael Najjar. The Joya’s, discussed “how Lalami humanized and his former dissertation advisor, Columbia and the frustrations that can come from working panel was structured around their passages, with the Moor al-Zamoria, and how Moors have Professor Brent Hayes Edwards, a story which in the archive. The April 26th talk was supported Lalami reading the text of each, followed by the traditionally been erased in theatre, especially in tracked their protracted efforts to establish by CAS, English, the Oregon Humanities Center, commentary of the individual who selected it. plays by William Shakespeare ad Aphra Behn.” whether the novel was really by McKay, and then the Division of Equity and Inclusion, Ethnic Miriam Gershow, novelist and associate director Lamia Karim, associate professor of bring it to publication. Studies, History, and Comparative Literature. of composition in English, focused on how Lalami Anthropology, chose a passage that described the built the backstory of her main character. Noting meeting between the main character and Oyomasot, that she came to the book as a novelist, Gershow the Native woman whom he marries. Karim said she was most interested in the part of the story commented: “The body of the female in colonial not shaped by the historical record but straight imagination is an interesting idea to explore. from Lalami’s imagination. With some of her com- Oyomasot is a bold character in a land that is mentary focused on Joseph Campbell’s conceptual increasingly being plundered and lost.” paradigm of the hero’s journey, Gershow credited —Alice Evans, coordinator, several of the students from her Living Writers CSWS Northwest Women Writers Symposium

10 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 11

Emeritus Professor Appears on TV Courses in the Spotlight

rofessor Emeritus GEORGE WICKES, to Southeast Asia. In Rangoon at war’s end he Building a Collaborative Foundation: professors worked through various questions of Pwho taught twentieth-century Brit- heard of the mission to Saigon and asked to be Team Teaching ENG 301 power, performance, production, and materiality ish and American literature in the Eng- included, explaining that he had studied Vietnam- By WILL CONABLE (Ph.D. student) in a roundtable discussion as the course “transi- lish Department from 1970 to 1993 (and ese. The commanding officer was unimpressed tioned” from one historical period to the next. On continued teaching part-time until 2015) but asked Wickes if he could speak French. When hen ALEX CAVANAUGH and I these days, students saw how the methods of the was interviewed in the first episode of Wickes replied that French was his first language Wfirst tried to envision the major can develop connections across differences. Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s documen- and that he had always spoken it with his Bel- through-line for Beowulf, Oli- This unique lecture environment led to dy- tary series on the Vietnam War. In 1945 gian mother, he was subjected to a one-word test: ver Twist, and Citizen Kane, namic and creative discussion sections. The Wickes was a member of a small Office “What is the French word for ‘street’?” As soon as I must confess we were at students brought the same spirit of collabora- of Special Services (OSS) mission sent to he pronounced “rue,” he was told he could go. In a loss. We faced a similar tion and combined inquiry demonstrated by Saigon to cover events immediately after Saigon Wickes served as the mission’s cryptogra- dilemma when trying to the professors to our weekly meetings. Each the armistice, during the period when the pher but also helped gather intelligence, on one imagine the connections WARREN class began with a free write where students Vietnamese declared their independence occasion meeting under cover of darkness with between “The Dream of the GINSBERG identified at least one main concept from lec- and began their uprising against the representatives of the Vietminh Committee of the Rood,” Victorian advertise- ture they were uncertain of, or a line of inquiry French occupation. Because of his lin- South. In 1946 he and another member of the ments in a serialized novel, and they wished to pursue further. After writing, they guistic ability the Army had sent Wickes OSS team were sent to Hanoi where they met with Orson Welles’s innovations in The shared their thoughts in small groups and wrote to Berkeley in 1943 to study Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh and covered further developments War of the Worlds. And, we their ideas and a specific passage they felt best OSS had then recruited him, trained him between the Vietnamese and the French. All of figured that if we were strug- represented their ideas on the board. Based on GEORGE WICKES in cryptography at its headquarters in this of course was long before the U.S. became gling to make these con- what the students produced, we pursued their Washington, D.C., and sent him overseas involved. nections then our future interests with a full class discussion where students in ENG 301 would each student was encouraged to bring their be in the same boat. Thank- own perspective to bear on the conversa- The Insight Seminars by Jim Earl fully, Professors WARREN HEIDI KAUFMAN tion. In this way, they interrogated the same GINSBERG, HEIDI KAUFMAN, themes of power, performance, production, and ost people read Thoreau’s Walden in school, The Excelsior group went on to create the UO and PRISCILLA PEÑA OVALLE materiality with the same collaborative methods Mwhen they’re too young to appreciate it. I still Insight Seminars, the first step toward an adult were there to pilot us through, practiced by the professors. Ultimately, the choice have my copy from sixty years ago. The underlin- college. They wrote this mission statement: making for a unique teaching and to practice in discussion what was witnessed in ing tells me I read half. College life had its distrac- In middle life the questions addressed by the learning environment. They lecture helped students realize the range of pos- tions, and study was hard. As Thoreau says, humanities take on a new reality. Our society of- accomplished this by design- sibilities in the major without being limited to To read well, that is, to read true books in a true fers little guidance for this stage of life, though ing a course that provided a single method. Or, as one student put it, the spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task other cultures consider it a time for thinking and the foundational concepts course taught them that “there is more to Eng- the reader more than any exercise which the writing, wisdom and understanding, and coming for the contextualization of lish than reading books and writing essays. customs of the day esteem. It requires a training to grips with ultimate questions. This is when we literary and cultural arti- It’s about studying relationships and discover- such as the athletes underwent, the steady in- should make time for philosophy, literature, his- facts while simultaneously ing what they mean.” I thought that was pretty tention almost of the whole life to this object. tory, religion, art and music—even language study, demonstrating the power PRISCILLA PEÑA cool. which exercises the mind! Anyone can dabble in of disciplinary collaboration OVALLE Most of us stop studying the great books just these without a university; but there’s no compari- in their lectures. As a result, the Readings in Medical Humanities when we might begin to understand and enjoy son between the random reading most people do Foundations of the English Major sequence is not them. How lucky we are in Eugene to live in a col- and the sort of experience a university provides: only fun for the Professors and TAs but for the Perfecto held the pole of the awning. The ce- lege town. Many people move here just to be near the joys of real study and deep learning, with a students as well because it provides them the op- ment was loose, the pole wobbly. He noted it. a university. But look at the relationship between group of motivated peers, facilitated by experts portunity to both witness disciplinary collabora- The clinic smelled of strong disinfectant and the university and the town: many in Eugene see you can respect. tion and to attempt such methods for themselves bad plumbing. There were three folding chairs the University as an ivory tower—and when the In the last fifteen years UO faculty have taught discussion sections. opposite the entrance. Estrella helped Alejo to University does reach out, with lectures, plays, or over a hundred Insight Seminars on a wide vari- The collaborative learning that took place one of them and his weight released a breath concerts . . . there’s no parking! ety of topics, including Understanding Islam, the in the discussion sections I led was made pos- on the chair. Only the hum of a fan could be With this in mind at the turn of a new millen- Art of Reading, Great American Films, the Ag- sible because of the lecture portion of the course. heard. The mother remarked that nobody was nium, a few faculty and townspeople gathered ing Brain, Mahatma Gandhi, John Muir, Muslim There, students watched a Medievalist, a Victorian present and perhaps the clinic was closed, but weekly at the Excelsior Café, right off campus. Spain, The Iliad, King Lear, The Tale of Genji, Jane scholar, and New Media scholar interrogate the Estrella replied the fan was still on and the They dreamt of founding an adult college, taking Austen, and War and Peace. Seminars are four contextual effects reading, performance, viewing, door unlocked and the Rambler parked outside their inspiration from Thoreau: weeks long, and meet on weekends or in the eve- and listening have on various primary materials. which meant that the clinic was open and Per- It is time we had uncommon schools, that we ning. Next year we’ll offer ten seminars, including Those same students also experienced established fecto agreed with both of them. Above the chair did not leave off our education when we begin three with English professors: Literature of the scholars bring texts like “Caedmon’s Hymn,” Oli- was a poster of two frisky kittens romping. Alejo to be men and women. It is time that villages Great War, with GEORGE WICKES, Beowulf, with JIM ver Twist, and the silent filmPrincess Nicotine leaned his head back against the ball of yard the were universities, and their elder inhabitants EARL, and Walden, with BILL ROSSI. into conversation with one another to demonstrate kittens played with and closed his eyes. the fellows of universities with leisure to pursue For information and registration, call the In- how the power of scholarly context opens new liberal studies the rest of their lives. sight Seminars office at 541-346-4231, or check possibilities for interpretation and inquiry. Finally, This description of a family of Chicanx agri- our website, uoinsight.uoregon.edu. the lecture utilized “Transition Days” where the cultural workers arriving at a broken-down health

12 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 13 clinic and looking for ways to trade skills the ways these companies construct and canon formation. Students honed their set by Upton and carried out by the rest visits, organized presentations about “Robot Stories” teach new majors for health care is from Helena María represent kinship, DNA, familial history, skill in close reading, interpreting and of the class. “Having Siarra and Helen the author, attended the authors’ public about the genre Viramontes’ 1996 novel Under the Feet and geographical identity. discussing literary texts and important in the class was a great pleasure. Their events, and participated in student-led of Jesus. Using sensory diction, the jux- Because the course fulfills an Arts statements of poetics, and national and participation contributed to the high discussions during the authors’ class “I came in assuming all robots look taposition of contrasting images, and a and Letters requirement and also counts diasporic identity formation. level of discourse the class was able to visits. These class visits proved lively the same: metal, bulky, and evil.” That’s towards the Disability Studies minor and According to Upton, the seminar achieve,” noted Upton. and illuminating, with students regularly ALEXIS OIE, one of 38 students taking the Global Health minor, it usually draws format “gave the class an opportunity to The timing of the seminar was for- offering interpretations of the texts the the Spring 2018 “Robot Stories” class, a an intriguing mix of majors from pre- closely read and thoroughly engage with tuitous, too. Jean-Christophe Cloutier authors had not considered, or pointing prerequisite course for English focusing med science fields, social sciences, and the wide range of work by one of the (University of Pennsylvania) and Brent out choices the authors had forgotten. on the study of a single genre. Now, like English and other humanities subjects. most famous and, paradoxically, under- Hayes Edwards (Columbia University) More than one author joked that the other students in the class who describe English Department Ph.D. student ANGE- read poets of the twentieth century who visited campus on April to discuss their students knew the texts better than they, a similar transformation, Oie finds that LA ROVAK, who has served as a teaching is credited with inaugurating the Harlem remarkable discovery of an unknown the author did, which gave voice to the the class has “opened my eyes. I want to assistant for the course, remarks that pre- Renaissance and inspiring the Negrítude novel by Claude McKay, Amiable with Big central question of the course: what is go back and watch other robot movies” med students become “more cognizant of movement. Focusing on a single Teeth. Their talk, “Claude McKay’s Ami- the relationship between reader, writer to think about how they approach the social and political role of medicine author helped bring to light McKay’s able with Big Teeth and the Paradoxes of and text? conventions of the genre and “how their in society. My hope is that the empathy unique contributions to the story of the Archive,” added depth to the course’s Perhaps no visit was livelier than robots are characterized.” explored in the medical humanities American poetry and complicated discussions of McKay’s late career and Andre Dubus III’s. Questions of repre- “Robot Stories” offers students a classroom resonates long into their future that story by encouraging students to introduced to many of the students both sentation, objectification, sexism and surprisingly long “cultural history of the careers.” This is precisely the hope of consider the international influences the arduousness and rewards of archival even misogyny came up repeatedly in robot,” as LARA BOVILSKY, the instructor, medical school admissions committees. on American poetry and identity research. [See article pg. 10] the discussions of his latest book, Dirty describes the course. Texts run from According to LOGAN MYERS, an English beyond an exclusively Anglo-American Thanks to the generosity of the St. Love. Is there a difference between a intelligent golden robot maids in poems major in the course who plans to pursue configuration.” Louis family, generations of future Eng- perniciously sexist third-person point of by Homer, through the first robot a medical career, medical schools now The course was conducted as a lish majors will benefit from these op- view and a perniciously sexist author? Is imagined as lacking emotion—The Faerie “want well-rounded individuals who discussion-based seminar in which stu- portunities. it a problem to repeatedly depict women Queene’s 16th-century Talus—through have more than a narrow science focus dents completed mechanical exercises according to their appearance when male 19th-century stories about automaton and can think critically about a range of on poetic form, close reading essays, and New course: “Living Writers” point of view characters are not depicted girlfriends and a broad range of 20th- subjects.” engaged in a substantial research essay similarly? Does Dubus hate women? As century film and fictional explorations Humanities majors in turn might find project, including an annotated bibliog- In spring term 2018, “Living Writers,” one student stated during the class before of robot workforces and the cybernetic their theoretical critiques of medical raphy and abstract and oral reports on a new 300-level English course, brought the author visit, “I’m kind of terrified.” age. Students read and watch works fluid narrative point of view, Viramontes discourse challenged by students their research. The small course size also together students and contemporary When Dubus arrived, he was open to originally written or produced in 7 communicates the impact of health care currently interning in clinics and allowed the students more time to de- fiction writers to discuss the authors’ every interpretation of the text, deeply languages. inequality on the bodies, relationships, hospitals. Paramedics-in-training might vote to improving their academic writing work. MIRIAM GERSHOW was awarded the engaged in the conversation, and under- The variety of forms and media has and daily lives of her characters. debate with English majors over whether skills. The level of engagement demand- Oregon Humanities Center’s (OHC) Cole- standably defensive—if charmingly so— proven appealing. “The structure of the Under the Feet of Jesus is one of the empathy would just get in the way during ed by such close study of primary and man-Guitteau professorship to develop at a few points. He listened to the con- class is cool—the fluidity of the kinds primary texts students read in HUM 240, a medical crisis or whether the literary secondary texts resulted in compelling the course, which is modeled after the cerns about depictions of women, told of texts,” says senior MANUEL RIOS. “Medical Humanities,” an interdisciplin- portrayal of suffering and resilience in research projects exploring subjects as long-running and renowned course of the the class about his fidelity to his 30-year “It shows connections between film ary course currently taught by English works such as Viramontes’ novel calls wide-ranging as McKay’s nationalist use same name marriage, proclaimed himself a feminist, and literature.” Rios also enjoys the professor MARY WOOD. The course trou- into question differential treatment and of Jamaican folk food ways and female from Colgate and described a dream state of writing in philosophical questions that writers and bles the line between scientific and hu- corporate approaches to health care. figures, his contributions to the “lyrical University. which he immerses deep into his imagi- films often use robots to explore. The manistic forms of expression, as students left” of the 1910s and 20s, and use of the With gener- nation and depicts characters without class has learned that authors across analyze figurations of health, illness, St. Louis Seminar on Claude McKay sublime to explore the impacts of racism ous support judgment. He said that it’s the “writers historical periods use robots to ask diagnosis, and treatment not only in fic- and colonialism. “I especially enjoyed from OHC, job to go where the dream world pulls questions about the value of labor and tion, poetry, and film, but also in psychi- The English Department offered the students’ research interests and in- Gershow you.” He did not write with a particular laborers, the nature of justice, the role of atric case studies, pharmaceutical ads, the St. Louis Seminar on Poetry, made class contributions and recitations based was able to MIRIAM GERSHOW moral or lesson in mind, rejected ideas gender difference, and how we recognize and health-related educational media. possible by the St. Louis Seminar on those interests; their work added collaborate of likeable or relatable characters, and intelligence, creativity, and the qualities For example, in a unit on psychiatry Endowment, established by Robert St. much needed nuance to our understand- across the rather viewed written work as art that we identify with humanness itself. and narratives of mental distress, Louis in memory of his late wife, Nadine ings of McKay’s work,” says Upton. humanities to bring authors to campus, he hoped traveled as emotion from one “When you think about robot stories students examine cases in the DSM-V Small St. Louis. Dr. CORBETT UPTON, a In addition to English majors, the partnering with the Center for the Study heart to another. He repeatedly said he is you don’t think it would be so deep,” Case Book, a teaching tool for the specialist in American Poetry, taught course was attended by UO English of Women in Society to bring Laila Lala- haunted by “just how wrongly things can Rios says. “That’s the interesting part for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the course which focused on the effect doctoral candidate HELEN HUANG and mi to campus and with Creative Writing go.” Some students came out of the con- me. I don’t think we’ll ever answer the Mental Disorders (the psychiatric “bible” of McKay’s iconic poem, “If We Must senior auditor Siarra Diggs. Huang to bring Andre Dubus III. Through the versation viewing Dubus’s work anew, question of what’s human, and what’s of diagnosis). The class looks at the ways Die,” on the reception and production of “enjoy[ed] the course so much” because support of a CAS program-grant, Ger- others remained unconvinced. As Dubus definitely not.” that narrative and genre conventions the poet’s corpus. Seminar participants it has helped her revise her dissertation show hosted Danielle Evans for a class himself admitted, “The writing is larger TIM HUBATA-VACEK agrees. For him, such as mystery writing techniques, read McKay’s poetry, most important chapter on McKay. Diggs was pleased to visit and public reading. than the writer.” “Greek mythology and Frankenstein character description, and humor are journalism and letters, his novel Banjo be part of the seminar and felt “strongly Students in the Living Writers course Stay tuned for future course offerings weren’t expected examples of robots, used to present patients in a certain way, and memoir A Long Way From Home. that the whole class has helped me so read the work of these three authors, of “Living Writers.” but [they] get to a concept of creating often revealing implicit biases that can Over 10 weeks of intensive three- much,” and she noted the contributions along with the work of local award- an artificial life: what is artificial? what affect treatment. In another unit, students hour meetings English majors and Upton of doctoral candidate Helen Huang. Diggs winning writer Peter Brown Hoffmeister. is life?” For psych major Ella Kaufman, interpret ads for direct-to-consumer discussed McKay’s oeuvre and poetics, also appreciated the tone of “openness They analyzed the texts over several course content resonates with her home genetic testing companies, examining identity and diaspora, and the politics of and attitude of care and acceptance” class sessions in advance of author discipline and current events: “the things

14 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 15

inely thought that no robot movie other who taught the workshop, notes that than WALL-E could get me so invested in “this is often the first time that students Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta the characters.” Kaufman: “Frankenstein. learn to set their own writing goals and It made me think about robots in a dif- deadlines and to work progressively on he Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma ALISON HAMILTON (vice president), members to the 2018 Sigma Tau Delta ferent light than I had before. I…almost a piece for an extended period, rather TTau Delta, the International English CORINNE BRUBAKER (secretary), ALYSSA International Convention: Seeking Free- found the book to be sort of a page turner than responding to assignments set by Honor Society continued its tradition of PETE (treasurer), ANIKA NYKANEN (histo- dom in Cincinnati, OH. Sarah Hovet, because I wanted to know what the crea- teachers (the structure that has governed service and excellence in the discipline rian), Samantha Rubin (public relations president and Far Western Region Stu- ture would do or discover next.” their entire educational lives) and then of English this year. The chapter hosted officer), andSCOTT ZEIGLER (programming dent Representative, presented her essay often binge writing to deadline and Professor MARY WOOD for a Faculty support officer). The chapter awarded its “Irish Women Redefining Form: O’Brien New graduate publication putting the piece aside.” Writing for even Fireside, an informal gathering to allow annual teaching award for excellence in and Bennett,” which was awarded a first- workshop draws national attention short periods on a daily basis, Bovilsky undergraduates to learn about her excit- undergraduate education and in promot- place conference-wide award for criti- says, leads both to greater productivity ing research and engage in a lively intel- ing interest in the discipline of English cal work on literature. Caroline Fenty’s Fall 2017 saw the pilot run and “to enjoying writing more.” lectual conversation. The chapter’s read- to CAROLYN BERGQUIST. Chapter presi- “Unconscious Expressions of Fears and of English’s new graduate-level Students praised the value of ing group celebrated its reading dent SARAH HOVET was awarded Repressions” won an award for creative “publication” workshop. The course discussing the negative feelings that crop group’s fifth year, reading a study abroad scholarship work presented on the conference theme. is designed to help students develop up during hard moments of writing and work by Ross Gay, Cris- to conduct archival Sarah and Caroline also gave a reading of an essay written for a prior class into a learning to treat them as part of a process tina Henríquez, and research in Ireland their creative work published in the Rect- publishable journal article. Taken at the rather than as signs that they can’t Edna St. Vincent and was awarded angle, the society’s journal of creative same time as an independent study with succeed in the writing project. ROGELIO Millay. They were the society’s writing. Sarah was awarded the Rectan- a faculty mentor that focuses on their GARCIA, a doctoral student, also finds joined by UO most prestigious gle’s Eleanor B. North Award for Poetry revision, workshop participants come that the class “demystifies a lot of things English faculty scholarship, this year. Corinne Brubaker, Alison Ham- In The Day the Earth Stood Still (dir. Robert together weekly to learn more generally about publication and an academic ANNA CARROLL, the William ilton, ELMIRA LOUIE, and Samantha Rubin Wise, 1951) the film’s robot, Gort, is an om- about revision, the publication process, career path. I hear from students at other KARA CLEVENG- C. Johnson served as session chairs at the conven- nipotent enforcer of laws meant to prevent and tools for writing autonomously, universities who do not have this kind of ER, TIA NORTH, Distinguished tion and CORBETT UPTON, chapter sponsor, all violence, in the film’s powerful criticism of productively, and happily. After the end training, and I feel lucky something like CORBETT UPTON, Scholarship served as a session moderator. Cold War tensions. of the term, students receive a “reader’s this is going on at UO.” and ELEANOR in recognition The students attended and participat- report” from a UO faculty member Those other students may soon WAKEFIELD. of academic ed in roundtables, leadership workshops, in field responding to their essay, to enjoy the course too. The publication Once again excellence and and career workshops. In addition to we talk about connect back to things I’m experience the heart of the peer-review workshop has attracted (inter)national the chapter hosted outstanding service experiencing an international academic studying in Psychology and things in the process involved in journal publication. attention: having learned about English’s Oregon and Alpha 2018 SIGMA TAU DELTA to the Society at the conference, students heard keynote ad- real world,” such as our daily interactions They then submit their essays to their course, Directors of Graduate Studies Tau Phi alumna KATLYNN CONVENTION local, regional, and na- dresses by Cristina Henríquez and Mary with programs like Siri and Alexa. chosen journals. of English at University of Florida, NICHOLS for a professional tional levels. Norris. Favorite texts from the course? Rios: The course is taken as doctoral University of Maryland, Wichita State workshop about the Denver Publish- 2018 was the fourth consecutive “Frankenstein. Written in 1818 but so far students prepare for their own University, and the University of Calgary ing Institute and the world of literary year that the chapter attended the soci- ahead of its time.” Hubata-Vacek: “Greek independent dissertation research are now looking at it as a model for their publishing. ety’s international convention. This year, mythology, ‘The Sandman,’ and The after completing coursework and as own graduate programs. The chapter elected a new executive over 1,000 members attended and gave Stepford Wives. I loved how it led to Get masters students begin work on their committee: CAROLINE FENTY (president), 552 presentations. Our chapter sent six Out.” Oie: “Terminator 2. I didn’t expect theses, which are also intended to yield to cry…at the beginning of class I genu- a publishable article. LARA BOVILSKY, Convention Dispatch by Sarah Hovet, 2017–18 Alpha Tau Phi chapter president

hereas many convention-goers buy materials for the puzzles we were college students, such as the possibility Annual Giving Reminder Warrived in Cincinnati late Tuesday designing for Friday night’s escape room of hiring Nnedi Okorafor as one of the night or throughout the day on Wednes- extravaganza as part of the convention visiting speakers for the 2019 convention If you receive a letter or phone call from UO Annual Giving and decide to make a contribution to the University, day, I left Eugene at 5:20 a.m. on Tuesday theme “Seeking Freedom.” and the fact that Sigma Tau Delta’s one- consider designating the English Department as a recipient of your gift. Such gifts make a difference in what to arrive at the Hilton Netherlands Plaza A Sigma Tau Delta board meeting time $40 fee for lifetime membership the Department can do to enhance educational opportunities for our students and provide valuable research in time for the spring board meeting, feels like no other board meeting, was far more accessible to students than and instructional resources for our faculty. If you would like to discuss the department’s long-range plans and which I attended as Far Western Region partially due to its proximity to the societies with exorbitant yearly dues. It ambitions, please contact the Department Head, David J. Vázquez, [email protected] Student Representative. So by Wednes- hotel’s Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery was a pleasure to participate. day, I was already in full convention where we could grab sea salt caramel However, the biggest thrill of the day It’s easy to donate online at: english.uoregon.edu/support mode, sustained by a steady flow of lattes cupcakes during breaks, but also because was seeing my chapter at the evening’s Or make your check payable to the University of Oregon Foundation, designated for the Department of English, from the espresso machine on the six- the beginning-of-meeting introductions Welcome and Opening Ceremony. Caro- and mail it to: Department of English, 1286 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1286 teenth floor. commenced with sharing whatever we line, Alison, Elmira, Samantha, Corinne, The day dawned with a meeting were currently reading as well as our and our faculty sponsor, Corbett, had ar- Thank you! between the regional student names. In my notebook, I jotted titles: rived at the hotel around 2 a.m. after one representatives, student advisors, and The Hidden Life of Trees, A Man Called of their planes sprung a hydraulic leak regents. During the lunch break in Ove, A Village Life. and they had to wait in Salt Lake City for between this meeting and the start of Moreover, the meeting revolved a new connection. So I hadn’t seen them the fall board meeting proper, I Ubered around matters that truly resonated with before Wednesday night, when I got to to Target with other student leaders to student leaders as English majors and sit with them while learning about Cin-

16 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 17 cinnati resident Harriet Beecher Stowe, about anticipation, picking the panels and going out to ice cream at Fountain who authored over 25 works in addi- I would attend over the next three Square after Saturday’s red-and-black UO Poetry Slam tion to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And then we days and writing the clues for my gala, when Caroline and I learned the all sat together for the reading from the escape room as a series of rhyming work we presented had won convention he UO Poetry Slam (UOPS) held its from majors across campus, competing bouts against teams from Brandeis Rectangle, Sigma Tau Delta’ annual liter- couplets. But the solidarity of sitting awards. I was left with a warm glow Ttraditional Fall term slam to select in six bouts, and the winners formed the University, Northeastern University, ary arts journal. Caroline and I had both with my chapter members at the as I considered my chapter’s future the 2018 team to represent Oregon at the 2017 CUPSI team: team captain WENDY UC Berkeley, University of Georgia, UT gotten work published in the Rectangle opening ceremony foreshadowed all the after I ended my time as president and College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational ROMAN (Political Science), DEFOREST Austin, and Wheelock College. and read our pieces, as did DeAndra, one experiences we would share over the graduated. (CUPSI) at Temple University in Phila- WIHTOL (English), LITTLE RED (Political In addition to the slam to select the of the Student Advisors I’d been working course of convention, such as braving delphia, PA. Science), and AVI DAVIS (Family and CUPSI team, the UO Poetry Slam hosted with all year. the snowy Cincinnati streets to visit the During the slam, student-poets Human Services). Sixty-six universities open mics and poetry workshops open to Wednesday of convention was all National Underground Freedom Center perform original work judged by five competed for the national title at this all Oregon students. judges randomly chosen from the year’s 18th tournament. The team audience. The slam attracted students competed in two rounds of preliminary English Undergraduate Organization he English Undergraduate Organiza- zine, and Art Ducko magazine. 10th anniversary, publishing two well- Letter from CUPSI 2018 by Wendy Roman Ttion continued to provide a communi- EUO president, Kelsey McFee, helped received issues, including art, fiction, ty for English majors and minors to aug- organize the fifth annual trip to the Or- poetry, photography and more. The mag- he Philadelphia Museum of Art has a strenuous effort of holding on to a little one makes you marvel at the capacity ment their studies and strengthen their egon Shakespeare Festival to azine began as a Clark Honors Tspiral neon sign that reads, “The true bit of bravery. people have to feel pain, at how much connections between fellow majors and see Sense and Sensibility College thesis project and artist helps the world by revealing mystic On our first day in Philly, we quickly hurt can reside in one body, at the minors, faculty, and the university and and, for all newcom- has evolved from an truths.” Blue and red, the shadows on the learned that Philly life is a lot more courage that others keep digging for; they surrounding communities by creating ers, to sample the online only literary wall follow my footsteps, as I gaze upon chaotic than Eugene life. The ride to our muster bravery from their bones, let their opportunities for leadership within the Ashland’s famous journal to publish- the fluorescence and think about.... how hotel included a Lyft driver who tried backs straighten with the support and organization, community service related lithia waters on ing hard copies pretentious it all is. their best to weave through immobile cheers of others. Each round we attended to English, and academic and profes- June 2, 2018. for distribution traffic. When the other people on the reminded us that the poetry community sional development. Art Ducko, on campus and street weren’t frozen, cars were ignoring dabbles in competition, but it is rooted in This year, the EUO hosted and co- the University around Eugene. red lights and pedestrian crosswalks. empathy. It stems from a common ache; hosted several events to enhance the of Oregon’s You can find the The ride was rough, but the scenery was it brings out the best in us. undergraduate experience for UO English only com- latest issue and interesting; Philly is all stone churches CUPSI is one of the few places people majors. During Week of Welcome EUO ics magazine, an archive going and arches and remnants of a city still in who’ve hurt can say, “I know what you tabled with affiliated groups to promote published two back to the jour- transition. are feeling, too.” People are brought English and sponsored the annual UO issues this year, nal’s first issue On the first night, we patronized a together by honesty and vulnerability. English First Year Orientation to wel- featuring creative here: issuu.com/ local cheesesteak place near our hotel. We’re opponents, but we’re also people come incoming and returning English and critical work by OREGON GAMES STUDIES unbound. We knew Pennsylvania had a sales who’ve hurt in similar ways, who hear majors and Oregon students. The event Oregon students. CONFERENCE UO Think.Play, tax, but it wasn’t until I paid $5 for a the echo of their own experiences and featured presentations by all EUO affili- Unbound, the Univer- which facilitates dialogue regular soda, did we realize that Philly stories in the poems brought onto the ated student groups: EUO, Sigma Tau sity of Oregon’s undergradu- and critical engagement with specifically also had a soda tax. stage. Similar to what Milo says in his Delta, UO Think.Play, Unbound maga- ate literary arts journal, celebrated its video games through play, sponsored and As a returning CUPSI competitor, poem; we’re all broken in the same hosted its fifth Oregon Games Studies there are ways you can and can't prepare places, finding healing when we thought Conference in June. The conference was for a day at a national poetry slam. We there was none. a day-long event that included panels, in- practiced, over and over again, to prepare It’s my second year at CUPSI, and I dividual presentations, games showcased Art does not have to be about monu- for our own round. However, when you am very grateful. My truth, and the truths by local game developers. The confer- mental truths. It does not have to rein- attend other bouts, you can’t always of the people around me here—they're ence featured presentations by KAHLIEF vent time and space. At CUPSI, 66 teams prepare for that. not mystic. They're not otherworldly, or ADAMS, JOSH BOYKIN, DANTE DOUGLAS, from around the country came to prove You can’t always prepare for a simple earth-stopping, but they are valid. Our AIDAN GREALISH, and LIZ RYERSON. just that. They came to prove that art can truth. We watched countless poets, with truths are valid. And for an artist, making be complicated, but it can be as simple as diverse stories and complex experiences. the world see that, is more than enough. a microphone and a stage, a three-minute Poetry slams all have the same formulaic poem, and one voice shaking with the routine and yet, each one is unique. Each

EUO AT THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

18 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 19

DEPARTMENT NOTES

Faculty News OR in May 2018 and “So Much More JORDACHE ELLAPEN published several on the Decameron: Day V, published Communism and Capitalism: A View from cism and Eighteenth-Century Society Than Assimilation, Acommodation, and articles: “When the Moon Waxes Red: by the University of Toronto Press. China” at the Arts in Society Conference, Conference), Oregon State University, MARTHA BAYLESS has recently published Absence: Early 20th-Century American Afro-Asian Feminist Intimacies and the Warren presented a paper on Chaucer’s Vancouver, B.C., in June 2018. October 2017. He served as Chair of the Fifteen Medieval Latin Parodies in the Indian Modernities” at the Native Aesthetics of Indenture” in Small Axe: Canterbury Tales at the 20th Biennial Politics Committee and on the Executive Toronto Medieval Latin Texts Series, as American Literature Symposium in A Caribbean Journal of Criticism (2017); New Chaucer Society Congress in HEATHER MCBRIDE presented a paper Committee for United Academics and well as “Merriment, Entertainment and Minneapolis, MN, in February 2018. “Queering the Archive: Brown Bodies London, England, in July 2016. In March entitled “The Position of African was Vice President At-Large of AFT-OR Community in Anglo-Saxon Culture” Kirby received an Andrew W. Mellon in Ecstasy, Visual Assemblages and the 2017 he gave a lecture at the Hebrew Religion Within Toni Morrison’s from June 2017 to June 2018. in The Daily Lives of the Anglo-Saxons, Recovering Languages and Literacies Pleasures of Transgressive Erotics” in University in Jerusalem on Boccaccio’s Paradise” at the Rocky Mountain MLA ed. C. Biggam, C. Hough and D. Izdebska of the Americas Grant for “Stoking the Scholar and Feminist Online (2018); Decameron. In November 2017, the (RMLA) in Spokane, WA. MARK QUIGLEY published “Reconsider- (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval Fire: Nationhood in Cherokee Writing, “Cinema in Post-Apartheid South Società Dantesca Italiana invited him to ing the Great War: Ireland and the First and renaissance Studies, 2018) and “The 1907-1970” in Summer 2017. He served Africa: New Perspectives” in Black present a paper on Dante and Ovid at the MARGARET MCBRIDE (Senior Instructor, World War,” Modernist Cultures 13.3 Pleasures of the Ludic” in Il gioco nella this year as acting director of Native Camera: An International Film Journal Wool Merchant’s Guild Hall in Florence, retired) is chairing the James Tiptree, Jr. (Autumn 2018). Another article, “Re- società e nella cultura dell’alta medio- American Studies and co-director of the (2018); and “Geographies of the Black which dates back to 1308. The title was award for 2018. The award was started covering Realism in Post-Revolutionary evo: Atti della LXV Settimana di studio Native American and Indigenous Studies African Masculine in Tsotsi and The “In nova fert animus mutatas formas in 1990 by authors Karen Fowler and Irish Writing,” is forthcoming in Irish (Spoleto: CISAM, 2018). She gave a key- Academic Residential Community. Wooden Camera” in Black Camera: An corpora”: La traduzione e la metamorfose Pat Murphy to honor science fiction Literature in Transition, Vol. 4: Revival note speech, entitled “An Appetite for He organized a series of events and International Film Journal. He also gave in Ovidio e in Dante. This past March and fantasy which explores or expands and Revolution, 1880-1940. ed. Marjorie DEPARTMENT NOTES DEPARTMENT the Obscure: The Long Life of Tiny Bread delivered lectures for the UO Common a talk entitled “Sex as Art” FAKA’s use he gave a lecture at the University of gender and sexuality concepts. Howes (New York: Cambridge University and the Scholarship of the Overlooked,” Reading Program’s selection of Louise of Pleasure as a Decolonial Praxis” at Michigan on “Frames of Mind in The Press). He delivered a keynote address at the Conference on Appetites and Aver- Erdrich’s The Round House, and he the African Studies Association Annual Decameron and The Canterbury Tales: KATE MYERS presented a talk on “Flights at the Southern California Irish Studies sions, University of Kansas, in April organized or co-organized campus visits Meeting in Chicago, November 2018. Boccaccio’s Alatiel (2.7) and Chaucer’s of Fancy and the Dissolution of Colloquium (SCISC) in San Marino, CA, 2018. She also spoke at the International by Mvskogee/Creek writer and musician Custance (Man of Law’s Tale).” Shakespearean Space-Time in Angela entitled “’Damn Your War!’: Reconsider- Society of Anglo-Saxonists at the Uni- Joy Harjo and Oregon Poet Laureate and JOHN GAGE gave a paper in June at the Carter’s Nights at the Circus” at the ing the Politics of Suffrage in the First versity of Hawaii in Honolulu in August Warm Springs tribal member Elizabeth annual conference of the Rhetoric Society HEIDI KAUFMAN presented several Shakespeare Association of America World War.” Mark has also edited a spe- 2017 on “Alfred and the Cakes: English Woody. of America, entitled “Can Rhetorical talks: at the North American Victorian annual conference in Los Angeles, CA. cial issue of Modernist Cultures on Ire- Bread.” In June 2017 she spoke on “Me- Phronêsis Be Taught?”, a longer version Studies Association (NAVSA) in Banff, land and the First World War, appearing dieval Bread: Making and Meaning” at ULRICK CASIMIR published Children of the of which will appear in a forthcoming Canada, in November 2017, she spoke PAUL PEPPIS published “Querying and in Fall 2018. the York Festival of Ideas, University of Night: Stories (Corpus Callosum Press, special issue of the Rhetoric Society on “Preservation Acts in the Digital Queering Golden Age Detection: Gladys York, York, England. She is continuing 2018). An excerpt from “Many Happy Quarterly devoted to virtue ethics. He Victorian Archive.” In April 2018 at the Mitchell’s Speedy Death and Popular WILLIAM ROSSI gave a keynote address her work on the cultural meanings of Returns” (short fiction) appeared in gave a talk on “Merton’s Annunciation” University of Virginia’s Center for Digital Modernism” in the Journal of Modern entitled “Rethinking Thoreau’s Career bread following on her American Council Plainsongs literary magazine (Hastings, to a meeting in October 2017 of the Editing she spoke on “The Lyon Archive Literature 40.3 (spring 2017). He was from A Week” at Thoreau from Across of Learned Societies research fellowship NE) in June 2017. Oregon chapter of the International and Digital Documentary Editing.” She invited to give the kick-off lecture, the Pond in Lyon, France, on October 20, (2016-17); current work is posted at the Thomas Merton Association. also gave a keynote address at the Digital “Humanities Research Matters,” for 2017. He will also speak on “Thoreau’s Early English Bread Project, earlybread. MICHAEL COPPERMAN published “My Collections in Teaching and Research the UO Undergraduate Research ‘Poet,’ Thoreau’s ‘Experience’” at wordpress.com and @earlybread on Twit- Mother’s Randori” in Stanford Magazine; BRIAN GAZAILLE presented a paper en- Conference in Portland, OR, in May 2018 Symposium, and he was reappointed for a conference on Transcendentalist ter. “Reckonings” in Unruly Bodies, a titled “The Mechanics of Racial Uplift in entitled “Teaching Digital Archives.” In a second term as Director of the Oregon Intersections: Literature, Philosophy, Medium magazine curated by Roxane Chesnutt’s The Colonel’s Dream” at the 2017 she was awarded a two-year UO Humanities Center. Religion at the University of Heidelberg CAROLYN BERGQUIST was presented by Gay; and “Difference” in the Onbeing. conference of the American Literature Libraries Digital Humanities Fellowship. in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 2018. the UO chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the org series on “Men and Vulnerability.” Association (ALA) in San Francisco, CA. FOREST (TRES) PYLE published “On the national English honor society, with their He moderated and spoke on a panel, He also received the Council of Graduate DAVID LEIWEI LI has given two invited Currency of Images: Percy Shelley’s STEPHEN RUST presented a paper entitled award for teacher of the year. “Workshops that Work: Decolonializing Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Disser- lectures and two paper presentations from Minor Cinema” in Romantic Praxis “Resist, Persist, Write: Working with the Workshop,” at the annual Association tation Award (Humanities and Fine Arts his book in progress, The 2nd Coming of (2018), as well as an interview with Chet Student-Athletes and their Writing Tutors KIRBY BROWN published Stoking the of Writers and Writing Programs Category) in June 2017. Capital in China: A Cultural Critique. He Lisiecki entitled “Constellations, Con- in First-Year Composition” at the Pacific Fire: Nationhood in Early Twentieth conference in Tampa, FL. He also gave an invited lecture entitled “China’s temporaneity, and Coltrane,” Romantic Northwest Writing Center Association Century Cherokee Writing (University received the Composition Department’s MIRIAM GERSHOW was awarded a month- Contemporaneous Construction of Praxis Commons, ed. Rachel Feder and (PNWCA), University of Washington- of Oklahoma Press, 2018) as well as Award for Diversity and Equity and was long residency at Playa in Summer Tradition and Modernity: A Photographic David Ruderman (2017). He presented Tacoma, October 2017. He also received “American Indian Modernities and a finalist for the Sarah Winemucca Award Lake, Oregon, in Fall 2018 during her Presentation & Interpretation of Radical several talks, including “’Too, Too Late’: the University of Oregon Guest Coach the New Modernist Studies’ “Indian in Creative Nonfiction, 2018 Oregon sabbatical. Her story, “First Saturday in Cultural Change,” at the Northwest China Keats and the Auratics of Agnosticism,” Award for his work with student-athletes Problem’” in Texas Studies in Language Book Awards. April,” won the Wordcrafters “Step Into Council, The Center for Philanthropy, North American Society for the Study of from diverse ethnic and economic and Literature, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Fall 2017). Stories” contest and will be featured in Portland, on Dec. 9, 2017. At the Romanticism (NASSR), Brown Univer- backgrounds in October 2017. He spoke on “Cultivating Citizenship BRENT DAWSON presented two talks: the stairwell of the Overpark Garage in 2018 Hawaii University International sity, June 2018; “Truth, Images, Worlds,” in the Cherokee Diaspora: Technology, “Vegetal Souls in George Herbert’s Po- downtown Eugene. Conference on Arts and Humanities, an invited Seminar with Claire Cole- GORDON SAYRE published two articles: Community, and Nationhood in the etry” at the Renaissance Society of Amer- Honolulu, Jan 3rd, 2018, he spoke on brook, NASSR, Brown University, June “The Alexandrian Library of Life: A 21st Century” at the Native American ica in New Orleans, LA, and “’Every WARREN GINSBERG’s essay “History in “Thames Town in Shongjiang County, 2018; “Accelerant and Ash,” Romanti- Flawed Metaphor for Biodiversity” Studies Association meeting in Los Thing that Grows’: Human and Vegetal Dante’s Monarchia” will soon appear in China: A Photographic and Philosophical cism’s Secular Relics, Modern Language in Environmental Humanities 9:2 Angeles in May 2018. Other talks include Souls in Shakespeare’s Sonnets” at the Dante as Political Theorist: Historicizing Critique.” Another invited lecture on Association, (MLA), New York, January (November 2017) and “Michipichik “Advancing Indigeneity in the Academy: Shakespeare Association of America in Theology and Theologizing Power, “Ethnicity, Class Mobility, and China’s 2018; an invited lecture and seminar on and the Walrus: Anishinaabe Natural Native American and Indigenous Los Angeles, CA, both in March 2018. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Another Westward Expansions” took place at “Frankenstein’s Poetry” at Willamette History in the 17th-Century Work of Studies and Campus Learning essay, “Boccaccio and Intertextuality: the Confucius Institute, Portland State University, April 2018; and “On the Cur- Louis Nicolas” in the Journal of Early Communities” at the Oregon Indian Nastagio degli Onesti (Decameron 5.8)” University, March 9, 2018. Finally, he rency of Images: Percy Shelley’s Minor Modern Cultural Studies 17:4 (Fall Education Association in Corvallis, will appear in Critical Perspectives spoke on “Religion & Spirituality between Event,” NWRECS (Northwest Romanti- 2017). He also contributed an entry on

20 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 21

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“Automobile” to Fueling Culture 101: jck, associate professor of Music; Robert collaborative organization devoted JOYCE PUALANI WARREN gave a number of missioning Editor of English and Ameri- and the Stock Market: The Rise of Silas Words for Energy and Environment, Kyr, Knight Professor in the UO School to the interdisciplinary study of the talks, including “Theorizing the Liminal: can Literature at Cambridge University Lapham,” is forthcoming in Nineteenth- eds. Imre Szeman, Jennefer Wenzel, and of Music; and Richard Danielpour on nineteenth century. Dick also presented Mixed Race and Diasporic Native Hawai- Press, in October 2017. Century Literature. He presented a paper Patricia Yaeger (Fordham UP, 2017). He the libretto of his “Passion of Yeshua,” a paper on Roger Fenton’s Crimean War ian Literary Nationalism” at Californai on “Howells and Liberal Guilt” at the presented two talks: “Louis Nicolas and which will premiere at the Oregon Bach photography at the meeting. State University, Los Angeles; “Liminal ELIZABETH WHEELER published “Moving American Literature Association confer- the Sovereign Beasts of Natural History” Festival on July 8, 2018. Steve will also Citizens: Race, Diaspora, and Native Ha- Together Side by Side: Human-Animal ence in San Francisco in May 2018. He at the American Society for Ethnohistory moderate a panel discussion following COURTNEY THORSSON published an article waiian Sovereignty” at the UO CLLASS Comparisons in Picture Books” in Dis- also edited the Norton Critical Edition of in Winnipeg, Manitoba, October 14, Mr. Danielpour’s Hinkle Lecture at the entitled “Foodways in Contemporary (Center for Latino and Latin American ability Studies and the Environmental Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in 2017, and “Jean-Bernard Bossu and Bach Festival on July 3, 2018. African American Poetry: Harryette Mul- Studies Symposium); “Gendering Te Po: Humanities, ed. Sarah Jaquette Ray and J. King Arthur’s Court and, with Lawrence the Tall Tales of Colonial Louisiana len and Evie Shockley” in Contemporary Maori Women’s Bodies and Embodied C. Sibara (University of Nebraska Press, Howe, edited Mark Twain and Money Promotional Tracts” at the Symposium EMILY SIMNITT gave several talks. At the Literature (Summer 2016). Her chapter, Storytelling in Patricia Grace’s Potiki” at 2017). She gave a talk entitled “Heroes (University of Alabama Press, 2017). on “New Orleans, Global City 1718- Council of Writing Program Adminis- “Ntozake Shange’s Culinary Diaspora,” the University of Hawai’i at Manoa; “Ka- of the Flood on Both Sides of the Black 2018: The Long Shadow of John Law trators Conference in Knoxville, TN, is forthcoming in the Food Studies vol- kau: Skin as Script in Native Hawaiian Atlantic” at the Children’s Literature MARY WOOD received an Oregon Human- and the Mississippi Bubble,” University July 2017, she spoke on “Challenging ume Food, Space, Place from Peter Lang Periodicals” at the American Historical Association Conference in San Antonio, ities Center Vice Provost for Research of Colorado, Boulder, CO, April 2018. Monolingual Orientations by Examining in Fall 2018. She is currently serving Association Pacific Coast Branch (AHA- Texas in June 2018. With Chloë Hughes, and Innovation Faculty Research Award

DEPARTMENT NOTES DEPARTMENT Gordon also began a term as President Multilingual Academic Authorship in as co-editor, with Rich Blint, of African PCB) Annual Meeting at California State she co-edited a special issue of the Jour- for a collaborative, interdisciplinary of the Society of Early Americanists for Digital Spaces. There she also presented, American Literature in Transition, 1980- University, Northridge; and “Revisiting nal of Literary and Cultural Disability on research project with Kristin Yarris of 2018-19 and is organizing and hosting with four collaborators, ”Building New 1990, part of the Cambridge University the Possibilities and Future for Pacific Literature for Young People, to appear International Studies entitled, “From their biennial conference Feb. 27-March Models for Faculty Development: A Press series African American Literature Islands Studies in the Continental United in Fall 2018. She received a Publica- Lifelong Commitment to Peer-Led Recov- 3, 2019 here in Eugene. Workshop to End All Workshops.” With in Transition edited by Joycelyn Moody. States” at the Native American and Indig- tion Subvention Grant from the Oregon ery: Expertise and Authority in the Past, collaborators including Kara Clevinger She presented a paper, “The Sisterhood enous Studies Association (NAISA) in Los Humanities Center and the College of Present, and Future of Oregon Mental STEVEN SHANKMAN published “From and Nick Recktenwald, she presented and Black Women’s Literary Organizing,” Angeles, CA. She has received a tenure- Arts and Sciences to support illustration Health Care.” In the 1920s, an agreement Horror to Solitude to Maternity” in Of “Pop-up Persistence: Teachers and Tutors at the American Literature Association track appointment as Assistant Professor permissions for her book, HandiLand: was struck between the Federal Govern- Levinas and Shakespeare: “To See An- Talk Inclusive Practices in No-Prep Read- conference in San Francisco in May of English at the University of Hawai’i at The Crippest Place on Earth: Disability ment and the Territory of Alaska that other Thus,” eds. Moshe Gold, Sandor ing Group” at the TYCA-PNW/PNWCA 2018, and she also organized and chaired Manoa starting in August 2019. in Young Adult and Children’s Books, individuals in Alaska judged to be men- Goodhart, and Moshe Green (Purdue Joint Conference in Tacoma, WA, Octo- two panels, “Black Poetics” and “Soul which goes into production at the Uni- tally ill would be sent to Oregon’s pri- University Press), as well as “Thinking ber 2017. At the Conference on College Survivals: Black Cultural Production LOUISE (MOLLY) WESTLING (emerita) versity of Michigan Press in June 2018 vately-owned Morningside Hospital for God on the Basis of Ethics: Levinas, The Composition and Communication in in the 1970s” at the Pennsylvania State published a book chapter, “Deep His- as part of its series on Corporealities: treatment. This agreement justified the Brothers Karamazov, and Dostoevsky’s Kansas City (March 2018) she spoke on University African American literature tory, Interspecies Coevolution, and the Discourses of Disability. She assumed existence of Morningside and legitimized Anti-Semitism,” in Fault Lines of Mo- “Adaptive Languaging? What Writing conference, “Race and Resistance,” in Eco-Imaginary” in Exploring Animal directorship of the new Disability Stud- the separation of individuals from their dernity, eds. Kitty Millet and Dorothy About Multilingual Writing Can Teach October 2016. In addition to her 2018 Encounters, ed. Dominik Ohrem and ies Minor, approved in August 2017, and families and communities, often with Figuera (Bloomsbury). He presented Us About Transfer.” Finally, at TESOL Fund for Faculty Excellence Award (see Matthew Calarco. Palgrave MacMillan, is the producer, director, and co-author of no hope of being reunited. The project several talks, including “Ethics, Religion, in Chicago in March 2018 she presented article p. 1), Thorsson also received a 2018. She is also the editor of a new book Heroes From Another Earth, performed analyzes psychiatric diagnosis and treat- and Literature: Tolstoy’s ‘Resurrection’” with Thomas Tasker and Ilsa Trummer 2018 Summer Stipend from the UO Of- series for Cambridge University Press: at the University of Oregon on June 8 and ment as well as the lived experience of at the Annual Conference of the Ameri- on “From IEP to Composition: Facilitat- fice of the Vice President for Research Elements in Environmental Humanities, 10, 2018. Morningside psychiatric survivors in the can Comparative Literature Association ing Development of Argument Across and Innovation and an Ernest G. Moll which will include short monographs on contexts of legislative debates, narratives in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in July 2017; Programs.” Simnitt also successfully de- Reearch Professorship in Literary Stud- interdisciplinary topics such as ecocriti- DANIEL WOJCIK published “The Politics connecting mental illness and psychiat- “From the Sacred to the Holy: The Bind- fended her dissertation on “Novice Aca- ies from the Oregon Humanities Center cism, environmental philosophy and of Junk: Social Protest, ‘Outsider’ Envi- ric control to Cold War fears, and discus- ing of Isaac, Mt. Moriah, and the Temple demic Authorship in the Multilingual for Fall 2018 to support work on her theoretical reformations, environmental ronments and Ritualesque Display at the sions of the role of psychiatric authority Mount” at the Conference on Mysticism Digital Age” and graduated with a Ph.D. manuscript, “The Sisterhood and Black history, environmental justice, concept of Heidelberg Project in Detroit” in Public in the battle over Alaska statehood. and Identity of the Elijah Interfaith Insti- in English with an emphasis in composi- Women’s Literary Organizing.” the Anthropocene, deep history of earth Performances: Carnival, Ritual, The- tute in Jerusalem in October 2017; and tion and TESOL from Indiana University forms and climates, art history/archaeol- ater, and the Politics of Public Display, Graduate Student News “Between Philosophy and Fiction: Levi- of Pennsylvania. She was promoted to SARAH WALD gave a talk entitled, “Bad- ogy/environmental change, animalities ed. Jack Santino (Utah State University nas and Tolstoy” at AATSEEL (American senior instructor. HombreLandsNP: Race, Environment, and interspecies conversations, biosemi- Press, 2017). He presented two talks in APRIL ANSON received an Oregon Hu- Association of Slavic and East European and the National Park Service Social otics, ecolinguistics, material and cul- April 2018: “Trauma and Art Making,” manities Center Dissertation Fellowship, Languages) Annual Conference, Washing- RICHARD STEIN (emeritus) was honored Media Resistance” at the American Stud- tural intersections, evolutionary biology the Archer Taylor Memorial Lecture at as well as the Dorys Grover Award from ton, DC, February 2018. In collaboration at the March meeting of the the ies Association meeting in Chicago in and human emergence, anthropology and the Western States Folklore Society An- the Western Literature Association. Her with the Oregon Bach Festival and his Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century November 2017. She was the lead orga- ecological history. nual Meeting, Otis College of Art and essay “Silent Sounds of Sundown: Sur- role as UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies Association (INCS), which nizer for the Environmental Justice, Race, Design; and “Apocalypse Narratives, Nu- vivance Ecology and John Joseph Mat- Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and named its INCS Essay Prize in his and Public Lands Symposium at the UO MARK WHALAN published “‘Oil Was clear Annihiliation, and the Varieties of thews’ Bildungsroman” is forthcoming Peace and as co-director of the UNESCO honor for his role as a principal founder in May 2018. It included 31 speakers Trumps’: John Dos Passos’s U.S.A., World Extraerrestrial Eschatology,” sponsored in Western Literature in 2019. She will Crossings Institute, Steve organized a se- of INCS and for his long and crucial over 2 days with 14 community organiza- War I, and the Growth of the Petromod- by the University of Southern California’s also publish “Framing Degrowth: The ries of five lectures in an Insight Seminar service to developing and nurturing our tions, foundations, and federal agencies ern State” in American Literary History Annenberg School of Communication Radical Potential of Tiny House Mobil- this past spring quarter on “Bach’s Pas- organization. His books and articles as as “community co-sponsors” and fiscal 29.3 (2017). He was also an invited re- and Journalism. ity” in Housing for Degrowth: Principles, sions and Richard Danielpour’s ‘Passion well as his teaching at Harvard, Berkeley, sponsorship from 19 units across the spondent to a panel on “The Cultures of Models, Challenges, Opportunities, ed. of Yeshua’: Judaism and Christianity in and Oregon have focused on the University. An estimated 500 people War” at the British Academy Symposium HARRY WONHAM published a chapter Anitra Nelson and Francois Schneider, Musical Dialogue.” Steve gave the intro- connections among Victorian literature, attended portions of the symposium. Dr. “The USA and World War I: Exploring on “The Economics of American Liter- forthcoming from Routledge this year. ductory lecture, followed by lectures by history, visual culture, and other arts. Kyle White and Dr. Carolyn Finney pro- Political, Economic, and Cultural Entan- ary Realism” in the Routledge volume She presented several talks: “American Anne Kreps, assistant professor of Reli- In 1985 he recognized something we vided the keynote addresses. glements.” In addition, Mark organized a Literature and Economics, ed. Mat- Apocalypse: The Whitewashing Genre gious Studies at UO; Marc Vanscheuwi- now take for granted: the need for a campus visit by Ray Ryan, Senior Com- thew Seybold. His article, “Realism of Settler Colonialism” at the West-

22 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 23

DEPARTMENT NOTES

ern Literature Association conference; awarded an Oregon Humanities Center University in Clarksville, Tennessee this Paula has also been asked to serve on the TUCKER ENGLE presented a paper at the May, one of which was on her research “‘The President Just Stole Your Land’: Dissertation Fellowship for 2018–19 to fall as an Assistant Professor of American international book jury for the 2018 Banff University of Oregon Undergraduate as a Humanities Undergraduate Research Environmental-as-Settler Apocalypse,” continue work on her dissertation, en- Poetry. Mountain Film Festival. Research Symposium in May. Fellow. Sarah won the Walter and Nancy at the UO Symposium on Environmental titled “The Medieval Person: Concepts Kidd Memorial Writing Competition in Justice, Race, and Public Lands; “Set- of Self and Personhood in Late Medieval CELESTE REEB was awarded the English Undergraduate News ELEANOR ESTREICH presented a paper and a Poetry and The UO Libraries/Oregon tler Apocalypse: Environmentalism, and English Literature.” Department’s Ernst Dissertation Fel- poster at the University of Oregon Under- Poetry Association Poetry Prize. Genre as Time Travel” at Portland State lowship for work on her dissertation, LAUREN AMARO successfully defended graduate Research Symposium in May. University; and “#TinyHousesSoWhite: ROSS ODELL gave a talk, “One eye yet looks “Captions: Reading Between the Lines,” her English honors thesis and accepted a SHEALYN IHNE served as a poetry editor Race and the Tiny House Movement” at on thee”: Translatio, Translation, and the which explores the important role played job as an assistant editor at Marvel Com- CAROLINE FENTY presented a poetry col- for Unbound Magazine. Cornell University. Troubling of Borders in Troilus and Cres- by captioning in various media texts, ics in New York. lection, chaired a panel, and gave a fic- sida” at the Pacific Northwest Renaissance such as film, television, video games and tion reading at the 2018 Sigma Tau Delta NATALIE JENKINS served as the publicity ALEX CAVANAUGH presented a paper en- Society (PNRS) in Portland, OR. online videos in communicating sonic SAM BEEKER received a Humanities Un- International Honor Society Convention: coordinator for Unbound Magazine. titled “’Because at every gathering the elements to their viewers. While caption- dergraduate Research Fellowship. Sam Seeking Freedom in Cincinnati, OH in red shawls increase’: Imagining Justice NATE OTJEN published “Creating a Barrio ing appears to be a neutral process of presented a paper at the Northwest Un- March where she also won an award for ANSELM LEFAVE was inducted into the Al- in Erdrich’s The Round House” at the in Iowa City, Iowa, 1916–1936: Mexican translating sound into words, this disser- dergraduate Conference on Literature best creative work on the conference pha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, Western Literature Association meeting Section Laborers and the Chicago, Rock tation argues that captioning is a series in Portland, OR in March and gave a theme, and was elected chapter presi- International English Honor Society. DEPARTMENT NOTES DEPARTMENT in Minneapolis, MN. He also read the Island, and Pacific Railroad Company” of rhetorical choices which are ideologi- presentation at the University of Oregon dent. Her fiction was published inThe paper here on campus at the UO Native in The Annals of Iowa, vol. 76, no. 4. cally influenced by ideas of “normal,” Undergraduate Research Symposium Rectangle, Sigma Tau Delta’s journal of MAELYN LEIS served as a prose editor for Studies Research Colloquium, held at the This article won the Mildred Throne- including bodily norms, heterosexuality, in May based on his research as a Hu- creative writing. Her fiction, poetry, and Unbound Magazine. Round House. In addition, he spoke on Charles Aldrich Academic History Award whiteness, affective experiences, and the manities Undergraduate Research Fellow. drama was published in Unbound Maga- “Remembering June Rise: Affective Rela- granted by the State Historical Society ways in which bodies interpret and inter- Sam’s fiction and poetry were published zine. She also received a 2018 Under- ELMIRA LOUIE chaired a panel at the at the tionality and Indigenous Environmental of Iowa Board of Trustees for “the most act with sound. in Unbound Magazine. graduate Student Travel Grant from the 2018 Sigma Tau Delta International Hon- Justice” at the Oregon State University significant article on Iowa history pub- Center for Undergraduate Research and or Society Convention: Seeking Freedom Graduate Conference in Arts and Human- lished during 2017.” Nate also published MEGAN REYNOLDS was Awarded Best SOPHIA BERCOW served as a prose editor Engagement. in Cincinnati, OH in March, and present- ities in Corvallis, Oregon. Alex partici- a book review of Mozart’s Starling by Graduate Paper at the Western Jewish for Unbound Magazine. ed a paper at the University of Oregon pated as a research fellow in the Summer Lyanda Lynn Haupt in Western American Studies Association Annual Conference in ALISON HAMILTON was elected vice presi- Undergraduate Research Symposium in Institute for Global Indigeneities (SIGI) in Literature. He has given several talks, March 2018 for “Locating the Dislocated: JESSIE BOX presented a collection of dent of the Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of May. Elmira also served as a poetry edi- summer 2017. including “Uncomfortable Encounters: Traumatic Mapping and the Search for poetry at the Northwest Undergraduate Sigma Tau Delta, International English tor for Unbound Magazine. Cockroaches and Multispecies Entangle- Self in Amy Kurzweil’s Flying Couch.” Conference on Literature in Portland, OR Honor Society, chaired a panel at the at BOB CRAVEN gave a talk, “Paradise and ments” at the Association for the Study in March. the 2018 Sigma Tau Delta International MAXFIELD LYDUM presented a paper at the Greening of Milton” at the American of Literature and Environment (ASLE) in ANGELA ROVAK has an article, “Specula- Honor Society Convention: Seeking the University of Oregon Undergraduate Society for Literature and Environment Detroit, MI; “Inscriptive Energetics: Cli- tive Black Maternity: Ntozake Shange’s CORINNE BRUBAKER chaired a panel at the Freedom in Cincinnati, OH in March, Research Symposium in May. (ASLE) Twelfth Biennial Conference mate Change, Energy, Inscription” at A Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo and Fran 2018 Sigma Tau Delta International Hon- and presented a paper at the University (June 2017) in Detroit, MI. Clockwork Green: Ecomedia in the An- Ross’s Oreo,” forthcoming in Tulsa Stud- or Society Convention: Seeking Freedom of Oregon Undergraduate Research Sym- SERENA MORGAN was published in Un- thropocene Virtual Symposium; “Inscrip- ies in Women’s Literature. Her review of in Cincinnati, OH in March, and was posium in May. Alison also served as a bound Magazine. LISA FINK spoke on “The Queer Decolo- tive Energetics” at the Annual UO Cli- Sami Schalk’s Bodyminds Reimagined elected chapter secretary. poetry editor for Unbound Magazine. nial Imaginary in Eduardo C. Corral’s mate Change Research Symposium; and is forthcoming in Women’s Studies: An DORI MOSMAN was published in Un- Slow Lightning” at the 2017 Western “Complicating Colonialism: The Unruly Interdisciplinary Journal. She has also LAUREN BRYANT served as the head copy SARAH HOVET received a Humanities bound Magazine. Literature Association conference in Species of Richard Ligon’s History” at given several talks: “The Future of Free- editor of Art Ducko Magazine. Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Minneapolis, MN. She also received the the Environmental Arts and Humanities dom: Speculative Dystopia in Ntozake Sarah presented a paper, gave a fiction TWILA NEIWERT was published in Un- Association’s Dorys Grover Award and Graduate Student Conference in Corval- Shange’s Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo” CADAXA CHAPMAN-BALL was inducted reading, and served as the Far West Re- bound Magazine. has been awarded a General University lis, OR. The College of Arts and Sciences at the National Women’s Studies As- into the Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma gion Student Representative at the 2018 Scholarship for 2018–19 by the College at the University of Oregon has awarded sociation in Baltimore, MD; “Ancestors, Tau Delta, International English Honor Sigma Tau Delta International Honor ANNALEE NOCK presented a poster at the of Arts and Sciences of the University of Nate a General University Scholarship DNA, and Time Travel in Octavia But- Society and served as a prose editor for Society Convention: Seeking Freedom University of Oregon Undergraduate Oregon. for 2018–19. ler’s Kindred” at Stanford University’s Unbound Magazine. in Cincinnati, OH in March where she Research Symposium in May. International Health Humanities Con- also won first place for her critical es- CLAIRE GRAMAN published “’That girl’s LIZZY LERUD presented several talks, sortium Conference; “Kindred’s Roots” MATTHEW CORRINET was inducted into the say. Sarah’s poetry was published in The ANIKA NYKANEN was inducted into the got it!”: The unruly woman, romantic including “Bridge Brought Back: The and “Slime Mold and Mitochondrial Eve: Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Del- Rectangle, Sigma Tau Delta’s journal of Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau comedy, and sexual modernity” in Jump Activist Afterlife of Kate Rushin’s ‘The Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis,” both at ta, International English Honor Society. creative writing and was awarded the Delta, International English Honor Soci- Cut No. 58, Spring 2018. Bridge Poem’” at the American Literature the American Literature Association in Rectangle’s Eleanor B. North Award for ety and elected chapter historian. Association meeting in San Francisco San Francisco. ALEX DANG had a collection of poetry Poetry. She was awarded a Sigma Tau KATIE JO LARIVIERE has published an in May 2018; “Writing From Resistance: published in Unbound Magazine. Delta study abroad scholarship to con- ALYSSA PETE was inducted into the Alpha article, “Lectio Divina and ‘Profitable Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and PAULA WRIGHT helped launch the Al- duct archival research in Ireland. Sarah Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, In- Reading’ in Donne’s Devotions Upon Me and College Writers” at the Pacific pinist podcast in August 2017, where MARTHA DE COSTA was inducted into the was also awarded the William C. Johnson ternational English Honor Society and Emergent Occasions,” in Philological Northwest Writing Centers Association she has interviewed mountain athletes, Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Del- Distinguished Scholarship in recognition elected chapter treasurer. Quarterly. Her chapter, “Play the Game meeting in Tacoma, WA, in October 2017; historians and climate change scientists ta, International English Honor Society. of academic excellence and outstanding but Refocus the Aim: Teaching WAW and “Living Poems in Thoreau’s Prose” on significant issues in the climbing com- service to the Society at the local, region- JOSHUA PLACK was published in Un- in Alternative Pedagogies” is forthcom- at the Thoreau Society Annual Confer- munity today. The Adventure Sports Net- BRAD DORRICOTT was inducted into the Al- al, and national levels. She presented bound Magazine, and won The UO Li- ing this year in Writing About Writing: ence in Concord, MA in July 2017. She work named the Alpinist podcast one of pha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, two papers at the University of Oregon braries/Oregon Poetry Association Poetry Next Steps/New Directions. She has been will join the faculty of Austin Peay State the “Best Outdoor/Adventure Podcasts.” International English Honor Society. Undergraduate Research Symposium in Prize.

24 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 25

JALENA POST was inducted into the Alpha Alumni News TISON PUGH, Ph.D. 2000, professor of Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, In- English at the University of Central Flori- Fist Bump with Abe Lincoln by Dave Banker, BA 1966 ternational English Honor Society. LAURA BOCK, BA 1967, has written a da, published two books in 2018: a peda- memoir entitled Red Diaper Daughter: gogical volume edited with Miriamne ne cold rainy morning in Eugene during about “government of the people, by the people JAMIE REHLANDER was inducted into the Three Generations of Rebels and Revo- Ara Krummel, Jews in Medieval England: ODecember 1962, large groups of freshmen and for the people…” Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau lutionaries (Second Wave Press). Laura Teaching Representations of the Other gathered at various sites on the UO Campus to It has taken me 56 years (that would be two Delta, International English Honor Soci- came of age in the civil rights and anti- (Palgrave Macmillan), and a monograph, try to dazzle the academic stalwarts of the Eng- score and 16 years) to appreciate the F grade. Fist ety and served as a poetry editor for Un- war movements of the 1960s and found The Queer Fantasies of the American lish department with their writing expertise (that bump with Abe Lincoln. bound Magazine. her voice in the second wave of the wom- Family Sitcom (Rutgers UP). would be commonly referred to as “final exam”). Dave Banker went off to UO in early September en’s liberation movement in the mid- But I was catching up on my sleep in room 214, 1962, at the age of 18, from Palo Alto, CA. He had MARK REMPEL served on the Art Ducko 1970s. She describes her transformation JANICE D. RUBIN, BA 1977, MS 1993, cur- Mc Clure Hall, since my instructor (or professor, no idea what he wanted to major in. He says, “The Magazine art department. from a self-hating and hiding fat child rently teaches “Poetry Writing, an Intro- or lecturer or TA or whatever she was) had already English Comp F was a result of submitting work into a proud fat woman who joined the duction” at Lane Community College informed me that she would be giving me an “F” after the due date on two occasions, upon which SAMANTHA RUBIN chaired a panel at the fat liberation and size acceptance move- downtown campus Spring and Fall terms regardless of any attempt at the final. Apparently Mrs. S (I remember her name fully, but let’s just at the 2018 Sigma Tau Delta International ments. She came out as a lesbian into through Continuing Education. Her first she regarded me as hopeless, although I had actu- leave it at Mrs. S) announced for the first time that Honor Society Convention: Seeking the welcoming environment of the San book, Transcending Damnation Creek ally learned quite a bit from her…. just not what DEPARTMENT NOTES DEPARTMENT Freedom in Cincinnati, OH in March, Francisco Bay Area. She writes of losing Trail & Other Poems, was published in she considered worthy. and was elected chapter public relations her eyesight at the age of 25, and later her 2010 by Flutter Press, and her second, I have no idea what the topic was that all those officer. hearing, and of the challenges and joys of Tin Coyote, in 2017 by Blue Light Press. other folks were expected to expound on, but becoming old while remaining an activ- given my situation, I should have gone to the ap- ELLEN SCHARFF presented a poster at the ist. Knight Library has two copies of the pointed place at the prescribed time and shared University of Oregon Undergraduate book; it is also available through Amazon some thoughts on a different topic… what I had in Research Symposium in May. and in local bookstores. An audio version English Alumni common with Abe Lincoln! How might the “grad- is available through Bookshare.org. ers” have regarded his work? MEGAN SCHENK is this year’s departmen- Mentors Program First, the Gettysburg Address: it was hand writ- tal valedictorian, having earned the high- STEVE DIMEO, BA 1967, has published a ten on the back of a used envelope, which would est GPA of the English graduating class novel entitled The Magic Cape Caper, the Interested in have put him in a heap of digestive discharge to of 2018. Megan presented a paper at the first in his series of mysteries featuring start with. Hand written…used envelope…clearly Northwest Undergraduate Conference on the detective Nick Christmas. It is avail- Volunteering as an “F” on those points alone, but add to that the Literature in Portland, OR in March and able from Silver Leaf Books. He received fact that it was only 272 words, and the whole presented a paper at the University of his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in an English Alumni thing is unacceptable. Oregon Undergraduate Research Sympo- 1970 and taught at Mayville State College “Four score and seven years ago…” Out come sium in May. in North Dakota as well as Milwaukie Mentor? the red pencils. That would be circled and if the High School in Oregon. He has published “grader” did not know how many units are in CARSON SCHMITTLE presented a poster at articles, reviews, short stories and poetry If you received a BA in English from a score, a big question mark. If they did know the University of Oregon Undergraduate in periodicals such as Playboy’s Oui, the University of Oregon and are that a score is 20 units, the inscription would be, Research Symposium in May and was Michigan Quarterly Review, Descant willing to share your experience “archaic, use Eighty seven.” Only six words in, two late submissions would automatically result published in Unbound Magazine. (Texas Christian University, where he and advice with current under- and things are going downhill. Still in the first in an F for the quarter. The fact that she had never won the Frank O’Connor Award in 1983), graduates with questions about sentence, “…brought forth upon this continent…” mentioned this before did not seem to be a con- FORREST THORNE served as a prose editor Woman’s World, Amazing Stories, The the English major experience, post would be circled with the notation, “use intro- cern for her. Although the remainder of my years for Unbound Magazine. Princeton Review, Tall Tales, the 2003 grad exploration, job-hunting, tran- duced here, more concise.” And still in the first at UO could not exactly be called stellar, that was Emily Dickinson Awards Anthology, and sitioning into the work world, your sentence, “…all men are created equal…” gets the only F.” DEFOREST WIHTOL competed at the 2018 Rattle. He fondly remembers his Shake- career path, and your current job, changed to “all people are created equal…” Dave was a member of the class of 1966. al- College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational speare teacher, Dr. Thelma Greenfield, you would be an ideal UO English Yikes, only 29 words in, and already the aca- though his graduation came one semester later at in Philadelphia, PA in April. who urged him to major in English in- Alumni Mentor. demicians have Abe on the proverbial ropes! It the conclusion of winter term 1966. Somewhere stead of Journalism. boggles the mind to consider what other grievous along that time line, he migrated to business ad- ENYA WONDERLY served on the Art Ducko If you would like to participate in infractions might be found in the remaining 243 ministration as a major. After a few Army years, he Magazine art department. BILL JANSEN, BA 1968 in English and Cre- this program, please send the fol- words. But all this is outside of the other consider- worked for Chevron. He says, “They had a writing COLETTE WRIGHT served as a prose editor ative Writing, Forest Grove sensation and lowing information to CORBETT UPTON, ation, that of organization. class for everyone in our division, and that signifi- for Unbound Magazine. national treasure, has published a second Associate Director of Undergradu- The mantra at the time was, “Tell them what cantly changed my writing approach. The basis book of poems: Everything Except The ate Studies ([email protected]): you are going to tell them, tell them, and conclude for that was to write like you talk. If it sounds SCOTT ZEIGLER was accepted to the Mc- Box. Selected and edited by Marilyn your contact information (mailing by telling them what you told them”…or some- good saying it and is coherent, put it on paper. No Nair Scholars Program, inducted into Huh. Available on Amazon, Book Deposi- and email addresses), preferred thing obtuse like that. Abe’s first sentence should emphasis on ‘run-on sentences’ or ‘dangling past the Alpha Tau Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau tory and book stores worldwide. method of contact, current geo- have been, “I am going to tell you why this is an participles’ or whatever. After that, I came to enjoy Delta, International English Honor So- graphic location, graduation year, important cemetery.” All that other stuff about writing....it became fun!” ciety and elected chapter programming CHELSEA HENSON, Ph.D., has been award- profession or trade field, and, if founding of the country clearly belongs down in He continued on in the Army reserve, retir- support officer. ed tenure in her position at El Camino you like, a brief biography. the body of the work. And an appropriate ending ing as a Lieutenant Colonel, and also retired from College, where she teaches composition would be, “So you can see why this is an impor- Chevron after 30 years. He now lives in Idaho and literature. She is in her fifth year. tant cemetery,” rather than some trivial blathering where the fishing is great!

26 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18 english.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ENG 27

A tribute to Ralph Salisbury

ALPH SALISBURY, who arrived at the University of Oregon not-so-talented poets. Among the fledglings was the lateBRIGIT Rin 1960, and helped develop the Creative Writing Program, PEGEEN KELLY, who went on to a distinguished career after win- serving as its director for many years, was twice struck by light- ning the coveted Yale Younger Poets Prize. Olga Broumas, an- other Yale winner, explained to me what she saw as Ralph’s gift as a teacher. “He would closely read our poem, than point to a single line or passage, and say, ‘This—right here—this is good.’ In this way he encouraged us to lift the whole poem to that level.” She thought of this as a Zen way of teaching. A fierce opponent of the war in Vietnam, Ralph regarded with … fascination a crack in the wall of his PLC office caused by the detonation of a bomb in the basement. His bibliography is familiar, having been trotted out in nu- merous recent obituaries: eleven volumes of poetry, three short story collections, and a memoir, So Far, So Good. He also ed- ited a number of books, including A Nation Within, an anthol- ogy of contemporary Native American writing. Ralph brought to all his work his mixed-race perspective, which he described as “not part Indian, part white, but wholly both.” “My writing comes from being a questing, mixed-race, work- ing class individual in a violent world. My work is offered ning. In this, and many other ways, Ralph defied convention. in the spirit of human goodness, which unites people in the Instead of worrying that he might have provoked some god, he eternal struggle against evil, a struggle to prevail against global was inspired with “a sense of awe and an intense love of life.” extinction.” Soft-spoken, Ralph mentored generations of talented and —John Witte

Writing, Speaking, and Critical Reasoning continued ing,” “Research Writing,” “The Art of the professional post-graduate programs, and as “the most memorable and enjoyable Sentence,” “Ethics and Rhetoric,” and are particularly popular among pre-law professor I had throughout my college ca- courses in logic taught by the Philosophy students. LIZ BELTRAM, a double-major reer.” The eloquent and effective teachers Department. The Minor culminates with in Political Science and Philosophy, who continue to teach and develop this a senior capstone seminar, “Writing, is among the many students graduat- vital area of the English Department seek Speaking, and Critical Reasoning.” “Pub- ing in 2018 with a Minor in WSCR. She to uphold for our age the rhetorical objec- lic Speaking as Liberal Art” is among the credits courses in the Minor with being tives of docere, delectare, et movere, as most popular of these courses with stu- “among the most informative and practi- defined by the ancient rhetorician Cicero: dents from all disciplines, especially as cal classes I’ve ever taken in college,” knowing how to use language to “teach, it has been developed by recently retired and says she believes they “played a role please, and move.” Career Instructor KATHLEEN HORTON as in helping me obtain employment in a course devoted to the analysis of cur- Washington, D.C.” ERIC PHAM, also gradu- rent political discourse and the dialogic ating in 2018, cites the Minor as “a great debating of significant public issues. supplement to my Economics major,” In general, the WSCR courses attract and singles out “Inventing Arguments” students interested in public careers or teacher David Frank as “eloquent,” and

28 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 2017–18