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Board of Trustees of the City University of New York Board of Trustees of The City University of New York RESOLUTION TO Award Maaza Mengiste with Early Tenure at Queens College with an Application of Bylaw 6.2.c(2) June 7, 2021 WHEREAS, Maaza Mengiste, MFA, is a published novelist who joined Queens College as a tenure track assistant professor of creative writing in 2015, following three years as a visiting assistant professor in our MFA program, as well as visiting positions at NYU, Princeton and Northwestern; and WHEREAS, When Professor Mengiste joined the Queens College faculty, she had already published a well-regarded first novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, published by WW Norton, in 2010, and her second novel has won wide acclaim, including short listing for the Booker Prize; and WHEREAS, Based on her previous experience and her record of publications, Professor Mengiste was offered the possibility of early tenure consideration at the time of her tenure track hire, and her record since then has more than fulfilled that promise; and WHEREAS, Professor Mengiste teaches a wide range of literature and creative writing courses, from the introductory creative writing workshop to the MFA fiction workshop and while she was hired primarily to teach creative writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the department, her knowledge of African literature and history, partly stemming from the extensive research that she has done to support her fiction writing, also allowed Queens College to once again teach African literature on a regular basis; and WHEREAS, Since her hire at Queens College, Professor. Mengiste has published ten essays in journals and magazines, five essays in anthologies, and edited an anthology of fiction, Addis Ababa Noir. Her second novel, The Shadow King, published by WW Norton, was short-listed for the Booker Prize, an exceptional honor for any writer, but particularly notable for an untenured assistant professor; and WHEREAS, the American Academy of Arts & Letters awarded Professor Mengiste its literature prize, which honors exceptional accomplishment in any genre; and WHEREAS, Professor Mengiste enthusiastically participates in the life of the department and the MFA program, serving for several years as the Assistant Director of the MFA program, supervising numerous student theses, and has serving as a member of the ad hoc committee to develop a Writing Minor for the department as well as serving on the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee and working on the department’s long-running Evening Reading series; and WHEREAS, Professor. Mengiste also has a distinguished record of public service outside Queens College, serving on the board of Words Without Borders, an online international journal that publishes translated literature, the board of another online journal, Warscapes, which publishes literature written by residents of war-torn countries, and she also works closely with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, an organization that advocates for the legal rights of unaccompanied minor immigrant children and their wellbeing. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That Prof. Maaza Mengiste be awarded early tenure in the Department of English at Queens College, effective September 1, 2021 with an application of Bylaw 6.2.c(2), subject to financial ability. EXPLANATION: In her time at the Queens College, Professor. Mengiste has exceeded expectations in scholarship, teaching, and service while contributing to the development of new approaches to the study of her discipline, while garnering a national and international reputation for her work and publications. Therefore, Queens College should make every effort to retain her before she is lost to a competing institution. Queens College Curriculum Vitae: Professorial Titles Revised 9/16/2020 1. Please make sure you are using the correct CV form. This form is for faculty in professorial titles only. (There are separate forms for Lecturers and College Laboratory Technicians.) 2. Please read all instructions carefully. 3. Throughout this document, headings are in Bold. Enter information in normal font. 4. In all categories, list items in reverse chronological order (so, most recent first). 5. Do not delete any categories. (Insert N/A if you have nothing to list in a given category.) 6. All boxes and cells will expand as you add information. The instructions within each box or cell may be deleted. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION NAME: Maaza Mengiste COLLEGE: Queens College HIGHER EDUCATION A. Degrees (most recent first) Institution Dates Attended Degree/Major Date Conferred NYU 2004-07 MFA Creative May 2007 Writing/Fiction University of 1989-1993 B.A., English May 1993 Michigan – Ann Arbor B. Additional Higher Education and/or Education in Progress Institution Dates Attended Courses, etc. Candidate’s Name Sep-2020; Page 2 EXPERIENCE A. Teaching (include part- and full-time experience at Queens College, most recent first) Institution Dates Rank Department Queens College 2015-Present Assistant Professor, English Creative Writing Queens College 2012-2015 Visiting Assistant English Professor Northwestern UniversitySpring 2015 Visiting Writer Center for Writing Arts Princeton University 2013-2014 Lecturer Creative Writing New York University 2005-2011 Language Lecturer Expository Writing B. OtHer THan TeacHing (include experience at Queens College, most recent first) Institution Dates Rank/Title RECORD OF APPOINTMENT IN EACH TITLE AT QUEENS COLLEGE (most recent first; include date of tenure, if awarded) Dates Rank September 2015 Assistant Professor September 2012 Visiting Assistant Professor ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL HONORS Date Honor 2020 Booker Prize Shortlist 2020 Civitella Ranieri Fellowship 2020 American Academy of Arts & Letters Award - Literature 2020 LA Times Book Prize Finalist – Fiction 2020 LiteraturHaus Zurich Fellowship 2019 The Bridge Award/Premio il ponte 2019 New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year 2019 NPR Favorite Books of 2019 Candidate’s Name Sep-2020; Page 3 2019 TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 2019 Creative Capital Award 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship 2018 Waterlines Project Fellowship 2017 Santa Maddalena Foundation Fellowship 2013 Puterbaugh Fellowship 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Runner-Up 2010 Fulbright Fellowship 2010 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, Finalist 2010 NAACP Image Award Finalist, Literary Debut MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES (last five years only) (2) TEACHING 1. List all courses that you have taught in the previous four semesters (whether at Queens College or at the Graduate Center). For each course listed here, upload your syllabus and at least one example of student work. (Student work should be anonymous but the grade given should be noted.) Feel free to upload anything else you feel is relevant. 2. In addition, list all student mentoring—whether it be undergraduate independent studies or graduate thesis/dissertation supervision, at Queens or at the Graduate Center. (Note that the College will provide official information on your complete workload as well as the content of your student evaluations; you do not have to do this.) Semester Description 1. Give course numbers and titles. As instructed above, upload syllabi and at least one example of student work for each course listed here. 2. List most recent courses first. (NOTE: I was on a Scholar Incentive Fellowship for Fall 2019-Spring 2020; I was on Reassigned Time for Fall 2017) Spr 2019 ENGL 355 African American Literature II ENGL 751 Workshop in Fiction Fall 2018 ENGL 364 African Literature & Culture ENGL 681 Special Studies (MA/MFA Seminar) Spr 2018 ENGL 751 Workshop in Fiction Reassigned Time Fall 2017 Reassigned Time Spr 2017 ENGL 781 Special Seminars (MA/MFA Seminar) Candidate’s Name Sep-2020; Page 4 ENGL 301W Fiction Workshop ENGL 210W Intro Creative Writing (3) SCHOLARSHIP AND CREATIVE WORK 1. For all published work, give complete bibliographic entries including total page numbers. Except for works listed in section (K), all works listed should be in their final form, published or in final proofs. Everything else should be listed in section (K) Submitted Works and Works in Progress, annotated with a description of the specific stage of the work. 2. For any work published on-line, give active links as well as word counts. 3. All exhibitions or performances that have occurred or are occurring right now should be listed in section (E). Include as much detail as you can, e.g. title, nature of work, venue, group or solo work, dates, attendance, etc. Works that are planned should be listed in section (K). 4. For collaborative work (written or performance-based), indicate the percentage of work and the nature of that work done by the candidate, e.g. conceptual, editing, the actual writing, the actual performance, etc. In addition, for collaborative work, indicate the role of each contributor using the following superscripts: H=high school student; U=undergraduate student; M=master’s student; D=doctoral student; PD=post- doctoral research fellow; CQ= Queens College faculty collaborator and staff; C=col- laborator (student or faculty, work conducted at another institution). 5. In all cases, list most recent works first (the boxes will expand as you add information). 6. Note additional instructions on how to notate work that is refereed, invited, etc. (A) BOOKS and other MONOGRAPHS 1. Published since most recent of: initial appointment or last promotion -Addis Ababa Noir, Akashic Books, August 2020. -The Shadow King, W.W. Norton, September 2019. 2. Published prior to most recent of: initial appointment or last promotion -Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, W.W. Norton, January 2010. (B) JOURNAL ARTICLES 1. Published since most recent of: initial appointment or last promotion Candidate’s Name Sep-2020; Page 5 Indicate refereed articles with an asterisk (*). “Books that Made Me,” Guardian, August 21, 2020, 250 words. “Il compleanno (The Birthday),” Vogue Italia, July/August 2020. 200 words. “Four Cities: Addis Ababa,” Vanity Fair UK, February 2020. 800 words. “From Homer to Alexievich: Top 10 Books About the Human Cost of War,” Guardian, January 29, 2020. 800 words. “Writing About the Forgotten Black Women of the Italo-Ethiopian War,” LitHub, September 24, 2019.
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