Good
News from the English Department!
The
English Department Good News Update II 14
February - 16 April 2009
Jane Oitzinger, Chair
AWARDS/HONORS
Our department has been selected as the UW
Colleges’ nominee for the UW System Regents Excellence in Teaching Award.
Marnie Dresser headed up the committee that put the impressive
dossier together (available
here). The other members of the committee were Nancy Chick, Jennifer
Heinert, Malcolm Allen, Cassie Phillips, Joe Milicia, and Ken Grant. If
you haven’t read their document, I highly recommend that you do. I agree
with Marnie who wrote, “I’m very proud of our department, and proud to be a
part of it.”
Working
with the August Derleth Society,
Ken Grant
has set up an
August Derleth/Hugo Schwenker Writing Prize
endowment
for our annual August Derleth Creative Writing contest (which will now carry
the name in bold). The Derleth Society will start the endowment with $5250.
The department is now engaging in a one-time fund drive to increase the
endowment. (If you would like to contribute, send a check to Ken made out
to the University of Wisconsin System by May 1.)
Cassie Phillips, with help from the
Composition Committee, wrote a proposal for and received a 2009 Knowledge
and Skill Expansion Grant. The title of the proposal is “Composition
Learning Outcomes: Building a Stronger, More Cohesive Writing Program at the
UW-Colleges.” The grant will fund a one-day workshop the day before or after
the Fall Convocation. The purpose of the workshop, Cassie wrote in the
proposal, is to “help our department connect theory and practice; that is,
it will help us provide practical and logistical assistance with the
implementation of [our] learning outcomes.” The Composition Committee will
begin planning the workshop soon. Stay tuned for more information.
Joel Friederich has received a major
grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council for the UW-Barron County
Sustainable Literature 2009-10 Community Programming for NW Wisconsin.
Joel says that this grant expands the campus’ previous Sustainable
Literature program “to include a pilot writer-in-residence program in K-12
school districts, a spring literary fest and high school poetry slam, and a
fall visiting author series, as well as funds for publishing Red Cedar
and a special edition of creative writing by area K-12 students.”
Marc Seals has become the first member of
the UW Colleges faculty to have a document in the UW Digital Repository,
Minds@UW. His article, “Notes on Raymond Chandler’s ‘Red Wind’”
published in Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction is available at
http://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/34100.
PERSONNEL CHANGES
After over 30 years of outstanding service to
the UW Colleges, Ken Grant will be retiring this August. Our sadness
in seeing him retire will surely be outweighed by the happiness that his
retirement will bring him and his family and friends. We celebrate you,
Ken!
Chuck Rybak
will leave UW Washington and join UW Fox this fall with a 75% on-campus and
25% online appointment. Jen Heinert will leave UW Rock and join UW
Washington this fall with a 50% on-campus and 50% online appointment; among
other online responsibilities, she will develop a new version of English
278 and take the lead for that course, with Marie Wunsch teaching additional
sections when needed. Transferring was not an easy decision for either to
make, but the locations of their new campus homes will help to keep them off
the streets J.
2009-2010
NEW FACULTY
Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier, Sheboygan.
Dr. Pilmaier earned her Ph.D. in the British Novel and Twentieth Century
British Literature from Marquette University in May 2007. Her dissertation
was titled “’Finding a map…to that place called home’: The Journey from
Silence to Recovery in Patrick McCabe’s Carn and Breakfast on
Pluto.” She also earned her MA in English from Marquette and earned her
BA at UW Oshkosh in the area of English Literature and International Studies
with a minor in German. Dr. Pilmaier comes to the Sheboygan campus after
teaching two years as a full-time lecturer at UW Waukesha.
Amanda Gradisek, Rock. Ms. Gradisek will
defend her dissertation, titled “Passing Figures: Fashion and Formation of
Modernist Identity in the American Novel,” this month (April) at the
University of Arizona. Her specialties are late Nineteenth- and Twentieth
Century American and British Literature, Gender Studies, and Fashion
Studies. She earned her MA in English at the U of Arizona and her BA in
English at Ohio State University (cum laude, with honors contract and
thesis, and Phi Beta Kappa). Currently she serves as the assistant editor
of the Arizona Quarterly.
As you may recall from an earlier edition of
“Good News Update,” our two other new faculty are:
Lisa Hager, Waukesha. Dr. Hager earned
her Ph.D. in Victorian Studies and Feminist Theory from the University of
Florida in May 2008. Her dissertation topic was titled, A Necessary
Influence: The Victorian New Woman and the Middle-Class Family, 1868-1897.
She also earned her MA in English from the U of Florida; for her BA, she
graduated Magna Cum Laude, with Honors, in English from the U of Georgia.
She holds an Undergraduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the U of
Georgia and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the U of
Florida. She comes to us after a year at the Georgia Institute of
Technology as the Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow.
Frances Auld, Baraboo. Dean Thomas
Pleger wrote the following announcement: “Dr. Auld earned her PhD in
Medieval Literature and Cultural Studies/Horror from the University of South
Florida. Her dissertation topic was titled: The Body of the Monster:
Fear and Fascination. She earned her MA and BA Cum Laude in
English, also from the U of South Florida. Frances has extensive teaching
experience and is coming to us from Albany State University in Georgia. One
of her references described her with great enthusiasm and said that “she’s
indeed a rara avis” (rare bird)! We are extremely pleased to have
her join our team!”
I congratulate the department’s Search and
Screen Committee and the campus appointments committees for conducting four
very successful searches this year.
Chair’s Report: Spring 2009
English Department Meeting
17 April, UW Fox Valley
UW System English Conference and
(possible) 2010 Spring Meeting. Last Friday,
10 April, 18 department members attended the second UW System English
Conference, hosted by UW Stevens Point. We were among about 90 other English
professionals. At the end of the conference, the planners asked which
department would be willing to host it next time, either next year or the
year after. I quickly (rashly?) said that the UW Colleges English
Department would be honored to host it, if not next year then the year
after. After a little discussion, it seemed that most people wanted to try
for next year, which works for me (for one thing, it's not a department
merit year J.
As I envision it at this time, our department would hold its two-day spring
meeting in conjunction with the conference, and the department's
Planning Committee would help to determine the theme, program, logistics,
and so on. I have been in touch with Lisa Seale, Interim Associate Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs, who offers her support – and this includes
helping us work toward receiving an OPID conference grant (which is one way
that Stevens Point funded the conference). Lisa and I will talk with Greg
Lampe when he returns to the office. I’m hoping that the department is
interested in hosting this conference. Let me know.
Desire2Learn ePortfolio Pilot
. This week Chair of Chairs Cary Komoto asked chairs if their
departments were interested in participating in this pilot, which, he wrote,
is “for implementing and evaluating the use of electronic portfolios for
creating the dossiers that are needed for retention and tenure review. The
pilot will allow faculty to create a digital ePortfolio of their dossier.
It can then be shared with the department chair, campus and department
review committees, as well as Deans and the Provost. It is all done in the
D2L environment, and will eliminate paper copies, mailing costs, etc….
Training will be provided to faculty this spring and to anyone involved in
reviewing dossiers, in the fall.” I queried the Executive Committee, which
mostly reacted positively; the only concern that arose was whether the
dossiers could be downloaded onto flash drives. As luck would have it, Pat
Fellows, who is leading the charge, was on my campus today. She believes
that downloads will be easy, but she is going to check. She also told me
that training for junior faculty will consist of a one-hour Wisline Web
program and that training for reviewers will take even less time, “a little
video.” The department will tell the designers what “metatags” it wants to
use for quick retrieval of documents. The site will be “easily accessible,”
Pat said, and the “system will be set to go for next fall.” Now I would like
to know what the faculty think about participating, especially the junior
faculty who are most directly affected by it.
Composition Course Enrollments.
Richard Krupnow recently analyzed enrollment data from our Fall 2008 courses
and found that we “offered 223 sections of ENG 101 and 102 in the fall for a
total of 5,081 students, averaging 22.78 students per section (slightly
higher than the departmental cap of 22 for those courses).” Fall 2009
registration is starting. Be vigilant. Keep the cap at 22. [Note: at the
UWS English Conference I heard that UW Stout has raised the composition caps
to 26 – for lecturers only, if I correctly recall, who, to be full time,
must teach five sections – if true, very scary.]
Dossiers, Activity Reports, and Merit
Ratings. The Merit Committee has recently engaged in a useful
discussion on the category of “meritorious” and how it is perceived. The
committee sees a connection between these concerns and the work that the
Executive Committee’s ad hoc Dossier & Activity Report Guidelines
Subcommittee is doing. Sometime soon the latter committee will present the
department with a report, which will include a look at the “meritorious”
category. Stay tuned.
As other news emerges, or when I realize that I
forgot to tell you something important, I will let you know. You’re great!
It’s a pleasure to work with and for you. Happy spring! Jane
UW-Marathon English Department Organizes Reaching At-Risk Students
Workshop
The
Reaching At-Risk Students Workshop will bring together
faculty and staff from across the UW-System at the UW-Marathon
campus in Wausau, WI on Friday, June 5, 2009. The goal of the
workshop is to exchange ideas, foster connections, share
strategies and programs, and learn what’s working for our
campuses in helping at-risk student populations succeed in
higher education. Mini-grants will be available to support
participants who wish to implement new ideas, programs, or
strategies at their home campuses following the workshop. For
more information or to register,
visit the website.
About the Project
In 2007, a UW Marathon County research team received an
Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Grant to increase the
academic writing skills of under-prepared first year college
students through a redesigned composition course. The project,
“Empowering At-Risk Writers: Critical Reading and Source-Based
Writing,” is part of a series of placement, assessment, and
curricular initiatives at UW-Marathon County designed to improve
the academic success of at-risk students.
Our proposed project aims to disseminate information learned on
the Marathon campus and initiate system-wide conversations about
more effectively identifying, meeting the needs of, retaining,
and promoting the academic success of at-risk students. We will
organize a workshop that will bring together UW-System
stakeholders; participants will share campus success stories,
generate ideas, and create strategies for improving the teaching
and learning of under-prepared college students. Conference
attendees will then have the opportunity to apply for
mini-grants to complete and report on follow-up projects.
For more information about the project,
visit the website.
English Department Wikis
Some of the departmental committees are using wikis to communicate
and complete some of their work. For a list of those
committees and links to their wikis, go to the Faculty Materials
page and look under "Official Business / Committee Resources," or
click here. Other groups within the department may
request wikis to link to the department website. For example, a few of
us are already using them to brainstorm ideas for teaching students how
to write about literature. To see the other English Department
wikis or to join (so you can edit, create new pages within the English
Department space, etc),
click here.
The above wikis are through
Wikispaces, but I'm
using PBwiki more and more,
so if you're just starting out with wikis, I suggest checking out
both.--Nancy
Departmental Committee News
Summer 2009
Gathering in Door County
Come to Door County on the weekend
of August 7-9, 2009, for a gathering of interested department
members and their families. (This is an unofficial
gathering--just for fun and getting to know each other.) The Summer Gathering Planning
Committee is maintaining
this wiki page with information about lodging, potential
activities, and travel plans. Join us!
First-Year
Composition Learning Outcomes
The learning outcomes developed by the Composition Committee are
now available in
both web and printable versions. You'll find them linked at
the top of the "Course Guidelines & Syllabi" page (under
"Guidelines & Learning Outcomes"), as well as on the "Faculty &
Staff Materials" page (under "Official Business").
Current Assessment Information
The process and materials for our
current assessment activities will be available on
our Assessment page,
including a statement for syllabi and the departmental assessment
activities. For more information, go to
our Assessment page,
or email Greg Ahrenhoerster and/or Cassie Phillips.
About English Department
Professional Development
Grants
The Professional Development &
Standards Committee welcomes your applications for departmental
Professional Development Grants. The
criteria the Committee uses to determine funding
spell out
which requests are given the highest priority. The deadlines
are November 20 and April 1. Please use this form for your requests,
and make sure to do the following:
-
Tell the Professional Development &
Standards Committee at what conference you
are attending or presenting.
-
The budget really should be itemized
(conference fee, travel expenses, food, etc.). Please also provide a total.
-
Under
Part 2—the Background, Rationale, and Outcomes—provide a short paragraph for each section. The
PDS Committee considers these
sections carefully, and they like to know how you think your
proposal will help you achieve your professional goals.
Opportunities
for Collegiality
Let's Get
to Know Our Newest Colleagues
In
2007, Julie Tharp began a
wonderful new departmental tradition of new folks taking turns
in writing a "New Faculty and Staff Bio" and sending it to the
department via engdept@uwc.edu
periodically--not all at once, perhaps a few weeks apart.
It's very informal, but it'll help us get to know you new (and
new-ish) folks a little better. After the New Faculty &
Staff Bio is distributed, it would be up to the rest of us to
try to make you feel welcome, to find and express common
interests, to ask questions, etc. Each campus's university
relations person can take a digital picture if you don’t already
have one. The format can certainly vary, depending upon
how you choose to express yourself and what you want us to know
about you.
Suggested Content Areas:
-
Name
(& what you go by, like Jen, instead of Jennifer)
-
Campus
-
Home
location (since some don’t live in the same town as
their campus)
-
Your
primary area of research and/or writing
-
What
you read for pleasure (guilty and not-so-guilty)
-
What
do you most want your colleagues to know about you as a
person? (Cannot be related to work!)
-
What
else?.... Hidden talents? Anything else literary or
professional, such as favorite author? Favorite
experience as a student?
You'll find the New Faculty and
Staff Bios archived on the
Faculty & Staff
Directory page next to the basic biographical entry. Tell us about yourselves!
Our 20 Favorite Poems
Remember when
we started the wonderfully distracting work of sharing our 20 "favorite
poems"? Some of you were focused on finals, others needed time to come up
with a list, and others simply forgot. Now's the time to try again!
Refresh your memory on
what we were up to, why, and what poems your colleagues have seared into
cyberspace.
OWL
(Online Writing Lab)
The OWL is an online writing
resource for UW Colleges students.
During the 2006-2007
academic year, the OWL staff responded to 1,589
papers from all 13 UW
Colleges campuses. The OWL director and peer writing tutors at
UW-Waukesha’s campus respond to students’ papers
and writing concerns in any subject via e-mail. To learn more about
the OWL, please visit the website at
http://www.waukesha.uwc.edu/academics/owl
or contact Sara Pagliaroni,
OWL director.
