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English Wins Top Research Award for Fifth Year in a Row
Heidi Braden Wins Staff Excellence Award
Dr. Hillary Eklund
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OR the fifth year in a row, an English professor has won the college’s top research award. Dr. Hillary Eklund received this year’s Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. Previous English award winners as the college’s top scholar include Trimiko Melancon (2014), Chris Schaberg (2015), John Biguenet (2016), and Mark Yakich (2017). Professor Eklund describes her scholarship as focusing on the interplay of stories and morality. “My research stems from a curiosity about how people choose to live in the world and the stories they tell to morally justify their choices,” she says. “My first book, Literature and Moral Economy in the Early Modern Atlantic, and my edited collection, Ground-Work: English Renaissance Literature and Soil Science, follow this curiosity from English playhouses to the colonial frontiers of America, asking questions about trade, politics, food, land use, and social justice.” In nominating her for the award, English chair John Biguenet wrote: “Dr. Eklund is developing new areas of research in Renaissance literature that
are directly applicable to contemporary problems, whether environmental issues related to coastal wetland erosion or the moral calculus of sufficiency in a world of unequal distribution of wealth and resources. (Not surprisingly, her service-learning course on Shakespeare, in which students seek to address hunger in New Orleans, is one of the most impressive I’ve observed.) In bestowing upon her the award for excellence in research, the college will honor a colleague who integrates the highest standards of scholarship with a keen insistence on moral consequences.” This is not the only faculty award Eklund has received. In 2014, she won the college’s Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. At many universities, the distinction between teaching faculty and research faculty is significant. But the English Department at Loyola integrates scholarship and teaching in all of its classes as well as in the close collaboration of English majors and faculty on joint research projects, so it comes as no surprise that an English faculty member has been honored with both teaching and research awards.
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he College of Arts and Sciences bestowed its 2018 Staff Excellence Award on Heidi Braden, administrative assistant for the departments of English, Languages and Cultures, and Classical Studies, as well as managing editor of the New Orleans Review. Described as an excellent researcher, scrupulous about the details of her job, but calm in the face of crises, she was praised as an indispensable member of three departments. Her nomination letter, co-signed by more than 25 faculty members, said, “Ms. Braden has contributed to our departments and the college by creating a welcoming atmosphere for students and faculty while demonstrating the highest level of competence, responsibility, and dedication in her work.”
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English Majors Win Many Awards
Outstanding English Writing Major: Mackenzie Becker & Molly Olwig Julian Wasserman Outstanding Literature Major: Marley Duet Peggy McCormack Outstanding Film & Digital Media Major: Connor Webre Award of Excellence in Writing: Anahi Molina & Sophie Trist Award of Excellence in Literature: Jordan Chauncy & Joleen Dacula
Award of Excellence in Film & Digital Media: Chris Romagosa Dawson Gaillard Award for Poetry: Ryan Mayer Dawson Gaillard Award for Fiction: Kaylie Saidin Dawson Gaillard Award for Nonfiction: Diana Valenzuela
The junior/senior category of the Monroe Library 2017-2018 Student Research Awards was won by English literature major Kaylie Saidin for a project directed by Professor Sarah Allison. English literature major Marley Duet won the Student Employee of the Year Award for her work with the Modern Slavery Research Project under the direction of Professor Laura Murphy. English majors also received awards from other departments and programs, including Languages and Cultures (Marley Duet), Medieval Studies (Kathleen Grace Millet), and Women’s Studies (Molly Olwig and Francesca Bua).
English Major Honored with Top University Award
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nglish literature major Caroline Rose Fenton won the 2018 Ignatian Award for Outstanding Senior, the university’s highest undergraduate honor. As the award citation noted, “During her time at Loyola, Caroline has been deeply committed to working for equality and justice both in and out of the classroom.” She was recognized for a wide range of activities on campus and in the larger community.
English Major Wins University Honors Program Research Award
NEH Renews Grant to English Professor
English writing major Anna Dobrowolski won the 2018 Constance Mui and John T. Sebastian Award for Outstanding Research in Honors for her senior thesis, The
Curious Case of the Palimpsest, directed by Professor John Biguenet. (A website constructed as part of her thesis can be seen at detectivedobro.wordpress.com.)
The National Endowment for the Humanities has extended its $250,000 public humanities grant to English professor Dr. Christopher Schaberg, co-editor of the Object Lessons book series, in support of his essay and book project. Object Lessons explores the hidden lives of ordinary things. With the help of the federal grant, Schaberg and his co-editor, Ian Bogost of Georgia Tech, conducted four institutes across the country in 2017 and will offer additional institutes in 2018. The funds also will continue to support student assistantships at Loyola and Georgia Tech.
English Major Wins First Place at Shakespeare Film Festival
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nglish major Caterina Picone won top honors at the 2017 Shakespeare Film Festival for Ophelia, her short film based upon Hamlet. Caterina wrote, directed, and produced the film, which was photographed and co-directed by Nick Ramey, another Loyola student.
The award was presented by Oscar winner Sir Kenneth Branagh at Stratford-UponAvon, England. Caterina’s trip to England was supported, in part, by the Kendall Michelle Daigle Memorial Endowment for English. For more information, see www.loyno.edu/news/story/2017/9/18/3989.
New Orleans Review Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary
ADEFOLAMI ADEMOLA
BERNARD FARAI MATAMBO
D.M. ADERIBIGBE
BWESIGYE BWA MWESIGIRE
AKIN ADESOKAN
MUKOMA WA NGUGI
UNOMA AZUAH
TEE NGUGI
ADIL BABIKIR
NGWAH-MBO NANA NKWETI
TJ DEMA
IHEOMA NWACHUKWU
DILMAN DILA
DIANA NYAKYI
NOVISI DZITRIE
OLUFUNKE OGUNDIMU
SADDIQ DZUKOGI
SALAWU OLAJIDE
SAFIA ELHILLO
STEPHEN DERWENT PARTINGTON
LIND GRANT-OYEYE
ABDELAZIZ BARAKA SAKIN
STACY HARDY
A. SAMWEL
TSITSI JAJI
UNATHI SLASHA
YEJIDE KILANKO
MAKAMBO TSHIONYI
N.S. KOENINGS
OBI CALVIN UMEOZOR
RASAQ MALIK
LYNNDA WARDLE
SADA MALUMFASHI
ATHOL WILLIAMS
shortlisted for the Caine Prize, a major award for African literature. In honor of its 50th anniversary, current editor Mark Yakich and former
For more information about studying English: cas.loyno.edu/english
NEW ORLEANS REVIEW The African Literary Hustle
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ounded in 1968 by poet and Loyola professor Miller Williams, the New Orleans Review will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018. In its half-century of publication, the NOR has grown from a traditional literary quarterly to an international magazine focusing on film and literature in translation to a distinctively designed set of annual special issues that have examined contemporary science fiction, Shakespeare’s influence 400 years after his death, and most recently contemporary African literature. In the past five years, the NOR has been the recipient of a number of design awards and its content has won two Pushcart Prizes as well as an O. Henry Award for short fiction. A story by Olufunke Ogundimu in “The African Literary Hustle,” guest edited by Dr. Laura Murphy, won a Pushcart Prize and is
editor John Biguenet are editing a collection of NOR interviews, which will be released by Bloomsbury Publishing next year. www.neworleansreview.org
The Career You Desire
Department of English email: english@loyno.edu Phone: (504) 865-2295 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 50 New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
One Streetcar Stop Away In Loyola University’s English Department, you’ll study literature, creative writing, and film and digital media with our faculty of distinguished scholars and published authors. The skills they help you hone will allow you to succeed in fields as diverse as publishing, screenwriting, teaching, and corporate communications.