THE MASTHEAD
SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH GRADUATE STUDENT NEWSLETTER
SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH GRADUATE PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION
Keja Valens Coordinator, English Graduate Programs kvalens@salemstate.edu
978.542.7050
Scott Nowka Chair, English Coordinator, Certificate in Digital Studies snowka@salemstate.edu
978.542.7183
Al DeCiccio Coordinator, Writing Center al.deciccio@salemstate.edu
978.542.3007
Sovicheth Boun Coordinator, TESOL Graduate Programs sboun@salemstate.edu
978.542.3071
Amy Minett Coordinator, Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric aminett@salemstate.edu
978.542.2621
English Department Faculty directory.salemstate.edu/english School of Graduate Studies 978.542.6323
IMPORTANT PROGRAM DATES
• March 9-15: SPRING RECESS
MARCH
• March 15: Graduation applications due (through Navigator)
• March 28 (7:30 pm | Recital Hall) Writers Series: Ha Jin APRIL
• April 1: Intention to complete a thesis or manuscript in summer or fall 2024 due
• April 1: Fall registration opens (current students)
• April 15: Thesis and manuscript proposals for summer and fall 2024 due
• April 20 (10 am-2 pm | Forten (Viking) 123): Small Press Panel and Submittathon
• April 25 (7:30 pm | ECC Underground): Annual Graduate Student Reading
• May 3: Final theses and manuscripts, with all signed paperwork, due for spring graduation
• May 3: Graduate Research Day
• May 8: Last day of graduate courses
• May 18 (10 am | O’Keefe): Commencement
• May 20: Summer I courses start
• June 7: Application for July Language Exam due to School of Graduate Studies
• June 29: Last day of Summer II courses
• July 6: Language Exam
• July 8: Summer II courses start AUGUST
• August 17: Last day of Summer II courses
• September 4: First day of fall classes OCTOBER
• OCTOBER 16: Intention to complete a thesis or manuscript in spring 25 due
• October 31: Halloween: no evening classes
Summer and Fall 2024
MAY
JUNE
JULY
SEPTEMBER
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
SUMMER 2024
ENG 709 Literature of the American Dream
Professor: Valens
Summer I (May 20–June 29), Online asynchronous
“The American Dream” seems to have many, often contradictory meanings. “The American Dream” stands for a particular ideal of American opportunity and social mobility, often expressed as the idea that in America anyone can “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and achieve a middle-class success characterized by the image of a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 children, and a dog. “The American Dream” stands for destructive mythology, an American notion of itself as hardworking, self-sufficient, and fair, which hides its systemic racism, its deeply entrenched class system, its environmental destruction, its growing income inequality, and its reliance on the subjugation of huge swaths of its own population and large parts of the population of the world. “The American Dream” stands for the hope of democratic society, equal rights, fair access to education, health care, and jobs, that the United States holds out to the rest of the world. The “American Dream” is the promise of civil rights that Lincoln made and Martin Luther King Jr. reminded, in his “I Have a Dream” speech, was yet to be delivered. As we examine the different literary constructions, meanings, and functions of these “American Dreams,” we will ask how works of literature shape and reshape the national imagination.
ENG 713 Digital Humanities
Professor: Nowka
Summer II (July 8–August 17), Online asynchronous
Does it matter that academics read only a fraction of the publications in a time period before drawing big conclusions? Should historians know how to code? Digital collections and digital tools are changing the kinds of questions we ask in humanities disciplines like history and English as well as how we find our answers. This online, asynchronous course will provide students with hands-on experiences exploring how manuscript and print texts become digital objects, how “distant reading” techniques allow us to learn things about hundreds of books at a time rather than dozens, and what computers can offer when trying to determine the author of a written work. Through readings in an approachable guide to the field, articles and book chapters on debates in the Digital Humanities (DH), and opportunities to apply DH concepts and tools, students will leave the class with a greater awareness of new possibilities for humanities research and cultural heritage curation.
This course, open to all graduate students, is one of two required courses for the graduate certificate in Digital Studies.
ENG 761 Shakespeare Teacher’s Institute with Actors’ Shakespeare Project
Professors: Laramore and Sidmore
Summer II Institute, August 5–9, 8:30 am-4:30 pm, In person
The week-long institute is for teachers and teachers-intraining and brings Shakespeare’s plays to life through performance techniques and scholarly research. The institute focuses on a single play and is co-led with faculty from Salem State and staff/actors from Actor’s Shakespeare Project. Students will do some acting, learn about curriculum development, and generate both teaching lesson plans/ assessments and a short scholarly project. May be repeated for credit or taken only for professional development points.
ENG 830 Digital Writing
Professor: Rodrigue
Summer I (May 20–June 29), Online asynchronous
Digital writing is an umbrella term that encompasses writing composed with digital tools and often shared in digital spaces. This class will focus on one kind of digital writing, podcasting. Students will analyze podcasts based on a variety of subjects such as music, sports, and true crime, and their corresponding genres such as interviews, discussion, and narrative stories. Students will learn the process of creating a podcast, the technical skills needed to craft professional-sounding audio work, and techniques for distributing a podcast to a target audience. With that knowledge, students will create their own podcasts individually or in small groups, compose and produce a trailer and 1-2 podcast episodes, and share their podcasts in digital spaces. This writing course counts for both the Digital Studies Certificate and the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric.
ENG 833 Topics in Writing – Writing about Salem
Professor Scrimgeour
Summer II (July 8–August 17), MW 6:30-8:30 pm
In person blended at the Salem Athenaeum
Oh, old city of the new world, painted and repainted, leadpainted and spray-painted, bricked and cobbled, burned to the ground and risen, shallow-harbored and forgotten, scene of early sins, Naumkeag, Shalom.
In 2026, Salem will celebrate its quadricentennial. This course will give students the opportunity to write creatively about the city, past and present, and reflect on where it has been, where it is now, and where it may be going. Students will develop their own writing projects in a genre of their choosing—poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama. The class will meet at the historic Salem Athenaeum in downtown Salem, and students will have access to the Athenaeum’s collection of material about Salem. The class meets together twice a week over the month of July, and then, in August, concludes with two weeks of individual consultations.
FALL 2024
ENG 725 Graduate Studies in Literature
Professor Valens
M 4:30-6:50 pm, Hybrid
This course introduces students to literary study and creative writing in the context of literary theory. It considers big questions such as: what is literature and what does it do? What is language and how does it function? Who writes and how? Students develop methods of participating in debates and relevant to the field, engaging literary theory and criticism, and writing for scholarly audiences. The hybrid nature of this course is to meet face to face every other week (adjusting for holidays) and to work asynchronously online in between. This is a required course for all programs of study.
ENG 787 Literature of Genocide
Professor: Young
Tu 4:30-6:50 pm, Hybrid
Fall 2024 Topic: War and the Fragility of Memory
In the aftermath of war, we often look to storytelling to access memory and to better understand the trauma of the event. Yet, memory is both powerful and tricky in its subjectivity. Memory is slippery. It contains lapses. It questions and confronts truth. Keeping this in mind, in this course we will focus on memory studies, which gained momentum after the 1960s and has culminated in what some call a “memory boom” and a “memory industry.” We will consider: what is memory and how do we find a language for it? What is the difference between individual and collective memory? Is memory different from history? What is an “aesthetics of memory”? We will make our way across this minefield of representation through a range of poetic responses to colonialism, war, mass violence and genocide in novels, short stories, memoir, film, and photography. Students will have the choice to create a final project that might be an academic paper, a substantial creative writing piece, or a media project. Please contact Prof. Young at syoung2@salemstate.edu with any questions. The hybrid nature of this course is to meet every other week in person (adjusting for holidays) and to work asynchronously online in between.
ENG 821 Contemporary Approaches to Teaching Literature
Professor: DeFrancis
W 7-9:20 pm, Online synchronous
The primary focus of this class is to introduce middle and high school teachers to the research, theories, and scholarship which inform current literature pedagogy. Students will implement theory into practice as they decide how to adapt current models to their own classroom situations. From the textbooks to a standardsbased instructional approach, from the literature to the informational texts, and from the class focal points to the student-based activities, ENG821 takes a practical, antiracist approach to teaching literature in today’s middle-
and high-school English classrooms. The goal is for students to leave each class meeting with hands-on materials and methodologies to use in their current and future classrooms. This course is designed and highly recommended for students who are current or future teachers. Required for MAT and MA/MAT candidates.
ENG 825 Workshop in Memoir and Prose
Professor: Scrimgeour
Th 5:30-7:50 pm, In person
A writing course for those who wish to concentrate on memoir and related prose forms including fiction, creative non-fiction, and hybrid texts. Workshop members will submit work in progress for in-class criticism and commentary. The coursework will include deriving lessons from exemplary published memoirs and nonfiction. Information on publishing will be given. This course may be repeated for up to nine credits.
ENG 827 Scriptwriting
Professor: Carey
Tu 7-9:20 pm, In person
Scriptwriting will focus on the principles and practices of modern dramaturgy as it relates to the writing of film scripts. Characters, story, plot structure, and dialogue will be discussed and analyzed in contemporary and classic film scripts and in developing works of students. Scriptwriting is a rigorous craft and, at its best, a fine art. It involves practical analysis of short and feature film scripts as well as writing assignments which are tailored to help students master the basics of the art. This course can help students to polish up that script idea and get it ready to pitch. Students will complete 2-3 acts of a feature film scripts during the semester.
ENG 870 Writing Center Practicum
Professor: DeCiccio
W 1:40-3:30 pm, In person
Welcome to the Writing Center Practicum! This course offers training for graduate students who will work in the Writing Center as well as anyone who expects to respond to writing as a tutor, teacher, editor, or consultant. The course examines how writing interventions can benefit writers, and students practice a range of strategies for such interventions. The Practicum explores everything from what makes a successful writing center session to new media and online tutoring, working with writers in the disciplines, working with multilingual writers, working with graduate student writers and faculty members, and investigating how different identities surface and play out in the Writing Center. Requirements include regular weekly tutoring in the Writing Center and a research project on Writing Center theory and practice.
Prerequisite: Permission of the Coordinator of Graduate Programs in English and the Instructor.
