SALEM
UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE
Keja Valens Coordinator, English Graduate Programs kvalens@salemstate.edu 978-542-7050
J.D. Scrimgeour Chair, English jscrimgeour@salemstate.edu 978.542.7422
Al DeCiccio Coordinator, Writing Center al.deciccio@salemstate.edu 978.542.3007
Melanie Gonzalez Coordinator, TESOL Graduate Programs melanie.gonzalez@salemstate.edu 978.542.2659
English Department Faculty directory.salemstate.edu/english School of Graduate Studies 978.542.6323
Registration for summer and fall 2022 is upon us! In the newsletter, you’ll find descriptions of the courses, as well as important dates. If you have questions about registration, or need help deciding what to take, your graduate coordinator will be happy to assist you. Feel free to contact the instructors of any courses you are interested in if you would like more detailed information.
IMPORTANT PROGRAM DATES
MARCH APRIL
Graduation applications due (through Navigator) Spring Recess Master’s in English Regional Conference (MERC)
Intention to complete a thesis or manuscript in summer or fall due Thesis and manuscript proposals for the summer and fall due Last Day to Withdraw from Full Semester Courses Patriots’ Day Holiday Final thesis and manuscripts, with all signed paperwork due for spring graduation Intention to complete a portfolio in the summer or fall due Intention to complete thesis/manuscript in the fall due
MAY JUNE
JULY / AUGUST SEPT /
Classes End Full Semester DGCE Courses
Graduate School Commencement Summer I classes begin May 23
July Language Exam Application due
Summer I class end July 1 Language Exam July 9 Summer II classes begin July 11 Summer II classes end August 20
Fall classes begin September 7 Indigenous Peoples Day Holiday Intention to complete a thesis or manuscript in the spring due Halloween, no classes after 4 pm
THE SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY MARY G. WALSH WRITING CENTER OFFERS IN PERSON AND REMOTE/ONLINE TUTORING
The Writing Center uses the WCOnline program to schedule all appointments. To use WCOnline and to learn a little about the Writing Center, please visit the Mary G. Walsh Writing Center page on Salem State’s website
Starting in Spring, 2022 the Writing Center is also offering special workshops and programs for graduate students:
Write Together Hosted by Jessica Cook
This is a twice-a-month accountability writing group for those graduate students working on theses, portfolios, literature reviews, case studies, poster presentations, annotated bibliographies.
Write Together will meet at 6 pm on March 11, March 25, April 8, April 22, May 6 via Zoom To participate in Write Together, simply complete the Google form here
The Graduate Writing
series of writing workshops for graduate students
Friday, March 4 at 6 pm - Reading and Taking Notes for Graduate Courses Friday, April 1 at 6 pm - Empirically-Based Writing at the Graduate Level
All Graduate Writing Connection workshops will take place via Zoom To participate in the Graduate Writing Connection, simply complete the Google form here
Summer 2022 Courses
ENG 708: Native American Literature
Professor: Keja Valens
Summer I May 23-July 1
Online Asynchronous
This course explores Native American literature and the historical, literary, and cultural influences shaping Native American writers. The course will open with a selection of Native New England myths and a selection of archival material from the Occum Circle and the Native Northeast Portal which we will read in the context of the recent re-emergence of Native New England writing. We will then read a selection of works by twenty-first century Native American writers— such as N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, and Sherman Alexie. Toward the end of the course, we will turn to contemporary Native American literature—such as that by Deborah Miranda and Tommy Orange. Along with literary texts, we will read critical and theoretical work in Native American studies from Paula Gunn Allen’s Studies in American Indian Literature to Qwo Li Driskill’s Queer Indigenous Studies. Assignments will include digital projects. For the final project for the course, students may write an essay in literary studies, create a lesson plan for a selected text, or create a digital project. This literary studies course also qualifies as an elective for the Certificate in Digital Studies.
ENG 761 Shakespeare Teachers’ Institute
Institute: August 8-12, 9 am-5 pm
Professor: TBA
The week long institute is for teachers and teachers-in-training 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.
ENG 833: Audio Storytelling
Professor: Tanya Rodrigue
Summer II July 11-August 20
Online Asynchronous
This production-based course teaches students to compose sound-rich audio stories like those heard on popular podcasts such as This American Life and RadioLab. Through attention to genre, purpose, and audience and practice with listening and audio analysis, students will learn strategies and techniques for crafting their own radio feature stories. By the end of the class, students will have produced a broadcast-quality piece that may be played on WMWM 91.7 and Soundplay, the English department’s podcast. This writing course qualifies as an elective for the Certificates in Digital Studies and Writing and Rhetoric Studies.
Fall 2022 Courses
ENG 725: Intro to Graduate Studies in Literature Professor: Stephenie Young Tu 7-9:20 pm
In Person
This course introduces students to thinking and writing about literature in the context of the discipline’s academic discourse. The course focuses on familiarizing students with debates and problems relevant to the field, researching secondary literature, and writing for a scholarly audience.
ENG 745: Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric Professor: TBA TH 4:30-6:50 pm
Modality TBA
Welcome to ENG 745: Writing and Rhetoric! This course introduces students to the discipline of writing and rhetoric, its formation, histories, theories, and methodologies. Students will study key concepts, theories, and practices as well as trace and explore historical and ongoing conversations in the discipline. Studying writing and rhetoric is intrinsically interdisciplinary. Understanding writing and rhetoric can help us to determine what’s real and what’s fake. Practicing writing and rhetoric allows us to contribute to what Michael Oakeshott calls the ongoing conversation of humankind.
ENG 758: Topics in Shakespeare: Shakespeare and Ecocriticism
Professor: Jeff Theis W 4:30-6:50 pm
In-person
In literary studies what happens when we no longer see nature as setting, background or symbol but see it as a character or central concern? This central question is at the heart of ecocriticism, and it helps us experience texts like Shakespeare’s plays in fresh, dynamic ways. An ecocritical approach to Shakespeare helps us see that Shakespeare is deeply concerned with how human beings live within the natural world, how we establish our homes and societies within or against that world, and how we see our identities as within or against nature. Some secondary questions might include: do women and men interact with nature in different ways? Does class or status affect one’s relationship to nature? How do our views on the body and mind relate to our views on nature? We will read scholarly texts that introduce key principles and approaches to ecocriticism as well as ecocritical approaches to interpreting Shakespeare. The class will focus on three or four plays in various genres. Plays might include: King Lear, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, and Hamlet.
ENG/EDS 770N: Context and Culture in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Professor: Amy Minett
Asynchronous Online
This course provides a foundation for understanding the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages. Local, national, and international contexts are examined and used in investigating various historical and current approaches to teaching English learners. Topics include law and language policies, cultural identity, language diversity, and culturally responsive teaching to forge family and or community relations. Field-based assignments are required.
EDS/ENG 771: Sociolinguistics
Professor: Sovicheth Boun
M 4:30-6:50 pm
Hybrid
This course investigates the relationship between language and human society. Students will evaluate current and classic sociolinguistic theory and research and will gather language data for
an original research paper. Students will become familiar with a variety of topics applicable to this field including language variety; language and ethnicity; language, language choice; language and gender; and aspects of language and culture. The challenges inherent to societal issues related to language, literacy, and education will be covered in depth.
EDS/ENG 792 Introduction to TESOL Methods
Professor: Melanie Gonzalez W 4:30-6:50 pm
Blended
This course focuses on applying theories, principles, and evidence-based methods of second language acquisition to the development of materials, lessons, and curricula for teaching English to speakers of other languages. Students will cultivate skills in the design and delivery of contextualized lesson plans, develop expertise in the selection and evaluation of materials such as textbooks, computer-assisted materials, and realia, and demonstrate their understanding of critical issues in TESOL. Field-based assignments are required.
ENG 797: Feminist Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Professor: Jan Lindholm M 4:30-6:50 pm September 7-December 22 In-person
Feminist scholars in composition, rhetoric, communication, and literacy studies have transformed understandings of communication as they’ve challenged and reinterpreted canons, expanded possible sites and subjects for research, complicated the nature of researchers’ relationship to their subjects, articulated the complexities of context in relation to communication, revealed dynamics of power and privilege, asserted the importance of listening attentively, and developed sophisticated research agendas and methodologies that emerged from their commitments to social justice, peace, and healing. And that’s only some of what they’ve done! In Fall Semester 2022, we have the opportunity to join the important conversations that these scholars have started, adding our own voices to the mix—and I, for one, can’t wait to begin that work with you! This course counts for both writing and literature and qualifies as an elective for the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric.
ENG 821: Contemporary Approaches to Teaching Lit
Professor: Theresa DeFrancis
W 7:00-9:30 pm September 7-December 22
Online Synchronous
From the textbooks to a standards-based 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
ENG 825: Memoir and Prose Forms
Professor: Scrimgeour
TH 7:00 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.
ENG 839: Research in TESOL
Professor: Melanie Gonzalez
Tu 4:30-6:50 pm
Hy-Flex
This course examines current research methods in the field of ESL teaching and students will develop the ability to read and conduct classroom research. Quantitative and qualitative methods, such as ethnography, focus group, case study, and action research will be considered. Teacher research in the ESL classroom will be emphasized. Students will develop a detailed research proposal and conduct a pilot study designed to investigate language acquisition and language teaching.
Pre-requisite: ENG 770N/EDS 770N
ENG 870: Writing Center Graduate Practicum
Professor: TBA W 1:40-3:30 pm
In-person
Welcome to ENG 870: Writing Center Practicum!
In this course, we will examine the ways in which writing interventions can benefit writers by exploring together a range of strategies for such interventions. We’ll explore everything from what makes a successful writing center session to new media and online tutoring (especially important while experiencing COVID-19), 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.
In addition to attending and participating in our Wednesday afternoon meetings, after the fifth week, you will tutor for the Mary G. Walsh Writing Center three hours each week. Your work in the Center will be the basis for the rest of our course. As you read, write, think, discuss, and research, you will always be reflecting on your tutoring sessions, using your experiences in the Center to push back on the texts we read, especially now as we do all of this while experiencing a pandemic, and theorizing how to build new knowledge about writing centers.
You will be invited to tutor for pay at the Mary G. Walsh Writing Center when you successfully complete this course. Invitations to tutor will be based on a comprehensive assessment of your work, your professionalism, and your enthusiasm for working with others. This writing course qualifies as an elective for the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric Studies.