Summer and Fall 2018
THE MASTHEAD SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH GRADUATE STUDENT NEWSLETTER SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH GRADUATE PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION
Registration for summer and fall 2018 are upon us! In the newsletter, you’ll find faculty descriptions of the courses, as well as upcoming events and important dates. If you have questions about registration, or need help deciding what to take, your graduate coordinator will be delighted to assist you. Feel free to contact the instructors of any courses you are interested in if you would like more detailed information.
Theresa DeFrancis
IMPORTANT PROGRAM DATES
Chair, English, and Coordinator, Master of Arts in Teaching/English tdefrancis@salemstate.edu 978.542.7422
March 24-25
Graduate Student Writing Retreat, Salem State Writing Center, 9 am-4 pm. Space is limited. RSVP to Adam McQuarrie at admack4@comcast.net and Rebecca Martini at rmartini@salemstate.edu.
April 2
Fall 2018 Registration Opens for Current Matriculated Students
April 9
Fall 2018 Registration Opens for New and Non-Matriculated Students
April 28
Graduate Student Open House, 10 am-12 pm, Bertolon School of Business
May 4
2018: Graduate and Faculty Research Day, 1-5 pm
May 21
Summer I Classes Start
June 16
Application for July 15 Language Exam Due
Keja Valens
July-August
Summer Institutes
Coordinator, Master of Arts in English kvalens@salemstate.edu 978.542.7050
July 9
Spring 2018 graduation and commencement applications due via Navigator
July 15
Summer 2018 Graduate Applications Due Via Navigator
July 15
Language Exam
September 5
Fall 2018 Courses Begin
Julie Whitlow
October 1
Application to write a thesis or manuscript in spring 2019 due to program coordinator
October 13
Applications for November 15 language exam due
October 15
Fall 2018 Graduate Applications Due Via Navigator
November
Spring 2019 registration opens
November 15
Language Exam
December 3
Intention to complete a portfolio in spring 2019 due to Program Coordinator
December 6
Final theses and manuscripts, with all forms and signatures, due to graduate coordinator for fall 2018 graduation
December 20
Last day of fall 2018 classes
J.D. Scrimgeour Fall 2018 Interim Chair, English jscrimgeour@salemstate.edu 978.542.7422
Coordinator, Master of Arts in Teaching/ESL cwhitlow@salemstate.edu 978.542.6595
School of Graduate Studies 978.542.6323
UPCOMING EVENTS Writers Series: Speaking Intersections – Lenelle Moïse Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 7:30-9 pm | Sophia Gordon Center, Rehearsal Room Powerful performance poetry. Thought-provoking prose. Speaking Intersections is a dynamic reading of black feminist queer immigrant literature. Speaking truth to power, Lenelle Moïse performs original poems, essays and monologues to illuminate the intersection of race, class, gender, spirit, and sexuality.
Annual Graduate Student Reading Monday, April 30, 2018, 5-6:30 pm | Ellison Campus Center, The Metro Room The Annual Graduate Student Reading will feature work by students in Salem State’s graduate writing program. Included in the reading will be graduate students completing their creative writing theses: Soundings East Fiction Editor Patti Callan, Marianne Curcio, Soundings East Poetry Editor Cathy Fahey, and Andrew Fondell.
SUMMER 2018 SUMMER I ENG 713: Digital Humanities Professor: Roopika Risam, PhD Online | May 21, 2018-June 30, 2018 In this fully-online course, we will experiment with digital humanities tools and methods of reading and cultural analysis to introduce you to the possibilities of digital humanities. This cutting-edge area of interdisciplinary scholarship uses computational and digital tools to analyze and interpret literature, culture and history. We will explore digital humanities in relationship to social justice activism and teaching. The goal of our exploration is to consider the relationship between close reading, the bread and butter of literary analysis, and the discoveries that engaging with digital methods can inspire. For each of the first five weeks of class, you will read about digital humanities, play around with digital humanities tools and reflect on and discuss your insights. During the last week of the class, you will design and begin implementing a (very) small-scale digital humanities project using digital humanities methods to engage with texts of your choosing. This course counts towards the Certificate in Digital Studies as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
ENG 822A: Nonfiction Workshop Professor: Regina Flynn MW, 4:30-7:30 pm | May 22, 2018-June 30, 2018 A course in writing nonfiction, ranging from the personal to the objective, from brief journalistic pieces to literary essays. Classes will involve workshop discussions of students’ writing, attention to the details of style and the study of lessons derived from professional writers.
ENG 832: Topics in British Literature and Criticism— The Digital Eighteenth Century: Producing Digital Editions of Eighteenth-Century Works Professor: Scott Nowka, PhD TR, 4:30-7:30 pm | May 21, 2018-June 30, 2018 This hands-on course will provide students the opportunity explore an important area of digital scholarship. We will consider the theoretical questions and practical problems of creating digital scholarly editions of literary works through the lens of such efforts in eighteenth-century studies. While we will read some English literature from this time period, the course will emphasize instead important theoretical statements about the nature of textual scholarship in general and in our digital age in particular, as well as explore current online projects collected by 18thCenturyCommon.org and 18thConnect.org. Students will be introduced to the basic elements of coding, important for the creation of digital editions, and become familiar with the TypeWright application used for the correction of poorly-scanned eighteenth-century texts. Class projects will include the generation of simple digital editions of literary works from the eighteenth century and essays on questions of theory and method. This course counts toward the Certificate in Digital Studies as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
SUMMER II ENG 830: Digital Writing Professor: Roopika Risam, PhD ONLINE | July 9, 2018-August 18, 2018 This course introduces students to an expanded definition of writing through the study and practice of digital writing. Students will engage with contemporary scholarship on digital rhetoric and critical making to understand theories and practices of digital writing. They also will consider how the digital world affords writers the genres, strategies, tools, and platforms for composing beyond text and print. Special
emphasis will be placed on engaging with digital modes as a writer and bringing this exciting approach to composition into classrooms. For the hands-on experience needed to effectively create digital content, students will analyze and compose digital texts such as comics, videos, websites, podcasts, and blogs. This course counts towards the Certificate in Digital Studies as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
SUMMER 18 INSTITUTES ENG 799 Travel Institute WWII, The Holocaust And National Memory In Germany, Austria and Poland July 5-19, 2018 (Travel July 7-19) On campus seminar, July 5-6 and travel to Germany, Austria and Poland July 7-19, 2018 (Nuremberg, Munich, Vienna, Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk) This summer join the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the history and English departments at Salem State University for a unique study and travel institute on the theme of World War II, the Holocaust and National Memory in Germany, Austria and Poland. The institute can be taken for Salem State credit or for travel only. The institute begins on the Salem State campus with a two-day seminar led by Professors Stephenie Young (English) and Christopher Mauriello (history). It will explore the complex relationship between the events of WWII and the Holocaust and how different nations, governments and peoples represent and remember those events and their meanings. The institute continues with 12 days of educational group travel to explore relevant historical sites, museums, monuments, and culture in Germany, Austria and Poland. Please write to Stephenie Young at syoung2@salemstate.edu. For more information w3.salemstate. edu/~cmauriello/2018%20Final%20GermanyAustriaPoland%20 Study%20and%20Travel.pdf
ENG 833: Topics in Writing Composing with Sound Professor: Tanya Rodrique, PhD M-F, 8:30 am-4:30 pm | July 16, 2018-July 20, 2018 Sonic rhetoric—the study of how we use sound to communicate—is a budding area of interest in the discipline of writing and rhetoric. In this class, students will explore the affordances, effects, and potentialities of using sounds like music, voice, sound effects, and soundscapes for communicative purposes. In this hands-on, production-based course, students will play and experiment with sound in interesting ways and will compose in various sonic genres such as podcasts, audio dramas or audio documentaries. This course counts towards the Certificate in Digital Studies and the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
ENG 833: Topics in Writing— Community Writing and Civic Engagement Professor: Rebecca Martini, PhD M-F, 8:30 am-4:30 pm | July 30, 2018-August 3, 2018 This course will focus on writing and teaching writing across contexts, including those outside the university. In particular, we will investigate writing for a public audience, writing in/for the community, writing as civic engagement, and writing in online environments. Students will both write for these audiences and develop curricular materials for teaching students to write in these contexts. Student interests will help determine secondary areas of focus which may include some of the following: teaching writing to non-traditional students, teaching writing to multilingual writers, teaching in international contexts, and teaching writing in other disciplines. Specifically, students will: • Examine the relationship between citizenry, democracy, civic engagement, and rhetoric • Write an essay or column about (teaching) writing or education for a public venue
• Create a community writing pedagogy project • Investigate service-learning pedagogies with invited guests • Work closely with at least one community partner on a writing project This course counts towards the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
ENG 761: Shakespeare Teacher’s Institute with Actors’ Shakespeare Project Professor: Jeff Theis, PhD M-F, 8:30 am-4:30 pm | August 6, 2018-August 10, 2018 ENG 761, Shakespeare Teacher’s Institute is for teachers and teachersin-training and brings Shakespeare’s plays to life through performance techniques and scholarly research. Each summer we focus on one specific play. In a low-stakes setting, students will do some acting, learn about curriculum development, and generate both teaching lesson plans/assessments and an annotated bibliography based upon scholarly research. Online discussions after the institute and a reconvene meeting are also required. May be repeated for credit or taken only for professional development points. Course location is still tbd. We might meet on the Salem State University campus or off site at the Charlestown Working Theatre. Email Jeff Theis (jtheis@ salemstate.edu) with any questions about the course or to indicate your contact info (mainly email address as well as mailing address).
FALL 2018 English 704: Contemporary American Fiction Professor: Peter Walker, PhD Tuesdays, 4:30-6:50 pm This course introduces students to the graduate-level study of important works of fiction by U.S. writers since the mid-1980s. Emphasis this semester will be on such themes as assimilation into American society and living with the tensions of modern life. Readings will include: Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, stories from David Foster Wallace’s collection Girl With Curious Hair, Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise, Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory, Jumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.
After reading key texts during the first part of the course, we will spend the second part of the course exploring additional topics based on student interests. Topics for further consideration include feminist rhetorics, professional writing, multilingual writing, cultural rhetorics, genre studies, digital rhetoric, visual rhetoric, writing program administration, and writing pedagogy. Specifically, students will: • Investigate the history of writing and rhetoric as a discipline of study • Learn about key concepts and methods in the field such as literacy studies, multimodal composition, community ethnographies, and studies of place/space through public rhetorics • Conduct inquiry-based research projects in writing and rhetoric • Explore professions in writing and rhetoric according to student interests and goals This course counts towards the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric as well as the MA and the MAT in English.
ENG 758: Studies in Shakespeare: Shakespeare and Ecocriticism Professor: Jeff Theis, PhD Tuesdays, 7-9:20 pm 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 818: Poetry Workshop Professor: Ann Taylor, PhD Thursdays, 4:30-6:50 pm
This course introduces students to thinking and writing about literature 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 a scholarly audience. Required of all MA and MA/MAT students in their first semester in the program.
This is a workshop course in writing poetry, from inspiration to final draft. Students will practice both free and formal verse, while focusing on such topics as imagery, figurative language, symbol, diction, voice, sound, rhythm, and shape. Students will read poetry as writers read it, write and re-write their own poems, and discuss the poetry of classmates. As Dylan Thomas said, “I did not care what the words said, over much, nor what happened to Jack and Jill and the Mother Goose rest of them; I cared for the sound that their names, and the words describing their actions, made in my ears; I cared for the colours the words cast on my eyes . . . I fell in love – is the only expression I can think of – at once, and am still at the mercy of words . . .”
ENG 745: Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric Professor: Becky Martini, PhD Mondays, 4:30-6:50 pm (Hybrid: in-person meetings every other week)
ENG 825: Workshop in Memoir and Prose Forms Professor: Regina Flynn Wednesdays, 4:30-6:50 pm
ENG 725: Introduction to Graduate Studies in English Professor: Keja Valens, PhD Mondays, 7-9:20 pm (Hybrid: in-person meetings every other week)
This course introduces students to the discipline of writing and rhetoric, its formation, histories, methods, and methodologies. Students will study key concepts, theories and practices as well as trace and explore historical and ongoing conversations related to writing, writing processes and writing practices. Through reading contemporary works in writing and rhetoric, we will trace the field’s development and question what it means to be writers and rhetoricians today.
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 870: Writing Center Practicum Professor: Becky Martini Wednesdays, 1:40-3:30 pm (flexible schedule possible) In this course, we will examine the ways in which individualized writing instruction can be beneficial to writers by exploring a range of strategies for offering such instruction. We’ll explore everything from the nuts and bolts of what makes a successful writing center session to new media and online tutoring, working with writers in the disciplines, navigating error, working with multilingual writers, and investigating how different identities surface and play out in the writing center. Finally, we will spend the last third of our class exploring our writing center via research, and you will each have the opportunity to choose a topic of interest to investigate in detail. In addition to attending and participating in our Wednesday classes, you will be required to tutor for three hours each week. Your work in the center will be the focal point from which the rest of our course evolves. 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, and theorizing about how to build knowledge about writing centers. Specifically, students will: • Discuss and critique tutoring theories and practices • Apply a variety of tutoring strategies to your work with writers • Understand the complexity of tutoring writing and develop a flexible, creative tutoring style • Conduct writing center tutoring research that contributes to knowledge making in the field or addresses a specific scenario in our writing center This course counts towards the Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric as well as the MA and the MAT in English. *If your schedule does not allow you to take the course during the Wednesday meeting time but you are still interested in enrolling, please contact Rebecca Martini at rmartini@salemstate.edu to discuss an alternative schedule.
SUMMER/FALL FACULTY Regina Robbins Flynn’s interests include the teaching of writing, especially creative nonfiction, travel writing and poetry. Her work experience prior to Salem State University, where she has taught for 25 years, included public relations and business. For eight years she was a member of the City Council in Salem. She coordinates the professional writing program in the English department. Rebecca Hallman Martini is Assistant Professor of English and the writing center coordinator at Salem State University. Her research and teaching interests include writing centers, WAC/ WID, curriculum design, teaching multimodal/ digital rhetoric, and qualitative method(ologies). Her scholarly work has appeared or is forthcoming in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Computers and Composition, and Open Words: Access and English Studies. She recently delivered the keynote address at the 2017 SouthCentral Writing Center Association Conference in Edinburg, Texas and is currently working on a book project that is a critical ethnographic study of a writing center. She is also coordinator of the new Writing and Rhetoric Graduate Certificate.
Scott Nowka is an Associate Professor of English at Salem State and chair of the Commonwealth Honors Program. His area of specialization is eighteenth-century British literature, and he has published on Daniel Defoe, Laurence Sterne, Mary Hays, and Charles Gildon. He is currently at work on a digital edition of the works of Charles Gildon titled “Digitizing the Works of Gildon’s ‘Venal Quill.’” Roopika Risam was recently awarded an NEH grand with librarian Susan Edwards for “Networking the Regional Comprehensives,” developing a network of digital humanities practitioners of teaching-intensive universities. Her book New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities in Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy will be published in fall 2018 with Northwestern University Press. Ann Taylor is Professor of English at Salem State. She has written two books on college prose writing, academic and free-lance essays, and a collection of personal essays, Watching Birds: Reflections on the Wing. Her first poetry book, The River Within, won first prize in the Cathlamet Poetry competition at Ravenna Press. A chapbook, Bound Each to Each, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her recent collection of poems on the twelfth century scholars and lovers, Heloise and Abelard, will be published in the summer of 2018. She is now at work on a new collection, In the Writing Zone. Jeff Theis specializes in early modern literature with an emphasis on ecocritical approaches to Shakespeare and Milton. His first book focused on English forests in early modern literature and culture. His current book project focuses on the interrelation between architecture, nature and the concept of home in the time of Shakespeare. Keja Valens teaches and writes on literatures of the Americas, especially Caribbean, Latinx, Black Diaspora, and Native American literatures as well as queer theory, critical race studies, postcolonial theory, and ecopoetics. Her newest co-edited volume, Querying Consent: Beyond Permission and Refusal, will be published in July 2018 (Rutgers UP). Her other recent books are Desire between Women in Caribbean Literature (Palgrave-Macmillan, December 2013) and the co-edited Barbara Johnson Reader (Duke UP, March 2014). Keja Valens’s next book project is a study of cookbooks, national culture and independence movements in the Caribbean. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University in 2004. Currently a faculty research associate at the Salem State University Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and an associate professor in the English department, Stephenie Young joined the faculty in the fall of 2008. She completed her MA and PhD in Comparative Literature at the State University of New York, Binghamton, and earned her BA in Art History from California State University, Long Beach. Stephenie Young’s current book project, The Forensics of Memorialization, is about the “forensic imagination,” and how forensic materials (objects as evidence) have been used to develop visual narratives that shape the discourse of memory politics in post-conflict former Yugoslavia. She is also working on several other projects including a photo/text essay about architectural ruins and abandoned spaces as the remains of memory in post-Soviet Georgia and also a multimedia/book project with artist Vladimir Miladinovic, which primarily focuses on his artwork about evidence and its absence at mass graves sites created during the 1990s wars in the Balkans.