Soon we’ll don jackets and scarves
and drift out into the cold, stopping for friends and chocolate stout
heavy like dark cream and smelling of malt. Soon
we’ll start to wonder how we made it through summer
–Cody Deitz
1. Announcements
Congratulations to Cody Deitz, whose poetry (above) will be featured on the College of Humanities holiday card. Cody is a first semester graduate student, whose poems have been published in various literary journals, including the Northridge Review, The Houston Literary Review, Scissors & Spackle, and others. Cody is currently working on a full-length collection of poems.
And while we’re on the subject of holiday greetings, this Thursday’s Notes comes wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving and all good wishes for the coming holiday season.
Please join me in congratulating Gina Lawrence, who has been elected as the new Graduate Student Liaison. Gina will be joining us at department meetings starting in Spring, and we are looking forward to welcoming her.
It’s Department Award time again. Please be on the lookout for exceptional work by students, or exceptional students, and consider nominating them–and then actually do it–for the following awards:
THE OLIVER W. EVANS WRITING PRIZE
To commemorate Oliver W. Evans, his colleagues and friends have established an annual prize of $100 to be awarded to the author of the best piece of prose—critical or creative—submitted in an upper-division English course. The department’s Awards and Amenities Committee will judge submissions.
THE EVA LATIF WRITING PRIZE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
To commemorate Eva Latif, her colleagues and friends offer an annual prize of $100 to the author of the best piece of writing—critical or creative—by a student on the subject of children’s literature. The department’s Awards and Amenities Committee will judge submissions.
THE LINDA NICHOLS JOSEPH ENGLISH MERIT SCHOLARSHIP
In memory of Linda Nichols Joseph, an English major who graduated from CSUN cum laude in 1981, up to four prizes of $2,000 each will be awarded each fall semester to undergraduate English majors who have demonstrated excellence in their studies.
The deadline for all Department Awards will be November 21 (oops, today–hope you got yours in), and the Awards will be distributed at the Department party, on December 14. For more information, please contact Cheryl Spector (Cheryl.Spector@csun.edu), Chair, Amenities and Awards Committee. And good luck to you and your students!
It’s that time of year again to begin sending in your Spring 2013 text book orders. Textbook orders need to be placed as soon as possible in order for the books to be available by the start of the next semester. If you have not yet placed your book orders, please email Ken at 0150txt3@fheg.follett.com and CC Frank on the email. Ken can also be contacted by phone at 818-677-2932.
2. Reminders
Just a reminder that given that this is Thanksgiving week, there will be NO SCHOOL November 22 to November 24.
The end of the semester is quickly approaching and as you may have noticed, we’re going right up to Christmas this year! (at least this is better than the year when grades were due after New Years!). Finals start on December 11. To facilitate getting the grades in and to ensure that the staff have plenty of time to do all the things that they need to do to finalize grades, please have your grades posted NO LATER THAN 4:30 p.m. Friday December 21st. Put it on your calendars, please! Then we can all enjoy the last weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve. If you have any questions or concerns about this, contact Jackie.
And while you are at it, make sure the department party is also already on your calendar, for December 14, from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., with awards being presented at about 1:30. Don’t miss this opportunity to take a break from grading and celebrate the season, each other, our students, and the successful conclusion of the fall semester in what is always a gala affair!
But, as ever, don’t blink, because not long after, the 2013 (that’s right, 2013) shining Faculty Retreat, “CSUN Shines: Illuminating Pathways to Success,” will be convening. If you have already registered to attend, the retreat organizers want to thank you. Otherwise, please click on this link to register: http://www.csun.edu/senate/retreat.html The Retreat will once again be held on the CSUN campus on Monday, January 14 and Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at the University Student Union Northridge Center.
The due date for the student evaluations is coming up very soon Wednesday, November 21st (well, today). Please don’t forget to get yours in on time.
But hey, if you’re interested in next summer, here are two opportunities form the Faculty Technology Center, that may help you improve your course design. But, again, you will need to be quick, as the deadline is December 1. (Questions may be directed to deone.zell@csun.edu.)
- Summer Course Redesign Institute. Redesign your course into hybrid, online, or web-enhanced versions through this two-week cohorted session from June 7 – June 21. Learn how to “flip your classroom”, incorporate best practices, take advantage of technology tools, receive personalized support for your teaching needs, and network with your peers and outside experts. Faculty who complete the Institute receive a $1,500 stipend. Apply to the Redesign Institute
- E-Text Initiative. Apply for support to create or assemble your own digital teaching materials to engage your students and customize your teaching. Explore tools such as iBooks Author, Softchalk, and Academic Pub. Create materials that are modular, multimedia and interactive that your students can access anywhere, anytime. Priority is given to courses that serve high numbers of students and cover large portions of course materials. Apply to the E-Text Initiative
3. Opportunities
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies invites applications from Instructional Faculty, Librarians, and Counselors for the Grant Application Support Program and for the Large Projects Support Program. These include projects aimed at basic and/or applied research, instructional projects aimed at student success and/or student research, teacher preparation programs, and creative activities. All faculty are encouraged to apply. Application forms can be downloaded from our website http://www.csun.edu/grip/research/. In addition, two informational meetings will be held on November 14, at 3:00 p.m., in Sierra Hall 203; and November 15, at 3:00 p.m., in Juniper Hall 1131.
Here’s an upcoming conference of possible interest, “Critical Pedagogy & the Creative Writing Workshop,” hosted by Manhattanville College. For more information, please see http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/48787.
Phoebe, George Mason University’s literary journal, is accepting submissions for its annual fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry contests. All winners will receive a cash prize ($500-$1,000), and both the winners and runners-up will be published next year in their fall issue. The contest deadline is Dec. 15, and there is a $15 fee to enter the poetry and fiction contests, and a $12 fee to enter the nonfiction contest. You may submit multiple entries. For more information about the contest and Phoebe, please visit their website at http://www.phoebejournal.com/.
The editorial staff of Quarter After Eight is excited to announce that it is now accepting submissions for the Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest! Quarter After Eight, a graduate student run journal out of Ohio University, publishes poetry, nonfiction, and fiction that is innovative and quirky, energetic and fun. The contest is dedicated to finding and publishing those little prose gems in each genre: the essay-in-brief, the prose-poem, and the flash fiction story of 500 words or fewer. The reading fee is $15 for three pieces and includes a complimentary one-year subscription to the journal. Please make checks payable to Quarter After Eight. Mail entries, postmarked by December 31st, to: Quarter After Eight, Ohio University, 360 Ellis Hall, Athens, OH 45701. For more information please visit them at http://www.quarteraftereight.org/.
4. Achievements
Scott Andrews’s poem “Columbus Day 2092” is included in a book project titled Gambling on Authenticity: Gaming, the Noble Savage, and the Not-So-New Indian that has been accepted by Michigan State University Press. The book looks at issues of tribal sovereignty and gaming from a variety of disciplines. The poem originally appeared in Studies in American Indian Literatures.
Kate Haake has an essay on genre, “To Fill With Milk: or, The Thing and Itself,” in the newly released Key Issues in Creative Writing, edited by Dianne Donnelly and Graeme Harper, by Multilingual Matters.
Beth Wightman‘s paper, “Islands of Modernism,” was included in the “Colonial/Anti-Colonial Modernism” seminar at the Modernist Studies Association conference in Las Vegas in October. In November, she participated in the Developing in Honors roundtable on “Maximizing the Honors Budget in Difficult Economic Times” at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Boston.