February 2021
Monday, February 15, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back from Spring Break! I wish the weather could have felt more spring-like, but I hope you had a good break nonetheless. I have a few announcements and several “Kudos” to share. Pandemic or not, our faculty have been very productive and give us much to cheer about.
As a reminder, activity reports are due to Angie at anwillia@uncc.edu by Friday, February 19. Impact statements should come to me by this date as well.
I still need a nomination for the CLAS Course and Curriculum Committee (CCCC). Please let me know asap if you are interested.
I will set up a Zoom “Happy Hour” for Friday February 26 from 4-5 PM. Stay tuned for a calendar invitation.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Aaron Gwyn will be featured on Charlotte Readers Podcast this week on Tuesday, February 16. He will talk about his new novel All God’s Children https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/whats-coming-in-february-2021/
Janaka Lewis will be a featured writer participating in the National African American Read-in on Thursday, February 16 from 6-7 PM. Flyer is attached. Here is link to register: https://cmlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/search/local_start=2021-02-18%20TO%20/event/5ff5ed0b7e1d5e39007c9e2b
KUDOS
Christine Arvidson’s poetry chapbook The House Inside My Head has been accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press.
Meghan Barnes published a co-authored article titled “Analysis before Action: A Framework for Examining Communities as Texts” in Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies.
Meghan also received the 2021 American Educational Research AssociationService-Learning and Experiential Education Special Interest Group Outstanding Conference Submission by a Faculty/Community Partner Award for a conference proposal she developed with Dr. Heather Coffey and Dr. Lucy Steele.
Bryn Chancellor published a personal essay, “Arterial,” in the literary journal Crazyhorse.
Janaka Lewis gave a lecture titled “Genre and Genius in African American Women’s Writing” to Salem Academy and College. She also moderated the Charlotte Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Community Read of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which included over 250 participants.
Tiffany Morin reports that 11 of the 14 ELC members made the Dean’s or Chancellor’s list for Fall 2020.
Lara Vetter published an article titled “On Love and the Canon: H.D., Robert Duncan, and ‘Venice-Venus’” in Sillages Critiques: https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/9912
Mark West published a piece titled “The Link between Literature and Empathetic Presidents” in the Charlotte Observer https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article249074310.html. Since then, his essay has been a featured link in Higher Education Matters.
Mark was also featured in an extensive interview that was published in the Chinese scholarly journal Contemporary Foreign Literature. The English translation of the interview title is “Children’s Literature Criticism, Censorship, Development and Challenges: Interview with Mark I. West.”
Congratulations to Janaka Lewis, Maya Socolovsky, and Ralf Thiede on being awarded a CLAS Reassignment of Duties (RD) for next year.
LOOKING AHEAD
“Happy Hour” on February 26
Department Meeting on March 12
Book orders due March 19
Many thanks for all that you do make the English Department such a great place to work, teach, and learn.
Best wishes,
Paula