August 2020

Monday, August 24, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

I know we are all working hard to prepare for this fall semester, but perhaps we can all take a deep breath and celebrate together some of the wonderful things our faculty have been doing in recent weeks. We could probably all use some good news for a change, which reminds me of the fun online series John Krasinski did earlier this summer, a welcome respite from the challenges we are facing. So, to some good news…

Meghan Barnes published two articles:

King, E., Barnes, M. E., Salas, S. (2020). (Re)framing ‘getting it right’: Whiteness, ethnic studies and the wobble of urban teaching. The High School Journal, 103(2), 57-76.

Barnes, M. E. (2020). Contested pasts, complicated presents: Pre-service teachers’ developing conceptions of community. Teaching and Teacher Education.    

Chris Arvidson has a poem in the Mooresville Arts’ “Beyond Poems and Paintings” ekphrastic exhibit, which is also available virtually (https://mooresvillearts.org/videos). She will have an essay in the journal “Nine: A Journal of Baseball HIstory and Culture” (University of Nebraska) later this year. 

Andrew Hartley’s “Steeplejack” trilogy has been optioned for development as a tv series or movie. Fuller details are available here: https://inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2020-08-19/hartley%E2%80%99s-young-adult-series-optioned-animation?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=August_20_2020

Paul Kurzeja, a recent graduate of the M.A. program in creative writing, recently published an essay, “Beach Subsidy,” in Terrain.org, a national literary journal focused on place. Paul keeps good company with past contributing writers such as Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, Camille T. Dungy, and Joy Harjo. You can read Paul’s essay here: https://www.terrain.org/2020/nonfiction/beach-subsidy/. 

Janaka Lewis presented two virtual talks in the “How to Talk to your Kids and Family about Race” series for The Clorox Company in July.

With the Bonnie Cone Early Career Award, Janaka Lewis republished Brown All Over with an additional discussion and co-wrote and published an autobiographical picture book Dr. King is Tired, Too!! with my father Mac Bowman, MD (Book Vine Press).

Janaka Lewis also started her appointment as Interim Director of the Study of the New South; and Jeffrey Leak began his appointment as Director of American Studies.

Please join me in celebrating with these faculty, and keep the good news coming!

Jen Munroe
Acting Chair