Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Youngkeit has manuscript published

Dr. Jason Youngkeit has had a manuscript published with Editorial Indigo, a press in Rosario, Argentina.

La Literatura y el Cine del Proceso Militar Argentino analyzes the historical period of 1976-1983 in Argentina, perhaps the period darkest in the history of Argentina. The work examines the aesthetic strategies (psychological, ideological, social, physical) used by writers and filmmakers in Argentina as they record that time.

Spanish Club Mixes Up Some Salsa

The MWSU Spanish Club held the "Noche de tango - An Introductory Lesson," from 6:00 to 8:00 at Kemper Recital Hall Monday, September 27.

Dr. Karina Vazquez's father, who has danced tango for more than fifty years, taught students the four first basic tango steps with the help of Judy Clark.

Dr. Vazquez reports that they "had 27 people all learning at Kemper. Everybody enjoyed learning about the tango´s history, and they tried their first steps with enthusiasm. It was a very crowded 'milonga.' And it was very refreshing to see everybody dancing, wanting to learn and feel the tango music and dance. At the end, we had some salsa lessons, that we enjoyed so much. And of course...we wanted to keep dancing."

Monday, September 27, 2010

Misty Draeger is masterful

Misty Draeger (BSE-English, 2006) tells us that she recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin--LaCrosse with a Master's Degree in Education. Misty teaches 10th and 11th grade communications arts in the Sussex, WI.

If you would like to give Misty a congratulatory e-mail, send that to mikemistydraeger@yahoo.com

Congratulations on your professional advancement, Misty!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Rosenauer receives book contract

Ken Rosenauer and a colleague of his from Wisconsin, Vince Filak, have been offered a contract from Pearson to publish The Online Editing Handbook. The 360-page book, which will be 7-3/8 x 9-1/8 trimmed and will include full-color art, will be available for the Fall 2012 semester in both print ($55) and electronic versions ($30).

This is Ken's third book. He is currently finishing work on Copycrafting: Editing for the 21st Century, a copy-editing workbook to be published by Oxford University Press for the Fall 2011 market. It will sell for about $30. His first book, a reporting textbook titled Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News, was published by Blackwell (now Wylie) in Fall 2004.
Congratulations, Ken!

The Martin Lads Make News

Guest blogger and EFLJ alumna Lisa Crawford shares a profile on two other alumni:

Two brothers and former Griffons, Rex and Ross Martin have always been supportive of one another when it came to schoolwork and eventually their careers. Now they both work full-time at the St. Joseph News-Press.

Ross (the character on the right), 27, began as a part-time sports clerk in February 2002 and started full-time in February 2005. He became assistant sports editor in 2006 and sports editor in August 2010. A native of Platte City, Mo., he graduated from Platte County High School in 2001. He later attended Western, earning a bachelor's degree in English, with an emphasis in journalism.
Ross earned 14 awards from the Missouri College Media Association while a staff member of The Griffon News at Western.

Rex, 24, earned his bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in journalism from Western and graduated in 2007. Rex started at the News-Press in the summer of 2008 and was hired in an official capacity in May 2009 on the sports desk. Rex recently moved to become the full-time daytime cops reporter.

Thanks, Lisa (also of the St. Joseph News-Press).

Friday, September 17, 2010

Banned Books Reading, 9/29

The Fourteenth Annual Reading of Challenged and Banned Books in recognition of the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week.

Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
Time: 7 pm - 8 pm.
Location: 214/216 Spratt Hall (Enright Room), Missouri Western State University
Sponsors: The Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism; The Department of Education; The Missouri Western State University Library; Prairie Lands Writing Project, SNCTE.

MWSU students, faculty as well as members of the St. Joseph community will hold a reading of books that have been either banned or challenged in U.S. schools in recent years.


Readers will include our own C.J. Jeney and Jessica Wilkinson (SNCTE President) as well as Ms. Sarah Lawson, Anchor and Producer, News-Press 3 Now


Refreshments will be served following the readings. This event is free and open to the public.


This has all the makings of a swell date: it's free, there will be refreshments, and people will read racy things out loud. It's really hard for an English Department to do better than that, so come on by!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

New Lit Out Loud, Episode IV: A New Beginning

Please come by for the first open mic of the 2010-2011 year:

Where: Tap Room, 1702 North Belt Highway (749-4222). (Nonsmoking; drinks and menu available)

When: Thursday, Sept. 23, 6 PM-ish until ...?

Why: Because we can.
Come by to listen, come by to read, come by with something you don't expect to read but just might this time. One of these times you will, you know. You really will.

Let's get a great turnout!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Latest on Sue Ferguson

Susan Ferguson (BA English-Writing, 1985) writes: "I have returned to Sedona, Arizona, to live after an action-packed year in south Texas. I am currently working part-time at Coconino Community College in Flagstaff, Ariz., where I am teaching two sections of English composition, and at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where I am teaching a section of creative writing. I am also preparing to release 'Gaze: A Collection of Stories' on Oct. 1, 2010. The book will be published by Ninth Month Publishing Co. and will be available at www.ninthmonthpublishing.com and on Amazon.com.

I will also be a speaker at the Sedona Book Festival on Oct. 2 at the Yavapai College campus in Sedona. Finally, I learned today from the Office of the Vice President at South Texas College that I am one of 15 recipients of the college's 2010 Distinguished Teaching and Learning Award. The project that caught the college's attention was titled 'Public Writing,' in which more than thirty students enrolled in my composition and literature classes at South Texas College wrote and posted personal essays on the National Council of Teachers of English Gallery of Writing website."

Congratulations, Sue! Give her a hard time for being so busy: sue.ferguson@gmail.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Foreign Film Series for Fall 2010

The foreign film series is free and open to the community, so bring along a date and say that you're paying.

All sessions start at 6:30 PM in Kemper Recital Hall, which is on the first floor of Spratt Hall. The sole exception is the film scheduled for October 28.


Friday, September 17: The Day I Became a Woman (Iran, 2000). Presented by Michael Charlton.


Friday, September 24: The Headless Woman (Argentina, 2008). Presented by Karina Vazquez.


Wednesday, September 29: Celda 211 (Spain-France, 2009). Presented by Eduardo Castilla Ortiz.


Friday, October 8: Roja (India, 1992). Presented by Durai Sundaramoorthi.


Wednesday, October 20: Amelie (France, 2001). Presented by Susan Hennessy


Thursday, October 28: The Stoning of Soraya M. (USA, 2008). Presented by Zulima Lugo-Knapp (This film will be shown in 224 Murphy Hall rather than Kemper Recital Hall)


Friday, November 12: The Match Factory Girl (Finland-Sweden). Presented by Karina Vazquez.


Wednesday, November 17: The Take (Canada, 2004). Presented by Jason Youngkeit.


We hope to see you there!


Friday, September 3, 2010

Swell Things Some Folks Did This Summer

Tom Pankiewicz helped facilitate the 2010 retreat for leaders from thirteen National Writing Project sites. This year’s retreat was held July 31-August 5 in Austin, Texas.

Kay Siebler, Director of Composition, attended and presented at the National Writing Program Administrators conference in Philadelphia, PA. Kay also conducted a week-long training workshop for graduate student teaching assistants, adjuncts, and faculty. The workshops, conducted the week of Aug 23, focused on teaching strategies specific to composition, syllabi construction, attention to department goals and objectives for ENG104 and ENG108, and assignment ideas. In addition to English department graduate students, chemistry graduate students attended two days of the work shops to learn more about general classroom dynamics and course/class management.

Prairie Lands Writing Project held its four-week Invitational Institute here at Missouri Western, June 27-July 21. Sixteen area teachers, grades 3 - 16, completed the institute and will receive their National Writing Project Teacher Consultant certification, following the group's last session at Western in September. MWSU English faculty members Tom Pankiewicz (director), Jane Frick (do-director), and St. Joseph School District instructional coach Christie Leigan (co-director), facilitated the institute, which was funded by a federal grant from the National Writing Project.

Jane Frick, Director of Prairie Lands Writing Project, conducted a workshop "Continuity: State-wide Technology Projects and the Missouri Scholastic Writing Awards 2011" at the Missouri Writing Projects Network Leadership retreat, held at the University of Missouri-Columbia in August.

Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultants Kathy Miller (adjunct English instructor at MWSU) and Heidi Mick (PLWP Professional Development Director) conducted a "Writing Academy: Year III" institute for the communication arts teachers at Excelsior Springs Middle School in August. The workshop series was part of the in-service offerings Prairie Lands is providing for the instructional staff at Excelsior, which are funded by the National Writing Project for its four-year National Evaluation study of the effectiveness of NWP inservice offerings.

Bob Bergland, professor of journalism, presented "Pedagogical Approaches to Investigative Reporting" at the Association of Educators of Mass Communication and Journalism meeting, Denver Aug. 9, 2010. Bob also led a Study Away trip during Intersession with eight students to Greece, Croatia, Italy and England. Five students presented three papers at the International Mass Media Conference in Athens, Greece, while three students presented papers at the Information Technology and Journalism Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Meg Thompson, an Instructor of English, published her poem "Steam in the Dish Room" in Hayden's Ferry Review, Spring/Summer 2010, issue 46. She also claims to have been married this summer.

Jeanie Crain, professor of English, has been asked by Stephen Spangehl, Director of AQIP, to serve on the Reaffirmation Panel for 2010-2011. Dr. Crain will continue on the Advisory Panel, Admissions Council, as a Systems Appraiser, Quality Checkup Visitor, and Action Project Reviewer.

Ann Thorne was elected Chair of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication History Division at the annual national conference of the in August in Denver, CO. The History Division is comprised of approximately 400 journalism history professors, both national and international. The national conference hosts more than 2,000 journalism faculty from various journalism disciplines each year. As chair, Dr. Thorne will be responsible for facilitating the History Division’s goals for the coming year, will head the executive board, and will plan the Division’s extensive programming for the annual convention next year in St. Louis, MO.

Many of us meant to do something, though some of us just sat around while these hard-working folks made the department look good. We feel both guilt and regret and promise to use our time in a more productive way. Honest.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

A Griffon in Seoul

Christine Bumgardner (1997 BSE English/Literature graduate) plans to be stateside in the fall of 2011, pursuing a Master's degree in teaching. Christine currently teaches English at a high school in Seoul, S. Korea. Since graduating from Western, she's also taught English in Taiwan and China. To read more about Christine's life and teaching abroad, read her blog posts at http://christinebumgardner.wordpress.com .

Current MWSU students interested in teaching abroad in Asia are welcome to contact Christine. She writes, "This [teaching English in Asia] has been an awesome experience for me, but it isn't for everyone. However, I am always happy to help those thinking of the move."

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Prairie Lands Writing Project 2010 Graduation

Prairie Lands Writing Project (a chapter of the National Writing Project) held its four-week Invitational Institute here at Missouri Western, June 27-July 21.

Sixteen area teachers, grades 3 - 16, completed the institute and will receive their National Writing Project Teacher Consultant certification, following the group's last session at Western in September.








This year's class included EFLJ departmental graduates Kyla Ward (St. Joseph Central High School communication arts teacher); Mark Henderson (Maryville High School communication arts teacher); and Amy Chastain and Ahmad Safi (MWSU English graduate assistants/MAA in Written Communication students).

Dawn Terrick Publishes on MWSU Developmental Writing


Dawn Terrick, Director of Developmental Writing at MWSU, published the article "Granting Access and Rewarding Success in a Developmental Writing Program" in BWe: Basic Writing, an online journal. Dawn was invited to write the piece after she accepted the 2009 national award for most innovative developmental writing program from the Conference on Basic Writing, which is a special interest group within the national organization Conference on College Composition and Communication.

The journal's table of contents is linked below, on which you can find Dawn's essay. I encourage you to read it for a very good description of the nature and spirit of developmental writing at MWSU. Developmental writing and reading classes at MWSU change students in profound ways, and the experience is crucial for their success at the university.



Congratulations, Dawn and all of those who teach ENG 100!