Thursday, September 28, 2017

21st Annual Banned Books Reading

Members of the St. Joseph and Missouri Western communities gathered once more to hear readers share selections from works that have been challenged or banned. Some reports claim that over 1,500 people were in attendance. Accurate reports have the head count at about sixty.
Dr. Kunkel, Dr. Cadden (organizer) and alumnus Jay Scott


Readers & Books
Ms. Kristina Zagame, KQ-2 News  
The Witches by Roald Dahl

Dr. Marianne Kunkel, Assistant Professor of English, MWSU
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Ms. Stephanie Spratt, Asst. Director for Technical Services, MWSU Library
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Ms. Alison Schieber, St. Joseph Public Library Board of Trustees
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Ms. Molleigh Arn, MWSU student
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Mr. Jay Scott, Prairie Lands Writing Project, MWSU
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Mr. Joseph Kellogg, Student representative, MWSU Board of Governors
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Ms. Susan Braccianno, Registrar, MWSU
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Tiniest Coffee Shop Has Ups and Downs


Back for the fourth year in a row, the staff of Canvas, MWSU's creative writing and arts journal, hosted a tiniest coffee shop on MWSU's campus on Sept. 27-28. The scenery was a bit different this year; because of problems with Murphy Hall's A/C, Canvas moved the outreach event to Popplewell Hall's elevator, which is tinier even than Murphy's elevator! Nevertheless, the event was successful--Canvas staff like Megan Standley and Megan Maenner (pictured) got practice reading poems aloud to students and promoting the publication, and non-English majors like Danny Garcia-Cortez (pictured) learned more about the publication and how to submit. Also, the hot Dunkin' Donuts coffee was a big hit. Canvas thanks MWSU students, faculty and staff for their support--and especially the janitors who shared the elevator (and heard some great writing) for three days.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Come enjoy the films in the EML Foreign Film Series!

Monday, October 2: Masters in Forbidden City (in Chinese with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Jin Peng

Wednesday, October 11: Vampiros en La Habana (in Spanish with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Miguel Rivera

Monday, October 16: Your Name (in Japanese with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Caroline Whiteman 

Monday, October 30: A Chinese Ghost Song (in Chinese with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Jin Peng

Wednesday, November 8: La vie pure (in French with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Juliette Papadopoulos

Monday, November 13: The Professor's Lovely Equation (in Japanese with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Stacia Bensyl

Wednesday, November 29: The House of the Spirits (in Spanish with English subtitles) Presented by Professor Ana Bausset

All films are free and start at 6:15 PM in Hearnes Hall 102 (Theater in lower floor of MWSU library)

Thursday, September 7, 2017

EML major Cami Pendleton featured in Western Magazine


France: Cami PendletonCami Pendleton had such a great experience when she studied in France last year, she decided to make a video about Missouri Western’s Study Away Office as an assignment in her Multimedia Authoring class last spring.
“I could have made it about anything, but I’m so passionate about study away,” said the St. Joseph, Missouri native. “France was an incredible life-changing adventure.”
The English technical writing major with minors in general business, literature and French studied in Saint-Étienne, France for a month during the summer of 2016. She lived with a host family and took French classes at Jean Monnet University.
“Everything I learned in the classroom came to life over there,” Pendleton said.
She said she learned a tremendous amount about French culture, but also about other cultures by studying together and taking weekend trips with students in her class that were from around the world. In fact, a student from South Korea stayed with the same host family as she did.
Although Pendleton says the food was incredible (“The French take their food seriously”), her most memorable takeaway was meeting new friends and learning about their cultures.
For her video, which now resides on Missouri Western’s Study Away page, she interviewed two other students who had studied overseas and Tammy (Glise) Norris ’79, who coordinates the University’s study away and exchange programs. She also asked professors to give advice for travelers in the language they teach on the video.
And her advice to fellow students who are considering foreign travel? Keep an open mind and take a lot of photos. “Don’t be ashamed of having a selfie stick,” she added with a laugh.
Pendleton says her French trip gave her the travel bug, and this past summer, she traveled to Norway and Italy to visit friends. “All I want to do now is travel.”

Two Visiting Faculty Arrive in EML

This year we welcome two new visiting faculty to EML. One is a Fulbrighter who is here to help us deliver our French curriculum, and the other is a visiting professor from Xidian University who will teach Chinese.
Welcome Professors Jin Peng (left) and Juliette Papadopoulous (right)!

Jin Peng has been teaching at Xidian University, China for 15 years.  She taught various courses in college English and won the first prize in Shaanxi State Level College English Teaching Competition. Jin obtained her bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in Foreign Languages from Xidian University.

Juliette Papadopoulos comes to us from Paris. Her interest in languages comes from her childhood, as she was raised in a multicultural family that had two native languages (French and Greek). “I’m also very interested in history and cultural studies, so I have worked as a Museum educator in different countries for four years before coming to the US. I’m now starting to teach French abroad, thanks to the Fulbright FLTA program!”


Welcome to Missouri Western and the department of English and Modern Languages!