EML Outstanding Graduates 2018

We are proud to recognize our outstanding graduates from this past academic year!

English has two awards to recognize students: The Louise Lacy Award for the outstanding Bachelor
of Arts graduate and the Mary Lee Doherty Award for the outstanding BS-Education graduate. Louise Lacy and Mary Doherty were English instructors instrumental to the development of our department when we were St. Joseph Junior College.

This year we had two winners for each award: Cami Pendleton and Mary Hess were the recipients of the Lacy BA Award, and Erica Cook and Morgan Rathman were recognized with the Doherty BSE Award.

Erica and Morgan finished their degrees in December, and because they are gainfully employed teachers they could not attend today's award ceremony.

Morgan Rathmann was honored as MWSU's recipient of the Missouri Council of Teachers of English's Robert J. Greef Award at the Write to Learn Conference in Osage Beach, MO, on Feb. 16.

Congratulations to our outstanding graduates!

Dr. Martens with Morgan Rathman

Erica Cook

Dr. Martens, Cami Pendleton, and Dr. Kunkel

Mary Hess with Dr. Church (r.)

Cami and Mary show off the hardware

Recent Graduate Cami Pendleton Finds Work as Technical Writer

We've received good news from Cami Pendleton, a recent graduate of EML. Cami graduated with the highest honor of Summa Cum Laude in December 2017. She received the BA in English with a concentration in Technical Communication with minors in General Business, Literature, and French. 

 

"After graduating from Missouri Western, I started my first full-time job at SJC Marketing, a local full-service marketing agency in St. Joseph, MO. I am the Client Project Coordinator; my job is to develop and execute client campaign projects across multiple platforms and identify needs and execute strategies with the help of the account manager. 

I work with clients and create marketing/content strategies across digital and social media platforms. I write social media posts, marketing content campaigns, company documents, and more. I also do technical editing - regarding company material/documents and social media posts - and develop document design for clients as well. Since my company relies on teamwork, I collaborate with my colleagues on a daily basis. 

I am grateful that I have found a job that uses my college education. My work environment is wonderful; I have made my office desk my home by decorating it with a cute MWSU griffon which I named Griffondor. There is also a permanent coffee mug ready for my daily cup of coffee. I am enjoying my job and love working with my new colleagues - especially since we share a mutual love of coffee (or caffeine in general!)."

 

 

Dawn Terrick Presents Research

On Thursday, March 15, 2018, Dawn Terrick, English Instructor and Director of Developmental Writing, presented, “Labor of Love:  Revolutionizing the Developmental Writing Classroom,” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, a national and peer-reviewed conference. 

ENG 100 Reading

Dawn Terrick, Director of Developmental Writing

The annual reception to celebrate the ENG 100 student publication, Discovering the Student, Discovering the Self, was hosted by Dawn Terrick, Director of Developmental Writing, and held on Wednesday, April 18. Approximately 90 people attended, including students and their families, faculty, administration and staff. 

 

President Vartabedian kicked off the reception, then Dawn Terrick awarded students with certificates and copies of the book and the students themselves concluded the afternoon by reading excerpts from their essays.  From the student who read about her memories of making bread with her mother while holding her own daughter to the nine-year-old who read her mother’s essay, the newly published authors were able to keep the audience enthralled. 

 

This truly was an afternoon of celebration.  To read the student essays, go to:  https://www.missouriwestern.edu/eml/discovering-the-student-discovering-the-self-essays-from-eng-100-students/

 

EML chairperson Dr. Stacia Bensyl, MWSU president Dr. Robert Vartabedian,
and MWSU provost Dr. Jeanne Daffron enjoy the after-event reception

 

 

Nicole Bradley Heads West

Nicole Bradley is going to be a Sun Devil.

 

 

Nicole is a 2016 Bachelor of Arts graduate of both our Creative Writing and Publishing program as well as the MWSU philosophy program.

 

This fall, Nicole will be enrolled in Arizona State University's Master of Arts program in philosophy. Nicole entertained offers from other graduate programs but has chosen to study in Arizona.

 

Congratulations, Nicole!

 

News from Creative Writing & Publishing

On Tuesday, March 27, Dr. Kunkel's ENG 386/486 Poetry Writing class welcomed Dr. Hadara Bar-Nadav to read at the local coffee shop Pronto. The class had read her newest book, The New Nudity, a few weeks before and written odes inspired by her poems. The night of the reading, the coffee shop was packed and students listened attentively to her work with copies of her book in hand. After the reading, Dr. Bar-Nadav answered questions from the crowd, then signed books--the reading lasted more than two hours! We thank Dr. Bar-Nadav, an associate professor of poetry at University of Missouri-Kansas City, for making the trip and inspiring our undergraduate writers!

On March 7-10, Dr. Kunkel and MWSU senior Sara Brown traveled to Tampa, FL, to attend the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference. Together they staffed a table in the conference bookfair for MWSU's national literary journal, The Mochila Review, for which Dr. Kunkel is editor-in-chief and Sara is managing editor. They passed out more than 300 flyers, sold issues, and connected with four previous contributors, some who are now graduate students in creative writing. They had a wonderful, exhausting time!

Kay Siebler publishes in Journal of Education Policy

Dr. Kay Siebler, professor of English, presented on the "Technology and Pathology of Gender" at the Pop Culture Association Conference.

Her article on teaching healthy sexuality education in the context of a Chinese ELL classroom was published in the April/second quarter edition of the international Journal of Education Policy.

Caroline Whiteman Presents

Dr. Caroline Whiteman, assistant professor of French, co-organized a session entitled "Précarité, Insécurité, Instabilité: Representations of Unstable French Identity in the 20th and 21st Centuries" at the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Conference at UCLA in March. She oversaw three panels at the conference and coordinated discussions. She also gave a paper with the title "The Chagrin of the Other: Marie Cosnay’s Representations of Immigrants and Wanderers in the French Basque Country."

 Dr. Whiteman will present a paper at the 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies Colloquium at Brown University in Rhode Island. The title is "Writing from the Periphery: French Basque Literature as a Tool for Criticism and Change."

Fidler-Newby Defends Master's Capstone Portfolio

Left to Right: Dr. Jeney, Dr. Canon, Ms. Fidler-Newby, Dr. Adkins

Congratulations to Samantha Fidler-Newby on successfully defending her Master's capstone portfolio. Sam will be awarded the Master of Applied Arts in Written Communication/Technical Communication. 

In her coursework, Sam's research focused on student resumes and resulted in a paper and poster presentation titled "Putting Your Best Foot Forward: The Study of Resumes Designed by Missouri Western State University Senior Technical Communication Students." Sam has already started freelancing and has been working with clients building communication products and plans for local small businesses.

French Major Puckett Presents Paper at National Conference

French major Cydney Puckett presented a paper at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research last  Friday. Her paper, entitled “Where is Home? The Intersection or Loss, Home, and Non-Places in Marie Darrieussecq’s
Tom est mort,” examined the concept of home in a contemporary French novel.

A faculty member at the University of Central Oklahoma who attended Cydney’s talk reported back on how incredibly impressed she was not only with the quality of Cydney’s paper, but also with her presentation skills and her ability to answer questions thoughtfully and engage in meaningful discussions.

Congratulations, Cydney!