St. Joseph Teacher of the Year Speaks at Fall English Dinner

Dawn Smith, Central High School's English Department Chairperson and St. Joseph Teacher of the Year, spoke at the annual Fall English Dinner on Wednesday, September 23. In attendance were MWSU administrators, teachers, and St. Joseph language arts teachers, many of whom are EFLJ alumni.

In her talk, "Teaching for Excellence," Ms. Smith pushed the audience to challenge themselves as teachers to challenge their own assumptions about what we do, why, and whether it works. It was an evening of food, discussion, and the chance to catch up with colleagues across the city.


Thanks to Tom Pankiewicz and Jane Frick for planning the event!

Dr. Betty Sawin, Director of Honors and Professor of English, has been appointed to two committees of the National Collegiate Honors Council. According to its official website, NCHC "is the professional association of undergraduate Honors programs and colleges; Honors directors and deans; and Honors faculty, staff, and students. NCHC provides support for institutions and individuals developing, implementing, and expanding Honors education through curriculum development, program assessment, teaching innovation, national and international study opportunities, internships, service and leadership development, and mentored research."


Dr. Sawin will serve on the Partners in the Parks Standing Committee and the Teaching & Learning Standing Committee. Her appointment will continue through the 2012 annual conference.

Congratulations to Betty for being chosen for this professional service. For more information about NCHC, see http://www.nchchonors.org/aboutnchc.shtml

Banned Books Reading Time Set

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

Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009.
Time: 7 pm - 8 pm.
Location: 218 Blum Union (Hoff Conference 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. Refreshments will be served following the readings. This event is free and open to the public. In other words, it's a good, cheap date.

Contacts: Dr. Michael Cadden, EFLJ (271-4576); Dr. Michael Smith, Education (271-4514); Ms. Julia Schneider, Library Director (271-4369).

What are ye? Scared?

New Lit Out Loud

"New Lit Out Loud" kicks off the 2009-10 open-mic series on Wednesday, September 30, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Foster's Martini Bar (726 Felix Street; 364-4400).

Creative writers are invited to test their latest works on a live audience of fellow writers and local listeners in a relaxed, smoke-free setting. To include more voices, we ask that writers limit their selections to ten minutes, which is about four pages of double-spaced text.

This event is organized by the staffs of the MWSU literary magazines, The Mochila Review and Canvas, in coordination with the campus creative writing group, Writers' Circle.

Admission is free. Everyone is invited to come enjoy original new works.
For more information, contact the following persons:
Dana Andrews 271-5814 dandrews1@missouriwestern.edu
Bill Church 271-5966 church@missouriwestern.edu
Meg Thompson 271-4316 mthompson14@missouriwestern.edu

Hennessy Named Journal Editor

Dr. Susan Hennessy, EFLJ's Foreign Language Coordinator and Professor of French, has been named Assistant Editor of The French Review, the journal of The American Association of Teachers of French. Dr. Hennessy will be responsible for all submissions related to nineteenth-century literature.

To learn more about the journal, visit http://www.montana.edu/wwwaatf/french_review/

Congratulations, Susie!

Alumni Update: Bart German

Bart German (English-Technical Communication, class of 2001) reports that he is still at Cerner Corporation but now based out of their "Innovations Campus"at the Grandview Triangle in south Kansas City. He's been a Team Lead with the Release Documentation team there for a little over two years now.

Bart's son, who was born in his last year at MWSC, is now 8 and in
the third grade. His daughter was born just this past February. Bart and his wife are taking care of her best friend's 3-year-old daughter through the end of this year while she's deployed with the Army in Iraq.

"I'm going on my second year now of being in charge of the Missouri/Kansas sub-group of the organization Rebel Legion, which is the Lucasfilm-preferred costuming group that specializes in 'good guy' costumes from the Star Wars 'universe'. It's a great way to have fun and give a lot of time to help out various charities in the process."

If you would also like to share some news with us, please click on the "alumni update" link on the right. We'd love to know what you're doing.

EFLJ Chews the Fat at Department Picnic

The full-time EFLJ faculty, staff, and families met on Lovers Lane to share food and complain about (fill in the blank).

Although there were relatively few deserts brought and perhaps too many vegetables, the picnic was a fun time a few weeks into a busy fall term.

The department has been holding on-campus potlucks the first Friday of each month (in the EFLJ Library), so if you're an alum in town for a short time and it happens to be a First Friday, or a grad who lives in town but hasn't come by in while, come on in for lunch, some stories (a few tall tales), and a chance for us to hear about your exploits.

Vince Thomson Inducted into Western Athletics Hall of Fame

Ken Rosenauer and Jane Frick congratulate their former student Vince Thomson as the 2009 Western Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held in the Fulkerson Center on September 19. Thomson, a 1986 BA English/Writing graduate, started on the Griffon football team's defensive line. The Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the seventh round of the 1985 NFL draft before he later went on to play in the Canadian Football League for two years. He has an MA in Advertising from Northwestern University and is currently the co-owner of Ideastream Consumer Products (www.ideastreamproducts.com) in Cleveland, OH, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

Fall Foreign Film Series

Foreign Film Series
Fall 2009

All sessions start at 6:30 PM

Friday, September 18th
Goodbye Lenin
(Germany, 2003)
Dir: Wolfgang Becker
Leslie Gustaffson, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library, downstairs)

Friday, September 25th
La Celestina
(Spain, 1997)
Dir.: Gerardo Vera
Eduardo Castilla Ortíz, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Thursday, October 1st
After Life
(Japan, 1998)
Dir.: Koreeda Hirokazu
Stacia Bensyl, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Friday, October 9th
Seducing Dr. Lewis
(France, 2003)
Dir.: Jean-François Pouliot
Nadege saint-Maxent, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Wednesday, October 21st
El Norte
(England/US, 1983)
Dir.: Gregory Nava
Dr. Ali Kamali, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Thursday, October 29th
The Mirror
(Iran, 1997)
Dir.: Jafar Panahi
Dr. Ali Kamali, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Wednesday, November 4th
"Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran"
(France, 2003)
Dir.: François Dupeyron
Susan Hennessy, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)

Friday, November 20th
El abrazo partido
(Argentina, 2004)
Dir.: Daniel Burman
Jason Youngkeit, presenter
Hearnes 102 (Library)