Polished Portfolios

This semester, three technical communication majors completed a Senior Portfolio. All three of them scored "Polished," the highest possible rating, on their portfolios. Two of the students received perfect scores from one of the evaluators.  Congratulations go to:  Dante Lammoglia, Garrett Skribina and Tinsley Underwood.  We are EML proud!

Honoring outstanding students

On April 19^th, we celebrated the accomplishments of students in English and Modern Languages.  Students earning academic honors were presented with an academic key. The outstanding graduates were introduced by faculty and received a commemorative plaque.  Words cannot express how much we appreciate the contributions of these students or how proud we are, but the pictures below can. You will find the names of these outstanding graduates on plaques in the department display case:        

                     

BA English, Garrett Skrbina

 BSE English, Krystal Hicok

BA Spanish, Connie  Devault

  BA French, Elizabeth Young

 

MAA, Roxanne Chase

Academic key awardees: Connie DeVault, Cydney Puckett,
Cami Pendleton, Mariam Riddle, Krystal Hicok, Garrett Skrbina.
Not pictured: Nicole Bradley, Sara Brown, Erica Cook,
Morgan Rathmann, Taylor McGrath, Gage Williams.

Celebrated author Ellen Hopkins visits Missouri Western

On April 18^th, the well-known young adult author Ellen Hopkins visited Missouri Western in conjunction with the Mochila Review’s MoRe prize, for which Hopkins was judge.  The popular writer’s meeting with high school students was followed by an evening reading in which Hopkins shared selections from poetry and the novel Crank. Marianne Kunkel coordinated the events.

More Great News!

Successful defense

Roxanne Chase successfully defended her MAA in Written Communication, “Meeting of the Minds: Encouraging a Critical Thinking Community through Group-Work in English Composition,” April 7, 2016.  Roxanne’s thesis explores the many ways group work creates community in the classroom and in the larger community. Her research investigates the influence of previous experiences of and attitudes toward group work for new teaching assistant’s use of group work in the first year college composition classroom. Roxanne’s thesis committee included Dr. Gaywyn Moore (chair), Dr. Susan Martens, and Dr. Kay Siebler. Join us in congratulating Roxanne on her articulate and engaging defense!

Faculty Presentations

Kaye Adkins presented her paper "I'm Proud of You Folks Too! Narrative and Community Building in World War II" at the conference of the College English Association on April 2 in Denver, Colorado.

Gaywyn Moore presented at the 44^th annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America Conference (March 23-26, 2016) in New Orleans. Her presentation was entitled, “English Women, Romance, and Global Travel in Thomas Heywood’s The Fair Maid of the West, Part 1.”

Celebrating students

The 10^th annual reception for the English 100 publication, Celebrating the Student, Celebrating the Self, drew a record-breaking crowd of students and proud family and friends. Dawn Terrick, Director of English 100, introduced the award-winning students, many of whom read from their published essays.

 

Festival of Letters

The inaugural event attracted researchers, writers, and performers, showcasing the talents of students and faculty alike. Participants had the chance to present in an informal atmosphere punctuated by readings on a range of topics, creative writing as well as academic texts. Thanks go to organizers from the League of Extraordinary Events! 

            

Faculty Achievements

Popular Culture presentations

Kay Siebler presented her research on African American feminist television characters at the Popular Culture Association conference in Seattle.

 Cynthia Bartels also presented at the Popular Culture Association conference: "Some things aren't true even if they did happen: one youth's journey to Altamont."

Susan Martens also presented at the Popular Culture Association conference: "Fat and Ash, Real and Imagined: All on a Mardi Gras Day in Treme." 

Marianne Kunkel attended the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Los Angeles. Accompanying her was MWSU student Chris Pankiewicz.

She and Chris staffed an informational table about The Mochila Review, the university's national creative writing magazine, at the conference book fair.

Dawn Terrick presented at the 47th Annual CEA (College English Association) Conference in Denver.  Her presentation was entitled "From Marginal to Mainstream Voices:  Re-Creating the Purpose of a Student Publication."  

Publications

Miguel Rivera published a review on the book Creativity and Science in Contemporary Argentine Literature, by Joanna Page. It appears in the journal Dissidences.

Mary Stone published three poems from her "Last Woman on Earth" series at Moonsick. She published [Jennifer Requests an Open Casket] in Decomp.  In addition, her poem "A Man Tells You What is Good" was accepted by Cider Press Review. 

Grant Award

The Prairie Lands Writing Project has been awarded $20,000 of federal funds for the site’s 2016-2017 SEED Advanced Institute to Scale Up the NWP College-Ready Writers Program Grant proposal. Amy Miller, Tom Pankiewicz, and Jane Frick were co-authors of the grant. Miller and Pankiewicz attended the program's launch meeting in Washington D.C.