Thompson Rides Off into Sunset

Instructor Meg "Hopalong" Thompson will be leaving us in EFLJ for the opportunity to teach overseas. Meg and husband Todd will be teaching English in Seoul, South Korea this fall.



A gathering was held to see Meg and Todd off. This gathering apparently included pony rides and cowboy hats.



Good luck to Meg and Todd! We hope to get a few dispatches from Our Woman in Seoul this fall. Stay tuned.

Hennessy Knighted

Susan Hennessy, Foreign Language Coordinator for EFLJ, has been named "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académique" (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms).

Originally created by Napoleon, it is one of the world’s oldest civil awards, and is given to recognize major international contributions to French national education, and to those who have made major contributions to the expansion of French culture in the rest of the world. Nomination decisions are made by the French Minister of Education.

Congratulations to Sir Susie!

Cadden Concludes Term as President

Mike Cadden concluded his term as President of the Children's Literature Association this June at the 2011 conference at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

This year's conference welcomed 430 attendees, a record number.

Kuykendall Publishes

Brooke Kuykendall, a 2006 graduate in Literature, has had her work accepted to be published in a variety of venues lately. She had a piece in Driftwood Review this past year, and she will have work appear in FutureCycle Flash and Edge Review this summer. Brooke's work graced the cover of this year's issue of The Mochila Review, and she was recognized with the Visual Arts Award for her photography in this year's Canvas: A Journal of Contemporary Literature and Art.

Brooke welcomes you to her blog site.

Owner of Second Story Photography, Brooke can be reached at 2ndstoryphotography@gmail.com

Brooke has claimed not to have a funny bone in her left arm.

Missouri Youth Write 2011

Missouri Youth Write 2011, went online yesterday at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/scholastic. The 357-page journal features 112 winning entries from this year’s Missouri Writing Region for the 2011 national Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Contest; the publication was supported by a grant from the Missouri Association of Teachers of English.

Students’ individual pieces are also published online at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/scholastic/winners2011.html in a listing which identifies students' schools, grade levels, teachers, and contest categories. The winning pieces were selected by Missouri teachers from among the 521 contest pieces submitted by students, grades 7 – 12, from throughout Missouri and the Kansas City, KS, area.

Thanks to Rebecca Dierking, Prairie Lands Writing Project (PLWP) Teacher Consultant and doctoral student at the University of Missouri, for serving as editor for Missouri Youth Write for the third year in a row. This year's web editor was Rachel Stancliff, PLWP graduate assistant here at Missouri Western.

Amy Chastain Defends Thesis

Amy Chastain successfully defended her Master of Applied Arts (MAA) thesis, "Posting to the Blog: Attitudes, Usage, and Online Writing in the Developmental Writing Classroom," on Tuesday, May 31, 2011.

Pictured left are, from left to right, Dr. Kay Siebler (thesis committee member), Amy, Dr. Cynthia Jenéy (Amy's thesis director), and Dr. Michael Charlton (thesis committee member).

Professor Chastain will begin her work at Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kansas this August.

Congratulations on your success, Amy!

Three EFLJ Faculty Promoted

At its May 25th meeting, the MWSU Board of Governors announced the promotions of three EFLJ faculty to the highest faculty rank at the university.

Dr. Kaye Adkins (left), formerly Associate Professor of English, is now Professor of English.

Dr. Stacia Bensyl (right), formerly Associate Professor of English, is now Professor of English.

Dr. Ian Roberts (left), formerly Associate Professor of English, is now Professor of English.

Congratulations to Kaye, Stacia, and Ian!