fall 2012 newsletter
DESCRIPTION
Fl 12 newsletterTRANSCRIPT
As I write this,
campus is al-
ready emptying
out for the winter
break. Another
semester has
flown by, and as
usual, much has
happened in
these few
months.
This Fall, our two
new colleagues,
assistant professor Ryan Cordell and as-
sociate professor Theo Davis (whom I
introduced in last semester’s Chair’s Let-
ter), have completed their first semesters.
Professor Cordell, who works on nine-
teenth-century American literature and is
a leader in the new field of “Digital Hu-
manities,” taught a seminar introducing
undergraduates to “technologies of text”
in the digital age; helped the department
sponsor its first cohort of HASTAC
(Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technolo-
gies Advanced Collaboratory) scholars,
doctoral candidates Kristi Girdharry, Eliza-
beth Hopwood, and Megan Tarquinio
Roche; and will host THATCamp (The Hu-
manities and Technology Camp) MLA Bos-
ton 2013 on Northeastern’s campus on
January 2nd, 2013. Professor Cordell is
also involved with the new research cen-
ter, the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Net-
works, co-directed by English depart-
ment’s Professor Elizabeth Dillon and
Professor David Lazer of the Department
of Political Science and the College of
Computer and Information Science.
In her eighteenth-century literature class,
“The Literature of Feeling,” Professor Da-
vis, also a scholar of American literature,
helped undergraduates navigate the
swells of emotion—“the falling of tears,
the heaving of sighs, and bursts of ela-
tion,” that roil eighteenth- and early nine-
teenth-century American letters. Next
semester, her “Major Figure” class will
offer students the opportunity to spend
time with those enduringly popular New
England sages, Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau. As a new member
of the department’s Undergraduate Stud-
ies Committee (USC), Professor Davis has
also been participating in the depart-
ment’s ongoing efforts to review our cur-
riculum for relevance to needs and inter-
ests of the current generations of English
majors. You can read about the results of
a recent survey of majors by the USC in
the “Undergraduate Program News” on
page eight of this newsletter; and keep a
lookout for a survey of undergraduate
alumni as well, which I hope will be com-
ing your way soon!
Meanwhile, mark your calendars for this
Spring’s Hanson Speaker. Thanks to the
generosity of the Hanson family, the Eng-
lish department is delighted to host the
noted historian, journalist, and author Jill
Lepore, David Woods Kemper '41 Profes-
sor of American History, Harvard College
Professor, and Chair of the History and
Literature Program at Harvard University.
Professor Lepore’s most recent book is
The Mansion of Happiness: A History of
Life and Death. You can read more about
Professor Lepore here. She will join us on
February 28th, at 5:00 p.m. in Raytheon
amphitheater. The event is free, and eve-
ryone is welcome.
I close with an appeal to all our faithful
alumni/ae, graduate and undergraduate.
As you’ve read in this issue of the English
Department newsletter (and in other is-
sues), one of the most valuable things we
do is to provide our undergraduate and
students not only with faculty expertise in
the classroom but also with the opportuni-
ty to attend cultural events and academic
conferences, engage in and present re-
search, and meet and hear from exciting
figures in all kinds of fields of endeavor.
This semester, for example, students in
Professor Cordell’s “Technologies of Text”
class visited the Printing Office of Edes
and Gill, on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and
practiced the techniques of colonial print-
ing on authentic equipment (see photo-
graphs on page eleven). Members of the
undergraduate English Club took a break-
fast excursion to the Boston Book Fair
and heard a dinner lecture from Shake-
spearean scholar Dr. Michael Booth. We
arrange visits by speakers to classes and
classes to cultural events; we send gradu-
ate students as presenters to confer-
ences such as the MLA and the CCCC and
as participants to workshops such as the
Dartmouth College Futures of American
Studies Institute.
Although these activities are vital, they
compete with many other claims on the
department’s resources. With your help, I
would like to begin to build the English
Department Student Travel, Activities,
and Research (STAR) fund, dedicated to
supporting our students and enriching
their experience. Small amounts together
can do as much as larger ones to move us
forward. For easy giving by check or cred-
it card, please visit the Department of
English Giving webpage. If you wish, indi-
cate in your check’s “memo” or in the
“Special Instructions” on the online giving
page that you are giving to the STAR fund;
if not, other giving is equally welcome. All
gifts will be acknowledged in future edi-
tions of the Newsletter. And as always,
thank you for your interest in the Newslet-
ter, the department, and Northeastern!
Laura Green, Department Chair
English Department, 405 Lake Hall, (617) 373-4540, http://www.northeastern.edu/english/alumni/
English Department Alumni/ae e-Newsletter
Fall 2012
SPOTLIGHTS
Critical Lenses: Jeremy Earp, MA ’90 … 2
A Conversation about the Hebrew Bible with
Liane Marquis, BA ’06 … 3
Recent Alumni/ae Publications … 4
Navigating the Academic Job Search with
Tanya Zhelezcheva, PhD ’11 … 5
Shifting Perspectives: Peter Neumann, BA ’69
More Alumni/ae Updates … 6
Co-op Dispatches from Shenzhen, China …7
DEPARTMENT UPDATES
Undergraduate Program … 8
Writing Program … 8-9
Graduate Program … 10-11
Faculty Bookshelf &
Acknowledgments … 12
In this Issue
Jeremy Earp, MA ’90, works at the Media Education Founda-
tion (MEF), a non-profit organization which seeks to expose
“college-level students to key concepts, ideas and thinkers in
the field of media and communication studies.” His extensive
credits include The Mean World Syndrome, Blood and Oil, Con-
suming Kids, War Made Easy, and Hijacking Catastrophe. As
Director of Production, Mr. Earp “oversees all facets of the pro-
duction process, from the development of scripts, research,
media collection, and interviews, all the way through the editing
process.”
Prior to joining the MEF in 2003, Mr. Earp spent years teaching
English and communications at a number of institutions, from
New School University and Parsons School of Design in New
York City to The Art Institute and Northeastern University in Bos-
ton. His teaching experience presented a productive forum to
introduce students to MEF films, where he paid close attention
to what features and elements proved most interesting to stu-
dents. In addition to discovering how to connect with students,
Mr. Earp cites “the narrative aspect” of teaching and literary
studies as an indispensable component to his work at the MEF,
since “everything comes down to getting the story right” and
communicating content to students. Moreover, graduate stud-
ies at Northeastern University and the University of Massachu-
setts offered ample exposure to “masculinity and gender theo-
ry,” critical lenses which continue to have a significant impact
on his projects at the MEF.
When asked which faculty members directly informed his peda-
gogy and ideological approach, Mr. Earp remembers Herb Suss-
man’s “approach to Victorian literature,” recalling how “he was
on the forefront of a fascinating wave of historical, pro-feminist
criticism focused on how modern notions of masculinity were
formed and contested in and through 19th century literature.”
He also extols Michael Ryan's film theory courses, “especially
his relentless focus on how popular culture reflects, reinforces,
and at times subverts larger ideological and political forces in
the culture.” While applauding these enthusiastic encounters
with theory, Mr. Earp expressed immense affection for Guy
Rotella, whose poetry classes demonstrated “how important
and potentially life-altering close reading can be—not only as a
way of sharpening one's critical sense in ways that could be
applied productively and pragmatically in other areas, but also
as an end in itself. He was all about the experience of literature,
language, and meaning-making at their deepest, most power-
ful, and profound levels, and that made me a better and more
patient reader.”
Commenting on what many characterize as an incredibly chal-
lenging labor market, Mr. Earp professes confidence in the val-
ue of undergraduate and graduate degrees in literature, both
within and outside of academia. Speaking to “the importance of
writing and storytelling, clear communication and narrative,”
Mr. Earp contends that “these bedrock reading- and writing-
related skills […] are increasingly in short supply across a range
of professional fields as digital culture and social media pulls
us further and further away from language and into images.” He
surmises that this ubiquitous need for “good writing and narra-
tive structuring” makes “what’s old—and old-fashioned—in
many ways […] new all over again. The old fundamental, sen-
tence-and-story-level skills of English-majors seem to me to be
very much in demand as the cutting-edge of our digital culture
outpaces the availability of quality content.”
Despite a rapidly evolving digital landscape and the growing
relevance of new media, English departments can attend to
these elements without “losing touch with what makes them
English departments: meaning a sustained focus on the study
of language, words, stories, sentences, literature and poetry.”
Mr. Earp asserts that his “ability to read and decode images,
media narratives, and media messages is only enhanced by the
kind of sustained engagement with words and sentences and
written texts that studying English delivers.” While some hu-
manities departments struggle with decreasing enrollments,
there is “an increasing demand across a wide range of profes-
sions—from business to politics to media to the blogosphere—
for young people who can read and write and think clearly, criti-
cally and carefully about a hyper-mediated world that’s speed-
ing up more and more every day.” And just as the MEF encour-
ages students “to think critically and in new ways,” Mr. Earp
points to the fundamental skills of literary scholars to suggest
that English departments are “perfectly positioned to help stu-
dents adapt to [this] world, both personally and professionally.”
Contributed by Doctoral Candidate Christopher Myers.
Chris works with Depression-era American literature and film
theory.
Page 2
Critical Lenses Teaching through Documentary Filmmaking and the
Versatility of an English Degree
An MSN.com review of MEF’s documentary War Made Easy (2007) called the film "a cinematic essay, a simple and pointed piece with a compelling argument."
Page 3
Lori Lefkovitz: Although I joined Northeastern’s English De-
partment after you left, I am delighted to speak with a gradu-
ate who has gone on to become a Hebrew Bible scholar. What
are you doing now, and how have you spent your time since
graduation?
Liane Marquis, BA ’06: I am currently a first year PhD student
in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East at the University of
Chicago. I wandered around a bit after graduation and ended
up doing a Master’s Degree in psychology at Boston College. In
part it was pressure from my family to do something
"practical." It was a valuable experience, but ultimately not
very engaging for me. So, I applied to the broad Master’s pro-
gram at Yale, still a bit unsure what academic choice I would
make. I took Hebrew my first semester, fell in love with it.
From there I spent the next three years learning languages and
studying biblical texts.
LL: How did you develop an interest in Bible, in particular?
LM: I've always been interested in religion -- just ask Professor
Leslie! I was always writing about the intersection of literature
and religion in various sixteenth-century poems or plays for her
classes. I've also always been a "text" girl. Biblical studies
seemed like the natural choice because it combined both of
those things, along with a language that I love deeply: Hebrew.
(No one told me when I started that biblical studies also meant
learning Greek, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Syriac, Hittite,
Phoenecian, etc. etc. I probably would have run away terrified!)
Also, the Bible is still one of those texts that holds so much
influence on so many aspects of our lives, whether we are reli-
gious or secular and whether we want it to or not. It's as much
a cultural document as a religious one these days. And the law
and ritual portions in particular have been used for centuries
now to denigrate Judaism. I wanted to add my voice to the
small (but growing!) number of biblical scholars attending to
the beauty and significance of these texts in particular.
LL: Wow. How have you managed all those languages?
LM: I learned Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and German at Yale. I
cracked the code of language learning with Hebrew.
LL: Would you say more about your particular area of interest
in Bible Studies:
LM: In particular I am interested in biblical law and ritual, the
literary composition and development of the cultic/legal texts
and their use and re-interpretation in later biblical and post-
biblical texts (primarily rabbinic materials such as Midrash
Halakha and Talmud). A significant part of my studies also
includes engaging the broader ancient Near Eastern legal and
cultic traditions and understanding how they relate to ancient
Israelite law and ritual.
Basically I am interested in the literary development of the
priestly tradition and the priestly imagination of religion in an-
cient Israel. But I think to get to the point where we can talk
about priestly imagination we first have to get to a point where
we can identify the different hands at work in the text and the
motivations for the involvement of those hands.
LL: How did your majoring in English at Northeastern prepare
you for graduate studies?
LM: I say this all the time: Northeastern's English program
taught me how to think critically in a way that has been the
backbone of everything I do now. It taught me how to approach
literary texts, how to do "close reading" of a particular passage,
and how to write clear and convincing arguments. My advisor
at Yale regularly told me that he thinks former English majors
make the best biblical studies students because they know
how to read. He's right; NU's English department taught me
how to read like an
academic.
I can’t emphasize
enough that North-
eastern was the
foundation of all this.
I was painfully shy
and Professor Leslie
encouraged me, and
I got a lot of joy out
of presenting in
class. She gave me
confidence in my
ideas.
I am not academical-
ly shy anymore! I
valued the level of
autonomy given to
me in my English
classes and the free-
dom to experiment.
continued on page 4
Alumna Liane Marquis is pursuing her PhD in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East at the University of Chicago.
A Conversation about the Hebrew Bible
Undergraduate alumna Liane Marquis, BA ’06, talks with NU’s Professor of English and the Ruderman Professor of
Jewish Studies Lori Lefkovitz
Page 4
Conversation about Hebrew Bible
continued from page 4
LL: You favored Shakespeare?
LM: I liked the Classics and the mix of religion,
literature, and history in the study of Shakespeare.
LL: What was your first exposure to Hebrew Bible?
LM: Working in a refugee camp in the West Bank in 2007, just
after graduation. While I was at Northeastern, I became politi-
cally active. I was curious to understand how the Bible was
being used to make political claims today. This was my first
foray into the Judaism.
When I got to Yale, I wanted to learn Hebrew, which I fell in love
with, especially the literary qualities of the Bible. During this
time, after three and a half years of studying, I converted to
Judaism.
LL: Your career ambitions?
LM: I have to admit that I'm pretty ambitious at this point. The
reality of the job market might temper that in a few years, but
for now I have every intention of finding a tenure-track job at a
research university. I do love teaching -- another thing I learned
at Northeastern in one of Marina Leslie's classes -- and would
certainly want to be teaching on a regular basis, but my true
love is research and writing. If I could lock myself in a library
with a stack of books and a decent internet connection to ac-
cess all those online rabbinic Hebrew and German dictionaries
and just read and write all day, I'd be in heaven. I have lists of
questions and textual problems that just keep growing and I
look forward to having time to spend working on those.
I am taking a class on “Temple, Tabernacle and Cult in the He-
brew Bible.” Most people in the class were not excited about
the topic. They thought these laws and rituals were "boring"
"irrelevant" and just plain impenetrable. Over the last six weeks
I have seen a number of my classmates change their minds a
bit and a few have even come up to me after class to say that
they now understand why I study this stuff. That's what I want
people to see. Sure P [the Priestly Code] looks boring on the
surface, but when you really spend some time with it, it is prob-
ably one of the coolest parts of the Hebrew Bible. Or at least,
one worthy of prolonged discussion! I am thrilled to see some
of my classmates understanding that and I love that my profes-
sor is able to teach these texts in a way that facilitates that
response. I want to be able to do the same thing.
Contributed by Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Professor of English
and the Ruderman Professor of Jewish Studies. Professor
Lefkovitz is the author of In Scripture: The First Stories of Jew-
ish Sexual Identities.
RECENT ALUMNI/AE PUBLICATIONS
Donna Halper, BA ’69, MEd ’70, MA ’73
“Keeping Up with the Red Sox: Getting in the News in 1912” and “Boston’s Sportswriters, 1912,” in
Opening Fenway Park with Style: The 1912 Champion Red Sox. Eds. Bill Nowlin with
Maurice Bouchard, Dan Desrochers, and Len Levin. Society for American Baseball Research, 2012.
Tiffany Ann Conroy Moore, PhD ’10 Kozintsev and Shakespeare: The Legacy of Russian Political Protest in Two Film Adaptations, forthcoming from McFarland & Company, November 2012.
Hanna Musiol, PhD ’11
“Sundown and ‘Liquid Modernity’ in Pawhuska, Oklahoma,” Special issue, “Oil Culture,” eds.
Daniel Worden and Ross Barrett, Journal of American Studies, 46.2, 2012: 357-373. Reprinted in forthcoming book volume of the journal, Oil Culture. University of Minnesota Press.
“Transnational Labor and Aesthetic Theory in Ursula Biemann’s Geobodies.” Special issue, “Contemporary Labor
and Cultural Exchange,” ed. Polina Kroik, WorkingUSA: Journal of Labor and Society 15 (March 2012): 15-33.
Karen Paley, PhD ’98 “The Third Circulation: A Torrent of Voices,” The Yale Journal of Humanities and Medicine, August 2012.
“The Great Roasted Butternut Squash Adventure,” The Binnacle, Spring 2012.
“‘Cura Personalis’: Rhetoric’s Modern Legacy,” in Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Rhetorical Studies. Eds. Cinthia Gannett and John Brereton. New York, NY: Fordham UP. Forthcoming.
FB: Is the job satisfactory? How so?
TZ: My job is immensely fulfilling. Most
students come from underprivileged
backgrounds, and they know what it
means to struggle with everyday life. I
derive great pleasure in helping them
achieve their goals.
FB: What personal and educational fac-
tors led to your getting the position ra-
ther than another candidate?
TZ: It was really helpful to have my PhD
in hand. One of my greatest assets,
however, was my teaching experience.
FB: You did some other work (seminars,
etc.) besides your PhD program. What
were these activities and did they con-
tribute to your job success?
TZ: I attended the service-learning semi-
nars offered by the Service-Learning
Program at NU. I also participated in a
digital humanities seminar because I
am interested in digitizing the manu-
scripts of Thomas Traherne, the subject
of my dissertation. My interest in both
of these areas helped to distinguish me
among the other job candidates. I think
that having an eclectic mix of interests
is an asset on the job market.
FB: Name three personality traits that
helped you professionally.
TZ: I tried to stay as organized as I
could possibly be, worked hard, and
pursued
my interests.
FB: What strengths and weaknesses
did you find in NU's PhD program?
TZ: The opportunity to teach composi-
tion courses, which might seem like a
weakness at moments since it slows
down the dissertation process, is im-
mensely important on the market.
FB: What advice would you give to other
PhD job seekers?
TZ: All of my colleagues are talented
scholars and inspiring teachers, and I
can only wish them a good dose of luck
on the job market. I would like to use
this opportunity to express my gratitude
to all faculty who were indispensable for
my success on the market. I did put in
the effort, but without their generosity
and expertise, I would not have been as
successful. I would like to thank you,
Professor Blessington, as well as Pro-
fessors Erika Boeckeler, Elizabeth Mad-
dock Dillon, Chris Gallagher, Neal Ler-
ner, and last but certainly not least Ma-
rina Leslie.
I got help at every stage of the job
search process—from writing the cover
letters to interviewing to the harrowing
process of negotiating offers and trying
to understand institutional processes of
hiring new faculty.
I would also like to thank Tina Mello as
well as Susan Loffredo with whom I
worked at Career Services. They helped
me think through my Plan B for the job
search.
Contributed by Frank Blessington,
Professor of English. Professor Blessing-
ton’s new translation of Trojan Women
by Euripides was staged by The Factory
Theatre, directed by Benjamin Evett, in
Spring of 2012.
Tanya Zhelezcheva, PhD ’11, recently joined the faculty at Queensborough Community College, as an Assistant Professor of English. Tanya’s dissertation advisor Professor Frank Blessington caught up with Tanya to ask about the place-ment and job prepara-tion at NU.
Page 5
Navigating the
Academic Job Search
Find us on LinkedIn.com @ Northeastern University Department of English
Students— Past and Present.
Page 6
Shifting Perspectives
Fro
m t
he
Du
nes
co
llect
ion
. Pet
er N
eum
ann
©19
89
We recently contacted artist and alum Peter Neumann, BA ’69, to ask about his
transition from English major to artist. Peter kindly sent this response:
“[This] isn't an easy question to answer because my trajectory wasn't linear. My fa-
ther wanted me to major in Accounting because […] he wanted his son to have a
safe career. He was an artist, and my mother was a musician. They were refugees
from Hitler's Germany and had a glove design business, so they were well aware of
a life with risks. I had reading problems when I was a kid. When I eventually dealt
with the problems I knew there was a lot of catching up to do. On a co-op job in
New Jersey I met some Rutgers graduate students in English who inspired me to
read. When I came back to Boston and changed my major to English my father had
a fit. Majoring in English wasn't a skill. What was I going to do with it?
“Literature, however, and reading in general, opened up the world for me. North-
eastern had some great professors and some pretty smart students. That kind of
environment motivated me to keep moving forward. Much later when I decided to
become a photographer I read books on technique: shooting, lighting, darkroom
chemistry and also books on the approaches of my heroes: Edward Weston, Ansel
Adams and so on. Later, when I decided to become a 3D digital illustrator, I read
3D software manuals to the point that my friends used to make fun of me, but it
paid off. I learned several programs and that work led to eight magazine interviews,
inclusion in a show at the Brooklyn Museum and a lot of new skills. Of course, read-
ing is its own reward and I am most definitely a reader.
“My undergraduate studies in literature at Northeastern University gave me the
courage, confidence and ability to explore a bigger world than I realized existed be-
fore.”
Contributed by Peter Neumann. You can view more of Peter’s artwork at his web-
site: http://www.peterneumann.com/.
More Alumni/ae
Updates http://www.northeastern.edu/
english/alumni/
Brendan Cooney, BA’11, has been working on a collaborative project
seeking to investigate the innovation ecosystems and culture of technologi-
cal advancement that enabled the Portuguese Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries and to apply the lessons learned to the present
and future. Brendan recently became involved with TEDxBeaconStreet,
taking on a variety of writing and edit-ing projects as a Curator.
Donna Decker, PhD ’05, is writing a novel about the 1989 Montreal Mas-sacre. Donna is an Associate Profes-
sor of English and Director of the Honors Program at Franklin Pierce
University.
Joseph E. Donlan, BA ’75, has pub-lished three books and has a fourth forthcoming from Universal Publish-
ers. For more information, visit http://www.ordainingreality.com/.
Nicole Faye Frankel, BA ’10, is pur-suing a Master’s degree in Social
Work at Simmons College.
Brett Ingram, MA ’03, received his doctoral degree in Rhetoric from Uni-versity of Massachusetts-Amherst in
December.
Liane Marquis, BA ’06, (featured on page 3) graduated magna cum laude with her MA from Yale University and is pursuing her PhD in Hebrew Bible
and the Ancient Near East at the University of Chicago.
Brenda L. Robles, BA’08, received her JD in 2011 from Ameri-can University, Washington College of Law. She is currently the Program
Support Specialist, Office of Con-tracts Management at USAID/West
Bank & Gaza.
Northeastern alumnus Christopher Thomas, BSIB ’09,
who supervises four Northeastern University students a
semester in Shenzhen, China, established the Jiahua
Language School co-op program in the Spring of 2011.
It is an outstanding international opportunity for English
majors. The co-op students teach English, organize
events, create marketing strategies, and help craft and
update course content for both on-ground and online in-
struction. Jiahua Language School, in turn, provides the
students with housing, a stipend, and 15 hours a week of
Mandarin instruction.
Senior Robert Gewirtz returned to the Jiahua Language
School this summer for his second co-op, and took time
out of his busy teaching and travel schedule to answer a
few questions:
Lisa Doherty, Co-Op Advisor: Why did you choose to go
on co-op in China?
Robert Gerwitz: I’d been to China before, enjoyed the
time I spent there, and always wanted to go back. When
Chris offered me a position teaching English, I just took it.
I saw it more as an opportunity to learn the language
than anything else, but I found a company I really enjoy
and hope to grow with.
LD: What are two or three things you have learned about
yourself by working at the Jiahua Language School?
RG: I learned that I have a capacity for foreign language.
That was refreshing. After six years of studying French
the traditional way, filling in the little blanks in my text-
books, I had sort of dismissed the possibility of me ever
becoming bilingual. I learned a lot about studying and
learning Language from guys like Chris, people who had
already gone through the process and had been teaching
others how to go through it for a while.
I also learned that I don’t dislike business. Coming here,
I learned that entrepreneurial people, truly passionate
people, come from all different kinds of backgrounds
or have a history studying really fascinating things.
Sometimes they’re even more interested in building
something, in making their ideas something tangible,
than they are in piling up money; as nice as that does
feel. That passion also always blends with a certain
pragmatism I’m coming to admire, something I didn’t de-
velop on my own; but I’m developing it now.
LD: Has this co- op made you a better student? How?
RG: I’m become more confident in the value of my educa-
tion and consequently, way more diligent. I know that
exercising one’s ability to think, even in the most abstract
ways, really has use in certain fields. This is particularly
true in a new company that needs you to provide a ser-
vice with personality, is looking for ideas about how to
market their brand, and needs to solve problems no one
has encountered before. I take every opportunity to
study something new now; I never know when it’ll come
in handy.
Also, studying Chinese runs parallel to that. It’s nice to
study something that you can mark your progress in. It
gives you more confidence in your ability to learn, and
that confidence turns into that aforementioned diligence.
Once you know you’re capable, you want to test just how
capable.
LD: What's next?
RG: As for what’s next, that’s a good question. I’m still
thinking about it…
Contributed by Lisa Doherty, MA ’92, English Co-op
Advisor. Do you want to find out how your business or
non-profit might partner with NU’s co-op program? Con-
tact Lisa at [email protected] for more information.
Page 7
Co-op Dispatches from Shenzhen, China
Alumnus Christopher Thomas (far left) and current English Major Robert Gewirtz with Jiahua Language School colleagues at a local Mandarin competition.
Writing Program Co-Sponsors Third
Annual College Essay Boot Camp
On November 3rd 2012, the Writing Program teamed up with commu-
nity partners 826 Boston and WriteBoston to offer the third annual
College Essay Boot Camp for Boston-area high school students.
Eighty-eight tutors worked with ninety-one students as they drafted,
revised and edited their college application essays. Of the students
who attended, 61.5% had parents who were born outside the United
States, 63% were from the Boston public schools, and 62% receive
free or reduced lunch. Among the many warm testimonials from stu-
dents were the following:
“It was great. I started from being una-
ware of what a college essay was, to
writing a decent first draft.”
“My experience today was very good and
my tutor was very helpful. Also I gained
more hope from this experience.”
“To be honest, I came here with no ide-
as, no topic, nothing. I am so grateful to
be a participant in this program. I over-
came a lot.”
“I completely changed my original ideas,
so I started from scratch and I got a
rough draft of my essay completed.”
“I had the best tutor! It was really helpful
and I am thankful for everything my tutor
has done.”
“I was able to rip my essay apart to add new ideas, take out old ones,
and even change the tone.”
“I had fun, and would recommend all my friends to come next time or
next year.”
“I enjoyed my experience, it helped me to work and concentrate and
get more insight on my essay.”
“I started out not knowing what I was going to do about my college
essay and now I have an outline, which is the hardest step for me to
overcome.”
“This was the most helpful thing in the college application process.”
Professor Gallagher helped organize the event and several Writing
Program instructors participated as tutors. We look forward to next
year’s college essay boot camp, at which we hope to serve more than
100 students.
Contributed by Chris Gallagher, Professor of English and Director
of the Writing Programs.
Undergraduate
Program News
A record number of students attended the
first social gathering of the year, a pizza
and dessert party held on October 3,
2012. Over fifty new and returning stu-
dents mingled with faculty and staff, catch-
ing up with old friends and making new
ones. MacKenzie Cockerill, Vice President
of the English Club, discussed upcoming
club events, and Andrea Hampel, Editor-in-
Chief of Spectrum Literary Arts Magazine
(www.spectrum.neu.edu), invited students
to attend the first editorial meeting of the
year.
The English Club has been very active so
far this year, sponsoring two events in Fall
2012: a group excursion to the Boston
Book Festival (www.bostonbookfest.org/)
and a dinner with Shakespearean scholar
and current NU lecturer Dr. Michael
Booth.
In November, a quarter of current English
majors participated in an online survey of
their experiences in the Department. Over
a quarter of those surveyed indicated an
interest in pursuing a career in publishing
after graduation, while substantial num-
bers of students named teaching, writing,
graduate school in English or law, or mar-
keting/public relations as potential career
paths. When asked what they liked most
about being an English major at Northeast-
ern, many students cited small classes
and the passion of their professors. A num-
ber of students asked for a broader selec-
tion of courses, which the Department is
taking into consideration when scheduling
classes for next year.
The Department is excited to take part in a
new University-wide initiative to offer more
combined majors. The first of these new
combined majors is with Anthropology, and
the Department expects to pursue other
combinations with Media and Screen Stud-
ies, History, and Business.
Contributed by Beth Britt, Associate
Professor of English. Professor Britt is the
Undergraduate Faculty Mentor for the
department. Page 8
Doctoral Candidate Elizabeth Hopwood helps transform Writing Center tabletops into works of art at a Fall 2012 WC event. Photo by Doctoral Can-
didate Genie Giaimo.
In 2011, the Writing Program, with the
support of a generous donation from the
Krueger family, launched the Paul
Krueger Symposium for Teachers of
International and Second Language
Writers. The featured speaker was Paul
Matsuda of the University of Arizona.
With continued support from the
Krueger family, the English Department
continued the conversation at the start
of this academic year with the second
Krueger symposium, which took place
on September 4th and 5th. This year, we
hosted two distinguished academics
and facilitators: Bruce Horner, Endowed
Chair in Rhetoric and Composition, Uni-
versity of Louisville, and Min-Zhan Lu,
Professor of English and University Scholar, University of
Louisville. Together and separately Horner and Lu have
written several books and numerous articles on language
difference and the teaching of writing. They have won
several awards for their scholarship, including the 2012
CCCC Outstanding Book Award for their co-edited
collection Cross-Language Relations in Composition.
Horner and Lu led three workshops targeted to different
parts of our Northeastern community. The first workshop,
titled “Proofreading as Reading,” served as the
centerpiece for the Writing Program’s kick-off meeting.
Horner took the lead during this workshop, offering a
presentation that set the stage and developed context for
the translingual approach that Horner and Lu currently
champion. A lively question-and-answer session followed.
The second workshop was directed toward faculty across
the disciplines. During “Teaching Writing through Teaching
Re-reading,” Lu showed ways we can help students im-
prove their academic writing by identifying gaps between
their habitual ways of reading and writing about course
materials and the ways of reading and writing about these
materials appropriate for specific disci-
plines. This practice-oriented workshop
encouraged questions and experience
sharing, and all participants benefitted
from the examples and the thoughtful
discussion.
Finally, in the public talk entitled
“Resisting Monolingualism,” Horner
reviewed the teaching of writing in U.S.
colleges and universities in the context
of the increasingly multilingual charac-
ter of their students and faculty and
the workforce, the global spread and
fracturing of “English” into world
“Englishes,” and the ongoing interpen-
etration of English and other lan-
guages. Horner argued that these de-
velopments call for a different way of responding, and
teaching students to respond, to language differences in
writing. His talk focused on “translingual” pedagogies that
involve students as participants in exploring why and how
they might write in, and shape, particular varieties of Eng-
lish, and also other languages and mixes of languages;
the risks they take in either conforming to set conventions
for writing or deviating from them; and strategies for
teachers to use in helping students work through these
challenges in their writing. The talk closed with another
spirited Q&A led by Lu.
These workshops and talks offered teachers and adminis-
trators across the university ways of thinking about our
students and our work that are both provocative and chal-
lenging. The Writing Program thanks the attendees for
their participation, Horner and Lu for their generosity of
time and ideas, and the Krueger family for their much-
appreciated financial support.
Contributed by Matt Noonan, MA ’93. Matt is a lec-
turer for the Department of English at Northeastern Uni-
versity.
Consider a Donation to Support the Department of English
The Department of English is committed to providing a rich educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students. These goals would not be possible without the sustained generosity of alumni and other important members of the Northeast-ern community. Please consider making a gift, contribution, or bequest to the department. Doing so can make a huge impact
on students and faculty, passing on the traditions of learning and discovery to future cohorts.
For information about gifts and giving, please contact Peri Onipede at [email protected] or (617) 373-5420.
WRITING PROGRAM HOSTS 2ND SYMPOSIUM FOR TEACHERS OF INTERNATIONAL AND SECOND LANGUAGE WRITERS
Page 9
Page 10
Graduate stu-
dents have
published arti-
cles, attended
institutes, re-
ceived fellowships, and engaged in
new research projects in exciting in-
terdisciplinary fields over the past
months. Here are a few notable ac-
complishments:
Danielle Skeehan authored an es-
say about her archival research at
Brown University this summer, “The
Mystery of the Silk Worm: Conver-
sations in the Reading Room and
Beyond,” co-written with Janice
Neri. The essay appeared in the on
-line journal of the John Carter
Brown Library, I Found it at the JCB.
Danielle held a research fellowship
at the JCB during the summer, and
this year is the recipient of two ma-
jor fellowships, the Mellon/ ACLS
Dissertation Completion Fellowship
and the Andrew W. Mellon Early
American Literature and Material
Texts Fellowship, at the University
of Pennsylvania McNeil Center for
Early American Studies. Danielle is
completing a dissertation titled
“Creole Domesticity: Women, Com-
merce, and Kinship in Early Atlantic
Writing.”
Aparna Mujumdar has been
awarded a Spring 2013 Disserta-
tion Completion Fellowship from
the Office of the Provost. She is
completing a dissertation titled
“Desiring Modernity: Collaboration
with Empire and Negotiations of
Imperial Knowledge”
Sarah Connell's essay "Writing on
the Land of Ireland: Nationality,
Textuality, and Geography in the
Acallam na Senórach" has been
published in Hortulus: The Online
Graduate Journal of Medieval Stud-
ies.
Nicole K. Day’s article “By the Au-
thor of: Performative Publishing
and the Major Biographies of Re-
becca Harding Davis” has been
accepted for publication in Topic:
The Washington and Jefferson Col-
lege Review. Nicole also has a
chapter, "Dying Surviving, and the
American Imagination," (retitled
“Death and Dying”) published in
the book Civil War America: A So-
cial and Cultural History with Pri-
mary Sources (Routledge, 2012).
Steve Kapica’s article “‘What a
Glorious Moment in Jurisprudence’:
Rhetoric, Law, and Battlestar Ga-
lactica” has been accepted for pub-
lication in the journal Law, Culture
and the Humanities. Steve is com-
pleting a dissertation titled
"Negotiating Obscenity: Rhetoric
and Popular Culture’s Mediation of
the Obscene."
Jeffrey Cottrell was selected from
a competitive pool of applicants
and attended a summer seminar
on Early African American Print Cul-
ture at the American Antiquarian
Society. The AAS, in Worcester,
MA, holds one of the premier col-
lections of early American rare
books in the country.
Genie Giaimo is serving as a Re-
search Fellow in Dr. Randy Buck-
ner’s Cognitive Neuroscience La-
boratory at Harvard University. She
is completing a dissertation titled
“Unable to Remember But Unwill-
ing to Forget: Cognition and
Memory in the Contemporary Amer-
ican Memoir,” that brings to bear
insight from the field of cognitive
science on literature and memory.
Gregory Cass, Elizabeth Hopwood,
and Jim McGrath all attended the
Dartmouth Futures of American
Studies Institute in June 2012,
where they workshopped portions
of their dissertations and attended
plenary talks by prominent scholars
in the field of American Studies.
Three graduate students, Kristi
Girdharry, Elizabeth Hopwood, and
Megan Tarquinio Roche, have
been appointed as HASTAC
(Humanities, Arts, Science, and
Technology Advanced Collaborato-
ry) fellows. All are engaged in Digi-
tal Humanities projects that they
are blogging about through HAS-
TAC.
Three students—Jeffrey Cottrell,
Benjamin Doyle, and Elizabeth
Hopwood—have been named to the
inaugural cohort of NULab Re-
search Fellows. The NULab for
Texts, Maps, and Networks is the
newly founded center at Northeast-
ern for the study of Digital Humani-
ties and Computational Social Sci-
ence. The center is co-directed by
Professor Elizabeth Maddock Dil-
lon from English.
Graduate students are also getting
their hands into digital humanities
work by assisting Professors Ni-
cole Aljoe and Elizabeth Maddock
Dillon in creating an Early Caribbe-
an Digital Archive. Students have
attended workshops on TEI (Textual
Encoding Initiative) and are begin-
ning to code eighteenth-century
Caribbean documents for inclusion
in the new archive.
Graduate Programs Update
Contributed by Elizabeth
Maddock Dillon, Professor of Eng-
lish and Graduate Coordinator.
Doctoral Candidate Steve Kapica is teaching a course called Analyzing Stand-Up Comedy at Tufts University Experimental College this fall.
English Graduate
Student Association
Update The EGSA opened the fall semester with a trip to the Shel-
burne Farm apple orchard in Stowe, MA. We munched ap-
ples in the rain and warmed up with donuts and coffee in
a converted barn. Though the gift shop sold books of ad-
vice for amateur blacksmiths and would-be fruit-
dehydrators, we decided not to take up any new trades
that afternoon.
Back in Boston, the EGSA broke new ground in inviting a
guest speaker to talk with graduate students preparing to
enter the job market. Mark Kjellman, Chair of the English
and Humanities departments at Roxbury Community Col-
lege, spoke about his experiences teaching in communi-
ty colleges and offered advice for students considering
that path.
Though St. Patrick's Day feels a long way off, we're busy
planning the annual EGSA graduate student conference
scheduled for March 15-17. Under the theme of "alt/"
the 2013 conference will explore questions of alterities,
alternations, and alternatives. Adding to the excitement,
José Esteban Muñoz, Professor and Chair of NYU's Per-
formance Studies Department, will deliver the keynote
address. Professor Muñoz specializes in Comparative
Ethnic Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, and Perfor-
mance Art, and we look forward to an engaging discus-
sion.
If you're in the area, please consider dropping in on a
conference session to hear the latest cutting-edge schol-
arship. And, as always, be sure to visit the EGSA's Face-
book page for updates and news.
Contributed by Doctoral Candidate and EGSA President
Ethan Whittet. Ethan studies New England’s role in 19th
century American literature.
Photo Album This semester, students in Professor Cordell’s “Technologies of Text” class
visited the Printing Office of Edes and Gill, on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and
practiced the techniques of colonial printing on authentic equipment.
Photos by Professor Ryan Cordell.
Save the Date
FEBRUARY 28 - Peter Burton Hanson Lecture
The 2013 Peter Burton Hanson lecturer will be Jill Lepore, David Woods
Kemper ’41 Professor of American History and Chair of the History and
Literature Program at Harvard University, and also a staff writer at
The New Yorker. Professor Lepore will speak at 5:00 on February 28th.
Location: Raytheon Amphitheatre. Title: TBA. Please do save the date!
Page 11
Faculty Bookshelf
Professor Nicole Aljoe Creole Testimonies: Slave Narratives
from the British West Indies, 1709-1838 (Palgrave Macmillan)
Professor Chris Gallagher (with Eric
Turley)
Our Better Judgment: Teacher Leader-ship for Writing Assessment (NCTE)
Professor Gary Goshgarian Tunnel Vision (Tor/Forge Books)
Professor Laura Green Literary Identification: From Charlotte
Brontë to Tsitsi Dangarembga (Ohio
State)
Professor Patrick Mullen The Poor Bugger's Tool: Irish Modern-
ism, Queer Labor, and Postcolonial His-tory (Oxford)
Professor Stuart Peterfreund Turning Points in Natural Theology from
Bacon to Darwin: The Way of the Argu-ment from Design (Palgrave Macmillan)
Page 12
BABEL In September, the Department of English (with support from the College of So-
cial Sciences and Humanities) and the BABEL Working Group, along with local academic
sponsors Boston College, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, hosted the 2nd Biennial Meeting of BA-
BEL, with a conference titled “cruising in the ruins: the question of disciplinarity in the post/
medieval university.” The topic of the conference was partly inspired by Bill Readings'
book The University in Ruins. The organizing committee included English department Pro-
fessors Erika Boeckeler, Kathleen Kelly, and Marina Leslie, and undergraduate as well as
graduate students attended sessions on topics ranging from the local (“The Inter-Discipline
of Pedagogy”) to the overwhelming (“The Earth, Time, and Thought”).
The image at right is the program of the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the BABEL Working Group,
available on the Working Group website. Cover image by Lori Nix (http://www.lorinix.net/
the_city/index.html). Cover design by Doctoral Candidate Megan Roche Tarquinio.
Special thanks to Laura Green, Christopher Myers, Lori Lefkovitz, Frank Blessington,
Peter Neumann, Lisa Doherty, Beth Britt, Chris Gallagher, Matt Noonan, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Ethan
Whittet, Ryan Cordell, Genie Giaimo, and Jean Duddy for contributing articles, interviews, images, and
edits to the Fall 2012 Alumni e-Newsletter. If you would like to contribute to a future edition of the e-Newsletter, please contact
Melissa Daigle at [email protected].
Acknowledgments