Online Registration Started October 19. Meet With Your Advisor Now & Register Early!
English Majors — If you are an English major, you should meet with Wayne Berninger (the English Department’s new Registration Advisor) as early as possible to plan your schedule in preparation for the beginning of Online Registration on October 19. Doing so will help ensure that courses are not cancelled and that you don’t have to scramble to find replacement courses at the last minute. Attached to this flyer you will find descriptions of the courses we’re offering in Spring 2010. Consult the English Department website to determine which courses you still need for your particular concentration (i.e., Creative Writing, Literature, or Writing & Rhetoric). Contact Wayne Berninger in the English Department at 718-780-4328 or via e-mail at wayne.berninger@liu.edu.
Non-English Majors — Advanced English courses aren’t only for English majors! The writing and analytical skills that students gain in English classes are very useful in a variety of professional careers. Even if you are not majoring in English, you can still take upper-division English courses--as long as you have completed ENG 16 and two courses from ENG 61-62-63-64. If you really want to build up your transcript, consider an English Minor, which consists of any four English courses numbered 100 or above. Note: According to the Brooklyn Campus Undergraduate Bulletin, “Any minor satisfies the distribution requirement.” This is true no matter what division your major is in! If you’d like more information about minoring in English—or if you think you might like to major in English— contact Wayne Berninger in the English Department at 718-780-4328 or via e-mail at wayne.berninger@liu.edu.
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English 101 Introduction to English Studies (Class ID# 7293)
Professor Jonathan Haynes
Wednesdays 6-8:30 pm
This course is required for English majors in all three concentrations (Literature, Creative Writing, Writing & Rhetoric). You must take it at some point within the first two semesters after completing the core English courses (i.e., ENG 16 and two courses from ENG 61-62-63-64). If you are at this stage and you don’t take ENG 101 in Spring 2010, then you must take it in Spring 2011. Yes, you may take other advanced ENG courses at the same time as ENG 101.
This course provides students with tools and intellectual background that will serve as a basis for more advanced studies in the English major, whether in writing and rhetoric, creative writing, or literature. Much of the course will center on genre. We will examine examples of various genres (the novel, the essay, lyric poetry, drama, and cinema). Our discussions of what genres are and of how they operate will be informed by forays into the history of literature and the history of critical thinking about literature and rhetoric, including contemporary theoretical approaches. Students will integrate primary and secondary sources in a substantial essay on a topic they choose. We will also talk about what sorts of career opportunities a degree in English may lead to.
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English 129 Later British Literatures (Class ID# 8079)
Professor Bernard Schweizer
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm
For English majors, this course is required in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
This course has a double focus: we will explore the themes of romance and gender relations, social class conflict, war, and sanity/insanity in British literature from the mid-nineteenth century onward. At the same time, we will study the assigned texts as representatives of one of the three dominant literary modes of Western literature, i.e. realism, modernism, and postmodernism. We begin with two realistic novels: Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens and Silas Marner (1861) by George Eliot. Next, we will explore Modernism, including poetry by W.B. Yeats, H.D. and T.S. Eliot, and two novels related to World War I, i.e. Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier (1918) and Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room (1922). Our postmodern segment will begin with No Man’s Land (1975), a hilarious play by Harold Pinter. We will continue with Jeanette Winterson’s intriguingly strange Lighthousekeeping (2004), and end up with a modern re-imagining of Great Expectations, i.e. Lloyd Jones’s novel Mister Pip (2006).
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English 137 Shakespeare (Class ID# 19423)
Professor Srividhya Swaminathan
Mondays 6:00-8:30 pm
For English majors, this course will satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
William Shakespeare is considered to be the finest poet and playwright of the English language and this course will explore the reasons why. To understand Shakespeare and appreciate the legacy he has left for English drama, students will begin the exploration of his impressive oeuvre with context. The Elizabethan stage flourished after a time of enormous political, religious, and social upheaval in England. As a part of the European Renaissance, drama and other forms of literature opened up and began to explore themes and ideas beyond the divine. Theater, though not the high-brow form of entertainment that it is today, began to flourish and playwrights began writing for contemporary audiences, which included aristocrats and commoners alike. A performance did not take place in a fancy setting with hushed audiences being respectfully quiet so that every nuance of the actors’ expressions could be appreciated. Instead, theater was a rowdy affair with actively critical audiences who would not hesitate to the let the actor or playwright know if they found the show boring! Reading drama is somewhat artificial and does not fully convey this contextual meaning of the work. In order to offset this artificiality, students will view film versions and see one performance of a play. In addition, students will be expected to work in groups to reproduce a scene. Shakespeare, to be fully understood, must be read, watched, and performed!
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English 159 Literatures of the U.S. Since 1865—High and Low Culture (Class ID# 7083)
Professor Carol Allen
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm
For English majors, this course is required in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
This course begins with the shift in American culture that occurred during the nineteenth century when high and low sectors began to be defined, calcified and defended, a transition that continues to impact on us today. We will chart how major American artists have responded to this dichotomy with their texts that range from novels, to drama, to poetry and essays. Following such a path will also lead us to concentrate heavily on class, public space, racial and ethnic difference, youth movements, and such ideas as margin versus center and cosmopolitanism versus regionalism. Be prepared for a variety of assignments that will include trips to cultural institutions, informal writing, presentations, in-class essays and a longer project. You will learn about the major movements in American literary development from the Civil War to present, hone your critical reading skills, perfect your writing, and command an informed opinion about the ongoing cultural “wars” that shape us today. Required texts might include Highbrow, Lowbrow, Lawrence Levine; The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett; As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner; Sula, Toni Morrison; A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams; The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead; The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri.
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English 166 Fiction Writing Workshop (Class Id# 7275)
Professor Lewis Warsh
Tuesdays 6:30-8:50 pm
For English majors, this course will satisfy a creative-writing elective requirement in the Creative Writing concentration. It can also satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating in Creative Writing may take this class two times for credit.
This workshop will focus on the way autobiography overlaps with fiction and how the past is fictionalized as a way of keeping it alive. The premise is that the source of most fiction is fading memories, whether we're aware of it or not. Though Jack Kerouac is the most obvious exponent of this method, we'll look at other writers of the last century (Marguerite Duras, Thomas Bernhard, Lydia Davis, John Edgar Wideman, Georges Perec, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Laura Riding, Jamaica Kincaid, James Ellroy, Maurice Blanchot) who struggle to cross the borders between fiction and life story. We'll concentrate on the conventions of fiction—plot, character, conflict--with an eye towards expanding on what's already been done. Our writing projects will include working with secrets, memories, observations, opinions, overheard conversations—fragments of everything.
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English 173 Writing in the Community (Class ID# 19424)
Professor Deborah Mutnick
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm
For English majors, this course will satisfy a writing-and-rhetoric requirement in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. It can also satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating in Writing & Rhetoric may take this class two times for credit.
This course will acquaint you with writing about, in, and for communities and organizations—neighborhoods, schools, work-places, museums, non-profits, and other social spaces. Although our main focus will be on writing in and for communities, we will first consider how and why they form, develop, thrive, decay, and sometimes “come back.” We will examine their histories, everyday practices, and rules, asking how boundaries are drawn, policy decisions made, and individuals classified as insiders or outsiders, players or spectators. Second, we will go into communities to investigate and practice the kinds of writing done in communities, such as neighborhood blogs, grant proposals, organizational fliers and brochures, and museum exhibition texts. And third, we will write for a community—a flier, brochure, proposal, report, or other type of document—and possibly also facilitate writing within a community, for example, working with elders or high school youth to enable them to give voice to their ideas, hopes, and or dreams. In addition to encouraging experimentation with multimodal, digital and print essays, the class will create a blog based on your research projects.
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English 175 Writing for the Professions (Class ID# 9451)
Professor Michael Bokor
Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm
For English majors, this course will satisfy a writing-and-rhetoric requirement in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. It can also satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating in Writing & Rhetoric may take this class two times for credit.
Most successful transactions in business rely on clear and concise communication, which makes those with effective writing skills indispensable in any organization. An essential aspect of this success is targeted, persuasive writing. The results writers want from their e-mails, proposals, recommendation reports, and other documents hinge on their ability to grab their audiences’ attention and persuade them to act on the ideas in the documents they produce. But what exactly do writers do at the work place to write successfully? This course will focus on strategies for effective writing at the work place; it is good for students looking for opportunities to improve their skills for professional writing in their careers. Through practical hands-on exercises in this course, you will:
• Acquire specific skills to analyze and solve your writing problems;
• Learn how to develop effective writing skills to generate documents that convey credible messages and project a professional image;
• Learn how to eliminate barriers between you and your audience(s); and
• Develop skills for conducting effective research in a workplace setting.
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English 190 Senior Seminar in Literature (Class ID# 6759)
Professor Leah Dilworth (Instructor Subject to Change Depending on Enrollment)
Tuesdays 6:00-8:30 pm
This course is required for English majors concentrating in Literature. If you register for this course, and it cancels due to low enrollment, consult one of the Co-chairs of the English Department (either Professor Leah Dilworth or Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger). We can arrange for you to take it as a Tutorial.
This course will guide students through the process of writing a long research paper (20-25 pages) on topics of their own choosing. Students will use a range of research resources and write an informal proposal, a formal proposal, a first draft, and a final draft of the paper. Students will also read and critique each other’s work. Required reading will include essays on research methods and writing as well as a literary text and selected critical essays.
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English 191 Senior Seminar in Creative Writing (Class ID# 7869)
Professor Lewis Warsh (Instructor Subject to Change Depending on Enrollment)
Day/Time TBA
This course is required for English majors concentrating in Creative Writing. If you register for this course, and it cancels due to low enrollment, consult one of the Co-chairs of the English Department (either Professor Leah Dilworth or Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger). We can arrange for you to take it as a Tutorial.
We will investigate the lives and writings of various authors (Gertrude Stein, Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Creeley, Zora Neale Hurston and Frank O’Hara, among others); attend and report on poetry readings—and give readings ourselves; go to museums; listen to music; keep intensive reading journals. Our final project will be putting together a manuscript of our writing.
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English 192 Senior Seminar In Writing & Rhetoric (Class ID# 7099)
Professor Deborah Mutnick (Instructor Subject to Change Depending on Enrollment)
Day/Time TBA
This course is required for English majors concentrating in Writing & Rhetoric. If you register for this course, and it cancels due to low enrollment, consult one of the Co-chairs of the English Department (either Professor Leah Dilworth or Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger). We can arrange for you to take it as a Tutorial.
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English 207 Existence in Black: Black Existentialism in American Literature and Philosophy (Class ID# 19895) / Cross-listed with PHI 180 & HUM 180, each with its own Class ID#.
Professor Joseph Filonowicz (Philosophy) &
Professor Orlando Warren (English)
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00-1:15 pm
Prerequisites: ENG 16 and one philosophy core course (PHI 61 or 62; or HHP 21 or 22), or permission of the instructors. For English majors, this course will satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
Black existentialism is a modern American intellectual tradition that is perhaps best summed up in a single question: “What is to be done in a world of nearly a universal sense of superiority to, if not universal hatred of, black folk?” (Lewis Gordon, introduction to Existence in Black). Born from the soil of the actual historical experience of blacks, it stands at the intersection of three distinct philosophical and literary forces: first, the European tradition of existentialism that culminates in the works of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone deBeauvoir; secondly, the work of Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, who first documented the historical constitution of black defiance to black devaluation as “a madness or social deviance”; finally––and importantly––black American social thought as represented in the poems, plays, essays and narratives of Frederick Douglass, Alain Locke, W. E. B. DuBois, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Ralph Elison, James Weldon Johnson, Ann Petry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Malcolm X and other prominent black writers. A new generation of black American authors has recently stepped forth to synthesize these forces explicitly into a coherent and exciting philosophy of human existence, addressed to thoughtful people everywhere.
In this new course a professor of literature and a professor of philosophy will collaborate in guiding students on an adventure of reflection, a study of the existential dilemmas that have always confronted black thinkers and writers (indeed all black people) simply in virtue of their being black. The object is to gain rich insight into a major concern of both modern literature and modern philosophy: the walls that isolate and separate men and women from one another and alienate them even from themselves. What does the “curtain of color” do to people on both sides of that curtain? In the words of Abraham Chapman (in his introduction to Black Voices), “If, in addition to aesthetic delight, we turn to literature for its power of human illumination, both as mirror and lamp, then certainly the mirrors and lamps created by the black writers have a special value for America––if we are ready to look at the truths they expose.”
Students who participate actively and study carefully should achieve just such insight and illumination, as well as improve their analytical and argumentative writing skills. An atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration in the seminar will hopefully also assist students in improving their interpersonal skills, especially when discussing with others matters of identity and race. Weekly in-class and bi-weekly formal written assignments will be read and evaluated (but not formally graded) by both professors; students will revise these and incorporate them into a final (fully annotated) project (portfolio), which will be graded. Attendance and participation will determine approximately half of students’ final grades in the course, with the quality of their final portfolios counting for the other half. The course will be enhanced by visits from guest speakers and at least one (optional) field trip. Participants in this seminar will be asked to present some of their conclusions in an “open class” for the benefit of interested students from across the campus. Our texts will be Lewis R. Gordon, editor, Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy; and Abraham Chapman, editor, Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature. These will be supplemented by brief photocopied excerpts from recent scholarship in the area of black existentialism.
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FOR ENGLISH MAJORS WHO ARE IN HONORS—
Tthe following Honors electives (taught by English Department faculty) will satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. They can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. Please discuss your situation with Wayne Berninger in the English Department before you register for any of these. Again, you may only register for these courses if you are in the Honors Program.
HHE 150 Mythology of Ireland (Class ID# 19466), Professor Maria McGarrity, Th 3-5:30
HHE 153 Life Journeys: Wisdom and Forgiveness (Class ID# 19469), Professor John High, M 2-4:30
HSM 110 Myth & Gender in Ancient World (Class ID# 8803), Professor Sealy Gilles, M 6-8:30
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STUDY ABROAD AND EARN CREDIT THAT CAN BE APPLIED TOWARD YOUR MAJOR
The Global College Program of Long Island University invites English majors to study abroad for a semester or a year at one of our centers—Costa Rica, Japan, China, or India. Not only will you have the opportunity to study and travel in a foreign country while earning credit towards your major, but you will also become immersed in another culture, develop your global awareness and cross-cultural communication skills, and be provided with a variety of internship and service learning opportunities. At all centers, students are encouraged to engage in independent-study projects relevant to their academic interests.
The Costa Rica Program in Heredia offers home stays with Costa Rican families, internships throughout the region, and courses in writing, Latin American studies, cross-cultural research methods, Latin American literature, Spanish language, global health and traditional healing, peace and reconciliation studies, environmental studies, and an introduction to experiential education.
The India Program in Bangalore enables students to explore the country’s religious and cultural diversity, the caste system, travel writing, environmental issues, the situation of Tibetan refugees, and the status of women. Students also have the opportunity to study India’s art forms, dance, and music.
The China Program in Hangzhou allows students to study a wide range of topics including the history of China, religious life in China, traditional Chinese medicine, poetry, women’s issues, calligraphy, taiji, Mandarin Chinese language and modernization and economic development.
The Comparative Religion and Culture Program enables students to engage in intensive study of the teachings, rituals, and spiritual practices of the world’s major religions while exploring cross-cultural issues such as identity, human rights, peace and reconciliation, and world citizenship. During the fall semester, students travel in Taiwan and Thailand, and during the spring semester, students travel throughout India and Turkey while they immerse themselves in the religions and cultures of these countries. The courses offered in the fall include: Comparison: Theory and Method, Religions and Modernity in Taiwan, Culture and Society of Taiwan, and Religions and Modernity in Thailand. The following courses are offered in the spring: Comparison: Practice and Critique, Religions and Modernity in India, History and Society in India, and Religions and Modernity in Turkey.
The Australia Program in Byron Bay is offered only during the spring semester. Students explore the relationships between people and their environment from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students travel throughout Australia and take courses that focus on indigenous peoples, the natural history, ecological diversity and related social and cultural contexts of Australia through seminars, field trips, service learning and internships.
Long Island University Financial Aid can be applied to all Global College overseas programs. For more information call 718 488 3409 or e-mail globalcollege@liu.edu.
Fifteen (15) $5000 scholarships are available to study on Global College programs during the Spring 2010 semester.
English Majors who are interested in Global College should see the back of this page for the English Department’s Guidelines for English Majors Studying Abroad in the Global College Program—please do not register for Global College without meeting with us first!
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GUIDELINES FOR ENGLISH MAJORS STUDYING ABROAD IN THE GLOBAL COLLEGE PROGRAM
The following are guidelines for undergraduate English majors who wish to study abroad through the Global College Program and apply the credits earned toward their upper-division English major requirements.
Student must receive permission from Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger) and Chair of English to enroll in Global College. See Mr. Berninger FIRST, before you do anything else.
Before going abroad, student must have completed ENG 16, COS 50, and six credits from ENG 61-62-63-64.
A maximum of 12 Global College credits may be applied toward upper-division English major requirements.
During any semester abroad, student must take 6 credits (or equivalent) in English. Independent study may be arranged, in consultation with Undergraduate Advisor and Chair of English.
Notes
Tuition, fees, and room & board abroad is about the same as tuition, fees, and room & board at the Brooklyn Campus.
University financial aid and scholarships are transferable to Global College. However, students should be aware that there are no work-study opportunities abroad. Also, athletes who receive free room and board at the Brooklyn Campus are not automatically eligible for same while abroad. Department of Athletics may agree to provide athletes with a stipend to cover Global College room & board fees. Students are urged to discuss this possibility with the Department of Athletics before they decide to study abroad.
Global College has additional sources of scholarships for students studying abroad.
Voices of the Rainbow Event: Kevin Baker
When & Where
Monday, October 26, 6 PM
Health Sciences Building, Room 121
Kevin Baker has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, and Harper’s magazine. He is the author of the historical novels Sometimes You See It, Paradise Alley, Strivers Row, and Dreamland, set largely in Coney Island.
Monday, October 26, 6 PM
Health Sciences Building, Room 121
Kevin Baker has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, and Harper’s magazine. He is the author of the historical novels Sometimes You See It, Paradise Alley, Strivers Row, and Dreamland, set largely in Coney Island.
Book Party in Honor of Maria McGarrity & Srividhya Swaminathan
Join us for a book party to celebrate the publication of two new books by English Department Faculty.
Maria McGarrity – Washed by the Gulf Stream: the Historic and Geographic Relation of Irish and Caribbean Literature
&
Srividhya Swaminathan – Debating the Slave Trade: Rhetoric of British National Identity, 1759–1815
Monday, November 16
4:30 – 6 pm
Humanities building
4th floor lounge
Maria McGarrity – Washed by the Gulf Stream: the Historic and Geographic Relation of Irish and Caribbean Literature
&
Srividhya Swaminathan – Debating the Slave Trade: Rhetoric of British National Identity, 1759–1815
Monday, November 16
4:30 – 6 pm
Humanities building
4th floor lounge
Schweizer Award, May 2009: Bookshelves for Humanities Building Fourth Floor Lounge
No Schweizer award for best M.A. thesis was awarded in the spring of 2009 because there were no nominations. Bernard & Liang Schweizer instead donated the prize money of $300 to purchase bookshelves for the 4th floor lounge in the Humanities Building--as part of the Humanities Division's ongoing effort to refurbish that space. More info on that project is forthcoming.
The Liang and Bernard Schweizer Thesis Award was created to recognize professional promise and to reward academic excellence and intellectual maturity among the outgoing M.A. students at the LIU-Brooklyn English Department. The Award shall be presented each May at the English Department Awards Ceremony. The first award year was 2008, and the winner was Helen C. Seo, for "Evelyn Waugh: 'Change and Decay in All Around I See'," an interdisciplinary study of Waugh's fiction from a literary critical and media studies perspective.
The prize money is $300, to be paid to the winner by check.
The award shall be given to the most rigorously intellectual, original, and important Master's thesis submitted by an M.A. student during the academic year preceding the award. The award shall be given to a student in the M.A. program, either for a thesis in Literature, in Professional Writing, or in Writing & Rhetoric.
The thesis advisor shall make the nomination on behalf of the student.
The Award Committee shall be composed of three to four judges.
Six weeks prior to the Award Ceremony, Professor Bernard Schweizer will solicit recommendations from all faculty for the best thesis written during the preceding academic year. The recommendations shall be discursive and clearly indicate the strengths of the nominated thesis. A copy of the thesis is to be submitted to Bernard Schweizer together with the recommendation by the set deadline.
The committee of judges shall meet once prior to the last department meeting of the academic year to determine a winner. If there is no natural consensus, a vote shall be taken.
The Liang and Bernard Schweizer Thesis Award shall be given out as long as Bernard Schweizer teaches at Long Island University.
Watch this space for the next call for applications and the announcement of future winner(s)!
The Liang and Bernard Schweizer Thesis Award was created to recognize professional promise and to reward academic excellence and intellectual maturity among the outgoing M.A. students at the LIU-Brooklyn English Department. The Award shall be presented each May at the English Department Awards Ceremony. The first award year was 2008, and the winner was Helen C. Seo, for "Evelyn Waugh: 'Change and Decay in All Around I See'," an interdisciplinary study of Waugh's fiction from a literary critical and media studies perspective.
The prize money is $300, to be paid to the winner by check.
The award shall be given to the most rigorously intellectual, original, and important Master's thesis submitted by an M.A. student during the academic year preceding the award. The award shall be given to a student in the M.A. program, either for a thesis in Literature, in Professional Writing, or in Writing & Rhetoric.
The thesis advisor shall make the nomination on behalf of the student.
The Award Committee shall be composed of three to four judges.
Six weeks prior to the Award Ceremony, Professor Bernard Schweizer will solicit recommendations from all faculty for the best thesis written during the preceding academic year. The recommendations shall be discursive and clearly indicate the strengths of the nominated thesis. A copy of the thesis is to be submitted to Bernard Schweizer together with the recommendation by the set deadline.
The committee of judges shall meet once prior to the last department meeting of the academic year to determine a winner. If there is no natural consensus, a vote shall be taken.
The Liang and Bernard Schweizer Thesis Award shall be given out as long as Bernard Schweizer teaches at Long Island University.
Watch this space for the next call for applications and the announcement of future winner(s)!
Fall 2009 English Department Book Scholarship Winners
Congratulations to the students who won English Department book scholarships for Fall 2009:
Stephanie Carlin (Music Theory major)
Michelle Young (English major)
Franchesca Castano (English major)
Theresa Gorella (Biology major)
Sophie Bloomfield (English major).
The English department gives out FIVE $100 award certificates for books every spring and fall semester. A student may win the award multiple times in different semesters. Eligibility: The student must be registered for an upper-division course in English (numbered 100 and above) in the semester immediately following the awarding of the certificate. Majors and non-majors are welcome.
We will accept another round of applications near the end of the Fall 2009 semester for use in Spring 2010.
Watch this space!
Stephanie Carlin (Music Theory major)
Michelle Young (English major)
Franchesca Castano (English major)
Theresa Gorella (Biology major)
Sophie Bloomfield (English major).
The English department gives out FIVE $100 award certificates for books every spring and fall semester. A student may win the award multiple times in different semesters. Eligibility: The student must be registered for an upper-division course in English (numbered 100 and above) in the semester immediately following the awarding of the certificate. Majors and non-majors are welcome.
We will accept another round of applications near the end of the Fall 2009 semester for use in Spring 2010.
Watch this space!
Annual English Department Awards Ceremony
I'm late in posting this announcement, but on May 5, 2009, the English Department held its annual Awards Ceremony, at which the following awards were presented:
Excellence in English, Undergraduate
Nikki Alimonda
Barbara Joseph
Excellence in English, Undergraduate
Katuraka Alston
Christy Bright
Nell Del Giudice
Charulata Dyal
Jacqueline McCormick
Cherisse Mayers
Lindsey Miller
Jessica Rogers
Charles Thorne
The Edward Edelman and Susanne Popper-Edelman English Essay Prizes
Tashana Thompson (Developmental Essay)
Essay Title: "New York"
Professor Deborah Mutnick's Citation: In her book, The Situation and the Story: The Art of the Personal Narrative, Vivian Gornick writes: "The situation is the context or circumstance, sometimes the plot; the story is the emotional experience that preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say" (13). She goes on to suggest that once the crucial elements of story and narrative persona become clear, other elements of the essay such as clarity, diction, and syntax also fall into place. Tashana Thompson's essay "New York" is a fine example of this crystallization. From her suburban high school graduation to Manhattan's canyons of skyscrapers and across the Brooklyn Bridge, Tashana blazes a path for herself and for us: "I stepped out of the subway car, and made my way up the stairs. As I entered the streets of Brooklyn, I felt like a gazelle in a lion's den. The busy streets roared as cars zipped by, leaving a whirlwind of smoke and dust behind. Walking down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, I smell the aroma of cheese pizza and the exhaust from the honking cars. Amazing how everyone is in a hurry in this city, I think, as a woman walking towards me, vigorously biting into her ruby red apple, tries to keep her balance as she buries her head in the Wall Street Journal. The heavy, cold, smoked-filled breeze tugs at my navy blue wool jacket; I pull my bag closer to my quivering ribs. Moving to New York City was one of the biggest decisions I have ever had to make. Who would have thought a quiet small town girl from the suburbs of Connecticut, would be attending a multi-cultural urban school in the heart of downtown Brooklyn?" Capturing the ethos of the big city for a young newcomer, Tashana succeeds in creating a persona who sees New York City anew, telling an old story of the transformative powers of the city with fresh insight. She achieves just that clarity, precision, and syntactic grace that Gornick describes, and in so doing, she richly deserves the Edelman Popper Award for the best English 14 essay in 2008-09.
Rebecca Scher (Freshman Essay)
Essay Title: "A Jury of your Peers"
Professor John B. Killoran's Citation: The best citation I can offer for Rebecca's writing is to describe her essay. The essay is about how lawyers consider race when selecting jurors and whether such considerations are racist. The essay engages with a diverse range of sources: not just a course reading but also the U.S. Constitution, the Magna Carta, a law journal article, a Time magazine article, and interviews with two lawyers. So it engages the issue at many levels and from diverse perspectives. And it's well written. Ask yourself for a moment, How would you start off such an essay? Here's Rebecca's opening sentence: "One of the first questions asked after the jury was selected for the infamous trial of OJ Simpson, the black football player accused of murdering his white wife, was what was the racial make-up of the panel." Rebecca thereby makes her essay topical for contemporary readers, but does not dwell on the Simpson case. Yet at the very end, she returns to Simpson, this time his second trial. So with this ending the essay goes full circle, but also symbolically advances.
Robert Barnes (Core Literature)
Essay Title: "God, War, and Morality in God is Dead"
Professor Bernard Schweizer's Citation: Robert Barnes's essay "God, War, and Morality in God is Dead" is a superbly clear and intelligent elucidation of a challenging, complex text. He maturely engages the deeper implications of the text, rather than simply passing judgment on the brazen blasphemy of a story in which God literally dies in Sudan and then is eaten by a pack of feral dogs, who promptly become new objects of fanatical worship. Robert sheds a revealing light on the paradoxical presence of biblical allusions in this apparently anti-theistical text, and he deftly explains the author's social and political vision. Robert's advanced critical skills are evidenced in many lucid and engaging interpretive statements and in an overall thematic cohesion and rhetorical progression that makes his essay a real pleasure to read.
Sophie Vranian (Upper Division)
Essay Title: "Politics of Food in Contemporary Nigeria"
Professor Jonathan Haynes's Citation: Sophie Vranian's essay "Politics of Food in Contemporary Nigeria," written for English 170: Contemporary African Literature and Film, was the unanimous choice of the judges for best upper-level essay. A study of the ways in which food figures in Sefi Atta's recent novel Everything Good Will Come, the essay illustrates Sophie's skill and flair as a literary critic, which allows her to deal with the novel in all its literary complexity. It also puts fully on display her education as a Global College student, which has given her an acute and practiced ability to find her way around foreign cultures and a sophisticated, interdisciplinary understanding of how societies work, in all their complexity. The passion for social justice that comes through clearly in everything Sophie says or writes, and is in fact palpable even when she's just sitting there in class biding her time, is also integral to a Global College education, but I expect she already had that passion before she came to LIU. I like to see this award as a celebration of the connection between the English Department and Global College, which we hope will grow deeper and stronger. Her essay also demonstrates, in its wonderful clarity and incisiveness, that Sophie Vranian is smart as hell.
Franchesca Castano (Senior Thesis)
Essay Title: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Vision of feminism and American culture during turn-of-the-century America"
Professor Jonathan Haynes's Citation: It will come as no surprise to anyone in this year's Senior Seminar that Franchesca Castano has won the senior thesis prize for "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Vision of feminism and American culture during turn-of-the-century America." In writing a senior thesis, half the battle is staying on top of the process of designing, researching, and writing such a long project. Every step of the way, from informal proposal to the final presentation, Franchesca delivered on time and up to specifications, setting the standard for the class. The interest of her topic was always obvious and her prose was always lucid and pleasant. Her essay became steadily more fascinating as she developed one of its facets after another, setting Frank Baum's familiar story in the contexts of rural Kansas at the turn of the 20th century, children's literature, and popular culture. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is her two-pronged argument about Baum's feminism, establishing a direct personal connection-Baum's mother-in-law was a close associate of Elizabeth Cady Stanton-and providing an acute reading of Dorothy as a strong female character surrounded by pathetically weak males. Franchesca's thesis is a fitting culmination to her excellent career as an English major, and we are proud to send her off down the yellow brick road with this additional honor.
The Esther Hyneman Awards
Jeremy Beauregard & Christine Gans (Poetry)
Yoav Ben Yosef & Christy Bright (Fiction)
The Louis & Ann Parascandola Graduate Award
Nell del Giudice & Jessica Rogers
New Inductees to Sigma Tau Delta, Omicron Zeta Chapter
Andrea Cox, undergraduate
Zamir Khan, undergraduate
Zahra Patterson, graduate
Jon Peacock, graduate
Congratulations, everyone!
Read more about each of these prizes/awards by visiting the English Department website. Click one of the links in the column to the right, under "SPECIFIC PAGES WITHIN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT WEBSITE." Thanks.
Excellence in English, Undergraduate
Nikki Alimonda
Barbara Joseph
Excellence in English, Undergraduate
Katuraka Alston
Christy Bright
Nell Del Giudice
Charulata Dyal
Jacqueline McCormick
Cherisse Mayers
Lindsey Miller
Jessica Rogers
Charles Thorne
The Edward Edelman and Susanne Popper-Edelman English Essay Prizes
Tashana Thompson (Developmental Essay)
Essay Title: "New York"
Professor Deborah Mutnick's Citation: In her book, The Situation and the Story: The Art of the Personal Narrative, Vivian Gornick writes: "The situation is the context or circumstance, sometimes the plot; the story is the emotional experience that preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say" (13). She goes on to suggest that once the crucial elements of story and narrative persona become clear, other elements of the essay such as clarity, diction, and syntax also fall into place. Tashana Thompson's essay "New York" is a fine example of this crystallization. From her suburban high school graduation to Manhattan's canyons of skyscrapers and across the Brooklyn Bridge, Tashana blazes a path for herself and for us: "I stepped out of the subway car, and made my way up the stairs. As I entered the streets of Brooklyn, I felt like a gazelle in a lion's den. The busy streets roared as cars zipped by, leaving a whirlwind of smoke and dust behind. Walking down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, I smell the aroma of cheese pizza and the exhaust from the honking cars. Amazing how everyone is in a hurry in this city, I think, as a woman walking towards me, vigorously biting into her ruby red apple, tries to keep her balance as she buries her head in the Wall Street Journal. The heavy, cold, smoked-filled breeze tugs at my navy blue wool jacket; I pull my bag closer to my quivering ribs. Moving to New York City was one of the biggest decisions I have ever had to make. Who would have thought a quiet small town girl from the suburbs of Connecticut, would be attending a multi-cultural urban school in the heart of downtown Brooklyn?" Capturing the ethos of the big city for a young newcomer, Tashana succeeds in creating a persona who sees New York City anew, telling an old story of the transformative powers of the city with fresh insight. She achieves just that clarity, precision, and syntactic grace that Gornick describes, and in so doing, she richly deserves the Edelman Popper Award for the best English 14 essay in 2008-09.
Rebecca Scher (Freshman Essay)
Essay Title: "A Jury of your Peers"
Professor John B. Killoran's Citation: The best citation I can offer for Rebecca's writing is to describe her essay. The essay is about how lawyers consider race when selecting jurors and whether such considerations are racist. The essay engages with a diverse range of sources: not just a course reading but also the U.S. Constitution, the Magna Carta, a law journal article, a Time magazine article, and interviews with two lawyers. So it engages the issue at many levels and from diverse perspectives. And it's well written. Ask yourself for a moment, How would you start off such an essay? Here's Rebecca's opening sentence: "One of the first questions asked after the jury was selected for the infamous trial of OJ Simpson, the black football player accused of murdering his white wife, was what was the racial make-up of the panel." Rebecca thereby makes her essay topical for contemporary readers, but does not dwell on the Simpson case. Yet at the very end, she returns to Simpson, this time his second trial. So with this ending the essay goes full circle, but also symbolically advances.
Robert Barnes (Core Literature)
Essay Title: "God, War, and Morality in God is Dead"
Professor Bernard Schweizer's Citation: Robert Barnes's essay "God, War, and Morality in God is Dead" is a superbly clear and intelligent elucidation of a challenging, complex text. He maturely engages the deeper implications of the text, rather than simply passing judgment on the brazen blasphemy of a story in which God literally dies in Sudan and then is eaten by a pack of feral dogs, who promptly become new objects of fanatical worship. Robert sheds a revealing light on the paradoxical presence of biblical allusions in this apparently anti-theistical text, and he deftly explains the author's social and political vision. Robert's advanced critical skills are evidenced in many lucid and engaging interpretive statements and in an overall thematic cohesion and rhetorical progression that makes his essay a real pleasure to read.
Sophie Vranian (Upper Division)
Essay Title: "Politics of Food in Contemporary Nigeria"
Professor Jonathan Haynes's Citation: Sophie Vranian's essay "Politics of Food in Contemporary Nigeria," written for English 170: Contemporary African Literature and Film, was the unanimous choice of the judges for best upper-level essay. A study of the ways in which food figures in Sefi Atta's recent novel Everything Good Will Come, the essay illustrates Sophie's skill and flair as a literary critic, which allows her to deal with the novel in all its literary complexity. It also puts fully on display her education as a Global College student, which has given her an acute and practiced ability to find her way around foreign cultures and a sophisticated, interdisciplinary understanding of how societies work, in all their complexity. The passion for social justice that comes through clearly in everything Sophie says or writes, and is in fact palpable even when she's just sitting there in class biding her time, is also integral to a Global College education, but I expect she already had that passion before she came to LIU. I like to see this award as a celebration of the connection between the English Department and Global College, which we hope will grow deeper and stronger. Her essay also demonstrates, in its wonderful clarity and incisiveness, that Sophie Vranian is smart as hell.
Franchesca Castano (Senior Thesis)
Essay Title: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Vision of feminism and American culture during turn-of-the-century America"
Professor Jonathan Haynes's Citation: It will come as no surprise to anyone in this year's Senior Seminar that Franchesca Castano has won the senior thesis prize for "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Vision of feminism and American culture during turn-of-the-century America." In writing a senior thesis, half the battle is staying on top of the process of designing, researching, and writing such a long project. Every step of the way, from informal proposal to the final presentation, Franchesca delivered on time and up to specifications, setting the standard for the class. The interest of her topic was always obvious and her prose was always lucid and pleasant. Her essay became steadily more fascinating as she developed one of its facets after another, setting Frank Baum's familiar story in the contexts of rural Kansas at the turn of the 20th century, children's literature, and popular culture. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is her two-pronged argument about Baum's feminism, establishing a direct personal connection-Baum's mother-in-law was a close associate of Elizabeth Cady Stanton-and providing an acute reading of Dorothy as a strong female character surrounded by pathetically weak males. Franchesca's thesis is a fitting culmination to her excellent career as an English major, and we are proud to send her off down the yellow brick road with this additional honor.
The Esther Hyneman Awards
Jeremy Beauregard & Christine Gans (Poetry)
Yoav Ben Yosef & Christy Bright (Fiction)
The Louis & Ann Parascandola Graduate Award
Nell del Giudice & Jessica Rogers
New Inductees to Sigma Tau Delta, Omicron Zeta Chapter
Andrea Cox, undergraduate
Zamir Khan, undergraduate
Zahra Patterson, graduate
Jon Peacock, graduate
Congratulations, everyone!
Read more about each of these prizes/awards by visiting the English Department website. Click one of the links in the column to the right, under "SPECIFIC PAGES WITHIN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT WEBSITE." Thanks.
MFA Panel Discussion Event: The Literary Marketplace in the 21st Century
The MFA Creative Writing Program at Long Island University presents a panel discussion:
The Literary Marketplace in the 21st Century
Moderated by Jessica Hagedorn, with special guests:
Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards;
Stuart Bernstein — literary agent, Stuart Bernstein Representation For Artists;
Jenni Ferrari-Alder — literary agent, Brickhouse Literary Agency;
Rakesh Satyal — editor at Harper Collins and author of the acclaimed novel, Blue Boy.
When & Where
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6:30pm — 8pm
English Faculty Lounge, 4th floor Humanities Bldg.
Reception after the discussion.
click here to RSVP
The Literary Marketplace in the 21st Century
Moderated by Jessica Hagedorn, with special guests:
Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards;
Stuart Bernstein — literary agent, Stuart Bernstein Representation For Artists;
Jenni Ferrari-Alder — literary agent, Brickhouse Literary Agency;
Rakesh Satyal — editor at Harper Collins and author of the acclaimed novel, Blue Boy.
When & Where
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6:30pm — 8pm
English Faculty Lounge, 4th floor Humanities Bldg.
Reception after the discussion.
click here to RSVP
Barbara Henning Distinguished Service Award--First Winner: Nell del Guidice
Established in 2009, the Barbara Henning Distinguished Service Award is not an annual award but will be given periodically by the faculty of the Department to a graduate student in appreciation for exceptional service to the English Department.
Barbara Henning, a poet and novelist, was for many years a professor in the English Department at Long Island University. She was Chair of the department from September 1997 to August 2000. She designed the creative writing program, both graduate and undergraduate, and advised all the creative writing students. She was also director of the freshman writing program for three years and a writing specialist for HEOP. She retired in 2005 to concentrate on her writing. For the latest information about Professor Henning's publications, visit her website.
Nell del Giudice, the first winner of the Award, was announced at the English Department's annual awards ceremony in May 2009.
Nell was the assistant to the director of the MFA program in creative writing from February 2008 through May 2009. She coordinated the many readings--both off and on campus--that took place during this time, and was involved in all phases of this program. As the MFA assistant, she participated in the Associated Writing Programs conference in Chicago in February 2009. An accomplished actress, Nell received her BA from Bennington College and graduated from the Brooklyn Campus MFA program in creative writing in May 2009.
Congratulations, Nell!
Barbara Henning, a poet and novelist, was for many years a professor in the English Department at Long Island University. She was Chair of the department from September 1997 to August 2000. She designed the creative writing program, both graduate and undergraduate, and advised all the creative writing students. She was also director of the freshman writing program for three years and a writing specialist for HEOP. She retired in 2005 to concentrate on her writing. For the latest information about Professor Henning's publications, visit her website.
Nell del Giudice, the first winner of the Award, was announced at the English Department's annual awards ceremony in May 2009.
Nell was the assistant to the director of the MFA program in creative writing from February 2008 through May 2009. She coordinated the many readings--both off and on campus--that took place during this time, and was involved in all phases of this program. As the MFA assistant, she participated in the Associated Writing Programs conference in Chicago in February 2009. An accomplished actress, Nell received her BA from Bennington College and graduated from the Brooklyn Campus MFA program in creative writing in May 2009.
Congratulations, Nell!
Voices of the Rainbow Event: Thomas Sayers Ellis & Jacqueline Bishop
Wednesday, October 7, noon
Health Sciences Building, Room 121
Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet and photographer from Washington, DC. He co-founded the Dark Room Collective and teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. He has been published in Grand Street, Ploughshares, and The Best American Poetry (1997, 2001) and is the author of the highly praised collection, The Maverick Room.
Jacqueline Bishop is a Jamaican-born poet, fiction writer, painter, and filmmaker. She is the founding editor of Calabash: A journal of Caribbean Arts & Letters. She is author of The River’s Song (novel) and Fauna (poetry). Her latest collection of poetry is Snapshots from Istanbul.
Health Sciences Building, Room 121
Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet and photographer from Washington, DC. He co-founded the Dark Room Collective and teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. He has been published in Grand Street, Ploughshares, and The Best American Poetry (1997, 2001) and is the author of the highly praised collection, The Maverick Room.
Jacqueline Bishop is a Jamaican-born poet, fiction writer, painter, and filmmaker. She is the founding editor of Calabash: A journal of Caribbean Arts & Letters. She is author of The River’s Song (novel) and Fauna (poetry). Her latest collection of poetry is Snapshots from Istanbul.
Faculty Forum Event
The Richard L. Conolly College of Liberal Arts and Sciences invites the LIU Brooklyn Campus community to a Faculty Forum presentation by Professor Harriet Malinowitz of the English Department.
Title & Topic
"Sometimes Something is True*: Ethos in the Work of Jewish Anti-Zionist Writers"
Ethos is a term that comes from Aristotle’s Rhetoric, and refers to a persuasive appeal grounded in the trustworthy character of a speaker. This talk looks at the role of ethos in the work of Jewish writers who have used their “Jewishness” to challenge Zionist discourses and practices.
Harriet Malinowitz will discuss Jewish writers--including members of the Israeli military, religious figures, Holocaust survivors and their children, Israeli academics, journalists, and historians--who have contended, in various forms and in different historical periods, that a Jewish state is not a viable, desirable, or just idea.
* The title comes from a remark by Daniel Okrent, former public editor of The New York Times, who once said, “The pursuit of balance can create imbalance, because sometimes something is true.” (This became popularly known as “Okrent’s Law.”)
When & Where
Monday, October 5, 2009
3:00-4:30 p.m., Library Learning Center, Room 515
Refreshments will be served
For further information, please contact Gladys Schrynemakers (718-488-1001) or William Burgos (718-488-1094).
Note: This is part of the Campus-wide Faculty Forum program; it is not part of the English Department's own Faculty Forum: Works in Progress program.
Title & Topic
"Sometimes Something is True*: Ethos in the Work of Jewish Anti-Zionist Writers"
Ethos is a term that comes from Aristotle’s Rhetoric, and refers to a persuasive appeal grounded in the trustworthy character of a speaker. This talk looks at the role of ethos in the work of Jewish writers who have used their “Jewishness” to challenge Zionist discourses and practices.
Harriet Malinowitz will discuss Jewish writers--including members of the Israeli military, religious figures, Holocaust survivors and their children, Israeli academics, journalists, and historians--who have contended, in various forms and in different historical periods, that a Jewish state is not a viable, desirable, or just idea.
* The title comes from a remark by Daniel Okrent, former public editor of The New York Times, who once said, “The pursuit of balance can create imbalance, because sometimes something is true.” (This became popularly known as “Okrent’s Law.”)
When & Where
Monday, October 5, 2009
3:00-4:30 p.m., Library Learning Center, Room 515
Refreshments will be served
For further information, please contact Gladys Schrynemakers (718-488-1001) or William Burgos (718-488-1094).
Note: This is part of the Campus-wide Faculty Forum program; it is not part of the English Department's own Faculty Forum: Works in Progress program.
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