English D.A. Students

Monday, April 4, at 4. p.m Dr. Lowney will be hosting an informal informational meeting for D.A. students.

This meeting is for anyone who has questions about Fall 2011 registration and D.A. requirements.  It should be especially useful for students who will be finishing their course work soon and are making plans for comprehensive exams and dissertation research.

The meeting will be held in the English Department Lounge (St. John Hall, B40-43).

REMINDER: Graduate Registration

Registration for English Graduate Students begins next Monday, April 11 at 7:00 a.m.

You may pick up a copy of the course bulletin in the English Department Office, or see our previous blog post to download a copy.

Don't forget that you need a priority registration number to register on UIS. Please contact Gina or Lana for your priority number.

M.A. students who plan to take an independent study should register for ENG 900: Master's Research. D.A. students who plan to take an independent study should register for ENG 901: Readings and Research. Independent studies require prior approval by the professor who has agree to work with you, as well as completion of the Graduate School form that summarizes your plans for the independent study.

Dr. Lowney is available during his regular office hours (Monday 9:00-10:00 a.m. and Thursday 2:00-4:00 p.m.) if you would like to discuss your registration plans with him.

Happy Registration!

2011 St. John's English Graduate Conference

The conference will take place on Saturday, April 16 in St. Albert Hall B70 & B75.  This year's conference features an exciting mix of scholarly and creative writing panels.  Morning sessions take place from 9:15-12:00, while afternoon sessions take place from 1:00-3:45.  Lunch will be available at 12:00.

Please see the official schedule below.

Discussion at CUNY Grad Center

We would love to hear what St. John's Students think about the discussion.  Please shoot us an email with your thoughts if you attend.

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April 4 / Proshansky Auditorium / 6:30 p.m.

Launch of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change

A talk by Slavoj Žižek:
"The Situation Is Catastrophic, but Not Serious"

Slavoj Žižek is “the world’s hippest philosopher,” according to the British newspaper The Telegraph. He “can spin you from Heidegger to Hershey bars (by way of Hitchcock and Hizbollah).” Žižek is a “master of the counterintuitive observation,” according to The New Yorker.

Time Change to Graduate ENG 580

There has been a time change to Dr. Amy King's ENG 580 class, Jane Austen Today. The new time for the class will be Wednesdays from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Don't forget the Bookmarks event next week!

A reminder: The English Department is hosting our first Bookmarks event of the spring semester.

Come join us for a talk with Dr. Sicari on his new book, Modern Humanism and the Men of 1914: Joyce, Lewis Pound, and Eliot.

Institute for Writing Studies
Back Lounge
Tuesday, March 29
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Refreshments will be provided.

Huck Finn discussion - Tuesday at noon

Greetings!

There will be a roundtable discussion of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the library tomorrow.

TIME: March 22, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Library Room 407

Professors Jennifer Travis, Dohra Ahmad, Caroline Fuchs, and Grantville Ganter will be discussing a new edition of Huckleberry Finn , which is reprinted without the racial slurs. All are welcome to come and talk about it.

Fall 2011 Graduate Schedule Change

Please note the time for Dr. Lubey's class has changed and is now 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

 

ENG 855: Theory of the Novel (75130)

R. 2:00-400 p.m.

Dr. Kathleen Lubey

This course will acquaint students with the “long history” of novel theory and the changing ways in which literary critics have defined the origins, attributes, and socio-political function of the genre. We will read a few novels as test cases for our theoretical readings, probably by Henry Fielding, Virginia Woolf, and J.M. Coetzee. But our discussions will be rooted in understanding the enduring questions that are diversely taken up by literary critics of the novel: what formal and ideological features define the novel? What is the relationship between the novel form and modernity? What politics are mobilized by the genre’s unique ways of formulating subjectivity and the objective world? These and other questions will be pursued as we understand the singularity of each novel theorist as well as the dialogue each critic sustains with the larger field. Our theoretical readings will cover “old” and “new” formalisms (Frye, Booth, Lukacs, Bakhtin; Gallagher, Levine); post-structural challenges to genre theory (Culler, Derrida); theories of the novel’s origins and social politics (Watt, McKeon, Moretti, Jameson, Benjamin); theories of the novel and gender (Sedgwick, Armstrong, Brown), and of its post-colonial context (Attridge, Appiah). Evaluation will be based on participation and papers, equaling 20-25 pages.

Grad Students: Applications available for Sigma Tau Delta

Welcome back from spring break!

Dr. Combs, the Faculty Advisor for the St. John's Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, has sent around applications for English graduate students to apply to Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society.

To be eligible for consideration, the following requirements must be met:

• 3 Graduate English courses (minimum GPA 3.70)
• A short essay (maximum 250 words) considering your relationship with literature and literary studies and how the Honor Society can enhance your experience as a student of English at St. John's
• a signature from Dr. Combs

For additional details, please see the application document.

Applications are due to Dr. Combs by Thursday, March 31. Notification of acceptance will be sent via email by Monday, April 4. The induction fee of $47 will be due Thursday, April 14.

For more information, please contact the English Honor Society at english.stj@gmail.com, Dr. Combs at combss@stjohns.edu, or visit the National website at www.english.org.

Best of luck!

Study Abroad Opportunity

The University of New Hampshire is proud to sponsor its thirty-third annual faculty-led summer program in the United Kingdom at Cambridge University. The program is open to all second-, third-, and fourth-year undergraduates with a minimum GPA of 2.50; all graduate students with a minimum GPA of 2.50; a limited number of first-year students with exceptional records; and anyone who has completed their formal education with a minimum of one full year of college.

The program will be accommodated at Gonville and Caius College, one of the oldest and best known of the thirty-one colleges that make up Cambridge University. Students stay at the college from July 11 – August 19, 2011, and choose from a series of courses taught by a distinguished British and American faculty.

Upcoming Event.....

The Real Afghan Diaries: Educating Children in Afghanistan

Thursday, March 24, 2010

Writing Center

10am-11:30am

Ian Pounds is an American who lives with orphans in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he has volunteered as an educator for two years.  These orphanages are one of a kind programs run by the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO). Isolated in a section of the city otherwise off limits to western workers, Pounds teaches English, drama, photography, and computer skills to 180 children. Please join us to hear about his experiences and to learn more about the struggles to educate young women in Afghanistan.

DMI Scholars- Deadline is Monday!!

Sorry for the late posting, folks!!
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Dear St. John’s University faculty, staff and student leaders,

DMI Scholars is a program of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, putting progressive college activists on the path to careers in public policy. We are looking for undergraduate sophomores, juniors and seniors attending college in the NYC metro area.  All program expenses are covered.  Students can go to www.dmischolars.org <http://www.dmischolars.org/> or http://www.drummajorinstitute.com/dmischolars/for more info & to apply!

Deadline is March 14.

Summer Grad Online Courses

I can't attach Word documents to this blog, so you'll have to look around the department after break for the version of this flyer with pretty images.  But even without pictures I wanted to let everyone know about the three summer online graduate courses that we're offering this summer, one in session I (May 31 - July 6), Trauma Studies with Dr. Travis, and two in session II (July 7 - Aug 10), a Shakespeare and Biographical Myths course with me (Dr. Mentz), and a Writing Pedagogy course with Dr. Denny.  

Please tell your friends about these courses as well -- students who are not yet enrolled but thinking about graduate studies in English can take one or more of these courses prior to applying to the program.  Details after the jump.

Bookmarks T 3/29: Stephen Sicari

Please come to the Institute for Writing Studies, and bring your friends, to our next Bookmarks celebration of Dr. Stephen Sicari's new book,  

Modernist Humanism and the Men of 1914: Joyce, Lewis, Pound, and Eliot.  

Tuesday March 29

3:00 – 4:30 pm

Institute for Writing Studies

Refreshments provided

Click through for the flyer.  Refreshments will be served!

St. John's Academic Writing Competition

The Washington, DC Alumni Chapter is sponsoring an Alumni Insider’s View: Writing Competition for full-time students currently attending St. John’s University at the undergraduate or graduate level (excluding Law students). This competition is created to encourage scholarly writing on a broad-based topic of national importance. I encourage your students to participate in this wonderful program with a cash prize! The due date is Monday, April 4, 2011.

Fall 2011 Undergraduate Course Listings

Here they are, as promised! Click "read more" for the full listing of undergraduate course listings for the fall.

Don't forget that summer courses are also listed on the St. John's website if you are interested in registering for summer classes.

Fall 2011 Graduate Course Listings

Below you will find a full listing of the Graduate course offerings for Fall 2011. Undergraduate course offerings will be posted as soon as they are available!

Grad students, please email Gina for priority numbers. Registration begins Monday, April 11.

Spring break and beyond

We've made it to spring break! Congratulations are certainly in order.

On the other side of break, however, we have a lot going on, and the end of the semester will be here before we know it. Don't forget that registration for the summer and fall is nearly here. Course offerings will be available soon, and registration will begin on March 29.

The English Graduate Conference will be held on Saturday, April 16 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Be on the look out for the conference schedule. We will post that here once it becomes available.

And we will be starting a series of posts on the faculty and staff of the department so you can have the opportunity to get to know them a little better. Lots of exciting things on the horizon!

Also, I want to say thank you to all of you who came out to support the Bookend Project over the last few weekends. It was wonderful to have such supportive, intelligent, engaged and friendly faces in the audience. Thank you!

Have a safe and relaxing break!

Call for Papers: Hunter College Grad Conference

"Subversive Texts/Radical Readings"

If every text is a product of an established tradition, written in a preexisting language, how does a text become subversive? Does subversion lie in the speaker's voice and his or her intent? Does it depend directly on that, which it means to undermine? Is subversion created in the interaction between different cultures, and if so, in a globalized society are all texts, by definition, subversive? Is it tied directly to the language that is being used, making literature written in dialect inherently subversive, while rendering texts written “in the language of the oppressor” less likely to undermine the dominant ideology? Or does it take a reading – radical in either its extreme or fundamental perspective – to make a text (any text) subversive? What role does reading play in challenging hegemony? In a world where texts (speeches, slogans, communications) can still be found at the center of every revolution and societal rift, it is important to explore their immeasurable poten
tial to impact those they reach.

To that end, the Hunter College Graduate Student Conference on “Subversive Texts/ Radical Readings” is seeking abstracts of 150-250 words for papers that will examine the ways in which texts can subvert the dominant discourse across the disciplines, as well as what it means for them to do so. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• The role of subversive texts in shifting the balance of power in a globalized community.
• The ability of texts to communicate non-mainstream/subversive/revolutionary ideas.
• The potential of subversive texts to cross cultural, linguistic, and geopolitical boundaries.
• The ways that new interdisciplinary approaches can radicalize texts.
• Subversion that lies in the examination of absences and omissions within texts.
• The ways that we can define “subversive texts” and “radical readings.”


The Graduate Student Conference will be held May 6-7th, 2011, at Hunter College, New York, NY. Details of the conference can be found at the conference website, https://sites.google.com/site/huntercollegegec/

Please send abstracts/inquiries to the conference organizers at HunterGEC@gmail.com by March 13th, 2011.

All proposals should include your name, affiliation, contact information (including email address), and a short bio. Please do not include your name on the attached abstracts/proposals, as they will be selected by blind review. Proposals sent in by graduate students will be given priority, however, we will consider proposals from independent scholars and recent graduates.

Please note that all papers should be delivered in 15-20 minutes.