Welcome (back)!
Welcome to the RIC class of 2016, and welcome back to everyone else! This term kicks off our new General Education program, which includes several significant changes. Most notably, students entering as freshmen this fall take a semester of FYS 100, our new and exciting first year seminar program, which includes a number of offerings from English faculty. Faculty are excited about the new GenEd, and we hope students will share that excitement. As many of you know, we have had quite a few changes in English major requirements during the past two years, so you will perhaps be happy to hear that there are no changes to the major this year. Whether you are a brand-new, freshman English major or a senior looking forward to graduation in May 2013, I hope you will get involved in English Department activities, several of which are listed in this newsletter. I look forward to seeing you around Craig Lee...and speaking of Craig Lee: if you would like to see our building refurbished, please remember to vote yes on question 3 in November. Question 3 is a bond issue for Rhode Island College (for complete renovation of Craig Lee and Gaige, plus a minor upgrade to Fogarty), and is the very first time RIC has been on the ballot alone, without URI. Get out there and vote yes!
– Maureen Reddy, Chair
Congratulations
Our spring newsletter listed winners of our many scholarships and awards as well as those who successfully completed honors theses and therefore graduated with honors in English. One award winner was not listed, because the award could not be given until spring term grades were posted. So, congratulations now to Christine Dennen, the winner of the English Department Scholarship for 2011-12 for the student with the highest GPA in the English major at the end of junior year. The scholarship is $325.
English Club News
The English Club–open to all English majors and minors–has a "new, multifaceted web presence," according to president Philip Johnston. To get added to the club's email list or to ask questions about meetings, upcoming events, or anything else, send an email to englishclub.ric@gmail.com. The Facebook group–which you should join!–is  RIC English Club. Tumbler page is ricenglishclub.tumblr.com. Twitter is @RICEnglishClub1. Apart from this virtual presence, the English Club also has a real presence: they meet every other Wednesday at 12:30 upstairs in Donovan (email to get specific dates and locations) and plan to include monthly writing workshops at their meetings.
Fall events
All students are invited to a reading by Rob Foreman, new this year in the English Department's creative writing program, on Wednesday, September 26, 12:30 pm in CL255....Graduate students are invited to the annual grad student/faculty gathering, which will be held this year on Tuesday, October 9, 5:30 pm in CL255. Details coming soon via flyer and email... Professor Emily Danforth–whose first novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post came out this year to rave reviews–will be giving a Book Talk in the Fortes Room of Adams Library on Wednesday, October 17th from 12:15-1:45pm. Books will be available for purchase and signature and refreshments will be served...On Tuesday, November 13, 7:15 pm, in the Bannister Gallery, Professor emeritus Tom Cobb will be reading from his new novel, With Blood in Their Eyes (cosponsored by Shoreline and the Creative Writing Program with Bannister Gallery).
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Alumni News
Several of our recent SecEd/English graduates have brand new jobs: Jillian Colan has accepted a position teaching 6th grade English language arts in Franklin, MA. Jill Taylor has accepted a position teaching English at Coventry
High School (RI). Betsy Young has accepted a position teaching 11th grade AP English and 11th grade American Lit at Sam Houston High School, Houston, TX. Kate Aubin accepted a position for the 2012-2013 school year as an 11th grade English teacher at the The Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College...Dr. Jennifer Cook, executive director of the Rhode Island Writing Project (RIWP), also reports about alums associated with RIWP: Aimee Marsland, English teacher at North Providence High School and Teacher Consultant with the Rhode Island Writing Project, has been appointed to the Executive Board of the RIWP. Jason Lorenz Ryan recently completed the RI Writing Project's Summer Invitational Institute and is now a Teacher Consultant with the RIWP.
Faculty news
Sue Abbotson read her essay "The Power and Joy of Running" on This I Believe, Rhode Island, on NPR, 25 July, 2012. She also delivered a lecture at the end of July: "Materialism, Socialism and Paternal Conflict in Arthur Miller's All My Sons," at Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA, followed by a Q&A. Her essay, "A Reassessment of the 'Goodness' of John Proctor: Fair or Foul?" will be in the fall issue of the Arthur Miller Journal, along with a critique of Naum Panovski's 1999 production of The Crucible....In June , emily danforth's short essay on Rita Mae Brown's seminal lesbian bildungsroman–Rubyfruit Jungle–was excerpted by NPR's All Things Considered as part of their "Risky Reads" series. You can listen to emily reading the piece here. Also in June, emily's novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of their five "Flying Starts" (debut novelists) selections for Spring 2012. In August, the queer-culture website Autostraddle selected The Miseducation of Cameron Post as the #5 pick on its list of "The 20 Best Young Adult Novels for Queer Girls."
Paid internship for BA or MA students
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is accepting applications for spring 2013 (deadline is November 1) paid internships. Training is in NYC in January (9 days) and then the internship takes place at RIC. The focus is on learning how to teach middle and high school students about the Holocaust. Go to www.mjhnyc.org/lipper or see the flyer posted outside the English Dept for details.
Thinking ahead
What will you do after graduation? Career Development offers many programs to help you explore your options. See their offerings at
www.ric.edu/careerdevelopment...Grad school? University College Cork has a brand-new MA in Irish Studies: Identities and Representations. For further information including a detailed program description, see ucc.ie/en/irishstudies or email: irishstudies@ucc.ie.
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