Grow Here
English Department Meeting Agenda
- Meeting Date: 10/17/19
- Meeting Location: 307 Humanities and Social Sciences Building (this will be our new meeting location going forth!)
“Go forth! Be brave! Be proud! Be true!”
- IUP English Professor Jane Leonard (1840-1925)
Thanks
- To Dawnette Shellhammer for handling job after job after job (keep telling her how great she is because she deserves to know!)
- To Peggy Kane for diving right in and tackling all sorts of things for our department as well
- To Sheila Farr who has been helping to train Peggy
- To Nicky Wilcox, our only student worker, who has put in tons of extra hours while we looked for some additional student workers
- To Tanya Heflin and EGO for co-sponsoring Banned Books Week with the IUP Libraries
- To Matt Vetter and Melanie Holm who have conducted a host of job placement training events for our English graduate students
- To Tom Slater and the Center for Film Studies for sponsoring the Russian Masterpieces Film Series
Congratulations to the following English department members on their scholarly accomplishments:
- CAL doctoral student and Teaching Associate Wenqi Cui published an article on rhetorical listening pedagogy
- Tim Hibsman was interviewed by The Penn about the importance of school uniforms
- Tim also published an article on student consequences of teacher instruction
- Mike Sell published an essay on video games
- Bryna Siegel Finer, Emily Wender, Daniel Weinstein, and Oriana Gatta published an article on students’ struggles with college writing
- Mike Williamson published an essay on Holocaust poetry
- Mike also gave a two presentations on Jewish literature and literary theory and a talk about rare books to highlight IUP’s Special Collections and Archives
- Matt Vetter and CAL doctoral student and Teaching Associate Jialei Jiang published an article on Wikipedia bots and problematic information
- Jialei also published an article on digital authorship
And congratulations on these English department scholars who were recognized this past summer:
- Chauna Craig was awarded a Writer in Residency at PLAYA in Oregon this past summer
- Todd Thompson also did a Residency in the summer at Mark Twain’s summer home!
Congratulations
- To English major Margaret Olin who won the 2019-2020 Betty Ann Moore Walwork Scholarship
Welcome
To our new student workers:
- Amiranda Adams (who is an English major)
- Minija Henry
Also a belated welcome to a brand new English baby:
- Fawn Penelope Sorrell, Melanie Holm and Peter Sorrell’s beautiful new baby girl.
- This is slightly old news, but I didn’t get to show it at our last meeting.
- Here is Fawn listening to her two English professor parents talking excitedly about literature:
“Somebody wake me when my parents finallllllllly buy me a cell phone.”
Approval of Department Meeting Minutes
We will vote to approve Minutes from the English Department meeting held on:
- 9/19/19
The minutes were circulated by email and will be shown at the meeting using the classroom instructor projection station. A limited set of copies will be printed, but please bring your own copy or review the minutes ahead of time so we can limit paper usage and printing costs. Thanks.
Agenda Items
1. Student Issues/Care and Response Team (CART)
- If you encounter a problem/challenge with a student in your course that you feel needs to be referred to CART, please email Dot Gracey, Associate Dean of CHSS, to explain the issue and to send the student’s full name and banner number; please also copy Gian and talk to Gian about the issue too
- Dot and Gian both treat such matters with the utmost confidentiality
- Unfortunately, sometimes faculty do not provide the student’s full name and banner number when emailing and then there is nothing Dot can do to help
- Contact Dot for both disciplinary issues and personal crisis type issues; please also copy Gian
- It’s better to alert Dot and Gian even if later it turns out the issue has not magnified; you are always better safe than sorry, so please keep Dot and Gian informed whenever you face an unusually difficult issue
- IUP’s Care and Response Team (CART) helps when students are facing any especially difficult issues
- Students are not negatively impacted by having their name given to the team
- All information is kept confidential and only shared with those who need to know
- The CART team works as hard as possible to get students help if they need it
- Dot is our CART representative
2. Halloween Event for the English Department on Oct. 31, Thursday, from Noon to 1 p.m.
- Chauna Craig and Gian have encountered 2 different new, first year English majors who say they are thinking about transferring out of IUP because they feel, “they don’t have a home here”
- We need to work on this problem
- The English Ice Cream Social was a good start, but only 7 out of 40 tenure track faculty were there; that is not enough
- Thanks to Chauna, Gloria Park, Heather Powers, Todd Thompson, Veronica Watson, Dan Weinstein, and Gian who all did attend the ice cream social
- Although people may have classes, we still want you to stop by and say hello; a 5 or 10 minute late start or early dismissal is acceptable for this event, particularly for any majors courses
- We want to have an a Halloween themed event; some of us will dress up in costumes
- This is meant to be something simple and fun that students can easily come in and out of for a few minutes
- We will have Halloween candy, other food, and some sort of giveaway item
- We are aiming this event at English majors, English education majors, English minors, English graduate students, and English faculty!
- We don’t need people to send an entire ENGL 121 class to the event, but we do want you to tell your advisees to go and to come yourself; ask students to bring a friend
- This is meant to be a simple event to promote English Department community building among our students and teachers
- Mary Stewart (Assessment Coordinator) will provide us with an update on our assessment data
3. Department Minutes
- We are going to shift to having a faculty member take minutes at our department meetings
- If someone wants to volunteer for this task, it will count as important service
- Otherwise we will begin using a rotation system with each department member taking 1 turn taking minutes
- Gian took the first turn
- Chauna is taking the second turn
- Then we will use a rotation basis based on last name
4. The National Day on Writing October 20th
- Bryna Siegel Finer started IUP’s tradition of participating each year in this national event
- This year The Writing Center (Dana Driscoll), Liberal Studies English (Lynn Shelly), and IUP’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program (Bryna Siegel Finer) are co-sponsoring The Writing Tips Tree
- Add your tips to the tree: You are invited to participate in The Writing Tips Tree. All faculty were given a packet of leaves for you and your students. As a class, or individually, students can be invited to go to the 2ndfloor of Eicher Hall, put their leaf on the tree, and tag themselves in Social Media with the hashtags #whyIwrite and #IUPWrites. Prizes will be available for those who contribute to the tree. You can also bring your class over as a whole to add tips to the tree and take photos. You can also just contribute your own individual leaf. The tree is located in the hall outside of the writing center, so there is space for you.
- There will be a Writing Tips Tree Viewing Party on Oct. 21 from noon – 1 p.m. in the Writing Center
5. New Cultural Competencies Certificate
- A new interdisciplinary certificate in Cultural Competencies has been developed by the Department of Anthropology
- The certificate is 12 credits
- It requires 1 course in Anthropology, 1 cultural area course, and 2 other courses which can include select English courses
- The following English courses count for the certificate:
- ENGL 336: Language, Gender, and Society
- ENGL 344: Ethnic American Literature
- ENGL 348: African American Literature
- ENGL 350: Gender and Sexual Orientation in Literature, Theory, and Film
- ENGL 385: Advanced Studies in Women’s Literature
- Please mention this new certificate in your majors courses and to your advisees
6. IUP Library Budget Cuts
- Jean Nienkamp, our IUP Library Liasion, has received grim library budget news
- Unlike all past years, this year there will be no budget allocations made for departments to order books; hopefully items will be ordered next year
- The library has also been directed to make large overall budget cuts, like all areas of IUP, so they are reviewing journal and database subscriptions to decide what to cut
- There is a very small budget for emergency purchases if you have a vital item that is critically needed for teaching a course; if you have such a need, please write up a brief justification and send it to Jean who can forward it in the hope that the item may be purchases
7. IUP Myth Collaborative
- A private donor has given funds to restart the IUP Myth Center originally founded by IUP English Professor Emeritus Rosaly Roffman
- Mike Williamson will serve as Director for the Myth Collaborative
- Gian, Mike Sell, and Melanie Holm have all been working on the development of the Myth Collaborative; Dot Gracey (Associate Dean) and Anthony Cancro (CHSS Development Officer)
- The entry way wall to our department will be moved out to create a larger entrance foyer
- The floor will be redone using wood laminate
- New furniture will be installed
- A mural featuring mythological characters is being painted by an alum of the IUP Art Department
- A wood display cabinet is being made by a fine woodworking artist who has taught for IUP’s art department
- The case will display pots made by artist M.C. Richards depicting images from the great vision described by Black Elk who was a holy man of the Oglalal Lakota people; Mike Sell has been overseeing preparations to display the pots
- The journal Arestia, founded by Roffman, will be relaunched
- A Myth Collaborative web site will be created
- IUP courses related to myth will be coordinated in the hopes of developing a new Certificate in Mythology Studies
- Internships and scholarly projects on myth will be part of the Myth Collaborative’s work
- Other departments will participate in the Myth Collaborative
- Any English faculty members who wish to participate are welcome to take part
- Work on myth from the classics to contemporary superheroes and fantasy figures will be invited
- A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held in the spring, most likely in April
8. Upcoming Votes
- Chair Election
- The Department Elections Committee (Brian Carpenter, Committee Chair) will take nominations for English Chair this semester
- These nominees must be approved by the department
- Then the nominees must be approved by the Provost
- Then the Chair election will be conducted
- Approval to continue our use of Qualtrics for this vote is being requested from APSCUF
- Five Year Evaluation of Gian
- When the Chair is up for 5 year evaluation, a designee must be appointed to conduct this evaluation
- This year Chauna is also up for evaluation
- Therefore, in consultation with the Department Evaluation and Tenure Committee (DETC; Co-Chairs John Marsden and Curt Porter), Todd Thompson has been selected to do this evaluation (as former Assistant Chair)
- This selection must be approved by the department
- We will use a Qualtrics vote for this approval
English Department 2019-2020 Goals
- Focus on Enhancing Our Team English Spirit
- Clarifying Workload Distribution/Equity
- Defining and Setting Department Priorities
- Improving Department Climate
Upcoming Events
Writing Tips Tree Viewing Party
- Date: Monday Oct. 21
- Time: Noon – 1:00 p.m.
- Location: Kathleen Jones White Writing Center
- Coordinator: Dana Driscoll
- Sponsors: The Writing Center, Liberal Studies English, and IUP’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program
- Details: Refreshments and prizes!
Evening in the Stacks
- Date: Friday Oct. 25
- Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
- Location: Indiana Free Library on Philadelphia Street
- Event Contact: Gian who is Vice President of the Indiana Free Library Board of Trustees
- Admission: Only $35 and you can pay at the door
- Details: Have a fun evening including:
- Enjoy complimentary food, wine, and beer
- Listen to live music by Grist for the Mill
- Bid on silent auction paintings and other items (and maybe walk away with a really great deal!)
- Meet local politicians, business professionals, and other library supporters
- Chat with the IUP English graduate students and Cook Honors College students who will be helping out at the event
- Chuckle as you listen to Gian emcee the event
- Benefit: Not only is this a super fun event, but all proceeds go directly to support library services; the library desperately needs financial support to stay open
Announcements
APSCUF Membership
- It is very important for all tenure track and temporary faculty to join the union. The cost is minimal as all faculty already pay roughly 90% of the membership due. But a strong union helps protect both temporary and permanent faculty. If you are not a member, please join as soon as possible.
- In addition, please consider joining APSCUF CAP which does lobbying for the union. This is the best way to influence legislators to support our concerns.
- Please remember to email Dawnette to get all English Department events and key meetings added to the department web calendar
- Please check the calendar before scheduling meetings to help limit conflicts
- TR from 2:00-4:00 p.m. is a common open time for tenure track faculty members to use for meetings
Additional Announcements
- If anyone has an important announcement, we’ll use the last few minutes of the meeting to cover this