Grow Here
English Department Meeting Agenda
- Meeting Date: 11/21/19
- Meeting Location: 307 Humanities and Social Sciences Building
“Go forth! Be brave! Be proud! Be true!”
- IUP English Professor Jane Leonard (1840-1925)
Congratulations to the following English department members on their scholarly accomplishments:
- Dana Driscoll and several co-authors published an article on writing development and genre theory in the noted composition journal Written Communication
- Tim Hibsman presented on nautical inspired comics at the 2019 Mount Aloysius College Charity/Comic Con; Tim also presented at the 2019 EAPSU Conference
- Ben Rafoth delivered a Keynote address at the Guadalajara Writing Conference
- Mike Sell and Rachel Schiera (a doctoral student in IUP’s Professional Studies in Educaiton Program and also wife of CAL doctoral student Tony Schiera) were awarded a Center for Teaching Excellence Mini-Grant to help fund the IUP Digital Storytelling Project
- Mike also published an essay on video games and the avant-garde in Modernism/Modernity, the premier journal of Modernist and Literary Cultural Studies
- Bryna Siegel Finer presented on ethics at the 2019 Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference
- Parawati Siti Sondari (a CAL doctoral student) published an article in the Nonnative English Speaker Teachers (NNEST) Newsletter
- Peter Sorrell gave a presentation at the 2019 EAPSU Conference
- Dan Weinstein presented on Creative Note Taking at the 2019 EAPSU Conference
- A team of IUP Avengers presented on teaching writing using Comic Book Pedagogy at the 2019 MAPACA Conference in Pittsburgh:
- Captain America: Gian Pagnucci
- The Black Panther: Darius Cureton (having just successfully become Dr. Cureton!)
- The Black Widow: Rachel Warmington (L&C doctoral student)
- Captain Marvel: Nicol Epple (L&C doctoral student)
- Peggy Carter: Sandra Eckard (IUP CAL doctoral alum)
- Spider-Woman: Sheila Far (having just successfully become Dr. Farr!)
- The Scarlet Witch: Carleigh Brower (CAL doctoral student)
- The Vision: Nick Katsiadas (IUP L&C doctoral alum)
- The Watcher: Yi Yu (having just successfully become Dr. Yu!)
- Thanos: Brian Burke (IUP CAL doctoral alum)
- Lots of other IUP students and faculty presented at the 2019 MAPACA Conference in Pittsburgh, so please submit those news items!
A BIG Congratulations!
- To Debonair Oates-Primus who has been selected to give the graduate student address at the IUP 2019 December University Commencement Graduate Ceremony; Debonair has just defended her dissertation which was directed by Lingyan Yang
Approval of Department Meeting Minutes
We will vote to approve Minutes from the English Department meeting held on:
- 10/17/19 (Thanks to Chauna Craig for taking minutes)
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.
Minutes Takers History
Thanks to our volunteer minutes takers:
- 9/19/19 Gian Pagnucci
- 10/17/19 Chauna Craig
- 11/21/19 Jean Nienkamp
- 2/13/19 Lingyan Yang
- 3/19/19
- 4/9/19
If we each take one turn writing minutes, then each person only has to do it more than once every 4 years or so
Agenda Items
1. A Thankfulness Activity
- “In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
- Write of something in your personal life for which you are thankful
- Write of something in your professional life for which you are thankful
- Write of something about Our Department or IUP for which you are thankful
- Anyone who wishes to share a thought of gratitude is welcome to do so
- “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”–G.K. Chesterton
- How Words & Frequency Can Change Water
- (1:18 negative/2:00 peace)
- Dr. Masaru Emoto Water Experiments
2. Halloween Party Success!
- We had a huge student turnout
- We had strong faculty turnout
- Dean Asamoah brought his staff
- Some prospective majors joined us
- People dressed up, hand fun, and celebrated
- That event was so great, we are hosting another one for the end of the semester
3. Holiday Cookies and Hot Chocolate
- Event: A fun social event for all English Department Community members (English majors, minors, graduate students, Tenured/Tenure Track and Temporary faculty, Teaching Associates, staff, and friends!)
- Date: Thursday Dec. 12
- Time: 2:00 p.m – 4:00 p.m.
- Location: English Office Hallway
- Featuring: Cookies from Six Hand Bakery
4. Spring 2020 English Department Events
- To further build on our momentum, we are going to plan 3 social events for the department for Spring 2020 (in February, March, and April)
- One event which Dan has proposed is a Harry Potter Themed Lunch at the Allenwood restaurant (Dan has contacted Chef Santicola who is exploring the idea)
- Jean suggested that we hold a soup and bread luncheon, with bread from Six Hand Bakery
- We welcome additional suggestions
- We will have a poster listing all the events for Spring 2020
- Please tell our English majors and minors about this plan
5. English Holiday Lunch
- Event: A free lunch to celebrate the end of the semester for all Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty, Temporary Faculty, Teaching Associates, and Staff
- Date: Wednesday Dec. 11
- Time: 12:00 p.m – 2:00 p.m.
- Location: Meet at English Office, then walk to North Dining Hall
6. Readers Paradise Puzzle
- Jean Nienkamp enjoyed our Halloween hallway get-together so much, she brought out a book themed puzzle for the hallway that anyone can work on
- Tell your students they can come add some pieces to the puzzle or come help yourself
- And when we finish that puzzle, we will start another one
- Thanks to Jean for kicking off this fun activity!
7. Title IX Training
- The Provost’s Office has requested that all faculty complete this required training before Thanksgiving break
- The good news that the entire training has been revised and shorted
- It is clear, useful, and takes only about 10 minutes (yes, really!!!) to review the presentation slides and complete the 2 required 5 question quizzes
- Thanks to Elise Glenn for delivering on her promise to improve the training
8. Snyder Report
- Please also fill out your Snyder Report before the end of the semester
- The best thing is to do it right after you finish your Title IX training, so you can get them both out of the way in one quick go!
- The Snyder Report really only takes about 5 minutes to complete
9. Free Online Chronicle of Higher Education Access
- In case you didn’t know, IUP has a subscription to provide all IUP community members with free premium access to The Chronicle of Higher Education
- You can access the subscription from any computer logged onto IUP’s network and from home if you use a VPN connection
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
10. IUP Myth Collaborative
- Our department was given an amazing $100,000 gift by an IUP English alum
- One major requirement of the gift was that the funds be used to display highly valuable pottery made by artist/poet M.C. Richards and donated to IUP by IUP English Professor Emeritus Rosaly Roffman
- This is why the funds are being used to redesign our department entrance and showcase the pottery
- With such a sizable donation, IUP administration has directed much of the decision making about how the funds will be spent to align with the donor’s wishes
- This gift gives us the opportunity to:
- provide students with scholarships
- provides students with internships
- fund relaunching the myth-related journal Arestia (originally launched by Roffman)
- host some conferences related to myth
- encourage the publication of scholarship related to myth
- create an interdisciplinary Certificate in Myth Studies
- get anyone involved who wants to be involved
- celebrate our department’s students and faculty in a big ribbon cutting ceremony to be held in the spring and attended by IUP’s President and other important figures
- Mike Williamson and Melanie Holm will serve as Co-Directors for the Myth Collaborative
- We will have a Myth Committee Unit (MCU) that people can join to be a part of the work of the Myth Collaborative; anyone interested is welcome to participate
11. Dual Career/Spousal Hiring Policy
- The ELC discussed the issue of dual career/spousal hiring at length for multiple meetings
- Because there were many questions the ELC could not resolve, we finally decided to have Gian speak to HR about this issue
- Craig Bickley from HR said that we should speak to our dean who could take the issue to the Council of Deans which has the power to ask HR to draft a dual career/spousal hiring policy
- Gian will be making this request of the dean in their upcoming meeting
12. Relocation of Faculty in Sutton Offices
- Administration is requiring us to move from our Sutton Offices in the Summer of 2020
- Gian discussed how to fight this move with the dean
- The dean said people are guaranteed an office, but the location of that office can be determined by the provost, so there is no way to fight the move
- The dean said the contract does not give faculty a right to an office in a particular location
- Gian contacted APSCUF about this issue; Nadene told me the following, “Unfortunately, in this case, Yaw is correct–the CBA requires that faculty be provided with suitable office space that the university maintains, but beyond that the language is silent with regard to location, proximity to other departmental offices, etc. There really is not anything that we can do to stop the moves or ensure that offices are located near the department.”
- Institutional Advancement will be taking the 4th floor of Sutton Hall
- The Department of Foreign Languages will be moving to the 3rd floor of Sutton Hall
- The English Leadership Council will make a recommendation about how to handle the offices designated for Program Directors (the offices currently held by Weinstein and Park)
- Tenured/Tenure Track English faculty currently in Sutton Hall (roughly 10 people) will be moved to vacant offices (with windows) throughout the Humanities and Social Sciences Building
- Seniority will be used to give faculty choice of these open offices which will be on mutliple floors in the HSS building
- Part time Temporary Faculty, Teaching Associates, and Graduate Assistants will all move to the 504 suite
- Full time Temporary Faculty will be allocated private offices from the remaining available offices
- We will hold open Jackie’s old office indefinitely until a secretary is hired to fill that position
- Although this is frustrating news, remember that when we sent Rod Taylor to the Political Science, he made so many friends that they asked for him to teach a special political science-themed ENGL 202 course and held a party for him before he went to his great new job
- Great things are possible out of unexpected places and circumstances
13. INSPIRE Program Review
- All degree programs at IUP are being reviewed in 3 phases
- Phase 1 is Fall of 2019 (yes, right now)
- Phase 2 will be Spring of 2020
- Phase 3 will be Fall of 2020
- In addition, our department 5 year program review will be in Fall 2020-Spring 2021
- Phase 1 is focused on programs with low enrollments
- There are 72 programs being reviewed for this phase
- These are undergraduate programs with fewer than 8 students admitted in Fall 2017-2019 and graduating in 2016-2019
- These are graduate programs with fewer than 6 students admitted in Fall 2017-2019 and graduating in 2016-2019
- The English BA Pre-Law Track fell into the Phase 1 category
- It had 2 new students in Fall 2017, 0 new students in Fall 2018, and 2 new students in Fall 2019
- The English MA in Composition and Literature fell into this category because Spring and Summer admits were not counted
- It had 4 new students in Fall 2017, 5 new students in Fall 2018, and 6 new students in Fall 2019
- Gian was given this information on Monday Nov. 11 and told the deadline to write a 4 page response was Monday Nov. 18
- Dan Weinstein drafted a response for the English BA Pre-Law Track; Mike Williamson drafted a response for English MA in Composition and Literature
- Because the deadline was so short, Gian asked the ELC to take action on these proposals in accordance with it’s charge to handle time sensitive matters
- Gian got the dean to grant us a 1 day extension so that the ELC could discuss the proposed responses
- To meet this deadline, the following actions were taken:
- On Nov. 19 the ELC voted to recommend putting the English BA Pre-Law Track into moratorium
- On Nov. 19 the ELC voted to recommend arguing that the MA in Composition and Literature should not be placed in moratorium because half of its students were not being counted (all Spring and Summer admits)
- Dan, Mike, and Gian did last minute revising of the responses based on input from the ELC and Gian sent the documents to the dean at midnight on Nov. 19 (well really it was 1 a.m. on Nov. 20)
- Gian protested to the dean that time was not being given for departments as a whole to weigh in on these program reviews; this protest did not succeed
- The ELC is asking the department to review these responses and decide if any further or alternate actions should be taken
- The ELC is recommending that the English BA Pre-Law Track be placed in moratorium; this will require a vote by the BA Program Committee
- All other programs will need to write responses for the INSPIRE review, so program directors should work with their program members to generate these responses by early Spring 2020
14. A Thankful Habit of Mind
- “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson
15. “The Teacher Appreciation Song”
16. Have a great Thanksgiving Break!
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
English Holiday Lunch
- Event: A free lunch to celebrate the end of the semester for all Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty, Temporary Faculty, Teaching Associates, and Staff
- Date: Wednesday Dec. 11
- Time: 11:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m.
- Location: Meet at English Office, then walk to North Dining Hall
2019 English Winter Party: Holiday Cookies and Hot Chocolate
- Event: A fun social event for all English Department Community members (English majors, minors, graduate students, Tenured/Tenure Track and Temporary faculty, Teaching Associates, staff, and friends!)
- Date: Wednesday Dec. 11
- Time: 1:00 p.m – 3:00 p.m.
- Location: English Office Hallway
- Featuring: Cookies from Six Hand Bakery
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