English Department Meeting: Sep. 21, 2022

English Department Meeting Information

• Meeting Date: 9/21/22
  • Meeting Minutes Taker: Loughlin Pagnucci (English Website Assistant and all around English Problem Solver!)
  • I will be recording all the meetings this year so that Loughlin can review them later and write minutes for up for us
  • Zoom recordings will only be shared with English Department employees and are automatically deleted after 120 days
  • John Marsden will monitor the chat for any issues we need to discuss
• Zoom Meeting Link: https://iupvideo.zoom.us/j/7243571701?from=addon
• Next Meeting: Oct. 19 Wednesday from 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

IUP’s 147th Year

• IUP’s Department of English has been producing students with first rate reading and writing skills for all those years

“Go forth! Be brave! Be proud! Be true!”

• IUP English Professor Jane E. Leonard (1840-1925)

Welcome Back!

From her 2022 Spring Sabbatical:

• Emily Wender

From his 2022 Spring leave:

• John Marsden

Somehow we survived a semester without them…but just barely.

2022-2023 Sabbaticals

• As always we will have some people on sabbatical this year. I’m listing the faculty members’ names here so you will know why you might not be seeing them on campus. We hope all of these faculty all have very productive sabbaticals and return to us energized and ready to dive back into our department’s work.

2022 Fall Sabbatical

• Mike Sell

2023 Spring Sabbaticals

• Dana Driscoll

English Leadership Council (ELC) Changes

BIG Congratulations

• To Emily Wender on being promoted to Professor of English!
• To Dana Driscoll on being selected to give 2 keynote addresses this semester:
  • As part of her multi-year consultation with the Czech Republic Academy of Sciences and VSB Technical University of Ostrava, in mid September Dana is offering three half-day workshops teaching STEM faculty how to teach writing, offering a half-day workshop for graduate students and faculty on writing for publication, and offering a keynote address on the importance of writing in technical professions
  • In November, Dana will be heading to North South University in Dhaka, Bangladesh to deliver the keynote for the International English Conference on Cultivating Resilient Learners and will also be offering a half-day workshop to help universities start writing centers in Bangladesh (During her sabbatical in Spring 2023, she will be returning to Bangladesh to help start the first writing center in the country at North South)

Celebration of 2021-2022 IUP English Accomplishments 

• Worked through course enrollment challenges which helped us regain our Teaching Associates and some Temporary Faculty 
• Hired new Teaching Associates and Temporary Faculty (thanks to work by the Hiring Committee of John Marsden-Hiring Chair, Gloria Park, Chris Orchard, Bryna Siegel Finer, and Todd Thompson) 
• Reduced ENGL 121 to 50 students from 60 students 
• Reduced ENGL 101 25/26 students from 28 students 
• Revised our English curricula to combine the English B.A. and English Education B.S. Programs (thanks to work by Emily Wender, Dan Weinstein, John Branscum, John Marsden, Heather Powers, and Gian) 
• Developed the new English 103: Composition I Accelerated course (thanks to work by Bryna Siegel Finer) 
• Got ENGL 337: Myth, 354: Classical Literature in Translation, and many graduate courses approved for Distance Education delivery (thanks to work by Chris Kuipers, Gloria Park, Veronica Watson, Dana Driscoll, and Gian). As well as undergraduate courses (English 335; English 281; English 398; and English 327—thanks to John Branscum)
• Passed the new Program Membership Policy 
• Successfully renamed Leonard 306 to the Wendy Carse Memorial Room 
• Held big English Welcome, Halloween, Winter, and Think Spring Events 
• Collaborated with the IUP Library to put on another great Banned Books Read Out (thanks to EGO and English faculty and student readers) 
• Held an English Secret Angel Party (thanks to organizing by Gloria Park) 
• Conducted Undergraduate English Writing Awards Contest  
• Held the Vigil for Ukraine (thanks to organizing by Oksana Moroz and Gloria Park) 
• Held publishing workshops for majors (thanks to work by John Branscum and Chauna Craig) 
• Held guest lectures by IUP English Alum David Linton (thanks to organizing by Mike Williamson) 
• Updated the English Writing Plan (thanks to work by Bryna Siegel Finer) 
• Got the Writing Center moved to a great new location in the IUP Library (thanks to work by Dana Driscoll) 
• Participated in many IUP Expos, Experience IUP, Graduate Student Orientations, and International Student Orientation events (thanks to work by Melanie Holm, Gloria Park, John Marsden, Veronica Watson, Dan Weinstein, Emily Wender, Mike Williamson, Dan Weinstein, John Branscum, and Gian) 
• Got Emily Wender promoted to Professor (thanks to DPC work by Jean Nienkamp-DPC Chair, Reena Dube, Heather Powers, Mike Williamson, and Lingyan Yang) 
• Completed lots of faculty evaluations (thanks to DETC work by Curt Porter-DETC Chair, Susan Comfort, Veronica Watson, Dan Weinstein, and Lingyan Yang) 
• Held many votes (thanks to Elections Committee work by Brian Carpenter and Tanya Heflin) 
• Taught tons of fabulous English, Honors College, Women’s and Gender Studies, Music Literature, and Big Ideas courses (thanks to ALL of us!) 

Important Dates

Banned Books Week

• Sep. 19-23
• EGO is Co-Hosting a series of Banned Books Week events with the IUP Library
• Thanks to EGO Advisor Mike Williamson for helping
• Banned Books Read-Aloud TODAY @ Noon in the Library

English Book and Movie Club Meeting

• Oct. 26 (Wednesday) from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. in Leonard Hall Room 306
• Students will be discussing The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• This book won the National Book Award. and was selected by the students
• Free copies are available for borrowing from the IUP English Reading Center
• Anyone interested can contact Loughlin (ydrw@iup.edu) for more information and/or to officially join the club!

English Halloween Party

• Oct. 28 (Friday) from 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
• In the IUP English Social Center (outside the main 5th Floor English Office)
• Lots of candy and spooky poems and stories
• Costumes are optional

Agenda Items

1. Mailroom

• Please turn in your mailbox keys so we can reissue them
• Thanks to Missy Bair (Department Secretary for us and a ton of other departments and programs), Linda Rummel (Leonard’s primary maintenance worker), and Loughlin who helped Gian get the mailroom all cleaned up

2. IUP English Office Entrance/IUP Myth Collaborative

• After about 2 p.m. there are no maintenance people in the building so keep your office door locked
• If you are leaving after that time, please lock the front entrance door
• And feel free to make a move on our fancy new myth chess set!

3. IUP English Reading Center

• We are redesigning the area with our English faculty book collection
• Loughlin will be working to get additional English faculty books ordered for the collection so we can get eventually get all the books written by our current faculty (please email Loughlin at ydrw@iup.edu if you have a book we need to order!)
• We will be rechristening this are the IUP English Reading Center
• Thanks to Tim Hibsman, Brian Sateriale (L&C TA) and Loughlin who helped move around a bunch of heavy bookcases to get things reorganized
• We will be storing the English Book Club books in this area for students to borrow
• We have put out some other books for students to borrow and will be getting some more
• Since most of the faculty in the Read posters had retired, we have taken those down and delivered posters to any remaining faculty
• Loughlin will be creating new English student profiles posters for us to display in this area
• Thanks to Gloria Park and Oksana Moroz (CAL TA) who helped to redesign the space and identify some better furniture
• Gian will be ordering the new furniture as soon as he gets approval from the dean

4. IUP English Social Center

• We are working on plans to redesign the hallway outside the main English Office
• We will be rechristening this area the IUP English Social Center
• Thanks to Gloria, Oksana, and Loughlin who have been working on the plans to redesign this space with new tables, chairs, and decorations

5. English BA Curriculum Revision

• The curriculum revision to combine the English B.A. with the English Education B.S. is ready
• Thanks to Emily Wender and Dan Weinstein who helped Gian finalize the proposal which took a lot of checking and double checking the credit numbers
• The entire program will be called the English Studies Bachelor of Arts
• Proposed Amendment for Vote: The BA Curriculum Revision Subcommittee (Gian, Dan, and Emily) are proposing an amendment to our proposal before we send it forward
• We wish to include CRLG Critical Languages and EDHL 115: Introduction to American Sign Language and EDHL 215: Intermediate American Sign Language as options for the Language Requirement
• We will discuss this amendment at the meeting and hold a vote unless a Qualtrics vote is requested (which would be conducted by the English Elections Committee [Brian Carpenter and Tanya Heflin])

6. Other Curriculum Revisions

• ENGL 103 moving forward for DE approval
  • Thanks to Bryna Siegel Finer for writing up this curriculum proposal
• W designations for all English majors courses listed in banner
  • Our English students don’t need W courses since we have a writing plan
  • For Fall 22 and Spring 23, Gian had the W’s removed from all English courses
  • We were getting non-English majors trying to take major courses that had W’s on them
  • Gian has asked the Liberal Studies English (LSE) Committee (Chair Bryna Siegle Finer) to review our use of W courses

7. Emeritus Applications

• Sharon Deckert and Heather Powers have been approved by the department to be granted Emeritus status
• Resa Bizzaro did not respond to our email inquiries about the Emeritus application
• Their applications will now move to the Senate
• Thanks to John Marsden who corralled our retirees and letter writers to get materials together in a hurry since the deadline has been moved up to Sep. 19 from the old Oct. 1 deadline
• Thanks to Chauna Craig who wrote a letter supporting Heather’s application, David Hanauer who wrote a letter supporting Sharon’s application, and Gian who collated the application documents
• For anyone who is nearing retirement, you have 2 years to apply for Emeritus status, and you will need the following:
  • Someone to write a 1-2 page application letter summarizing your career accomplishments that qualify you for Emeritus status
  • Your CV
  • Your last DETC, Chair, and Dean Evaluation
• It is very simple to apply for Emeritus if you plan ahead and save documents before retiring; All English faculty who received positive evaluations as employees merit this recognition!
• Awardees receive the lifetime title of Emeritus and are designated as such on the English Emeriti and Retired section of the IUP English website

8. Advising Undergraduate Majors

• Dan Weinstein, Emily Wender, and Gian met to redistribute advisees more evenly
• In most cases you will continue to work with your current advisees
• In some cases you have been given new advisees
• We want everyone invested in our department’s undergraduate and graduate students
• Everyone has been assigned at least 1 major
• The new maximum number of advisees is up to 7 (a few people are above that but should move to 7 by the end of the year)
• Missy Bair will be making changes to the advisee list, and then Gian will email everyone to let you know to check your advising list
• Since the English B.A. and English Education programs will be merging this year, people need to be ready to advise either type of major
• Advising checklists are in M.S. Teams
• Dan and Emily will assist with questions
• Registration begins October 11
• We will hold a review session on DegreeWorks in October
• Please meet with your advisees before giving them their registration PIN numbers

9. Service Work Streamlining

• Thanks to Tanya Heflin, who’s been taught Qualtrics really well by Brian Carpenter, for running our Spring department elections to get most of our committee spots filled
• Thanks also to everyone who agreed to run for the open committee slots
• We are down to 28 tenured faculty
  • We have no dedicated secretaries left
  • At the end of the next academic year, Jean Nienkamp will retire
• Review of Committees list
• Gian will have ELC review our Committees list to look at where we can cut or combine committees

10. DETC Committee Updates

• DETC Chairs: Lingyan Yang and Mike Williamson
• We have 8 faculty up for 5-year evaluation this year
• Proposed DETC Policy for Meeting Vote:
  • Gian proposes the following motion:
  • The English Department Evaluation and Tenure Committee (DETC) shall be renamed the English Department Evaluation Committee (DEC). The name shall automatically revert to Department Tenure and Evaluation Committee (DETC) once any tenure track probationary English faculty member reaches eligibility to apply for tenure.
    • Rationale: We are at least 5 years away, if not more, from having tenure-eligible faculty member and this will simplify the committee name
  • English Faculty TA mentors will handle all Teaching Associate (TA) and Temporary Faculty (TF) observations, evaluations, and student evaluations and are automatically designees/members of the DETC for the semester(s) they are mentoring. They do not perform any other duties for the DETC nor do they take part in other DETC meetings nor votes.
    • Rationale: This is our long standing past practice and Gian would like us to vote on it officially at the meeting
• The DETC is proposing to use individually selected evaluators who serve 1-year terms to write a letter
• This would be an optional step and all faculty members can ask the DETC to find a letter writer on their behalf if they so wish
• Any problematic evaluations cases would be thoroughly reviewed by the entire DETC and the Chair and CAH Dean would be informed of these cases (this is by a request from the Provost’s office); this is long standing DETC practice
• It is the responsibility of the faculty member being evaluated to print the required DEC materials and turn them in to Missy BEFORE spring break
• Required materials which must be printed include: CV, student evaluation summary sheets, observations, DETC evaluation (due by April 1), Chair evaluation (due by April 8)
• These documents, as well as any additional supporting documents, including a 1-2 page personal narrative, must also be emailed to Mike, Lingyan, and Gian BEFORE spring break
• Position descriptions for AWAs are also now being required; Gian has asked for clarification on this from the dean

11. BA Courses

• With Jean Nienkamp retiring, we will need more people to help teach:
  • ENGL 122: Introduction to English Studies
  • ENGL 310: Public Speaking
  • Possibly other BA courses because we are at least 1 course short for spring

12. Course Caps

• The caps continue to fluctuate
• In Spring 23 we are offering 500 seats of ENGL 101
  • There will be lots of pressure from students to try to get into these ENGL 101 classes
  • The class is capped at 25, but it might get raised to 28 by admin
• We need more people to teach ENGL 103
  • ENGL 103 combines ENGL 100 and ENGL 101 into a 1-semester, 4-credit class
  • The class meeting time runs slightly longer each day than a regular 3-credit class
  • Teaching 3 ENGL 103 courses counts as a full semester’s course load since that’s a total of 12 credits

13. Winter 2022

• Thanks to Sharon Deckert for overseeing the Summer/Winter Committee for the past several years
• Sharon has passed the baton to Todd Thompson (thanks for agreeing to take on that task, Todd)
• Gian will be sending out Winter preferences soon
• There should be enough classes for anyone who wants one to get at least one

Announcements

• If anyone has an important announcement, we’ll use the last few minutes of the meeting to cover this