News and Notes from GW English

Fall 2010

Upcoming Events

Jenny McKean Moore Reading: Tilar Mazzeo
Sept. 15, 8 p.m.
Marvin Center Amphitheater

EGSA Fall Symposium
Oct. 15, 9-1 p.m.
Rome Hall 771

Conference in Honor of Prof. Emerita Judith Plotz
Oct. 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Marvin Center

Jenny McKean Moore Reading: Howard Norman
Oct. 28, 8 p.m.
Marvin Center Amphitheater

GW English Distinguished Lecture in Literary and Cultural Studies
Nov. 5, 4-6 p.m.
Marvin Center

Jenny McKean Moore Reading: Thomas Sayers Ellis
Nov. 11, 8 p.m.
Marvin Center Amphitheater

"TemFest": A Celebration of The Tempest
Dec. 3
Details TBA

Jenny McKean Moore Reading: Karen Russell
Dec. 9, 8 p.m.
Marvin Center Amphitheater

Kudos

Prof. Judith Plotz, who retired in spring 2010, was a winner of the 2010 George Washington Award, one of the highest honors the University confers. Prof. Plotz was recognized for her contributions to the University and the profession, and cited for excellence in research, teaching, and mentoring. Prof. Plotz was the first female research scholar to be awarded tenure in the English Department.  

Prof. Jane Shore won the prestigious 2010 Poets Prize, which was awarded in New York City on May 20, for her 2008 book A Yes-or-No Answer. The $3,000 prize is awarded to the best book of verse by an American in a given year. The Poets' Prize is particularly special because the selection is done by other poets. A Yes-or-No Answer is Jane's fifth book of poetry. Her previous collection, Music Minus One, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Jane has also won the Juniper Prize and the Lamont Poetry Prize.   Read more

Assistant Professor Jonathan Hsy, a specialist in medieval literature and culture, is the recipient of both a 2010 NEH Summer Stipend and a Folger Shakespeare Library short-term residency, both to underwrite his book-in-progress, "Polyglot Production: Multilingual Writing and London Trade, 1340-1540." Prof. Hsy, who joined the English department in 2007, is only the most recent member of the GW faculty to have a residency at the Folger, a world-class repository of early manuscripts and other archival materials, under the directorship of former GWU Professor Gail Kern Paster.  Read more

PhD student Nedda Mehdizadeh won a fellowship to join the 2010 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer seminar, "Re-mapping the Renaissance: Exchange Between Early Modern Islam and Europe," at the University of Maryland, College Park. As Prof. Gil Harris, Director of Graduate Studies, notes, "Nedda's fellowship is an extraordinary accomplishment. It is all the more extraordinary in that there are only two places reserved for graduate students in the seminar, which brings together top scholars on relations between early modern Europe and Islam. There were an enormous number of applicants for the seminar; we are fortunate indeed that Nedda will be representing GW, and our graduate program, at it."  Read more

Prof. Jennifer James, who specializes in 19th-century African American literature, has been appointed by CCAS Dean Peg Barratt to take a leadership role in the development of an Africana Studies major in CCAS. Prof. James is the author of A Freedom Bought with Blood: African American War Literature: The Civil War - World War II. English Department courses in African American and U.S. Afro-Latino literature and culture are a staple of Africana Studies, which is currently a minor in CCAS. English faculty who work on Africana-related topics include H.G. Carrillo, Tony Lopez, James Miller, Gregory Pardlo, and Gayle Wald.   Read more

Prof. Ann Romines, an internationally renowned expert on novelist Willa Cather, and an accomplished baker, recently edited At Willa Cather's Tables, a cookbook that collects recipes from Willa Cather’s work, from her family and friends, and from places that were meaningful to her. The cookbook is published by the Willa Cather Foundation, an organization that since 1955 has worked to preserve Cather-related sites and artifacts, encourage reading of Cather's work, and facilitate Cather scholarship. Purchase of the book goes to support the foundation. Read more

Prof. Jonathan Gil Harris new book "Shakespeare and Literary Theory" has recently been published by Oxford University Press. A prolific scholar and popular Shakespeare professor, Gil is also Associate Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly. The paperback edition of his book "Untimely Matter in the Time of Shakespeare (University of Pennsylvania Press) comes out later this year. Read more

Prof. Tara Wallace, former Director of Graduate Studies in English and now Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, somehow balances administration and scholarship. Imperial Characters: Home and Periphery in Eighteenth-Century Literature was published this summer by Bucknell University Press, in its Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture series. The book examines the effects of empire on British literature produced “at home.” Read more

Prof. Chris Sten has recently headed up the University’s Writing in the Disciplines (WID) program, which ensures that students work on writing not just in first-year English, but also throughout their GW career. This summer, Prof. Sten organized and chaired a panel and roundtable discussion on "Melville, Media, New Media: Appropriation, Adaptation, Remixing," at the inaugural “C19: The Society of 19-Century Americanists” Conference at Penn State in May. According to Chris, "the panel included everything from contemporary painting to a 3-minute YouTube version of Moby Dick.” Read more

Important Links
GW English Website

GW English Blog

GW MEMSI

Chair's Message

Student Tess Malone '12, Prof. Gayle Wald, Office Manager Constance Kibler, Prof. Jeffrey Cohen

Dear GW English Alumni/ae,

Welcome to the fall 2010 department newsletter! We're pleased to bring you news of what's going on in Rome Hall. The English Department boasts a nationally and internationally renowned faculty, graduate programs for doctoral and master's students (including a new 5-year BA/MA degree), and, of course, spectacular majors and minors, who continually impress us with their energy and vitality.

We're a busy department. In this newsletter, you'll find updates about faculty research, student achievements, and recent and upcoming events. You'll also find a "Class Notes" section filled with interesting reports from fellow alumni.

We would love to hear from you. If you're in the DC area, please consider stopping by to say hello, or come to one of our many lectures or readings; they are always open to you. If you're not in DC, consider sending us an email or snail mail. In any case, we hope this newsletter not only calls up fond memories, but piques your interest in all that we currently do.

With warm best wishes,

Gayle Wald
Professor and Chair

English Welcomes Two World-Class Writers

New GW Professors Edward P. Jones and Thomas Mallon

English is thrilled to welcome two sterling writers to its creative writing faculty. Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Edward P. Jones, author of such acclaimed works as The Known World and All Aunt Hagar's Children, will teach creative writing beginning in spring 2011. Jones was GW's inaugural Wang Visiting Professor of Contemporary English Literature in the spring of 2009.

Thomas Mallon, a novelist and critic, is author of works including Henry and Clara and Two Moons. A prolific writer of nonfiction, Tom is former former literary editor of GQ, where he wrote the "Doubting Thomas" column for ten years, and a former Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Prof. Mallon teaches and directs the Creative Writing Program.

Read more

Prof. Judith Plotz Retires after 44 Years

Prof. Plotz in a relaxed moment

Prof. Judith Plotz, a beloved member of the English Department since 1965, retired last spring to make room for long-deferred plans--for writing, travel, study (a book on Rudyard Kipling), and grandchildren. 

Judith Plotz has been a pioneering scholar and teacher at GW, beginning her career at a time when few women were considered equal to men as professors. She quickly acquired a name for herself as a 19th-century specialist, and was one of the first women ever to be tenured in English. She has been a pioneering scholar of children's literature, both nationally and at GW, and is author of Romanticism and the Vocation of Childhood, among other works. Prof. Plotz was also instrumental in introducing courses in postcolonial literature, especially literature of the British Empire and the Indian subcontinent, and Jewish American literature. She won the CCAS Dean's Teaching Excellence Award in 1990, was department chair from 1991 to 1994, and won the Trachtenberg Award for University Service in 2000.

The English Department will honor Prof. Plotz with a one-day Conference on 19-Century Studies on October 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Marvin Center. Are all welcome to attend!

Read more

English Graduates First Class of BA/MA Students
In spring 2010, GW English graduated its first class of 5-year BA/MA students. This program, instituted in 2009, allows outstanding GW undergraduate English majors to complete both their BA and an MA in English in 5 years (instead of the usual 6 years). BA/MA students, who are culled from the department's Honors English program, begin taking graduate classes in their senior year, while they work on honors theses. They then undertake an intensive year of graduate study.

As education becomes more expensive, the BA/MA program allows students to condense the time it takes for them to acquire an advanced degree. GW benefits as well, since we enjoy having some of our very best students around for an extra year! The first class of BA/MA students were: Carolyng Gomes, Scott Jacobsen, Landon Manjikian, and Rosemary Tonoff. 

Read more

Prof. Moskowitz Teaches "Jewish Literature Live"

Prof. Faye Moskowitz with author Michael Chabon in 2009

Spring 2011 will mark the third year of Jewish Literature Live, a unique GW course taught by Prof. Faye Moskowitz, made possible by the generosity of English department alumnus David Bruce Smith BA '79. In Jewish Literature Live, students read works by living Jewish authors--from such established names as Michael Chabon to up-and-coming writers with recently published first novels--and then get to meet them. In 2009-10, a lucky cohort of Jewish Literature Live students had the pleasure of interacting directly with Myla Goldberg, Rebecca Goldstein, Howard Jacobson, and Dara Horn, among others. Students learn to analyze the works they're reading as they produce their own creative writing.

"The question of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century is a question that undergirds the course, because we're finding that the Jewish experience is so varied," Prof. Moskowitz has said.

Jewish Literature Live, a course which is not duplicated anywhere in the country, is starting to attract national "buzz," Prof. Moskowitz notes. Writers have heard about the course even before they get invitations to participate. Meanwhile, "alumni" of Jewish Literature Live have stayed in touch since they took the course, occasionally emailing Prof. Moskowitz with ideas for future courses.

Read more

English Houses Medieval & Early Modern Studies Institute

An illuminated manuscript depicts a Biblical scene

Since 2008, the English Department has housed the GW Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute, or GW MEMSI, a group that brings together scholars with shared research interests from across GW and the greater DC academic community. The first
major humanities initiative funded under the University’s Research Enhancement Fund, MEMSI brings together faculty and students in history, English, French and Italian to foster new research, exchange ideas and strengthen partnerships between GW and other scholarly organizations. MEMSI scholars are engaged in myriad topics of study spanning the sixth to 18th centuries, including community formation, violence and cultural differentiation, consumption and trade, and the interactions among Christians, Jews and Muslims.

“We wanted to create a structure in which everyone, from advanced scholars to
undergraduates, could form a community and create cutting-edge scholarship that
will change the way we think about the past,” said Jeffrey J. Cohen, professor and MEMSI director.

This fall, GW MEMSI embarks on another year of exciting programming aimed at connecting undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.

Read more

Prof. Robert Ganz Announces Upcoming Retirement

Prof. Ganz’s scholarship focuses on Robert Frost

Prof. Robert Ganz, a member of the English Department since 1964, and the venerated teacher of generations of GW students, has announced that he will retire in 2011. We are sad to lose this inimitable scholar, who has been a core faculty member in English since … well, since before many of our current faculty members were born!

Robert Ganz received his AB, MA, and PhD from Harvard, and taught there, at Yale, and at the University of Virginia before joining the GW faculty. A scholar of Robert Frost, Prof. Ganz has taught courses in English, Humanities, and Honors, and directed numerous theses and dissertations, including the dissertation of Prof. Ann Romines.

English will be celebrating Bob Ganz’s career this spring by hosting a “Last Lecture” and a reception. All are invited; look to the English blog for more information.

Read more

Donors Generously Support GW English


Gifts to the Department of English allow us to provide support for faculty and student research and travel, graduate student fellowships, and academic enrichment activities including guest speakers, visiting faculty, and symposia. Each gift, no matter its size, makes a positive impact on our educational mission and furthers our standing in one of the nation's preeminent liberal arts colleges at one of the world's preeminent universities. 

You can make your gift to English in a number of ways:
- Securely online. Choose "other" under designation and type in "English."

- By mailing your check, made out to The George Washington University and with "English" in the memo line, to:

The George Washington University
2100 M Street NW, Suite 310
Washington, DC 20052

- By phone by calling the GW Annual Fund at 1-800-789-2611.

DONOR HONOR ROLE

GW English gratefully acknowledges the following generous donors who made a gift to the department last academic year (July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010):

Ms. Jenny Anne Burkholder '93
Mrs. Grace H. Carter '53
Mrs. Natalie L. Carter
Ms. Rochelle E. Deavy, Staff
Mr. Lawrence M. Dennee, Parent
Mr. Winston Eldridge '85
Ms. Laura Feigin, Student
Dr. Richard M. Flynn '87
Mrs. Michal Fromer Mufson '03
Mr. Parviz Hadjialiloo, Parent
Dr. Charles M. Hanson '82
Mr. Edward E. Hickok, Parent
Mrs. Tina Hickok, Parent
Dr. Donald Kauder, Parent
Ms. Erika Lauren Kauder, Student
Mrs. Tamara Kauder, Parent
Mrs. Jean L. Linton '47
Dr. David McAleavey, Faculty
Ms. Kyaiera M. Mistretta Tucker '03
Mrs. Brenda J. Montague '78
Mrs. Faye Moskowitz, Faculty
Dr. Gail Orgelfinger '72
Dr. Randall Packer, Staff
Dr. Jeanne Marie Rose '95
Ms. Anna Katerina Sagal '07
Ms. Jane M. Sayer, Friend
Ms. Sara Ann Schwartz, Student
Mrs. Lauren D. Simonetti '02
The David Bruce Smith Family Foundation
The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation
Mr. David Bruce Smith '79
Ms. Madeleine A. Starkey '09
Dr. Christopher Sten, Faculty
Ms. Kelley Cherise Stokes, Student
Mr. William L. Strickland '92
Mr. John George Sussek, III '79
Ms. Jennifer Lyman Wagner '90
Dr. Tara G. Wallace, Faculty
Mr. Jon K. Williams '02

Read more

Class Notes
The department's summer appeal for news from alumni garnered an enthusiastic response. Below you'll find news of some of our most recent graduates. Click on “READ MORE” for other years.

Interested in connecting with current English majors? The Department is looking for alumni to talk to students about their careers and about life after GW. Please contact Prof. Holly Dugan, hdugan@gwu.edu

Molly Curtis ’09 writes, “Instead of studying Eugene O'Neill and W.B. Yeats, I now spend my days among the works of Dr. Seuss and Ezra Jack Keats! I am teaching elementary special education in a D.C. public charter school with Teach For America.”

Katy DiSavino ’09 currently works in New York City in the marketing department of Samuel French Inc., the world’s oldest and largest licensor and publisher of plays. She writes, “ The full-length play I wrote at GWU in Prof. Pati Griffith’s Intermediate Dramatic Writing class, NANA’S NAUGHTY KNICKERS, has been picked up by Samuel French for publication and licensing. So far 4 professional theatres across the country have either done it or slated it for the 2010/2011 seasons, and 3 amateur groups in Canada and South Carolina have done the same.”

Rhonda Green ’09 recently worked at a public charter school in D.C. as a Teacher's Assistant. She has two sons, Malachi and (recently) Khyree.

John Miller ’09 is currently going into his second year teaching freshman English at Spingarn SHS in Northeast DC as a member of the DC Teaching Fellows. He recently began an MFA in Fiction Writing at Johns Hopkins University.

Read more

What do you want to read about? Have news to share? Let us know.  Submit your news to engdept@gwu.edu. Please include your name, year and contact information.