Department of English

Fall 2016

Marshall Alcron, Chair and Professor of English

A Message from the Chair

We’ve begun another exciting year, and English is always delighted to hear from you. Please visit us when you’re in town at our new home on the sixth floor of Phillips Hall. We continue to appreciate your generosity. Read the department blog for up-to-date listings and notes on the many student events and activities which you have helped to support. Please let us know about your personal and professional milestones. As always, we truly appreciate that many of you have been inspired by previous newsletters to make a gift to our department, and we want you to know that your contributions really make a difference. Keep in touch—and, yes, tell us about the great books you’re reading.

Best wishes,

Marshall Alcorn
Chair and Professor of English

Department Spotlights

A Celebration of the Work of James Miller

Professor James Miller

(1944-2015)

We held a symposium on the work of James Miller in September 2015. Professor Miller (1944-2015) focused in his career on a wide range of topics in African American literary and cultural studies across the 20th and 21st centuries. He was the author of Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial (Princeton University Press, 2009) as well as numerous essays focused on African American literature, music and history. A panel of invited scholars addressed the remarkable reach of Jim’s work. Barbara Foley addressed the connections between modernism, race and labor movements. Farah Jasmine Griffin talked about the African American novel and questions of justice. Paul Gardullo, a doctoral student of Jim’s, shared how Jim’s teachings continue to influence his work at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Finally, writer and faculty member Edward P. Jones brought the house down with a reading from his short story collection, Lost in the City.

Jung Yun Hired as Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

Assistant Professor Jung Yun

The department is delighted to announce the hiring of fiction writer Jung Yun as assistant professor of creative writing. Professor Yun started teaching this fall, and her first novel, Shelter, was published by Picador this year. The central character in Shelter, Kyung Cho, lives in Massachusetts with his wife Gillian and their young child. The couple is struggling financially following the 2008 housing crisis. The novel, in fact, opens with a meeting between them and a real estate agent who is helping them weigh their options for navigating financial crisis. Kyung himself is the son of successful Korean immigrants who live nearby. As Kyung and Gillian talk with the real estate agent, the three are suddenly jolted by a disturbing image out the window in the backyard. A woman is slowly approaching, naked and traumatized. It is Kyung's mother, Mae. Something terrible has happened. We encourage everyone to find out what happens next in this novel that The New York Times has called “gripping” and “captivating.”

Faculty Visit the University of Macau

Professors DeWispelare and David McAleavey (back row), Jennifer Chang and Patty Chu (front row),flanked by University of Macau graduate students.

This fall, Patty Chu, Jennifer Chang and Daniel DeWispelare joined David McAleavey at the University of Macau for a symposium with that university’s faculty and students. Professor McAleavey is a GW Global Humanities exchange professor at Macau this semester. Everyone shared expertise and experiences in hopes of fostering collaboration in the arts and humanities. As part of the trip, several University of Macau graduate students gave the faculty a brief tour of old Macau, which included the chance to admire the façade of the church of St. Paul, a relic from the time when Macau (also spelled Macao) was a Portuguese colony.

Faculty Kudos

Professor David McAleavey published the poetry volume Rock Taught (Broadkill River Press, 2016).
Professor Jeffrey Cohen and Lowell Duckert, PhD ’12, published the edited collection Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water, and Fire (University of Minnesota Press, 2016).
Ayanna Thompson’s co-authored Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centred Approach (Bloomsbury Arden) was published in 2016.

Alumni Updates/ Class Notes

Tiffany Bailey, MA ’07, is president/CEO of OSC Edge, an IT and Technical Communications consulting firm. She acquired OSC in 2010 and grew the firm from two to 35 employees. She attributes OSC's success to the writing and research skills she learned at GW.

Donna Balaguer, BA ’91, is a principal with the law firm Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., practicing in the Regulatory & Government Affairs group.

Michael Bennett, BA ’02, has two books forthcoming in 2017: Analytic Philosophy and the World of the Play (Routledge) and an edited collection, Philosophy and Oscar Wilde (Palgrave Macmillan). He is associate professor of English at University of Wisconsin - Whitewater.

Thank You For Your Support!

The Department of English would like to gratefully acknowledge the following generous donors who made a gift to the department from July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016.

David Bruce Smith Family Foundation

Robert H. Smith Family Foundation

Sara C. Alexander, BA ’66, MA ’70

Yolande Lanni Allen, BA ’70

Daniel M. Atwood, MA ’67

Linda Norberg Blair, PhD ’95

Harris S. Blum, BA ’08

Vinod Busjeet*

Barry Cardin, BA ’05

Elisa A. Cimento, BS ’16

Jordan M. Coggins, BA ’15

Catherine M. Crockett, BA ’81

Susan T. David*

Carl L. Dennis, BA ’16

Kelly A. Domnick*

Sean C. Domnick*

Heather Michelle Fix, BA ’04

Richard M. Flynn, MPhil ’84, PhD ’87

Margaret D. Garrett, PhD ’79

Shoshana Moskowitz Grove, BA ’82

Daniel J. Grover, BA ’16

Tiffany N. Hendrickson, MA ’07

Frederic S. Huffnagle, Jr.~

Marjorie H. Kalter, BA ’67

Adam Marc Katz, BA ’13

Andrea Elise Korte, BA ’09

Damini Kunwar, BA ’16

Haley A. Lloyd, BA ’16

Alexandra L. Lorimer, BA ’16

Robin Meader, BA ’88, MA ’92

Brenda J. Montague, BA ’78

Faye S. Moskowitz, BA ’70, MA ’79+

Jack Moskowitz, BA ’02

Samuel J. Munford, BA ’10, MA ’12

Kathleen C. O'Brien, BA ’14, MA ’15

Gail Orgelfinger, BA ’72

Randall K. Packer+

Carson A. Rolleri, BA ’16

Jeanne Marie Rose, BA ’95

Sharyn H. Rosenblum, BA ’86

Anna Katerina Sagal, BA ’07

Frederick W. Shipman, Sr., BA ’55

Gabriel S. Simon, BA ’16

Zachary Nasser Smiley, BA ’14

Clarice R. Smith, BA ’76, MA ’79

David Bruce Smith, BA ’79

Robert H. Smith**

Madalene Elizabeth Adams Sosa, BA ’96

Christopher W. Sten+

Kelley C. Stokes, BA ’10, MA ’12

Vergie L. Taylor, MA ’67

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, MA ’80

Ayanna T. Thompson+

Alanna K. Thornton, BA ’05

Helen Margaret Tulloch, BA ’87

William Gray Turner, MPS ’11

Keren E. Veisblatt, BA ’09

Jennifer Lyman Wagner, BA ’90

Dana R. Wahab, BA ’15

Timothy F. Waltonen, PhD ’05

* Friend

** Parent

+ Faculty/Staff

~ Student

Support the Department

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 how large or small, makes a positive impact on our educational mission and furthers our standing as one of the nation's preeminent liberal arts colleges at one of the world's preeminent universities.

Your gift to the Department of English will be considered a part of Making History: The Campaign for GW, a comprehensive, university wide philanthropic effort to raise funds in support of GW’s vision and priorities. To learn more, please visit http://campaign.gwu.edu/.

You can make your gift to the department in a number of ways:

Securely online at the following link.

By mailing your check, made out to The George Washington University and with the name of the department in the memo line, to:

The George Washington University

2033 K Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20052

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

Volunteer with George Washington University

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