- Newsworthy: Michael Smith Publishes Stories, Finds Importance in Novellas
- EGO Meeting - Wednesday - February 9 - 3:15 pm in 8009 Haley Center
- Major Decision Day - Tuesday - February 15 - 9 am to 1 pm - First Floor Haley Center
- MTPC Oral Exam - Jessica M. Lueders - Thursday - February 17 - 3:30 pm in 3166 Haley Center
- Benson Lecture and English Symposium Series - Jahan Ramazani - Thursday - February 24 - Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art
- Robert Hughes Mount, Jr. Poetry Prize Deadline March 1
- Not Just Desserts - Lecture by Susan Lanser - March 3 – 12:30 pm in Foy 217
- Breeden Teaching Grants - Application Deadline March 11
- IMG Academy Application Deadline - March 15
- Congratulations to James E. Ryan - Promotion and Tenure
- Faculty Publication - Miriam Clark
- Faculty Publication - Marvyn Petrucci
- Faculty and Graduate Students to Attend Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference in Charleston
- Registration for Annual STC April in Auburn Meeting
- Phone Book and Magazine Recycling Period Approaching
Newsworthy: Michael Smith Publishes Stories
, Finds Importance in Novellas
Instructor Michael Smith received the Transatlantic Review Award for fiction in 2002 and has published stories in numerous literary reviews. "Dos Mujeres" will soon be published in Texas Review and "Anywhere" was published online in the summer edition of The Summerset Review. In the spring of 2003 he served a postdoctoral fellowship with the EUR-AM Center for International Education in Pontlevoy, France and taught expatriate literature of Paris in the 1920s and creative writing.
Smith recently agreed to work with Russell & Volkening Literary Agency to represent his novel and collection of short stories. Still Maben, Smith's first novel, is set in South Mississippi, a dice's toss away from the concrete of the casino-lined coast. The collection of short stories is a culmination of a series of sketches he worked on while teaching abroad in France in 2003 and the stories that survived his work at the Center for Writers at Southern Mississippi.
Smith is currently working on a novella that focuses on a married couple in Paris who have had their nine-year old daughter abducted. He enjoys writing short novels because "some of my favorite books are short novels, books like The Stranger, Good Morning Midnight, The Comfort of Strangers. It seems to be a form getting less and less attention in the contemporary market."
Smith likes to use short novels in his World Literature II classes because of "the tight focus on story and how the book limits itself to the important detail. I think a misconception, at least to the casual reader, is the shorter the novel, the less complex the narrative, but I don't think that's true at all. It seems like Notes from Underground would easily squash that notion."
Smith and his wife are expecting their first child in early February, so he's trying to get in as much creative time as possible between now and then, though anxiousness seems to fill most of his hours. He also enjoys practicing the guitar.
EGO Meeting - Wednesday - February 9 - 3:15 pm in 8009 Haley Center
The English Graduate Organization (EGO) will hold a meeting on Wednesday, February 9, at 3:15 pm. Department graduate students are encouraged to attend.
Major Decision Day - Tuesday - February 15 - 9 am to 1 pm - First Floor Haley Center
Auburn University's annual major recruitment fair, Major Decision Day, will be held on the first floor of Haley Center on Tuesday, February 15, from 9 am to 1 pm. As in previous years, the English Department will have a table with recruitment materials for English majors and minors, and, as in previous years, it will be staffed by English faculty and undergraduates. If any professorial faculty have the morning of the 15th free and would like to spend some of that time happily answering questions about the major or minor, contact Craig Bertolet by 4 pm on February 11.
MTPC Oral Exam - Jessica M. Lueders - Thursday - February 17 - 3:30 pm in 3166 Haley Center
Second-year MTPC student Jessica M. Lueders will present materials from her portfolio and coursework on Thursday, February 17, at 3:30 pm in 3166 Haley Center.
MTPC students fulfill their degree requirements by completing an oral exam and portfolio presentation. During the oral exam, students present many of the documents they have created in their MTPC classes and that appear in their portfolios. Students also incorporate information from their course readings and discussions into their presentations.
Members of the student's advisory committee conduct the oral exam. Department members and guests are invited to attend and ask questions.
Benson Lecture and English Symposium Series - Jahan Ramazani - Thursday - February 24 - 3 pm at Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art
Jahan Ramazani - William R. Kenan Professor, University of Virginia, and editor of The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry - will present the Benson Lecture, which is also the second English Symposium Series lecture of the semester on Thursday, February 24, at 3 pm at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art.
The title of Ramazani's talk is “Who’s in, Who’s out?: Anthologizing Modern and Contemporary Poetry.” He will discuss how the editor of an anthology chooses which poems and poets to include and which to exclude. He will also meet with faculty and students throughout the day. For more information about Ramazani, please see his website.
Robert Hughes Mount, Jr. Poetry Prize 
Deadline March 1
The Auburn University English Department is pleased to announce its annual Robert Hughes Mount, Jr., Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, and endowed by Mrs. Frances Mayes, offering a $100 prize for the best poem submitted by an Auburn University student.
Graduate or undergraduate students may submit up to three poems to Jeremy Downes' mailbox in the English Department, 9030 Haley Center. The contest deadline is March 1, 2005. More information about this contest can be found online.
Not Just Desserts - Lecture by Susan Lanser - March 3 – 12:30 pm in Foy 217
Dr. Susan Lanser will give a lecture entitled "The Sexuality of History: Sapphic Subjects and the Making of Modernity" on March 3. Her lecture, a part of the Not Just Desserts series, is sponsored by the Center for Diversity and Race Relations, Department of Foreign Languages, Women's Studies, and the
Philpott-Stevens Fund.
Breeden Teaching Grants - Application Deadline March 11
Competitive grants for teaching enhancement projects will be available again this year from the Daniel F. Breeden Endowment for Faculty Enhancement. Tenured/tenure-track faculty from all disciplines or faculty from the clinician title series with appointments continuing through the 2005-2006 academic year are eligible. Funds may be used to enhance courses or programs, enrich the core curriculum, develop workshops, or underwrite almost any activity germane to teaching or the evaluation and assessment of teaching.
Applications must be received by the Biggio Center by 4:45 pm on March 11. For more information and for application forms, visit the Biggio Center website.
IMG Academy - Application Deadline - March 15
The Instructional Multimedia Group will offer two basic and one advanced Summer Academies (now referred to as IMG Academies) this summer and is looking for faculty and GTAs to participate. These Academies aim to help participants develop teaching materials using instructional technology.
The College of Liberal Arts, as in previous years, will fund several participants for each session. This year funding has been raised to $4,000 per participant, but the number of participants funded through the College will be limited.
Applications need to be carefully planned for the best chance of acceptance. Faculty are encouraged to talk to their program coordinators and heads/chairs to find out what kinds of projects will be most useful for a program or department; graduate students and instructors must get specific approval from their program or department.
The deadline for applications is March 15. Information about application submission can be found online. Contact Wiebke Kuhn for more information or if you have any questions about the Academy.
Congratulations to James E. Ry
an - Promotion and Tenure
James E. Ryan has been tenured and promoted to Associate Professor of English. This promotion will be effective beginning the 2005 Fall Semester.
Faculty Publication - Miriam Clark
Miriam Clark's essay "Art and Suffering in Two Late Poems by William Carlos Williams" appears in the Fall 2004 issue of Literature and Medicine, accessible by way of Project Muse.
Faculty Publication - Marvyn Petrucci
Marvyn Petrucci's review of Roads Not Taken: Rereading Robert Frost (Missouri U. Press) will appear in an upcoming issue of the South Atlantic Review. Also, his poem "Lake Goddess" is scheduled to appear in the winter issue of the Southern Humanities Review.
Faculty and Graduate Students to Attend Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference in Charleston
Isabelle Thompson, Coordinator of the English Center, and graduate students Milla Chappell, Kristen Miller, Abby Whigham, and Julie Anne Zorn will attend the Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference in Charleston, SC February 10-12, 2005.
The theme of this year's conference is "Writing as Learning" and the 2005 guest speaker will be Christopher M. Anson, Professor of English and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University.
Registration for Annual STC April in Auburn Meeting
Technical and Professional Communication faculty and students and members of the Birmingham Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication will meet on Saturday, April 9, for the annual April in Auburn meeting. This year's theme will be "Writing Proposals and Grants." Chuck Keller, co-author of the textbook Proposal Writing: The Art of Friendly and Winning Persuasion, will give the keynote address: "Tips for Finding, Analyzing, and Responding to Requests for Proposals." A PDF version of the meeting's complete agenda and information about presenters can be found online.
Those planning to attend the meeting must register through the Birmingham STC website. Registration is $15 for STC members, $20 for non-members, and free for students.
Phone Book and Magazine Recycling Period through February 18
The annual AU recycling campaign for telephone books and magazines will last until February 18. The campaign will accept all old phone books and magazines. Collection containers are in the lobby of Haley Center.
To include an item in The English Channel, submit text items by Tuesday at 11:40 am for publication Wednesday. Submit items by email to Jessica Lueders or Betsy Smith or put the information in their mailbox. Please check your submission for accuracy and completion—all calendar items and meeting announcements must include the date, time, and location of the event.
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Last updated February 9, 2005