Newsworthy: Gee's Bend Experience Nears End

Several events highlight the final week of the Quilts of Gee's Bend experience on the Auburn University campus. Upcoming events include:

• The Quilts of Gee's Bend Exhibit at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art continues through Sunday, December 4.

• A panel discussion about the legacy of the quilts will be Thursday, December 1 at the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center.

• Renowned dancers Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis will perform an original dance honoring the quilts and quilters of Gee's Bend on Wednesday, November 30 and Friday, December 2.

The Gee's Bend exhibit at the JCSM will run through Sunday December 4. Children and AU students are admitted free to the museum everyday. Sunday admission is free to all for the duration of the Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit. For further information about the museum please visit the JCSM online or call 844-3081.

The Quilts of Gee's Bend in Context group and Women's Studies are hosting a panel discussion on the legacy of the Gee's Bend quilts on Thursday, December 1 at 5 pm at the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center auditorium. A question and answer period will follow.

This discussion brings together four of the finest scholars in America to discuss the national legacy of the Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit:

• Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, art historian and curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• Dr. Elsa Barkley Brown of the University of Maryland at College Park, one of the first historians to implement the study of quilts in the study of women's history and black history

• Pulitzer Prize winning historian and Harvard University Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the author of Homespun and A Midwife's Tale

• Dr. Patricia Cox Crews, an acclaimed national expert on quilts and textiles, from the International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

This event is sponsored by the Center for Diversity, Women's Studies, Stevens Fund, History, and the College of Liberal Arts.

In recognition of the artistic and cultural legacy of the Quilts of Gee's Bend, renowned choreographer and dancers Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis will perform "The Bends of Life...Surviving, Sewing, Standing," an original dance that honors the quilts and quilters of Gee's Bend.

The dance will be performed Wednesday, November 30 at 7 pm in the Auburn High School auditorium and Friday, December 2 at 5 pm in Foy Union Ballroom.

For more information about the Quilts of Gee's Bend, visit the Quilts of Gee's Bend in Context web site.

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December 31 - The New England Quarterly Essay Contest Deadline

The New England Quarterly, a Historical Review of New England Life and Letters, is now accepting submissions for its annual early American history essay contest. Entries must be postmarked by December 31.

The 2005 Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History will be awarded for a distinguished essay on colonial history, with preference being given to New England subjects. The prizewinner will receive $2,500, and the winning essay will be published in The New England Quarterly.

For prize specifications and more information about the contest, visit The New England Quarterly website. Essays may be submitted to Whitehill Prize Committee, c/o Linda Smith Rhoads, Editor, The New England Quarterly, 249 Meserve Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115.

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January 5, 2006 - Lead Teacher/Co-Teacher Workshop - 9:30 am - HC 3104

A workshop for Department members serving as Lead Teachers and Co-Teachers during the upcoming Spring semester will be on January 5, 2006, from 9:30 am to noon in HC 3104.

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January 5, 2006 - WebCT Basic Training Session - 8:30 am - HC 3242

January 6, 2006 - WebCT Advanced Training Session - 9 am - HC 3242

The College of Liberal Arts is offering two workshops on WebCT next year—a basic training session on January 5 and an advanced session on January 6.

The deadline to sign up for one or both classes is December 2. If you would like to participate, email Darrell Crutchley or Wiebke Kuhn. There are 28 seats available for each workshop.

The basic workshop will give you an introduction that will allow you to start using WebCT when your classes begin. The workshop will cover the basics of creating a WebCT course and linking it to your class roll; adding material to the course; organizing your course so that it makes sense to students; managing your course: backups of individual tools and the whole course; using some of the communication tools; and using quizzes.

The advanced training session will build on the basic workshop but will also be very useful for WebCT users who would like to learn more tools, more tricks, and in general want to gain more experience. The session will include: organizing content; using additional communication tools with an emphasis on HorizonWimba Voice Tools; using WebDAV as a shortcut to transfer files into WebCT; adding students assessment tools; using grade calculations; adding design icons; and using additional tools such as image database and glossary.

For both workshops it will help greatly if you have already created your content (i.e., text files, images files, list of links, PowerPoint presentations) and bring it on a CD, jump drive, or can access it from your email.

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January 10, 2006 - Information Technology Open House - 10 am - HC 3223B

The College of Liberal Arts is hosting an Information Technology Open House on January 10, 2006, from 10 am to 4 pm in HC 3223B (located in HC 3223).

Anyone teaching English classes can stop by for quick help with WebCT, PowerPoint, other software, and classroom equipment.

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Southern Humanities Review Hosts High School Students

On Tuesday, November 29, the Southern Humanities Review hosted 12 high school students who attend the Montgomery magnet school for the arts and humanities.

The group learned about the journal and also had the opportunity to talk with creative writers Judy Troy and Chris Forhan, several of Margaret Kouidis' honors students, and Julie Hinz, editor of The Auburn Circle.

The group's teacher, Foster Dickson, wanted to encourage his students to not only attend college but also to stay in Alabama for higher education.  

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Publication Announcement - Paula Backscheider

Johns Hopkins University Press has just published Paula Backscheider's Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre. This 514-page book analyzes the forms in which women wrote and the ways they adapted, revised, and created distinct new kinds of poetry out of traditional forms.

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Job Search Materials Available

The Department of English offers a dossier service to graduate students and instructors who are searching for jobs. A description of these services is available in the "Job Search" drawer of the copy room.

Also, it is possible, and desirable, to register for the service and request to have dossiers sent online. To do so, visit the Careers section of the Department web site. Electronic requests are quicker and eliminate problems caused by handwriting.  

Those who wish to have a mock job interview prior to the MLA convention should complete a request form and return it to Margaret Kouidis as soon as possible. These forms can be found in the "Job Search" drawer in the copy room.

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Spring 2006 Theatre Schedule

This spring, the Auburn University Theatre Department will feature productions of Shakespeare's Tempest, dance pieces choreographed by AU faculty member Judith Nelson, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

The production schedule with performance dates:

• dAUnce, January 26-29

• The Tempest, March 7-12

• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, April 12-15 and 18-23

Weeknight and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 pm, and Sunday performances begin at 2:30 pm. Admission is free to Auburn students with valid University ID. Tickets are $18 for faculty, staff, and senior citizens and $20 for the general public.

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Books for Africa Drive

MA student Saiward Pharr is chairing the Graduate School Council's effort to collect books of all sorts for the Books for Africa Drive.

Acceptable donations include text books, anthologies, novels, poetry, etc. The only stipulations are no books with copyrights previous to 2000 and no journals or magazines.

Collection bins have been placed in HC 8009 (the eighth floor lounge) and in the lobby of Haley.

Feel free to make an announcement in class, especially as the end of the semester approaches and students start thinking of disposing of their texts. Every book that is collected is either donated directly to educational programs in Africa or sold by the organization to donate proceeds to educational programs in Africa.  

Contact Saiward with questions or for more information.

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To include an item in The English Channel, submit text items by Tuesday at 4 pm for publication Wednesday. Submit items by email to Will Brinkley 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 November 30, 2005

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Department of English
9030 Haley Center
Auburn University, AL 36849-5203
Phone (334) 844-4620
FAX (334) 844-9027
© 2005 Department of English at Auburn University. All rights reserved.

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