Please join us in this celebration as we focus on cultural diversity at Auburn University. The week's activities, including guest speakers, door prizes and free pizza, are as follows:

April 15 - "Scan Your Horizons": The automated check-out stations are featured on Monday. Our goal is to have 100 patrons check out books at each station during the day. Is there a region of the world about which you know little or nothing? Find a book on that area and check it out!

April 16 - "The World in the Palm of Your Hand": Tuesday's emphasis is on new technologies in the library. Come see demonstrations of our Palm Pilots, IPACs, and wireless laptops.

April 17 - "Literature of the World": Cultural diversity in literature takes center stage on Wednesday when we present readings from various cultures. These readings will take place in the 2nd Floor lobby of the Library.

April 18 - Thursday presents a diversity of its own when we invite local authors to speak during the morning and afternoon hours. So far, our guest speakers are Dr. Stephen Gresham and Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. Then, at 5:00 pm, we will present the second annual Library 5K, aka "The Running of the Librarians." The entry fee is $10.00, and participants receive a T-shirt.

April 19 - "Feed Your Mind" @ Your Library. Free Pizza lunch and soft drinks on the Mell Street Patio.

For more information, call Jon Brasher at 4-1730.

UPC Coffeehouse (Open Mic)

Society for Technical Communication Workshop: Working Together

Auburn is hosting a workshop for the Birmingham Chapter of the Society of Technical Communication on Saturday, April 20, 2002.  Registration is free for students and lunch will be provided.  Academic fellowships and awards in technical and professional communication will be announced during lunch.  Click here for the workshop agenda.

This workshop is a great opportunity for students to learn more about the ‘real world’ of technical communication and meet technical communication professionals.  To register or for more information contact Dr. Cunningham at cunnidh@auburn.edu.  The registration deadline is Monday, April 8.

Great Books Assessment

Everyone teaching Great Books this semester should please remember to ask their students to submit two copies of their second formal paper, so that a copy of it may be forwarded anonymously to the Great Books Committee for assessment purposes. More information on the assessment project and instructions for submitting papers electronically are available on the Great Books web site. (During the last week of class GB instructors will be told which student's work to send to the committee.) Thanks for your help.

The English Club meets tonight, Wednesday, April 3, at 7:00 at the Big Blue Bagel.  We will discuss the upcoming Fiction Reading and the English T-shirt sales.

Fiction Reading

Be creative and get ready for the first Fiction Reading sponsored by the English Club.  The reading will be April 11 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at the Big Blue Bagel.  Polish your best story and watch for further details.  Each reading should last 10-15 minutes.

The Great Books Program invites all students to the viewing of two films in conjunction with the Zora Neale Hurston Week. 

    Tuesday, April 9, at 7:30, we will show "Tell About the South," a film that covers Southern literature in the early 20th century. Authors and literary critics make cameo appearances in the discussion of authors like Hurston, Faulkner, and many others. 

    Wednesday, April 10, at 7:30, we will show "Zora is My Name," a theatrical presentation starring Ruby Dee, based on Hurston's autobiographical writings. Both movies will be shown in Haley Center 1203. 

We hope to see you there!

Undergraduate Awards Ceremony and Benson Lecture

Debra Moddelmog, Professor of English at The Ohio State University and an Auburn University alum, will deliver the 2002 Benson Lecture as part of the English department's annual undergraduate awards ceremony on Thursday, April 18 at 3:00 pm in the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception for Professor Moddelmog will follow her presentation.

Professor Moddelmog will examine contemporary versions of the Hollywood romantic comedy in her presentation, "Is Romantic Comedy Ever Gay?: Hollywood Film and Sexual Citizenship."  She will address the question of what happens to the genre when gay characters are portrayed in the lead roles. She will focus especially on structural differences between recent gay romantic comedies (e.g., "In and Out") and heterosexual romantic comedies (e.g., "Never Been Kissed" and "Bridget Jones's Diary") in regard to two moments: (1) the kiss, which indicates that the two lead characters are meant for each other, and (2) the marriage ceremony to which the kiss is symbolically or literally connected.

Students and faculty will also have an opportunity to meet informally with Professor Moddelmog on Thursday morning - watch The English Channel for details.

Auburn is hosting a workshop for the Birmingham Chapter of the Society of Technical Communication on Saturday, April 20, 2002.  Registration is free for students and lunch will be provided.  Academic fellowships and awards in technical and professional communication will be announced during lunch.  Click here for the workshop agenda.

This workshop is a great opportunity for students to learn more about the ‘real world’ of technical communication and meet technical communication professionals.  To register or for more information contact Dr. Cunningham at cunnidh@auburn.edu.  The registration deadline is Monday, April 8.

UPC Coffeehouse (Open Mic)

Contests, Competitions, Awards . . .

You can find the hard-copy announcements of contests, competitions, and awards on the bulletin board outside the English Department office, 9030 Haley Center. 


Send your undergraduate news items to Brooke Bullman, the Undergraduate Student Editor for The English Channel, at bullmbe@auburn.edu.

Over spring break, Marta Kvande successfully defended her dissertation, ""If there be power in words': Women, Authority, and the Novel in the Long Eighteenth Century," at the University of Delaware. Jim Ryan has been awarded a J. Walter Thompson Company Research Grant for work at Duke University's Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History during Summer 2002. While at the Hartman Center, he will continue work on an essay concerning popular culture representations of the early automobile (1885-1920). Isabella Wai's article, "Wilbur's 'Objects,'" has been accepted by The Explicator for publication in a forthcoming issue.

If you would like to include an item in the "Professional Notes" section of The English Channel, please submit your note to Betsy Smith.

 

If you would like to include an item in the "Personal Notes" section of The English Channel, please submit your note to Betsy Smith.

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Please submit items and direct all questions or comments about The English Channel, to Betsy Smith who currently maintains this site.

To include an item in The English Channel, submit text items by Tuesday at 11:40 a.m. for publication the following Wednesday. Graphic images are due by the preceding Friday at 11:40 a.m. Submit items by using my email link or by putting a note or disk in my mailbox (disks will be returned). If you submit an image on disk, please make sure that it can be edited to fit and be read clearly on the page. Items over fifty words in length should be submitted on disk or sent by email. Please check your submission for accuracy and completion--all calendar items and meeting announcements must include the date, time, and location of the event. Please omit all unusual formatting.