The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

Although people often think humanities research is conducted by individuals, it is always collaborative. For Professor Mary Mullen, there is no greater pleasure than thinking with other people and refining research and writing with them. Professor Mullen's recently published co-edited volume, with Professor Renee Fox, titled   Race, Violence, and Form: Reframing Nineteenth-Century Ireland , is the product of several collaborative conversations at the University of Notre Dame, Villanova University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The volume is dedicated to Sara Maurer, Mary's undergraduate professor, mentor, and friend, who dreamed up ideas behind the book.  For more about this important volume, see  this recent blog  post from Liverpool University Press.

We hope you can be present on Friday, April 24, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Driscoll Atrium to celebrate the launch of the 2026 edition of   CONCEPT , Villanova's interdisciplinary journal of graduate studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. We are pleased to report that English is again well-represented this year, with Guadalupe Martinez, Carly Johnson, and Griffyn Leeds contributing articles. You can find more information about their papers below:   CONCEPT 2026   Guadalupe Martinez,  “Education, Relationships, and Movement in   Female American  and   Woman of Colour”     Carly Johnson,  “Publicity, Power, and Perception: Research in Entertainment PR” Griffyn Leeds,  “Tuberculosis and Incest in  The Fall of the House of Usher" We hope you can join us to congratulate the authors, as well as thank the student editors and peer reviewers. We look forward to celebrating with you around great food, drink and convers...

Dr. Lauren Shohet has been crisscrossing the country lately presenting on Shakespeare, Milton, AI, and more, so we thought it would be a good time to catch up with her and discuss her teaching and scholarship. To begin with, Dr. Shohet gave a lecture at the Huntington Library on January 31 st on “(In)Visibility and Mediation: Milton’s Eve,” in which she also discussed vanitas paintings (more on this later). Then, in February, she attended the Renaissance Society of America conference in San Francisco, where she gave a talk as part of the book history discussion group. In addition, while in San Francisco, Dr. Shohet also presided over Milton Society events. Finally, in early April, she attended the Shakespeare Association Conference in Denver and presented on Shakespeare and AI. Regarding mediation and Milton’s Eve, Dr. Shohet explained that she is in the middle of a long project that examines mediation in Paradise Lost-- as she put it, “What it is for angels and for the Son of God, t...

By Aria Gray MA '26 Late in the afternoon on March 11th, a handful of professors, administrators, and students gathered in the St. Augustine Center for the Villanova English Teaching Roundtable. The event was a casual yet informative conversation for all present, giving potential future teachers a chance to glean some helpful advice while giving current educators the opportunity to share their thoughts on the contemporary educational landscape. A panel of four faculty members, Administrator Mike Malloy, Program Director Mary Mullen, Prof. Yumi Lee, and Prof. Evan Radcliffe, fielded questions from first- and second-year graduate students over dinner, addressing the personal and professional sides of the profession. Discussion topics ranged from the specific, such as “How should my approach change from a high school to a graduate level?” and “What expectations should I set for myself in my first year?”, to the existential, with concerns being raised over the future of AI and how to b...

    Join the Reading and Community Class for a Book Club and Bookstore Expedition! Reading and Community may be over, but our community reading isn’t! Join us to read Taylor Jenkins Reid’s  Atmosphere ( https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646858/atmosphere-a-gma-book-club-pick-by-taylor-jenkins-reid/ ) on Tuesday nights from 5:30-6:30 in Garey Hall B03. We will read roughly the first 100 pages (if you are reading on a e-reader and want to know where to stop reading, email Dr. Mullen at  mary.l.mullen@villanova.edu ). Everyone is welcome. We will also go to  Main Point Books  on Sunday, April 19 at 10:30. We will browse books, maybe buy a few, and then grab coffee and talk about good reads! If you are interested in attending, RSVP here:  https://forms.gle/TdHfB8SZWG78GfFA7

The Center for Research and Fellowships (CRF)  is excited to announce a new workshop series designed for current and prospective graduate students seeking funding to support their research!  “Applying to Grants and Fellowships to Support Your PhD,” Friday, April 10, 12:00 – 1:00 PM on Zoom:  This workshop will provide an overview of grants and fellowships designed to support doctoral research, from dissertation conception to completion. Open to current Villanova PhD students and current undergraduate and master's students interested in pursuing a PhD. All disciplines welcome!  Registration on Handshake here.     “Applying to Grants and Fellowships to Support Master’s Research,” Friday, April 17, 12:00 – 1:00 PM on Zoom:  This workshop will provide an overview of grant and fellowship opportunities available to support research at the master’s level. Open to current Villanova master's students a...

The week after spring break our friends at the Lepage Center have an op-ed workshop featuring the editors of Made By History (3/12/26 from 4-5 p.m.). This event is primarily for History graduate students and upper level undergraduates, but may also be of interest to English students interested in public-facing writing. Please see this flyer from the Lepage Center for more information! The workshop will be held on Zoom .

Suny Brokport will be holding a hybrid graduate conference on  Saturday,   April 18 , from 9:30 – 5:30. Graduate Symposium   (Hybrid conference – all sessions in person & on Zoom)   SEGue  Organizers invite proposals   for   creative works   (poems or short fictional/nonfictional prose for 10–15 minute readings, followed by q&a), individual scholarly presentations   (15-20 minutes, critically considering literary texts and contexts), panels/roundtables   (75 minutes).   engaging with any of the following aspects of   literary adaptation : Creative writing concerned with adaptation to social, political, climactic and other change Environmental or evolutionary adaptation (ecocriticism) Technological adaptation in translation, critical scholarship, or creative writing Adaptive publication (multimedial, multiple editions, etc.) Translation as adaptation (craft of translation and scholarship on translation)   Translingu...

          When Dr. MaryJo Yannacone, Villanova BS ‘90, MA ‘94, and Superintendent of Springfield Township School District, entered my Zoom call midday on a quiet Friday afternoon, she had already dealt with a litany of complicated problems and situations, including but not limited to handling a weather-induced facilities breakdown, attending a regional superintendents meeting, running a business meeting, addressing a student matter, and, the cherry on top, being notified of an active water main break affecting one of the district’s buildings mere minutes before our conversation began. Dr. Yannacone, however, radiated such a present, attentive calmness that I had no idea any of this was going on until I asked her what a typical day in her life as a superintendent looks like.             “There's no predictability about the day,” she explained. “You can schedule your calendar for meetings, school visits, and oth...

English faculty and graduate students are cordially invited to attend the Graduate English Conference at nearby Lehigh University on March 20th. The theme of the conference is literature and social justice, in particular in relation to health, and the keynote speaker is Dr. Travis Lau.  You can register by March 1st to attend by visiting Lehigh's registration form .