The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

A group from Villanova University, led by President Fr. Peter Donohue, went to the Abbey Theatre, the National Theatre of Ireland, to meet with the Director, Fiach MacConghail, Chair of the Board, Dr. Bryan McMahon, and Abbey staff. Dr. Joseph Lennon, Director of the Irish Studies Program and a professor in the English Department, along with Tony Ponturo, Broadway producer and Villanova alumnus '76, discussed the coordination of the Summer Studio, a joint 3-week, Villanova-Abbey Theatre summer program, as well as a possible Abbey Theatre residency at Villanova University. To read our post about Dr. Lennon's meeting with the president of Ireland, click here . Dr. Joseph Lennon, Director of Irish Studies, Villanova University and Fiach MacConghail, Director of the Abbey Theatre President Peter Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D., Villanova University and Fiach MacConghail, Director of the Abbey Theatre L-R: Oonagh Desire, Director of Publ...

Dr. Joseph Drury will be giving a lecture on Matthew Lewis's The Monk  this lunchtime hour in the Fedigan Room. Please join us! Joseph Drury “Twilight of the Virgin Idols: Iconoclash in The Monk” 12:30 Monday, Sept. 29 in the Fedigan Room.

The English Department is hosting a recruiting event, coordinated by Dr. Jean Lutes, for undecided undergraduates to experience being an English major for an evening. The event will be a fun and accessible way to approach a familiar text. The evening will be facilitated by upperclassman English majors as well as Graduate English students, who will perform a dramatic reading of a passage and then lead breakout discussion groups. More graduate students are always welcome to assist with discussion groups. Let Dr. Lutes know if you are interested!

Dr. Joseph Lennon, Director of Villanova Irish Studies and Associate Professor of English, has just returned from a trip to Ireland with a retinue of Villanova administrators, including Father Peter Donohue. The visit included meetings with both the President and the Prime Minister of Ireland to discuss the ongoing work of Villanova's Irish Studies Program. L-R: Teresa O'Neill, friend of Villanova University and wife of Mike O'Neill Mike O'Neill, Vice President for Advancement, husband of Teresa O'Neill Dr. Joseph Lennon, Director of Irish Studies, Villanova University President Peter Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D., Villanova University Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins Ronnie Delaney, Villanova alumnus '58, Chapter President Ireland's Villanova  Alumni Association Tony Ponturo, Villanova alumnus '74, Dean of Arts and Sciences's Advisory  Council Member George Kolb, Vice President for Alumni Relations Dr. Mary Madec, Director of t...

Congratulations to class of 2014 Graduate English alum Lydia Browning and her husband, Zachary, who just welcomed their baby girl. Her name is suitably literary: Josephine May Browning.

A new certificate program in Education is now available. This option permits students who are especially interested in teaching secondary school to take coursework from the Villanova Education Department in tandem with their English coursework. Through the certificate courses, you can develop advanced teaching techniques, learn about lesson planning, and familiarize yourself with the uses of classroom technology, as well as cultivate more specialized knowledge in a range of areas of pedagogical theory and practice. The certificate includes three required courses and two electives, one of which can be satisfied by a graduate English course. To learn more, see the online  brochure . You can also direct questions to Dr. Edward Fierros, the Graduate Director of the Education Program, at  edward.fierros@villanova.edu .

The graduate school just introduced an interdisciplinary, graduate-level Gender and Women's Studies certificate. This option permits you to pursue specialized graduate coursework in Gender and Women’s studies while also earning your M.A. in English. The interdisciplinary 15-credit certificate program permits you to take courses focused on topics related to gender and sexuality from a wide range of graduate programs at Villanova, including History, Communication, Theater, Philosophy, Education, Psychology, Political Science, and the Law School. Two courses from your English M.A. can also be counted toward the certificate. To learn more about this program and how to apply, click here: http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/gws/academics/graduate-certificate.html. If you have questions, you can contact Dr. Lutes at jean.lutes@villanova.edu .

Interested in The Great Gatsby? Want to get some experience planning an event centered on a literary classic? The English department is hosting an event designed for first-year students, and we need students to help us. The English Department has started doing more outreach to the undergraduates (especially freshmen) to be sure that our department and major remain visible to them now that there is no freshman English course in the core requirements for the university. Last year we held a very successful event called "Wildcat in the Rye" in one of the freshmen dorms. The concept was to talk about a book that is taught in high school and explore how it is approached differently at the college level. A faculty member talked briefly about Salinger's novel, and then there were breakout discussions run by graduate students. Around 90 freshmen attended the event (which also included free pizza and cookies). This year, we're going to have a similar event, "The ...

Graduate English students are welcome to enroll in this Liberal Studies graduate-level study abroad course as an elective to supplement their MA in English. Graduate Liberal Studies presents Currents in GreekHistory: a semester long odyssey into the Greek past and present. Course Code LST 7201-001 In addition to selected readings for in-class discussion of Greek history and culture, students will travel to Greece for two weeks to visit ancient, Byzantine, and modern sites and to use facilities of the Harvard Hellenic Center in the beautiful city of Nafplion, first capital of Modern Greece. In addition to tuition, the approximate cost per student is $2750. The course will be offered in the spring semester, 2015. Those interested should contact Dr. Alexander Varias at Alexander.Varias@Villanova.edu to arrange meetings and interviews in the early fall, or the Director of Graduate Liberal Studies, Dr. Marylu Hill at Marylu.hill@villanova.edu about enrollment detai...

At this auspicious season of the year, when Pumpkin Lattes are making their appearance in summertime, the beach and autumn overlap over Labor Day weekend, and school still seems still a bit premature, one species is even more confused about the season: the Villanova Graduate English student. So happy to be back in the library and the classroom and once again surrounded by the smell of books, this student can be sighted in carefully chosen locations with a cup of coffee in one hand and a thick book in the other. The winter hibernation begins early and he will likely remain in his cozy burrow until the snow melts. Welcome back, everyone!

Jon presented his paper, “Mercy through Catholicism: Apocrypha in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,” at the New Voices Graduate Conference on Origins, Identity, and Authenticity at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA in January 2014.