The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

On Thursday December 1st the English Department was pleased to host Rachel Sagner Buurma (Swarthmore College) and Laura Heffernan (University of North Florida), who presented “What Was Distant Reading?: Critical Counting and Poetic Making in Caroline Spurgeon’s ’The Art of Reading’ and Shakespeare’s Imagery." Buurma and Heffernan wrote: This talk is drawn from our book project “The Teaching Archive: A New History of Literary Study.” “The Teaching Archive” offers a new archive for disciplinary history: the twentieth-century English literature classroom’s syllabi, lecture notes, exams, and assignments. Our presentation turns to the teaching and research of Caroline Spurgeon, the first female professor in the UK and author of Shakespeare’s Imagery and What It Tells Us (1935).  Shakespeare’s Imagery, we argue, is important early work of distant reading. To prepare it, Spurgeon and her research team spent more than a decade combing through Shakespeare’s corpus in order to index t...

Last Wednesday the English department hosted a holiday decorating party. Students, faculty, and staff stocked up the lounge with food, drink, and cheer! Vegetarian chili, three layer dip, vegetable meatballs and potstickers. Plus tons of festive dessert.  Grads and undergrads got together to decorate the office tree and cover the ceiling in glittering snowflakes. We're delighted at the turnout of what we hope will be an annual Villanova tradition. 

Chocolate-peanut butter wand pretzels and Snitch Chocolates The English Department took a break this past Wednesday to get a witchy with this Harry Potter themed coffee hour. Our own Brooke Erdman made the chocolate and peanut butter pretzel wands, as well as the (chocolate) golden snitches! It was a great opportunity to get grads, undergrads and faculty together. Additionally, the English department was a stop on the Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt hosted by Falvey Library! We can't wait to see you all next time. Grad Laura has caught the golden snitch! 150 Points to the English dept!

We are happy to welcome the newest member of the English department staff, Brooke Erdman. As Program Coordinator, Brooke will be working on a range of initiatives to improve the functioning of the graduate program as well as heighten its visibility. Brooke received her MA from the Villanova Liberal Studies program where she specialized in the Digital Humanities. She worked for two years after that in the Graduate Studies Office before joining us in English. We are delighted to have Brooke with us, and we hope you stop by soon to introduce yourself!

Every year in the beginning of the fall semester, English undergrads and grads work together to engage freshmen with an introduction to college-level literary discussion. Using a text most freshmen have read (this year was Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby , while last year tackled Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye ), students perform an excerpt from the work and then lead freshmen into small discussion groups in order to discuss the text, as well as answer questions about the English program here at Villanova. Freshmen students piling into the event Lead by the wonderful Dr. Jean Lutes, volunteers from the English department performed the famous scene of Gatsby and Daisy's reunion.  Our very own Nick, Daisy, Gatsby and narrator The event was a huge success, marking our best turnout-to-date, with 163 freshmen in attendance! Not only do events like "The Great Catsby" open a dialogue with freshmen considering taking English classes, they also offer a l...

After 29 years working at Villanova, our beloved Susan Burns has retired. Susan has worked as the administrative assistant of the Graduate Department, doing all the work behind-the-scenes that kept the English Grad program running so smoothly. Left to right: Dr. Heather Hicks, Susan Burns, current grad student Laura Tscherry and visiting Irish Scholar Victoria Brady You are sorely missed, Susan! Hope you're enjoying retirement!

Every fall the Villanova English department hosts a forum for students to learn about the PhD process. The faculty are different every year, and each applied and finished their doctoral programs at different times, so the variety of their experiences is a crucial resource to current masters students considering continuing their higher education. Plus, there is always pizza! Department Chair Dr. Heather Hicks explains the tenure track job market The faculty at Villanova are dedicated to giving grad students the best possible shot at getting into and completing a PhD. program. Information sessions like this one don't shy away from the reality of doctoral programs in the humanities. Not only do they discuss the scarcity of tenure track positions on the job market, they encourage you to consider the other positions, both in and outside of academia, that a student can pursue with a doctoral degree. Dr. Brooke Hunter and Dr. Jean Lutes talking PhD. admissi...

For those new to the program, several times a semester the English Department hosts a Coffee Hour to get our grads, undergrads, and professors together.  It's a great opportunity for students and faculty to catch up and relax - with coffee and cookies, of course! This past Thursday was our first of the year, but we can't wait to see you all again soon.

Last Friday the English Department welcomed grads, new and returning. The reception had a great turnout of students and faculty. It was the first opportunity of the year to chat and eat together, with many grads meeting their cohort for the first time. We look forward to seeing everyone together again as semester unfolds!

New English chair Dr. Heather Hicks gives the story behind the new posters in the department's office suite: Several years ago, I was visiting my parents for Christmas in my hometown in Maine.  My family has lived in this small rural town since the early 19th century.  One day, my father mentioned that he had to pay a visit to a local library where he was helping several volunteers with upkeep.  I had vague memories of this small library one town over, as my great grandmother had lived in the few rooms attached to it, and she had sometimes taken care of my brother and me there when we were very little.  I offered to come along with my father, and my husband also tagged along.  When we arrived, I had a surge of memories of the time I had spent in this space as a child.  I remembered the wooden cabinet, built into the wall of the parlor, where my grandmother kept cream pitchers she collected.  Some were tiny, some large, some shaped like cows, or...

We are proud to announce our 2016 English Masters!

For the first time ever, the Villanova English grad program put on their very own literary bake-off! All contestants had to bake a Shakespeare-inspired sweet for the Bard's 452nd birthday. Our graduate participants in front of their work! The entries were as delicious as they were creative! Traditionally made Elizabethan Lemon Cakes Romeo & Juliet inspired apple crumb Opeelia! - candied orange peels dipped in chocolate Coffee and Chocolate two layer cake "Blood will have blood" so says this Red Velvet cake And finally the bake-off winner, Laura Tscherry's There's Rosemary and Lemon Tart - That's for Remembrance

Dr. Mary Mullen organized and hosted our Alice's Adventures in Wonderland  event this March, to get success! Dr. Mary Mullen - picture from Villanova English blog "Yes, that's it!," said the Hatter with a sigh. "It's always tea time!"  There were games, prizes, trivia and a live reading of the tea party scene! And what would a birthday be without cake? Happy 150th birthday, Alice!

Kicking off this year's Literary Festival is Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo. Come down to the Connelly Center Cinema at 7:00PM this Thursday, January 28. We can't wait to see you there!

Show your love for the Villanova English department this year! The shirts were unveiled at the Holiday Coffee Break in December (pictured below), and you can pick yours up from the department office for just $10. These cool, funny tees were designed by the department's undergrads Christie Leonard and Kevin Madden. Dr. Chiji Akoma and Dr. Crystal Lucky pose with some of our grad students We hope to see you all at the next department coffee break!