The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

In October, second year MA student Sarah Beth Gilbert served on two panels and presented at the first Multiverse Con, an inclusive science fiction/fantasy conference. Sarah Beth served on the panels, “Beyond Gender: LGBTQ+ Representations in Science Fiction” and “Female Agency in Wielding Power,” at which she presented her paper, “Institutionalized Control of Female Agency: Knowledge and Power of Witches in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Penny Dreadful .” You can read more about Sarah Beth's research and Multiverse Con here . Congrats, Sarah Beth!

This post by guest blogger and professor Dr. Adrienne Perry. What does a career in publishing look like? How does someone interested in jobs or internships in publishing get started?  On Monday night, a packed room gathered to hear four high-powered Villanova alumni answer these and other questions. Cece Ryan, Publisher of  People  magazine and Senior VP at Meredith Corporation underscored that there are lots of different kinds of publishing (hint: it’s not all about books). According to Ryan, finding fulfilling work after Villanova should be an exhilarating process. Villanova students can feel both proud and prepared to meet their futures. Gary Urda, Senior VP for Sales at Simon and Schuster, reminded the audience that publishing is a 26 billion dollar a year industry on the cutting edge of art and culture. Given the size of the industry, what percentage of jobs in this field are editorial? At Simon and Schuster, Urda estimated about 10%. He then discussed the dynami...

This post by guest blogger and first year grad student Caitlyn Dittmeier. This past Monday I had the opportunity to interview Professor Jill McCorkel, a professor of Sociology and Criminology at Villanova, for the Irish Studies Anniversary podcast series. As a former Irish studies minor and now a graduate student continuing my studies in Irish literature, I was so interested to learn more about her research in Ireland last year. Professor McCorkel has been investigating the U.S. criminal justice system for many years, visiting prisons and serving as an advocate and consultant for wrongful conviction cases. For any new place McCorkel travels to, she makes sure to visit the prisons in the area-performing participant observation and having honest interviews with prisoners and prison staff. I really admire her ethnographic approach to research because it allows her to listen closely to the individual stories and experiences that speak to larger issues of injustice. As Professor McC...

This past Monday, four Villanova alumni shared their experience in publishing at the Publishing Matters: Careers in Publishing Alumni Panel event. Bob Bender (Simon & Schuster), Cece Ryan (People and Meredith Corporation), Gary Urda (Simon & Schuster), and Kelly Moran (Macmillan/St. Martin's Press) shared their experiences in book and magazine publishing, as well as their thoughts on what it takes to launch a successful publishing career. The four panelists also shared how a Villanova education has influenced their work. Thanks to everyone who attended!

Left to right: Zac Richards, Kristen Wallace, Shea Szpila, and Matthew Ryan Last night, our grad students and faculty met over pizza to informally discuss teaching. Matthew Ryan, currently doing an internship in teaching English, was able to present on that opportunity. A good time (and good pizza) were had by all.  Left to right: Dr. Heather Hicks, Kyle Bernadyn, Lauren Wilke, Caitlyn Dittmeier, Sam Dugan, and Zac Richards

This post by guest blogger and first year grad student Lauren Wilke. This past Thursday evening, students and faculty from the English Department met for a Teaching Roundtable event to discuss teaching techniques, share advice on the subject, and to enjoy some tomato pie. Dr. Evan Radcliffe and Dr. Heather Hicks attended to share valuable insight into their personal experiences with teaching throughout the years. Second-year graduate student Matthew Ryan talked in-depth about his current position as a teaching intern and what it has taught him. He had tips and ideas that ranged from collaborating with a faculty member to classroom management techniques. Everyone with teaching experience was able to share ideas and advice for those who are interested in pursuing a teaching career.

A few students from Kamran Javadizadeh's What Is Poetry course attended an event this past Monday featuring Charles Davis, a professor of Architectural History, and Solmaz Sharif, a poet and Creative Writing professor, in conversation around architectural utopianism in postwar African-American writing, the work of June Jordan, and the intersections of poetics and power. The What Is Poetry class just finished reading Sharif's first collection, LOOK , and the event was a wonderful opportunity to hear Sharif read poems from the collection in person. Students also got to briefly meet and chat with Sharif following the event. Solmaz Sharif reading from her collection Students Caitlyn Dittmeier and Olivia Stowell meeting Sharif 

The Referent of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century February 21, 2020 9:30 AM -5:00 PM Reception at 5 Villanova University Garey Hall 10A Register in Advance here This conference builds on fresh work on reference—or how the text refers to a world outside of the text—in order to rethink the aesthetics and politics of nineteenth-century Irish literature. Responding to a set of shared readings, participants will ask big questions: What does literature about nineteenth-century Ireland refer to, and what are its habits of reference? Does the referent change for readers across time? Now that old saws about Ireland’s failed realism have been put to bed, what purposes might be served by thinking about Irish referential habits? Does thinking about Ireland and reference strand nineteenth-century Ireland in old paradigms of representation that preclude us thinking about mediation ? How does the nineteenth-century literature and culture of Ireland refer to our own culture and...

This past Thursday, October 30, the department hosted Dr. María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo from NYU for our semester colloquium! Dr. Saldaña-Portillo's talk, entitled "What is the Time of the Decolonial? Who Speaks for the Dispossessed? Roma and the White Settler Colonial Paradigm," discussed Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 film, exploring dynamics of colonialism and decoloniality, politics and power, spiral time, the film's use of sound, and the depiction of the film's central character, Cleo. Dr. Saldaña-Portillo presents her paper Thanks to everyone who attended the colloquium!

Thanks to Dr. Evan Radcliffe for hosting the Thesis and Field Exam Workshop last week. Current grad students met last Thursday evening to get information about the thesis and field exam process, including timelines, requirements, and examples from previous graduate students (which can also be found here  on the YAWP). Students also enjoyed pizza together while they got more details about what the thesis or field exam entail. Some important dates to keep in mind for grad students planning on finishing their degree in Spring 2020: December 13: Last day to submit a spring thesis or field exam proposal to Mike January 31: Last day to apply for May graduation April 24: Last day for students writing a spring thesis to defend and submit May 1: Last day for students taking a spring field exam to complete the oral component May 4: 10th Annual Thesis and Field Exam Symposium, at 5:30pm in SAC 300! Best of luck to all grad students starting work on their theses and field exams!

Thanks to all who came out to the Publishing Matters: See Your Name in Print - Publishing 101 event this past Wednesday! Celebrated author Robin Black and editor Travis Kurowski held a panel discussion alongside student editor Tia Paris, moderated by Dr. Adrienne Perry. 

We were glad to welcome the new graduate students for fall 2019 and to enjoy some pizza together!

What's Hot?  Introduction to Theory Across the Discipline of English ENG 8000: Literary Theory Dr. Heather Hicks CRN 28851 Thursday 5:20-7:20 pm This course will be run as a seminar in which each week, a different graduate faculty member will introduce you to a body of theory that is particularly important within current discussions in their field of specialization.  What are some of the major theoretical approaches in medieval studies today? Early modern studies? What about 19th-century American literature and British literature?  Modernism?  Postcolonial Studies? Irish Studies? Contemporary literature?  This new, experimental class is an attempt to bring you immediately into dialogue with a wide variety of theories that are shaping literary study today.  The course is intended to be a lively opportunity to meet most of the English faculty members who teach at the graduate level and to engage in dialogue about and analysis of the contemporary state o...