The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

A report on the 2010-11 MLA Job Information List (JIL) is now available on the MLA Web site. The report shows trends in the number of jobs announced in the JIL over the past thirty-six years (1975-76 to 2010-11) and provides an analysis of the characteristics of ads that departments have placed in the JIL's digital databases each year since 2000-01.The number of jobs advertised in 2010–11 rose by 90 (8.2%) in the English edition and by 73 (7.1%) in the foreign language edition since 2009–10. In 2010–11 the JIL’s English edition announced 1,190 positions, compared with 1,100 in 2009–10; the foreign language edition announced 1,095 positions, compared with 1,022 in 2009–10. The number of jobs advertised in 2010–11 remains a third below the 2007–08 peak, when the English edition announced 1,826 jobs and the foreign language edition announced 1,680 jobs. For the full report, go to:  http://www.mla.org/

Congratulations to Dr. Shohet, Associate Professor of English, for being appointed the first holder of the Luckow Family Endowed Chair in English! The Chair supports a nationally recognized scholar and highly-regarded teacher who enhances the scholarly reputation of the department, college and university, while also advancing the education of Villanova literature students. As Chair holder, Dr. Shohet hopes to draw international perspectives together, especially expanding English majors’ and graduate students’ opportunities to consider international dimensions of their studies. Dr. Shohet also plans to explore interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary opportunities within the department. Click here  to read the full article.

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Conference on Gender and Women's Studies will take place starting at 1:00 on Thursday. The conference features presentations by both undergraduates and graduate students who have done research on gender and women's studies. The keynote address will be by Dr. Noel Sturgeon, who is a Professor of Women's Studies and American Studies at Washington State University. Dr. Sturgeon, who received her Ph.D. from the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California at Santa Cruz, will be presenting on the political vision of James Cameron's film Avatar, using the film to explore questions about the potential of popular culture to function as a mode of activism. The schedule of panels is as follows: SESSION I: 1:10-2:10 Postmodern Approaches to Feminism - DEVON ROOM Women's Agency in Literature - BRYN MAWR ROOM East-West Perspectives on Women in Society - ROSEMONT ROOM Women & War - HAVERFORD ROOM Performance of Oppres...

On Saturday, April 2nd, Villanova's Graduate English Program hosted our 2nd annual Thesis and Field Exam Symposium. The event was well-attended by current and prospective students, as well as members of the faculty. We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all those who came in support of our presenters, and give a special thank you to those who presented, Mary Beth Harris, Jessica Fullerton, Chris Bollini, Kelly Vass, Katie Prilutski, and James McAdams.

The second annual Thesis/Field Examination Symposium will take place on Saturday, April 2nd from 10:00 to noon in SAC 300. This event is conceived as an opportunity for students who are completing the program to present their research, while also giving first-year students a sense of the sorts of projects that are undertaken as master's theses and field examinations. We hope to have two consecutive one-hour sessions, in which students offer ten-minute presentations of their research. The event is structured so there is plenty of time for comments and questions by audience members and other presenters. Copious amounts of delicious gourmet coffee will be served before and during the event, and after the second session, there will be a catered lunch. We hope to see you there!

The English Department announces the following $100 prizes to be awarded for the best essays written for English classes. Essays can be entered by faculty or students. They should be emailed to Susan Burns, English Department secretary, (susan.burns@villanova.edu) The deadline is April 8, 2011. (1). Undergraduate Award - The Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Award, given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by an undergraduate student at Villanova. (2). Graduate Award - The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award, given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by a graduate student at Villanova. The two prize-winning essays will be published. Eligibility: Both competitions are open only to students taking courses at Villanova University, including night school courses. To be eligible, essays must have been (1) written within a year preceding the deadline (2) written either for a Villanova English course (2100 level or higher) or for ...

Each summer, the Univeristy of Notre Dame offers a three-week Irish Studies Seminar in Dublin that has a very strong national reputation. Tuition and housing are usually around $4,000 per student. This year, the seminar has offered a special "two students for the price of one" deal to our students. One student has already expressed interest in the program. If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Heather Hicks! Here is some more information regarding the program: The IRISH SEMINAR 2011: Irish Modernisms 20 June – 8 July 2011 THEME Modernism, marked by a strongly self-conscious rupture with tradition and a formal and conceptual inventiveness, is often understood as a vigorous reaction against established religious, social and political views. Informed on one hand by the horrors of the Great War (1914-18) and governed on the other by a belief that our world is created in the very act of perceiving it, no absolute truth existed to provide guidance o...

At 1:00 PM on Thursday, February 17th, Fiach Mac Conghail, the director of the Abbey Theater, is speaking to Irish Literature classes. The event will take place in the Villanova University Theatre and we encourage you to attend!

On Thursday the 17th of February, the Annenberg Center will be hosting the Abbey Theatre's production of "Terminus" by Mark O'Rowe. The event will take place at 8:00 PM and those graduate students who wish should attend should contact Dr. Joseph Lennon. Some free tickets are available!

At 4:30 PM on Tuesday, February 15th, the Irish Studies Program will be hosting "James Joyce, Pioneer of Page and Screen." There will be a lecture given by John McCourt of the University of Trieste, followed by a film. McCourt is a world-renowned Joyce scholar who has written about Joyce’s time in Trieste in his biography, The Years of Bloom: James Joyce in Trieste, 1904–1920. The event will take place in Room 300 of the St. Augustine Center and we encourage you to attend!