Department News
01/15/08
The CSU Writing Center Proudly Presents:
“A Tale
of Two Writers”
Red-Carpet
Film Premier
Followed
by a Q&A session with the filmmakers
Thursday,
January 31, 2008
12:30 to
1:15 (approx.)
Davidson
Auditorium
Free and
open to all
Join
us on a frolicking romp through the trials and triumphs of writing a
paper. From critically unacclaimed directors Ashley E. Cooper & Danielle
M. Thompson comes this exciting journey through the unexpected, with an
all-star cast, exotic locations, and more than one misplaced modifier.
It’s the
story of two twin sisters, Britnee & Bethanee, who are on a quest to
discover the true meaning of agency...and each other. Will ambiguous
pronoun reference and annoying bell towers keep them from their wish, or
will the sisters prove themselves worthy of an A?
Writers Strongly
Cautioned:
Rated A: for Allegory,
Attention to detail, and Alliteration
This
film was written, directed, and produced by two Writing Center
consultants, whose aim was to make a humorous film about the wonderful
writing process, as well as the sometimes difficult process of finding
agency in one’s writing. The film focuses on the freshman college
writing experience, so this is a great opportunity for professors,
especially freshman composition professors, to bring their students for
extra credit or even as a class outing. You’ll get to see some familiar
faces – English Department faculty and students as you’ve never seen
them before – lighting up the screen and bringing the characters to
life.
********************************************************************************************************************
New Mac Lab in Woodall Hall
9/24/07
The new Macintosh lab for Professional
Writing students opened in Woodall.
The lab uses hardware and software that will help prepare students for
careers in the writing and editing
fields.
Upcoming Events
9/18/07
The ASA International Screenwriting Competition has an early deadline
of October 31 and a late deadline of November 30. First prize is
$10,000. First five places get their scripts reviewed by 500+ industry
shakers. This is a great opportunity for a decent storyteller. Hollywood
needs decent writers. Google the above competition title and Shazam!
you're there.
*************************************************************************
The following two events are in collaboration with the Columbus
Public Library as a part of their BIG READ, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
programming. For more information, go to:
http://www.thecolumbuslibrary.org/
On Tuesday, October 9, Ms. Cathy Fussell, Assistant Professor of
English at Columbus State University, will lead a public discussion at
the Columbus Public Library. The title of the discussion will be: "Scout
Finch, Meet Frankie Addams," and it will be a comparison of Harper Lee's
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Carson McCullers' THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING.
On Tuesday, October 16, the Carson McCullers Center, Schwob Memorial
Library and Columbus Public Library will co-sponsor a talk by noted
author Charles Shields, biographer of Harper Lee. The event will be held
at the Schwob Memorial Library.
****************************************************************************
On Thursday, October 18 Cathy Fussell, Assistant Professor of English
at Columbus State University, will give the keynote address,
on Carson McCullers, at Hometown Perry, Iowa Museum in Perry Iowa, where
the whole community is encouraged, as a part of the NEA Big Read
Program, to read McCullers' THE HEART IS A LONLEY HUNTER. For more
information, go to
http://hpi.design.iastate.edu/thebigread.php
Publication News
9/20/07
Dr. Seon Jeon, Assistant Professor of English at Columbus State
University, has recently had her research study published into a book.
The following is the full reference.
Jeon, K.S. (2007). Interaction-driven L2 learning: Characterizing
linguistic development. In A. Mackey (ed.) Conversational Interaction in
Second Language Acquisition: A series of empirical studies. Oxford
University Press.
9/14/2007
Dr. Dan Ross, Professor of English at Columbus State University has
published the following article and essay.
Article, "Oedipus in Derry: Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark,
has been published in the Spring, 2007 issue of New Hibernia Review.
Essay, "The Upward Waft: The Influence of Frost and Eliot on
Heaney's Later Phase," has been published in a book entitled Seamus
Heaney: Poet, Critic, Translator (Palgrave/Macmillan).
Another essay by Dr. Ross, "The Parabolic Structure of Trevor's The
Story of Lucy Gault," will be published this fall in Modern Irish
Literature (Sunderland Univ. Press)
McCullers Center Announces Recipient of Writing Fellowship
7/30/2007
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Columbus State University’s Carson McCullers Center
for Writers and Musicians has selected award-winning novelist Mylčne
Dressler as its 2007 Marguerite and Lamar Smith Writing Fellow.
As the fellowship’s second recipient, Dressler will work on a new
novel this fall (Sept. 1-Dec. 1) while residing in McCullers’ childhood
home on Stark Avenue in a historic south Columbus neighborhood.
 “For
me there was no one like McCullers,” said Dressler, right. “She was the
chiseler of bone; she wasn’t afraid of light and dark, or to be both
earthy and intellectual. Above all, she wasn’t afraid of crimes that
also happen to be truths.”
Dressler, who lives and writes in Texas and southern Utah, has
published three novels, The Floodmakers, The Deadwood Beetle and
The Medusa Tree, plus a number of nonfiction scholarly works.
“I want my own fiction to have the same directness, musicality, and
sheer vibration that somehow holds her work together without shattering
it to pieces… I often return to (McCullers’) The Heart is a Lonely
Hunter,” she said. “It has a way of tutoring me, of keeping me honest
when I need to write about stark characters who are nevertheless fully,
achingly human.”
Dressler’s work has been translated into several foreign languages
including French, Dutch and Turkish. Her numerous awards and prizes
include a Fulbright fellowship, the Women’s Press Great Books by Women’s
Writers Series Award and several writing residencies, including those
from the Hedgebrook Foundation and the Syvenna Foundation.
In 2002, she earned the prestigious Paisano Fellowship in Literature
from the University of Texas at Austin, where she has also served as a
visiting writer. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, she was
featured with Larry McMurtry, Molly Ivins and others in Conversations
with Texas Writers (2005), and she has taught literature and writing at
the University of Texas, the University of St. Thomas and Rice
University, where she earned a doctorate in English. She earned her
bachelor’s degree in English from the University of San Francisco.
Named for McCullers’ parents, the Marguerite and Lamar Smith
Fellowship for Writers provides a stipend to cover living expenses in a
spacious private apartment at the Smith-McCullers House Museum.
Recipients also are required to offer a presentation of their work near
the end of the residency.
CSU's McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians operates the
Smith-McCullers house to preserve the legacy of McCullers, who died in
1967 after writing five novels, 20 short stories and more than two dozen
articles and essays. The center’s mission includes nurturing American
writers and musicians; educating young people and fostering the literary
and musical life of Columbus, Georgia and the South.
In addition to the writing fellowship, the center offers two composer
residencies for musicians, presents extensive educational and cultural
programs for the community and maintains an expanding archives related
to the life and work of McCullers.
For more information, go to
http://www.mccullerscenter.org or call 706 327-1911.
**************************************************************************************************
English Prof to Lead CSU's Writing Improvement Effort
3/28/2007
CSU has selected Jim Owen, professor of English, to lead the
recently established Quality Enhancement Plan.
Owen will assume the role in July as Director of Faculty
Programs in Teaching and Learning, with offices in the Richards
building. He will supervise a program specialist and
administrative assistant and report to Vice President for
Academic Affairs, George Stanton.
“The quality enhancement program represents an emerging focus
on academic integrity and the utilization of assessment programs
to assist and encourage efforts by the faculty to improve
learning outcomes through effective teaching and an emphasis on
student responsibility for effective learning,” said Stanton.
Owen’s appointment follows recognition by his faculty peers.
He has received the Faculty Service Award that cited him for,
among other achievements, “tackling service tasks that require
steady hard work and that keep the institution on an honest
academic footing.”
His next task, the five-year, $1.8 million QEP, is a recent
faculty response to a new accreditation requirement of the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. CSU’s plan is
entitled “Writing the Solution: Steps Toward Developing
Competent and Professional Student Writers.” “This initiative is
important because it has started a dialogue about how we teach
writing skills across this campus; in order to succeed it will
require faculty support and time,” Owen said.
Samples of freshmen student writing have already been
collected and evaluated. The plan will be applied on a larger
scale to students in the coming academic year. CSU’s QEP
features separate components: competent writing that addresses
grammar and critical analysis in lower-level classes, and
professional writing that guides upper-level writers in
conforming to professional writing standards of a given field.
Initially, Owen will assume responsibility for programs
underway that are engaging faculty campuswide to prepare to
carry out the QEP. “I look forward to working with the faculty
to create a center to carry on the conversations about teaching
that have started during the year and a half,” he said.
Since joining the CSU faculty in 1995, Owen has supervised
part-time faculty and has chaired numerous CSU faculty and
administrative hiring committees. Respected by peers campuswide,
he has been twice elected as executive officer of the Faculty
Senate. He also has been nominated twice for Regent’s
Distinguished Professor (1998 and 2002). In his new position, he
will continue to teach at least one course per semester.
In addition to the QEP, the new Office of Faculty Programs in
Teaching and Learning also will develop and administer other
specialized academic programs with campuswide implications.
For more information on the QEP, visit
http://sacs.colstate.edu/plan.htm |
|
