As I write this,

campus is al-

ready emptying

out for the winter

break. Another

semester has

flown by, and as

usual, much has

happened in

these few

months.

This Fall, our two

new colleagues,

assistant professor Ryan Cordell and as-

sociate professor Theo Davis (whom I

introduced in last semester’s Chair’s Let-

ter), have completed their first semesters.

Professor Cordell, who works on nine-

teenth-century American literature and is

a leader in the new field of “Digital Hu-

manities,” taught a seminar introducing

undergraduates to “technologies of text”

in the digital age; helped the department

sponsor its first cohort of HASTAC

(Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technolo-

gies Advanced Collaboratory) scholars,

doctoral candidates Kristi Girdharry, Eliza-

beth Hopwood, and Megan Tarquinio

Roche; and will host THATCamp (The Hu-

manities and Technology Camp) MLA Bos-

ton 2013 on Northeastern’s campus on

January 2nd, 2013. Professor Cordell is

also involved with the new research cen-

ter, the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Net-

works, co-directed by English depart-

ment’s Professor Elizabeth Dillon and

Professor David Lazer of the Department

of Political Science and the College of

Computer and Information Science.

In her eighteenth-century literature class,

“The Literature of Feeling,” Professor Da-

vis, also a scholar of American literature,

helped undergraduates navigate the

swells of emotion—“the falling of tears,

the heaving of sighs, and bursts of ela-

tion,” that roil eighteenth- and early nine-

teenth-century American letters. Next

semester, her “Major Figure” class will

offer students the opportunity to spend

time with those enduringly popular New

England sages, Ralph Waldo Emerson and

Henry David Thoreau. As a new member

of the department’s Undergraduate Stud-

ies Committee (USC), Professor Davis has

also been participating in the depart-

ment’s ongoing efforts to review our cur-

riculum for relevance to needs and inter-

ests of the current generations of English

majors. You can read about the results of

a recent survey of majors by the USC in

the “Undergraduate Program News” on

page eight of this newsletter; and keep a

lookout for a survey of undergraduate

alumni as well, which I hope will be com-

ing your way soon!

Meanwhile, mark your calendars for this

Spring’s Hanson Speaker. Thanks to the

generosity of the Hanson family, the Eng-

lish department is delighted to host the

noted historian, journalist, and author Jill

Lepore, David Woods Kemper '41 Profes-

sor of American History, Harvard College

Professor, and Chair of the History and

Literature Program at Harvard University.

Professor Lepore’s most recent book is

The Mansion of Happiness: A History of

Life and Death. You can read more about

Professor Lepore here. She will join us on

February 28th, at 5:00 p.m. in Raytheon

amphitheater. The event is free, and eve-

ryone is welcome.

I close with an appeal to all our faithful

alumni/ae, graduate and undergraduate.

As you’ve read in this issue of the English

Department newsletter (and in other is-

sues), one of the most valuable things we

do is to provide our undergraduate and

students not only with faculty expertise in

the classroom but also with the opportuni-

ty to attend cultural events and academic

conferences, engage in and present re-

search, and meet and hear from exciting

figures in all kinds of fields of endeavor.

This semester, for example, students in

Professor Cordell’s “Technologies of Text”

class visited the Printing Office of Edes

and Gill, on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and

practiced the techniques of colonial print-

ing on authentic equipment (see photo-

graphs on page eleven). Members of the

undergraduate English Club took a break-

fast excursion to the Boston Book Fair

and heard a dinner lecture from Shake-

spearean scholar Dr. Michael Booth. We

arrange visits by speakers to classes and

classes to cultural events; we send gradu-

ate students as presenters to confer-

ences such as the MLA and the CCCC and

as participants to workshops such as the

Dartmouth College Futures of American

Studies Institute.

Although these activities are vital, they

compete with many other claims on the

department’s resources. With your help, I

would like to begin to build the English

Department Student Travel, Activities,

and Research (STAR) fund, dedicated to

supporting our students and enriching

their experience. Small amounts together

can do as much as larger ones to move us

forward. For easy giving by check or cred-

it card, please visit the Department of

English Giving webpage. If you wish, indi-

cate in your check’s “memo” or in the

“Special Instructions” on the online giving

page that you are giving to the STAR fund;

if not, other giving is equally welcome. All

gifts will be acknowledged in future edi-

tions of the Newsletter. And as always,

thank you for your interest in the Newslet-

ter, the department, and Northeastern!

Laura Green, Department Chair

English Department, 405 Lake Hall, (617) 373-4540, http://www.northeastern.edu/english/alumni/

English Department Alumni/ae e-Newsletter

Fall 2012

SPOTLIGHTS

Critical Lenses: Jeremy Earp, MA ’90 … 2

A Conversation about the Hebrew Bible with

Liane Marquis, BA ’06 … 3

Recent Alumni/ae Publications … 4

Navigating the Academic Job Search with

Tanya Zhelezcheva, PhD ’11 … 5

Shifting Perspectives: Peter Neumann, BA ’69

More Alumni/ae Updates … 6

Co-op Dispatches from Shenzhen, China …7

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Undergraduate Program … 8

Writing Program … 8-9

Graduate Program … 10-11

Faculty Bookshelf &

Acknowledgments … 12

In this Issue

Jeremy Earp, MA ’90, works at the Media Education Founda-

tion (MEF), a non-profit organization which seeks to expose

“college-level students to key concepts, ideas and thinkers in

the field of media and communication studies.” His extensive

credits include The Mean World Syndrome, Blood and Oil, Con-

suming Kids, War Made Easy, and Hijacking Catastrophe. As

Director of Production, Mr. Earp “oversees all facets of the pro-

duction process, from the development of scripts, research,

media collection, and interviews, all the way through the editing

process.”

Prior to joining the MEF in 2003, Mr. Earp spent years teaching

English and communications at a number of institutions, from

New School University and Parsons School of Design in New

York City to The Art Institute and Northeastern University in Bos-

ton. His teaching experience presented a productive forum to

introduce students to MEF films, where he paid close attention

to what features and elements proved most interesting to stu-

dents. In addition to discovering how to connect with students,

Mr. Earp cites “the narrative aspect” of teaching and literary

studies as an indispensable component to his work at the MEF,

since “everything comes down to getting the story right” and

communicating content to students. Moreover, graduate stud-

ies at Northeastern University and the University of Massachu-

setts offered ample exposure to “masculinity and gender theo-

ry,” critical lenses which continue to have a significant impact

on his projects at the MEF.

When asked which faculty members directly informed his peda-

gogy and ideological approach, Mr. Earp remembers Herb Suss-

man’s “approach to Victorian literature,” recalling how “he was

on the forefront of a fascinating wave of historical, pro-feminist

criticism focused on how modern notions of masculinity were

formed and contested in and through 19th century literature.”

He also extols Michael Ryan's film theory courses, “especially

his relentless focus on how popular culture reflects, reinforces,

and at times subverts larger ideological and political forces in

the culture.” While applauding these enthusiastic encounters

with theory, Mr. Earp expressed immense affection for Guy

Rotella, whose poetry classes demonstrated “how important

and potentially life-altering close reading can be—not only as a

way of sharpening one's critical sense in ways that could be

applied productively and pragmatically in other areas, but also

as an end in itself. He was all about the experience of literature,

language, and meaning-making at their deepest, most power-

ful, and profound levels, and that made me a better and more

patient reader.”

Commenting on what many characterize as an incredibly chal-

lenging labor market, Mr. Earp professes confidence in the val-

ue of undergraduate and graduate degrees in literature, both

within and outside of academia. Speaking to “the importance of

writing and storytelling, clear communication and narrative,”

Mr. Earp contends that “these bedrock reading- and writing-

related skills […] are increasingly in short supply across a range

of professional fields as digital culture and social media pulls

us further and further away from language and into images.” He

surmises that this ubiquitous need for “good writing and narra-

tive structuring” makes “what’s old—and old-fashioned—in

many ways […] new all over again. The old fundamental, sen-

tence-and-story-level skills of English-majors seem to me to be

very much in demand as the cutting-edge of our digital culture

outpaces the availability of quality content.”

Despite a rapidly evolving digital landscape and the growing

relevance of new media, English departments can attend to

these elements without “losing touch with what makes them

English departments: meaning a sustained focus on the study

of language, words, stories, sentences, literature and poetry.”

Mr. Earp asserts that his “ability to read and decode images,

media narratives, and media messages is only enhanced by the

kind of sustained engagement with words and sentences and

written texts that studying English delivers.” While some hu-

manities departments struggle with decreasing enrollments,

there is “an increasing demand across a wide range of profes-

sions—from business to politics to media to the blogosphere—

for young people who can read and write and think clearly, criti-

cally and carefully about a hyper-mediated world that’s speed-

ing up more and more every day.” And just as the MEF encour-

ages students “to think critically and in new ways,” Mr. Earp

points to the fundamental skills of literary scholars to suggest

that English departments are “perfectly positioned to help stu-

dents adapt to [this] world, both personally and professionally.”

Contributed by Doctoral Candidate Christopher Myers.

Chris works with Depression-era American literature and film

theory.

Page 2

Critical Lenses Teaching through Documentary Filmmaking and the

Versatility of an English Degree

An MSN.com review of MEF’s documentary War Made Easy (2007) called the film "a cinematic essay, a simple and pointed piece with a compelling argument."

Page 3

Lori Lefkovitz: Although I joined Northeastern’s English De-

partment after you left, I am delighted to speak with a gradu-

ate who has gone on to become a Hebrew Bible scholar. What

are you doing now, and how have you spent your time since

graduation?

Liane Marquis, BA ’06: I am currently a first year PhD student

in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East at the University of

Chicago. I wandered around a bit after graduation and ended

up doing a Master’s Degree in psychology at Boston College. In

part it was pressure from my family to do something

"practical." It was a valuable experience, but ultimately not

very engaging for me. So, I applied to the broad Master’s pro-

gram at Yale, still a bit unsure what academic choice I would

make. I took Hebrew my first semester, fell in love with it.

From there I spent the next three years learning languages and

studying biblical texts.

LL: How did you develop an interest in Bible, in particular?

LM: I've always been interested in religion -- just ask Professor

Leslie! I was always writing about the intersection of literature

and religion in various sixteenth-century poems or plays for her

classes. I've also always been a "text" girl. Biblical studies

seemed like the natural choice because it combined both of

those things, along with a language that I love deeply: Hebrew.

(No one told me when I started that biblical studies also meant

learning Greek, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Syriac, Hittite,

Phoenecian, etc. etc. I probably would have run away terrified!)

Also, the Bible is still one of those texts that holds so much

influence on so many aspects of our lives, whether we are reli-

gious or secular and whether we want it to or not. It's as much

a cultural document as a religious one these days. And the law

and ritual portions in particular have been used for centuries

now to denigrate Judaism. I wanted to add my voice to the

small (but growing!) number of biblical scholars attending to

the beauty and significance of these texts in particular.

LL: Wow. How have you managed all those languages?

LM: I learned Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and German at Yale. I

cracked the code of language learning with Hebrew.

LL: Would you say more about your particular area of interest

in Bible Studies:

LM: In particular I am interested in biblical law and ritual, the

literary composition and development of the cultic/legal texts

and their use and re-interpretation in later biblical and post-

biblical texts (primarily rabbinic materials such as Midrash

Halakha and Talmud). A significant part of my studies also

includes engaging the broader ancient Near Eastern legal and

cultic traditions and understanding how they relate to ancient

Israelite law and ritual.

Basically I am interested in the literary development of the

priestly tradition and the priestly imagination of religion in an-

cient Israel. But I think to get to the point where we can talk

about priestly imagination we first have to get to a point where

we can identify the different hands at work in the text and the

motivations for the involvement of those hands.

LL: How did your majoring in English at Northeastern prepare

you for graduate studies?

LM: I say this all the time: Northeastern's English program

taught me how to think critically in a way that has been the

backbone of everything I do now. It taught me how to approach

literary texts, how to do "close reading" of a particular passage,

and how to write clear and convincing arguments. My advisor

at Yale regularly told me that he thinks former English majors

make the best biblical studies students because they know

how to read. He's right; NU's English department taught me

how to read like an

academic.

I can’t emphasize

enough that North-

eastern was the

foundation of all this.

I was painfully shy

and Professor Leslie

encouraged me, and

I got a lot of joy out

of presenting in

class. She gave me

confidence in my

ideas.

I am not academical-

ly shy anymore! I

valued the level of

autonomy given to

me in my English

classes and the free-

dom to experiment.

continued on page 4

Alumna Liane Marquis is pursuing her PhD in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East at the University of Chicago.

A Conversation about the Hebrew Bible

Undergraduate alumna Liane Marquis, BA ’06, talks with NU’s Professor of English and the Ruderman Professor of

Jewish Studies Lori Lefkovitz

Page 4

Conversation about Hebrew Bible

continued from page 4

LL: You favored Shakespeare?

LM: I liked the Classics and the mix of religion,

literature, and history in the study of Shakespeare.

LL: What was your first exposure to Hebrew Bible?

LM: Working in a refugee camp in the West Bank in 2007, just

after graduation. While I was at Northeastern, I became politi-

cally active. I was curious to understand how the Bible was

being used to make political claims today. This was my first

foray into the Judaism.

When I got to Yale, I wanted to learn Hebrew, which I fell in love

with, especially the literary qualities of the Bible. During this

time, after three and a half years of studying, I converted to

Judaism.

LL: Your career ambitions?

LM: I have to admit that I'm pretty ambitious at this point. The

reality of the job market might temper that in a few years, but

for now I have every intention of finding a tenure-track job at a

research university. I do love teaching -- another thing I learned

at Northeastern in one of Marina Leslie's classes -- and would

certainly want to be teaching on a regular basis, but my true

love is research and writing. If I could lock myself in a library

with a stack of books and a decent internet connection to ac-

cess all those online rabbinic Hebrew and German dictionaries

and just read and write all day, I'd be in heaven. I have lists of

questions and textual problems that just keep growing and I

look forward to having time to spend working on those.

I am taking a class on “Temple, Tabernacle and Cult in the He-

brew Bible.” Most people in the class were not excited about

the topic. They thought these laws and rituals were "boring"

"irrelevant" and just plain impenetrable. Over the last six weeks

I have seen a number of my classmates change their minds a

bit and a few have even come up to me after class to say that

they now understand why I study this stuff. That's what I want

people to see. Sure P [the Priestly Code] looks boring on the

surface, but when you really spend some time with it, it is prob-

ably one of the coolest parts of the Hebrew Bible. Or at least,

one worthy of prolonged discussion! I am thrilled to see some

of my classmates understanding that and I love that my profes-

sor is able to teach these texts in a way that facilitates that

response. I want to be able to do the same thing.

Contributed by Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Professor of English

and the Ruderman Professor of Jewish Studies. Professor

Lefkovitz is the author of In Scripture: The First Stories of Jew-

ish Sexual Identities.

RECENT ALUMNI/AE PUBLICATIONS

Donna Halper, BA ’69, MEd ’70, MA ’73

“Keeping Up with the Red Sox: Getting in the News in 1912” and “Boston’s Sportswriters, 1912,” in

Opening Fenway Park with Style: The 1912 Champion Red Sox. Eds. Bill Nowlin with

Maurice Bouchard, Dan Desrochers, and Len Levin. Society for American Baseball Research, 2012.

Tiffany Ann Conroy Moore, PhD ’10 Kozintsev and Shakespeare: The Legacy of Russian Political Protest in Two Film Adaptations, forthcoming from McFarland & Company, November 2012.

Hanna Musiol, PhD ’11

“Sundown and ‘Liquid Modernity’ in Pawhuska, Oklahoma,” Special issue, “Oil Culture,” eds.

Daniel Worden and Ross Barrett, Journal of American Studies, 46.2, 2012: 357-373. Reprinted in forthcoming book volume of the journal, Oil Culture. University of Minnesota Press.

“Transnational Labor and Aesthetic Theory in Ursula Biemann’s Geobodies.” Special issue, “Contemporary Labor

and Cultural Exchange,” ed. Polina Kroik, WorkingUSA: Journal of Labor and Society 15 (March 2012): 15-33.

Karen Paley, PhD ’98 “The Third Circulation: A Torrent of Voices,” The Yale Journal of Humanities and Medicine, August 2012.

“The Great Roasted Butternut Squash Adventure,” The Binnacle, Spring 2012.

“‘Cura Personalis’: Rhetoric’s Modern Legacy,” in Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Rhetorical Studies. Eds. Cinthia Gannett and John Brereton. New York, NY: Fordham UP. Forthcoming.

FB: Is the job satisfactory? How so?

TZ: My job is immensely fulfilling. Most

students come from underprivileged

backgrounds, and they know what it

means to struggle with everyday life. I

derive great pleasure in helping them

achieve their goals.

FB: What personal and educational fac-

tors led to your getting the position ra-

ther than another candidate?

TZ: It was really helpful to have my PhD

in hand. One of my greatest assets,

however, was my teaching experience.

FB: You did some other work (seminars,

etc.) besides your PhD program. What

were these activities and did they con-

tribute to your job success?

TZ: I attended the service-learning semi-

nars offered by the Service-Learning

Program at NU. I also participated in a

digital humanities seminar because I

am interested in digitizing the manu-

scripts of Thomas Traherne, the subject

of my dissertation. My interest in both

of these areas helped to distinguish me

among the other job candidates. I think

that having an eclectic mix of interests

is an asset on the job market.

FB: Name three personality traits that

helped you professionally.

TZ: I tried to stay as organized as I

could possibly be, worked hard, and

pursued

my interests.

FB: What strengths and weaknesses

did you find in NU's PhD program?

TZ: The opportunity to teach composi-

tion courses, which might seem like a

weakness at moments since it slows

down the dissertation process, is im-

mensely important on the market.

FB: What advice would you give to other

PhD job seekers?

TZ: All of my colleagues are talented

scholars and inspiring teachers, and I

can only wish them a good dose of luck

on the job market. I would like to use

this opportunity to express my gratitude

to all faculty who were indispensable for

my success on the market. I did put in

the effort, but without their generosity

and expertise, I would not have been as

successful. I would like to thank you,

Professor Blessington, as well as Pro-

fessors Erika Boeckeler, Elizabeth Mad-

dock Dillon, Chris Gallagher, Neal Ler-

ner, and last but certainly not least Ma-

rina Leslie.

I got help at every stage of the job

search process—from writing the cover

letters to interviewing to the harrowing

process of negotiating offers and trying

to understand institutional processes of

hiring new faculty.

I would also like to thank Tina Mello as

well as Susan Loffredo with whom I

worked at Career Services. They helped

me think through my Plan B for the job

search.

Contributed by Frank Blessington,

Professor of English. Professor Blessing-

ton’s new translation of Trojan Women

by Euripides was staged by The Factory

Theatre, directed by Benjamin Evett, in

Spring of 2012.

Tanya Zhelezcheva, PhD ’11, recently joined the faculty at Queensborough Community College, as an Assistant Professor of English. Tanya’s dissertation advisor Professor Frank Blessington caught up with Tanya to ask about the place-ment and job prepara-tion at NU.

Page 5

Navigating the

Academic Job Search

Find us on LinkedIn.com @ Northeastern University Department of English

Students— Past and Present.

Page 6

Shifting Perspectives

Fro

m t

he

Du

nes

co

llect

ion

. Pet

er N

eum

ann

©19

89

We recently contacted artist and alum Peter Neumann, BA ’69, to ask about his

transition from English major to artist. Peter kindly sent this response:

“[This] isn't an easy question to answer because my trajectory wasn't linear. My fa-

ther wanted me to major in Accounting because […] he wanted his son to have a

safe career. He was an artist, and my mother was a musician. They were refugees

from Hitler's Germany and had a glove design business, so they were well aware of

a life with risks. I had reading problems when I was a kid. When I eventually dealt

with the problems I knew there was a lot of catching up to do. On a co-op job in

New Jersey I met some Rutgers graduate students in English who inspired me to

read. When I came back to Boston and changed my major to English my father had

a fit. Majoring in English wasn't a skill. What was I going to do with it?

“Literature, however, and reading in general, opened up the world for me. North-

eastern had some great professors and some pretty smart students. That kind of

environment motivated me to keep moving forward. Much later when I decided to

become a photographer I read books on technique: shooting, lighting, darkroom

chemistry and also books on the approaches of my heroes: Edward Weston, Ansel

Adams and so on. Later, when I decided to become a 3D digital illustrator, I read

3D software manuals to the point that my friends used to make fun of me, but it

paid off. I learned several programs and that work led to eight magazine interviews,

inclusion in a show at the Brooklyn Museum and a lot of new skills. Of course, read-

ing is its own reward and I am most definitely a reader.

“My undergraduate studies in literature at Northeastern University gave me the

courage, confidence and ability to explore a bigger world than I realized existed be-

fore.”

Contributed by Peter Neumann. You can view more of Peter’s artwork at his web-

site: http://www.peterneumann.com/.

More Alumni/ae

Updates http://www.northeastern.edu/

english/alumni/

Brendan Cooney, BA’11, has been working on a collaborative project

seeking to investigate the innovation ecosystems and culture of technologi-

cal advancement that enabled the Portuguese Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries and to apply the lessons learned to the present

and future. Brendan recently became involved with TEDxBeaconStreet,

taking on a variety of writing and edit-ing projects as a Curator.

Donna Decker, PhD ’05, is writing a novel about the 1989 Montreal Mas-sacre. Donna is an Associate Profes-

sor of English and Director of the Honors Program at Franklin Pierce

University.

Joseph E. Donlan, BA ’75, has pub-lished three books and has a fourth forthcoming from Universal Publish-

ers. For more information, visit http://www.ordainingreality.com/.

Nicole Faye Frankel, BA ’10, is pur-suing a Master’s degree in Social

Work at Simmons College.

Brett Ingram, MA ’03, received his doctoral degree in Rhetoric from Uni-versity of Massachusetts-Amherst in

December.

Liane Marquis, BA ’06, (featured on page 3) graduated magna cum laude with her MA from Yale University and is pursuing her PhD in Hebrew Bible

and the Ancient Near East at the University of Chicago.

Brenda L. Robles, BA’08, received her JD in 2011 from Ameri-can University, Washington College of Law. She is currently the Program

Support Specialist, Office of Con-tracts Management at USAID/West

Bank & Gaza.

Northeastern alumnus Christopher Thomas, BSIB ’09,

who supervises four Northeastern University students a

semester in Shenzhen, China, established the Jiahua

Language School co-op program in the Spring of 2011.

It is an outstanding international opportunity for English

majors. The co-op students teach English, organize

events, create marketing strategies, and help craft and

update course content for both on-ground and online in-

struction. Jiahua Language School, in turn, provides the

students with housing, a stipend, and 15 hours a week of

Mandarin instruction.

Senior Robert Gewirtz returned to the Jiahua Language

School this summer for his second co-op, and took time

out of his busy teaching and travel schedule to answer a

few questions:

Lisa Doherty, Co-Op Advisor: Why did you choose to go

on co-op in China?

Robert Gerwitz: I’d been to China before, enjoyed the

time I spent there, and always wanted to go back. When

Chris offered me a position teaching English, I just took it.

I saw it more as an opportunity to learn the language

than anything else, but I found a company I really enjoy

and hope to grow with.

LD: What are two or three things you have learned about

yourself by working at the Jiahua Language School?

RG: I learned that I have a capacity for foreign language.

That was refreshing. After six years of studying French

the traditional way, filling in the little blanks in my text-

books, I had sort of dismissed the possibility of me ever

becoming bilingual. I learned a lot about studying and

learning Language from guys like Chris, people who had

already gone through the process and had been teaching

others how to go through it for a while.

I also learned that I don’t dislike business. Coming here,

I learned that entrepreneurial people, truly passionate

people, come from all different kinds of backgrounds

or have a history studying really fascinating things.

Sometimes they’re even more interested in building

something, in making their ideas something tangible,

than they are in piling up money; as nice as that does

feel. That passion also always blends with a certain

pragmatism I’m coming to admire, something I didn’t de-

velop on my own; but I’m developing it now.

LD: Has this co- op made you a better student? How?

RG: I’m become more confident in the value of my educa-

tion and consequently, way more diligent. I know that

exercising one’s ability to think, even in the most abstract

ways, really has use in certain fields. This is particularly

true in a new company that needs you to provide a ser-

vice with personality, is looking for ideas about how to

market their brand, and needs to solve problems no one

has encountered before. I take every opportunity to

study something new now; I never know when it’ll come

in handy.

Also, studying Chinese runs parallel to that. It’s nice to

study something that you can mark your progress in. It

gives you more confidence in your ability to learn, and

that confidence turns into that aforementioned diligence.

Once you know you’re capable, you want to test just how

capable.

LD: What's next?

RG: As for what’s next, that’s a good question. I’m still

thinking about it…

Contributed by Lisa Doherty, MA ’92, English Co-op

Advisor. Do you want to find out how your business or

non-profit might partner with NU’s co-op program? Con-

tact Lisa at l.doherty@neu.edu for more information.

Page 7

Co-op Dispatches from Shenzhen, China

Alumnus Christopher Thomas (far left) and current English Major Robert Gewirtz with Jiahua Language School colleagues at a local Mandarin competition.

Writing Program Co-Sponsors Third

Annual College Essay Boot Camp

On November 3rd 2012, the Writing Program teamed up with commu-

nity partners 826 Boston and WriteBoston to offer the third annual

College Essay Boot Camp for Boston-area high school students.

Eighty-eight tutors worked with ninety-one students as they drafted,

revised and edited their college application essays. Of the students

who attended, 61.5% had parents who were born outside the United

States, 63% were from the Boston public schools, and 62% receive

free or reduced lunch. Among the many warm testimonials from stu-

dents were the following:

“It was great. I started from being una-

ware of what a college essay was, to

writing a decent first draft.”

“My experience today was very good and

my tutor was very helpful. Also I gained

more hope from this experience.”

“To be honest, I came here with no ide-

as, no topic, nothing. I am so grateful to

be a participant in this program. I over-

came a lot.”

“I completely changed my original ideas,

so I started from scratch and I got a

rough draft of my essay completed.”

“I had the best tutor! It was really helpful

and I am thankful for everything my tutor

has done.”

“I was able to rip my essay apart to add new ideas, take out old ones,

and even change the tone.”

“I had fun, and would recommend all my friends to come next time or

next year.”

“I enjoyed my experience, it helped me to work and concentrate and

get more insight on my essay.”

“I started out not knowing what I was going to do about my college

essay and now I have an outline, which is the hardest step for me to

overcome.”

“This was the most helpful thing in the college application process.”

Professor Gallagher helped organize the event and several Writing

Program instructors participated as tutors. We look forward to next

year’s college essay boot camp, at which we hope to serve more than

100 students.

Contributed by Chris Gallagher, Professor of English and Director

of the Writing Programs.

Undergraduate

Program News

A record number of students attended the

first social gathering of the year, a pizza

and dessert party held on October 3,

2012. Over fifty new and returning stu-

dents mingled with faculty and staff, catch-

ing up with old friends and making new

ones. MacKenzie Cockerill, Vice President

of the English Club, discussed upcoming

club events, and Andrea Hampel, Editor-in-

Chief of Spectrum Literary Arts Magazine

(www.spectrum.neu.edu), invited students

to attend the first editorial meeting of the

year.

The English Club has been very active so

far this year, sponsoring two events in Fall

2012: a group excursion to the Boston

Book Festival (www.bostonbookfest.org/)

and a dinner with Shakespearean scholar

and current NU lecturer Dr. Michael

Booth.

In November, a quarter of current English

majors participated in an online survey of

their experiences in the Department. Over

a quarter of those surveyed indicated an

interest in pursuing a career in publishing

after graduation, while substantial num-

bers of students named teaching, writing,

graduate school in English or law, or mar-

keting/public relations as potential career

paths. When asked what they liked most

about being an English major at Northeast-

ern, many students cited small classes

and the passion of their professors. A num-

ber of students asked for a broader selec-

tion of courses, which the Department is

taking into consideration when scheduling

classes for next year.

The Department is excited to take part in a

new University-wide initiative to offer more

combined majors. The first of these new

combined majors is with Anthropology, and

the Department expects to pursue other

combinations with Media and Screen Stud-

ies, History, and Business.

Contributed by Beth Britt, Associate

Professor of English. Professor Britt is the

Undergraduate Faculty Mentor for the

department. Page 8

Doctoral Candidate Elizabeth Hopwood helps transform Writing Center tabletops into works of art at a Fall 2012 WC event. Photo by Doctoral Can-

didate Genie Giaimo.

In 2011, the Writing Program, with the

support of a generous donation from the

Krueger family, launched the Paul

Krueger Symposium for Teachers of

International and Second Language

Writers. The featured speaker was Paul

Matsuda of the University of Arizona.

With continued support from the

Krueger family, the English Department

continued the conversation at the start

of this academic year with the second

Krueger symposium, which took place

on September 4th and 5th. This year, we

hosted two distinguished academics

and facilitators: Bruce Horner, Endowed

Chair in Rhetoric and Composition, Uni-

versity of Louisville, and Min-Zhan Lu,

Professor of English and University Scholar, University of

Louisville. Together and separately Horner and Lu have

written several books and numerous articles on language

difference and the teaching of writing. They have won

several awards for their scholarship, including the 2012

CCCC Outstanding Book Award for their co-edited

collection Cross-Language Relations in Composition.

Horner and Lu led three workshops targeted to different

parts of our Northeastern community. The first workshop,

titled “Proofreading as Reading,” served as the

centerpiece for the Writing Program’s kick-off meeting.

Horner took the lead during this workshop, offering a

presentation that set the stage and developed context for

the translingual approach that Horner and Lu currently

champion. A lively question-and-answer session followed.

The second workshop was directed toward faculty across

the disciplines. During “Teaching Writing through Teaching

Re-reading,” Lu showed ways we can help students im-

prove their academic writing by identifying gaps between

their habitual ways of reading and writing about course

materials and the ways of reading and writing about these

materials appropriate for specific disci-

plines. This practice-oriented workshop

encouraged questions and experience

sharing, and all participants benefitted

from the examples and the thoughtful

discussion.

Finally, in the public talk entitled

“Resisting Monolingualism,” Horner

reviewed the teaching of writing in U.S.

colleges and universities in the context

of the increasingly multilingual charac-

ter of their students and faculty and

the workforce, the global spread and

fracturing of “English” into world

“Englishes,” and the ongoing interpen-

etration of English and other lan-

guages. Horner argued that these de-

velopments call for a different way of responding, and

teaching students to respond, to language differences in

writing. His talk focused on “translingual” pedagogies that

involve students as participants in exploring why and how

they might write in, and shape, particular varieties of Eng-

lish, and also other languages and mixes of languages;

the risks they take in either conforming to set conventions

for writing or deviating from them; and strategies for

teachers to use in helping students work through these

challenges in their writing. The talk closed with another

spirited Q&A led by Lu.

These workshops and talks offered teachers and adminis-

trators across the university ways of thinking about our

students and our work that are both provocative and chal-

lenging. The Writing Program thanks the attendees for

their participation, Horner and Lu for their generosity of

time and ideas, and the Krueger family for their much-

appreciated financial support.

Contributed by Matt Noonan, MA ’93. Matt is a lec-

turer for the Department of English at Northeastern Uni-

versity.

Consider a Donation to Support the Department of English

The Department of English is committed to providing a rich educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students. These goals would not be possible without the sustained generosity of alumni and other important members of the Northeast-ern community. Please consider making a gift, contribution, or bequest to the department. Doing so can make a huge impact

on students and faculty, passing on the traditions of learning and discovery to future cohorts.

For information about gifts and giving, please contact Peri Onipede at o.onipede@neu.edu or (617) 373-5420.

WRITING PROGRAM HOSTS 2ND SYMPOSIUM FOR TEACHERS OF INTERNATIONAL AND SECOND LANGUAGE WRITERS

Page 9

Page 10

Graduate stu-

dents have

published arti-

cles, attended

institutes, re-

ceived fellowships, and engaged in

new research projects in exciting in-

terdisciplinary fields over the past

months. Here are a few notable ac-

complishments:

Danielle Skeehan authored an es-

say about her archival research at

Brown University this summer, “The

Mystery of the Silk Worm: Conver-

sations in the Reading Room and

Beyond,” co-written with Janice

Neri. The essay appeared in the on

-line journal of the John Carter

Brown Library, I Found it at the JCB.

Danielle held a research fellowship

at the JCB during the summer, and

this year is the recipient of two ma-

jor fellowships, the Mellon/ ACLS

Dissertation Completion Fellowship

and the Andrew W. Mellon Early

American Literature and Material

Texts Fellowship, at the University

of Pennsylvania McNeil Center for

Early American Studies. Danielle is

completing a dissertation titled

“Creole Domesticity: Women, Com-

merce, and Kinship in Early Atlantic

Writing.”

Aparna Mujumdar has been

awarded a Spring 2013 Disserta-

tion Completion Fellowship from

the Office of the Provost. She is

completing a dissertation titled

“Desiring Modernity: Collaboration

with Empire and Negotiations of

Imperial Knowledge”

Sarah Connell's essay "Writing on

the Land of Ireland: Nationality,

Textuality, and Geography in the

Acallam na Senórach" has been

published in Hortulus: The Online

Graduate Journal of Medieval Stud-

ies.

Nicole K. Day’s article “By the Au-

thor of: Performative Publishing

and the Major Biographies of Re-

becca Harding Davis” has been

accepted for publication in Topic:

The Washington and Jefferson Col-

lege Review. Nicole also has a

chapter, "Dying Surviving, and the

American Imagination," (retitled

“Death and Dying”) published in

the book Civil War America: A So-

cial and Cultural History with Pri-

mary Sources (Routledge, 2012).

Steve Kapica’s article “‘What a

Glorious Moment in Jurisprudence’:

Rhetoric, Law, and Battlestar Ga-

lactica” has been accepted for pub-

lication in the journal Law, Culture

and the Humanities. Steve is com-

pleting a dissertation titled

"Negotiating Obscenity: Rhetoric

and Popular Culture’s Mediation of

the Obscene."

Jeffrey Cottrell was selected from

a competitive pool of applicants

and attended a summer seminar

on Early African American Print Cul-

ture at the American Antiquarian

Society. The AAS, in Worcester,

MA, holds one of the premier col-

lections of early American rare

books in the country.

Genie Giaimo is serving as a Re-

search Fellow in Dr. Randy Buck-

ner’s Cognitive Neuroscience La-

boratory at Harvard University. She

is completing a dissertation titled

“Unable to Remember But Unwill-

ing to Forget: Cognition and

Memory in the Contemporary Amer-

ican Memoir,” that brings to bear

insight from the field of cognitive

science on literature and memory.

Gregory Cass, Elizabeth Hopwood,

and Jim McGrath all attended the

Dartmouth Futures of American

Studies Institute in June 2012,

where they workshopped portions

of their dissertations and attended

plenary talks by prominent scholars

in the field of American Studies.

Three graduate students, Kristi

Girdharry, Elizabeth Hopwood, and

Megan Tarquinio Roche, have

been appointed as HASTAC

(Humanities, Arts, Science, and

Technology Advanced Collaborato-

ry) fellows. All are engaged in Digi-

tal Humanities projects that they

are blogging about through HAS-

TAC.

Three students—Jeffrey Cottrell,

Benjamin Doyle, and Elizabeth

Hopwood—have been named to the

inaugural cohort of NULab Re-

search Fellows. The NULab for

Texts, Maps, and Networks is the

newly founded center at Northeast-

ern for the study of Digital Humani-

ties and Computational Social Sci-

ence. The center is co-directed by

Professor Elizabeth Maddock Dil-

lon from English.

Graduate students are also getting

their hands into digital humanities

work by assisting Professors Ni-

cole Aljoe and Elizabeth Maddock

Dillon in creating an Early Caribbe-

an Digital Archive. Students have

attended workshops on TEI (Textual

Encoding Initiative) and are begin-

ning to code eighteenth-century

Caribbean documents for inclusion

in the new archive.

Graduate Programs Update

Contributed by Elizabeth

Maddock Dillon, Professor of Eng-

lish and Graduate Coordinator.

Doctoral Candidate Steve Kapica is teaching a course called Analyzing Stand-Up Comedy at Tufts University Experimental College this fall.

English Graduate

Student Association

Update The EGSA opened the fall semester with a trip to the Shel-

burne Farm apple orchard in Stowe, MA. We munched ap-

ples in the rain and warmed up with donuts and coffee in

a converted barn. Though the gift shop sold books of ad-

vice for amateur blacksmiths and would-be fruit-

dehydrators, we decided not to take up any new trades

that afternoon.

Back in Boston, the EGSA broke new ground in inviting a

guest speaker to talk with graduate students preparing to

enter the job market. Mark Kjellman, Chair of the English

and Humanities departments at Roxbury Community Col-

lege, spoke about his experiences teaching in communi-

ty colleges and offered advice for students considering

that path.

Though St. Patrick's Day feels a long way off, we're busy

planning the annual EGSA graduate student conference

scheduled for March 15-17. Under the theme of "alt/"

the 2013 conference will explore questions of alterities,

alternations, and alternatives. Adding to the excitement,

José Esteban Muñoz, Professor and Chair of NYU's Per-

formance Studies Department, will deliver the keynote

address. Professor Muñoz specializes in Comparative

Ethnic Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, and Perfor-

mance Art, and we look forward to an engaging discus-

sion.

If you're in the area, please consider dropping in on a

conference session to hear the latest cutting-edge schol-

arship. And, as always, be sure to visit the EGSA's Face-

book page for updates and news.

Contributed by Doctoral Candidate and EGSA President

Ethan Whittet. Ethan studies New England’s role in 19th

century American literature.

Photo Album This semester, students in Professor Cordell’s “Technologies of Text” class

visited the Printing Office of Edes and Gill, on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and

practiced the techniques of colonial printing on authentic equipment.

Photos by Professor Ryan Cordell.

Save the Date

FEBRUARY 28 - Peter Burton Hanson Lecture

The 2013 Peter Burton Hanson lecturer will be Jill Lepore, David Woods

Kemper ’41 Professor of American History and Chair of the History and

Literature Program at Harvard University, and also a staff writer at

The New Yorker. Professor Lepore will speak at 5:00 on February 28th.

Location: Raytheon Amphitheatre. Title: TBA. Please do save the date!

Page 11

Faculty Bookshelf

Professor Nicole Aljoe Creole Testimonies: Slave Narratives

from the British West Indies, 1709-1838 (Palgrave Macmillan)

Professor Chris Gallagher (with Eric

Turley)

Our Better Judgment: Teacher Leader-ship for Writing Assessment (NCTE)

Professor Gary Goshgarian Tunnel Vision (Tor/Forge Books)

Professor Laura Green Literary Identification: From Charlotte

Brontë to Tsitsi Dangarembga (Ohio

State)

Professor Patrick Mullen The Poor Bugger's Tool: Irish Modern-

ism, Queer Labor, and Postcolonial His-tory (Oxford)

Professor Stuart Peterfreund Turning Points in Natural Theology from

Bacon to Darwin: The Way of the Argu-ment from Design (Palgrave Macmillan)

Page 12

BABEL In September, the Department of English (with support from the College of So-

cial Sciences and Humanities) and the BABEL Working Group, along with local academic

sponsors Boston College, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, hosted the 2nd Biennial Meeting of BA-

BEL, with a conference titled “cruising in the ruins: the question of disciplinarity in the post/

medieval university.” The topic of the conference was partly inspired by Bill Readings'

book The University in Ruins. The organizing committee included English department Pro-

fessors Erika Boeckeler, Kathleen Kelly, and Marina Leslie, and undergraduate as well as

graduate students attended sessions on topics ranging from the local (“The Inter-Discipline

of Pedagogy”) to the overwhelming (“The Earth, Time, and Thought”).

The image at right is the program of the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the BABEL Working Group,

available on the Working Group website. Cover image by Lori Nix (http://www.lorinix.net/

the_city/index.html). Cover design by Doctoral Candidate Megan Roche Tarquinio.

Special thanks to Laura Green, Christopher Myers, Lori Lefkovitz, Frank Blessington,

Peter Neumann, Lisa Doherty, Beth Britt, Chris Gallagher, Matt Noonan, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Ethan

Whittet, Ryan Cordell, Genie Giaimo, and Jean Duddy for contributing articles, interviews, images, and

edits to the Fall 2012 Alumni e-Newsletter. If you would like to contribute to a future edition of the e-Newsletter, please contact

Melissa Daigle at m.daigle@neu.edu.

Acknowledgments