The Peripatetic Observer 2003

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From the Editor…. Ramblings

One of the peculiarities of the United States, among the many to which we admit and some to which we refrain from mentioning, is a

characteristic nearly outside our control. We may build upon it and remove and modify and tinker with it, but the natural configuration of ournational landscape remains as diverse as any study promoting diversity could divine it to be. Our typography in a strange and altogetherwondrous way shimmers in a glass reflecting our national population.

I have been pondering this observation for a long time. As a child, I held, sometimes ponderously, in my hands or tucked in bed early

at night cradled in the crook of my elbow the World Book Encyclopedia (1949 edition), fascinated by the spectacle of the photographs anddescriptions of places contained within the boundaries of the country. I had traveled with my family to be sure. But what was this hugeness andmystery in this land to which I belonged and pledged my allegiance? The reference books called out to me, and I, a little boy with a big appetitedigested them. Yet, like the explorers I studied, I determined I must see to know. And I have to some extent.

I am not talking about being a picaresque figure or a vagabond or a sightseeing tourist although they each may hold their own appeals,but about a person somehow sensing in a familial way, a knowledge of loci, of being related, attuned to these places. I have lived on the banks of the Cape Fear River within aroma distance of the Atlantic Ocean, known the muddy redness of the Catawba in the Carolinas, too, called thePotomac and Susquehanna Rivers my neighbors, crossed and recrossed by bridge the Genesee and sailed on the blue tides of Lake Ontario and on

the murkiness of the Erie Canal. They are all waters, named in history, but they are distinct with personalities, and they are mine.Whitman and Thoreau and Billard knew this education by landscape, this metaphor for the human soul and spirit, this connection

between location and self, self and other. The point made is that the tropical foliage of Florida in the flat South, this fecund place, is asinvigorating to mind and body as is the icy sweep of the wind or the sloped hills meeting the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York. The concavecathedral of the Grand Canyon in Arizona is a reflected image of the Grand Tetons ridging their way through Wyoming. The gentle presence of the forested Tuscarora Mountain range in Pennsylvania is a balance to the muted aridity of California’s deserts. The dialects and habits, themannerisms and dress, the local histories and concerns of the inhabitants are suggested by the looks of the places themselves. Landscapes andselves are, perhaps, one and the same, linked. We are carrying these exterior landscapes internally in our psyches and in our hearts.

The diverse landscape, the diverse population, this familiar relationship between and among places and people are natural occurrences

suggested in books and sometimes known by experience, then recalled by history and memory. The idea is calming.

Dr. Walter B. Freed Jr.

The Peripatetic Observer

Volume 6 SUNY College at Geneseo, Department of English Summer 2003

Summer Course in Black British Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths CollegeWhen Maria Lima spent her sabbatical as a visiting fellow at Goldsmiths College,

University of London, the creation of an exchange program between Geneseo andGoldsmiths was only a dream. But when Joan Anim-Addo met with Stephen Burwood,(Associate Dean of the College and Director of Study Abroad Programs) last February, thefirst part of the plan started to materialize. A three-week summer course on Black BritishLiterature and Culture taught by Lima, with guest lectures by many of the writers studied inthe course, has been planned for July 2004. If the pilot is successful, according to Burwood,the course will be added to the SUNY Study Abroad Program permanently. Burwood,Anim-Addo, and Lima also talked about possible exchanges of faculty and students. OtherEnglish Department faculty may be asked to offer a summer course at Goldsmiths in thefuture. We hope this is only the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship!

Geneseo Literary Forum

The newly named Geneseo Literary Forum’s goal was to step up activity. We far exceeded this goal in what turned out to be a rich anddiverse year--perhaps the richest in the ten years I've taught at Geneseo. The Forum events included readings by novelist Kathryn Larrabee,

author of An Everyday Savior ; poet Denise Duhamel, whose books Star Spangled Banner and Queen for a Day have been taught in several of our courses; and (with the help of Professor Kaplan of the School of Performing Arts), distinguished poet Bill Heyen, whose several books of poetry explore the legacy of the Holocaust. Professor Maria Lima brought three prominent Black British Writers to campus, Kadija Geoerge,

Bernardine Evaristo, and Joan Anim-Addo, in conjunction with her current research and new courses she has developed on Literature of theAfrican Diaspora and Black British Writers. In April, Professor Celia Easton brought Peter Lovenheim, author of Portrait of a Burger as a

Young Calf , to campus. The Forum also co-sponsored a visit from the award-winning social critic of poverty and urban life, Jonathan Kozol,whose works are read throughout the curriculum in English, Sociology, Education, and Anthropology. It was a particular thrill to have hadAnne Bartlett ‘87, Professor of English at DePaul University, visit. The author and editor of several books in medieval studies, Anne began hertraining as a medievalist under the tutelage of Ron Herzman and completed her Ph.D. at Iowa where Huston Diehl now teaches. Many of thevisitors participated in classes and workshops, visited informally with students, and answered questions about their work. Plans for next yearinclude a reading by short story writer, Matthew Derby ‘95, whose short story collection Super Flat Times, was just published by Little

Brown.



Herzman Shares Honor

It’s no wonder that this spring’s interdisciplinary offering “The Age of Dante,” enrolled over 40 people, even though the students don’t yet know asecret that will have been publicly released by the time you read this. Theyare hearing from the finest teachers of medieval literature in America.Indeed, Professor Ron Herzman will soon be awarded the first ever CARA

Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies from the MedievalAcademy of America. This award is the highest recognition of teachingexcellence that a medievalist can gain. Ron will share this honor with

Professor Bill Cook of the History Department. Professors Cook andHerzman recently saw the publication of the second edition of their book,The Medieval World View, by Oxford University Press. If you missed orhave forgotten their lectures, you can hear them featured on tape and CDssold by The Learning Company, which features distinguished instructors

from the nation’s top research universities. This summer, Ron will againbe in Siena, Italy, to teach a seminar for high school teachers, sponsored bythe National Endowment for the Humanities, on Dante’s Commedia.

Marie Henry Receives Prestigious PATH Award On May 6, 2003, Marie Henry, Secretary of the Department of English,

received the Promoting Awareness Through Harmony Award. Presented by Dr.Christopher Dahl, President of the College, the PATH Awards were created tosupport Geneseo’s commitment to: “Recruiting, supporting, and fostering thedevelopment of a diverse community of outstanding students, faculty and staff;respecting the unique contributions of each individual to the campus community;and developing socially responsible citizens with skills and values important to the

pursuit of an enriched life and success in the world.”These are select College-wide awards, sponsored by the Office of the

President and administered by the President’s Commission on Diversity andCommunity.

The following criteria were used in the selection:• A record of sustained and current contribution to diversity and

multiculturism at Geneseo;• Commitment to fulfilling the College’s Mission Statement as it

pertains to pluralism;• Assistance in the creation of an environment that nurtures intellectual

and personal growth in non-traditional arenas.Mrs. Henry has been Secretary in the English Department since 1980 and for

two years has served with distinction on the President’s Commission for Diversityand Community. She is the first Administrative Secretary to be honored by PATHand was nominated by Professor Celia Easton of the English Faculty.

Congratulations to Marie Henry for her fine work and noble example.

Rachel Hall-Another Successful Year• Awarded Chancellor’s Award for

Excellence in Teaching• Received a $5000 grant from the

Saltonstall Foundation for theArts. The award honors Rachel’sfiction and non-fiction writing,

• Featured as SUNY Geneseo’sEducator of the week during themonth of March.



Professor Gollin Retires

For the first time since 1967 the English Department is not graced by

the presence of its eminent Americanist, Professor Rita Gollin. It would be

impossible to summarize Professor Gollin’s scholarly accomplishments in

one brief article. Her books and numerous articles on Nathaniel Hawthorne

made her, of course, an internationally recognized authority on that author.

But Dr. Gollin’s career was also distinguished by the breadth of her

research interests, ranging from American art to the immigrant experience,

and embracing literary figures ranging from Mark Twain and Bernard

Malamud to Herman Melville and the subject of her latest biography, Annie

Fields. For many years these interests found expression in a rich array of

courses Professor Gollin taught at Geneseo. While students have missed

her presence in the classrooms of Welles, her fellow teachers have missedher presence as a colleague. Dr. Celia Easton observes, “Rita was a special

kind of mentor for us. She was always interested in her colleague’s

scholarship: she really read our work and took it seriously.” Dr. Ed Gillin

remembers being at a number of American literature conferences where

strangers on an elevator would squint rather aloofly at his name on an

identification badge but then—noticing the “SUNY Geneseo”

designation—suddenly blurt out with evident affection and respect: “Oh!

So you work with Rita Gollin!” Dr. Gillin expects to continue to capitalize

on that recognition for many years to come. Dr Gollin continues to be a

productive scholar even as her retirement from the classroom allows her

more time for family and for travel.

Everyone misses Dr. Gollin’s presence. But in many ways the legacy

of Rita Gollin, our Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, is destined

to be permanent here in the place she served so well.

~Dr. Edward Gillin

Walker Exploits Students for CanonThis semester four English majors -- Sandy Rohlfing, Ruth Stevenson,

Meghan McKenna, and Adam DeMarco – found themselves in the canonical

paradigm of student exploitation for faculty scholarship. Faced with a press

deadline for her book The Elizabeth Icon, forthcoming from

Palgrave/Macmillan UK, Professor Julia Walker has turned to her Milton

class for help with her entries for the Milton Encyclopedia, commissioned by

Yale University Press. The fearless four volunteered.

While Walker writes frantically on the image of Elizabeth the First as

an icon of Englishness over the 400 years from her death in 1603 until today,

these students zoom through scholarship on a daunting list of topics. Walker

has been commissioned to write the entries on Deborah, Elizabeth I, Fiesole,

Florence, Galileo, gender (Milton's representation of), Sonnet VII, Letter to a

Friend (1633), sexuality (Milton's representation of), Siena, Tuscany, women

(Milton's representation of), and last, but certainly not least: Eve.

Like the un-thanked grad students of old, who toiled over index cards

to produce pre-PC concordances, these brave students are reading andsummarizing the scholarship on the assigned topics from whatever year

Professor Walker last worked on a topic until the present. While they are

getting some directed study credit for this task, the group insists that reading

Milton criticism is its own reward. Says Ruth Stevenson: "I always

dreamed of being exploited in a canonical paradigm." Walker remarks, in

passing, "They also serve who only sit in Milne."

Maria Helena LimaLast fall Lima finally saw her essay for the special issue on Jamaica

Kincaid published: “Imaginary Homelands in Jamaica Kincaid’s Narratives

of Development" came out in Callaloo 25. 3 (2002). Three other articles

have been accepted for publication: “Negotiating Black British/Caribbean

Identities: The Fiction of Andrea Levy” in Kadija George, Ed. Write Black

British: A Literary Criticism Anthology. London: Hansib Books, October

2003; “Merle Collins’ Angel of History” in Moira Inghilleri and Joan Anim-

Addo, Eds. Swinging Her Breasts at History: Language and the Body in

Caribbean Women’s Writing, London: Whiting and Birch Ltd; and Women Righting: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Fiction by Afro-Brazilian

Women, Miriam Alves and Maria Helena Lima, eds. (Maria Helena Lima,

translator). London: Mango Publishing. She presented on “Caryl Phillips’

The Atlantic Sound : Travel Writing in the Age of Globalization" at the

Black Travel Writing Symposium at Howard University, Washington,

D.C., in April.

Tom Greenfield's chapter on "Radio" appeared in the four-volume Greenwood

Guide to American Popular Culture; he was co-author with former Geneseo

Communication professor Erica Scharrer. In January, he presented a paper,

"The House of Chekhov: Elements of Sophoclean Dynastic Collapse in The

Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters" at the Hawaii International Conference

on Humanities. In September, he was an invited plenary speaker at the Middle

States Workshop for Accreditation Team Leaders and Team Members in

Philadelphia.

Film News and More……..

Alan Lutkus’ piece on Agatha Christie appeared in Greenwood

Press’s Modern British Women Writers anthology, and he has spent odd

Spring semester moments—some very odd—as College reviewer of the

Music program in the School of Performing Arts. He also chairs the new

interdepartmental film Studies Minor, involving English itself heavily, with

film courses promised or already taught by Shawn Adamson, Ken Asher,

Ken Cooper, Robert Barrick, Ed Gillin, Mary Hess, Maria Lima;

Lutkus has taught a new cinema course each of the past three semester, The

American West in Film, Screenwriting, and Shakespeare on Film.

Sarah Watts, whose article on Rebecca West also appeared in

the Greenwood anthology, will be sorely missed both by the Film Minor

and the Department generally. She is off to Texas after a two-term Geneseocareer, 1984-1987, 1993-2002, during which she taught Film Classics,

Fiction into Film, Film History, Journalism as Literary Genre, New York

City in Film and Fiction (American Studies), most of the writing courses

English offers, and one it doesn’t (Journalism). It was also largely her

painstaking research into college resources and programs elsewhere that

allowed the minor’s approval. Third term, Sarah?

The Department is also contributing to the International Film

Series, supported by the Provost’s Office and several campus departments.

Lima and Lutkus serve, with Rose McEwen of Foreign Languages, as the

Series Steering Committee. The Series, already successful as a pilot

program with faculty (including Lima) introducing individual films from

Third World and European directors, had its opening as an officially

sponsored college program this Spring.

Stelzig Enjoys A Busy Sabbatical Gene Stelzig is very much enjoying his year-long sabbatical leave.

He has presented papers on "Patriarchal Pressures: Portraits of Fathers in

Darwin's and Nabokov's Autobiographies" in July (at the Life Writing and

Generations conference at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia),

and on "Wordsworth's Bleeding Spots: Traumatic Memories of the Absent

Father in The Prelude" in October (at the International Conference on

Romanticism at Florida State University, Tallahassee). In December he

chaired a special session on "The Range of Romantic Autobiography" at the

MLA convention in New York City. His article, “’The Happy Few’: Notes

on Romanticism and the Aristocracy of Consciousness” has been reprinted

in Recent Perspectives on European Romanticism (Mellen, 2002) and his

essay on “Individual Transcendence or Romantic Thin Air? The uplifting

Conclusions of Wordsworth’s Prelude and Goethe’s Faust , Part II ” has

been published in Inventing the Individual: Romanticism and the Idea of

Individualism (Brigham Young, 2002). Gene has also been elected to a two

year-term as President of the International Conferences on Romanticism

(ICR), formerly the American Conference on Romanticism (ACR).

Dave Kelly published his fifteenth chapbook of poetry, When You

Tell Them About Us.

Adrian Matejka won this year’s Alice James Award, which

brings with it the publication of his first book of poetry.

Julia Walker received a Chancellor’s Research Recognition

Award in Albany on December 16, 2002.



Voices from Past & Present……Alumni News

2003Melissa Adams is attending law school at

New England School of Law in Boston. She

received a full tuition scholarship.

Samantha Bell is in a Graduate Program at

SUNY Brockport.

Jennifer Burns returned to Long Island in

Summer ’02 in search of a full-time, high

school, English position.

Carey Daniels visited SUNY Geneseo inSpring ’03. She is ecstatic about her studies

at Western Michigan.

Emily DeFranks is attending Syracuse

University and plans to pursue a Master’s

Degree in Higher Education beginning F’03.

Courtney Hall is teaching middle school

English for the Happauge School District on

Long Island.

Sueann Hockenberry is teaching in the

Rochester, NY area.

Tim Schaffer will be completing a one year

College Ministry Intership un Potsdam, NY

with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Julie Walinski will be attending the

Master’s program at the U of R (Fall ’03)

where she has been offered full tuition and

very generous scholarship.Louis Wittiig is attending the Master’s of

Professional Writing Program at USC.

2001April L. Deis is currently employed with

Measurement Inc. grading standardized test

essays from around the country. She plans

to continue in this line of work until her

book is finished.

Hondo M. Humberstone is currently

teaching English to emotionally disturbed

students in grades 9-12. Two nights a week

he teaches a GED/ABE course. This

summer he will be teaching English

composition at Genesee Community College

for the Upward Bound Program. He will

also be continuing with graduate work at

Nazareth College in Literary Education.

[email protected]

Skye Suttie is an assistant to the Editor for a

local newspaper in Syosset, NY. She is

applying to graduate school to obtain her

MA in British Literature and perhaps a

Ph.D. [email protected]

Jennifer Thompson is studying at NYU in

their Master’s program.

2000Wendi Hoffenberg is currently employed as

a school librarian for students K-8 in the

Pawling Central School District. She earned

her MLS in May 2001 from Syracuse

University.Heather Peck is currently employed at

Career Strategiers Inc. as a project manager.

She graduated from Emerson College in

December 2002 with an MA in writing,

literature, and publishing. She recently

helped her employer self-publish her book,

“Ask...How to Get What You Want and

Need at Work” available at Amazon.com.

[email protected]

Jill Kissick is excited to be returning to

school at Temple University in the African

American Ph.D. program. In addition she

was offered a generous Future Faculty

Fellowship award.

Molly Metzler has been living in Boston,

pursuing a Master’s Degree in Creative

Writing (playwrighting). She finished her

degree in Fall 2000 and joined the faculty as

a Lecturer at Boston University in the

Writing Program.

1999Benjamin Allee had his work published in

the April 2002 issue of the Fordham Law

Review and is now serving as Editor-in-

Chief. He plans to clerk for Judge Peter

Leisure after graduation.

Stacie E. Cornelius is currently working at

the Union City Pet Hospital as an office

manager and technician in Union City, PA.

She married in May 2003 to Brian R.

Chapman, DVM. They recently purchased a

home in Union City, PA, where Brian has a

private veterinary practice.

Kim Tanico is the Director of Special

Events at the American Cancer Society in

Parsippany, NJ, after a move from Buffalo.

She recently got engaged and will be getting

married in August 2003.

[email protected]

Matthew VanHouten is living with hiswife, Carrie, in Fort Lee, NJ, and has been

hired as Vice President Product Manager

working for Treasury and Securities

Services for JP Morgan Chase in Manhattan.

He plans to study for his MBA ASAP.

1998Craig Hinchcliffe is attending St. John’s

Graduate Institute, He would love to be a

College Professor and is working hard to

select a precise field of study.

[email protected]

1997 Laurie Kirkpatrick is an Assistant Director

of Major Gifts at Harvard Medical School.

In October 2002 she married Steven Carty

and they are currently living in Brighton,

MA. [email protected]

1996 Colleen (Coulter) Gabauer is currently

working on her Doctorate at the University

of Rochester’s Warner School of Education

and Human Development. She earned a

Master of Arts in English at Seton Hall

University in 1999. She is currently

employed as a freelance editor in Beaver

Falls, PA.

Tracy Strauss is an Instructor of Writing at

Boston’s University College of Arts and

Sciences (where she continues to collect a

lot of writing material—who needs animagination when there is real life from

which to draw??). She recently made a

cameo appearance team-teaching Hum I at

Geneseo during Summer session, taking

some time to smell the roses, see the valley

(live in a residence hall), go to Wegman’s

/WalMart, climb the hills, and have a few

chats with some of her favorite English

Dept. residents like Marie, Michele, Ron,

and Gene. [email protected]

Kate Woods is a media/entertainment

attorney in New York City after a move

from Los Angeles. [email protected]

1995Brian Getz went on to become a grad

assistant at DePaul University, where he

worked closely with another Geneseo

graduate, Prof. Anne Clark Bartlett; he

completed his MA in '97 and is currently

teaching freshman and a new combined

history and English class for sophomores

called European Studies (which he helped

create) at Des Plaines, IL. He also is the

Mentor Coordinator for new teachers, andCoordinator for Cooperative Achievement.

[email protected] Elaine Cipriano is the Associate Managing

Editor of Ladies’ Home Journal in New

York City.

Robin Falcone graduated with M.A.L.A.

from St. John’s College in 1998. She

received her AMI Montessori Certification

and her M.Ed. from Loyola College in 2001.

She is currently teaching Montessori in

Hingham, MA.

[email protected]

Michael McAuliffe is a drama instructor at

St. Anthony’s High School in Melville, NY.

He married Mary Ellen Bullock in August

2002 and spends his time acting and

directing regional [email protected]

Jennifer Rossi earned her MA in literature

at the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte in 1998. She is currently working

on her dissertation as she finishes her Ph.D.

in American Studies with a concentration in

Women’s Studies at the University at

Buffalo. She also teaches several courses at

UB as a teaching assistant.

[email protected]

Stephanie (Schlau) Sarwal is a full-time

mother to her son Job, after leaving the

practice of law. She currently resides in

Silver Spring, MD. [email protected]

1994Beth A. (Dingman) Claps earned her M.A.

+ 60 August 2002. She had son, Kyle

Joseph, on October 24, 2002 (7lbs., 19 1/2”).

Jen Oyer King is currently employed full-

time as an associate faculty member

teaching in the Education Division of Bethel

College in Mishawaka, IN. She became a

National Board Certified teacher in 2000.

Her first child, Emmanuel (“Manny”), was

born April 11, 2002.

[email protected]

1993Ben Doon tells us he is currently mapping

roads and trails in the Rio Grande National

Forest which puts him in the mountains

doing field work about 4 days a [email protected]

Corrine McKay teaches French in a school

outside Boston. She fondly remembers

Laura Doan and other Geneseo faculty who

taught in creative, interesting ways. She

enjoyed a 1 year honeymoon to SE Asia,

Australia and Switzerland and took some

time off to freelance write and start a family

in Fall 2002.



From the Chair….

Thanks to your help, we have had a wonderfully active year in the English Department. Faculty members

continue to be energized by our present and past students. We are excited to be building a strong community inGeneseo, and increasingly through electronic media, with former students who have become current friends.

This year saw the founding of the Geneseo Literary Forum by Professor Rachel Hall and other members of the

Department. The Forum now serves as the umbrella organization for bringing visiting speakers to the department. The

stepped-up schedule of fiction writers, essayists, and poets brought to campus was made possible largely through

donations that alumni designated to the department.

Our film minor is up and running and we continue to expand our instructional collection of films on DVD and

VHS. They don't just support courses in Film: I never thought I’d have the opportunity to screen clips from a brilliant

film version of Shakespeare’s once obscure Titus Andronicus, but I did just that in Shakespeare II this spring. We

received a generous contribution from retired Professor Sarah Watts in support of activities connected with the program

that has helped us move forward with a host of new courses. Happily, we now find ourselves desperately in need of a

secure storage area for our growing film collection and have begun preliminary discussions about adapting an existing

space. I’ve been delighted to see our students engage in the kinds of community service activities central to the college

mission of a public liberal arts college. With the help of Professor Mary Gillin, the English Honor Society Sigma Tau

Delta organized a poetry reading at a local nursing home and did a benefit for the local library. We are sponsoring a

growing number of internships, including one with BOA, the distinguished publisher of poetry based in Rochester.

Professor Wes Kennison, who is also the Geneseo Town Supervisor, is hard at work finding internship settings for our

students with local community groups. As people are doing at other top colleges and universities, I am actively seeking

financial support that will at the very least allow students to be reimbursed for the commuting expenses to these jobs,

positions that benefit the community and provide opportunities after graduation. Speaking of new support for students, I

am delighted to tell you that a generous new merit scholarship has been endowed for an incoming senior in memory of

Natalie Selser Freed, mother of Professor Walter Freed.

This year of new opportunities has also been a year of transition. Rita Gollin, one of the two SUNY

Distinguished Professors who has served the Department, retired last spring after 35 years at Geneseo. One of theworld’s most distinguished Hawthorne scholars, Professor Gollin may have stopped teaching, but she has just brought

out a new book and is still a strong presence at national conferences on American Literature. I am very sad, though, to

tell you that Professor Don Watt died last summer after a long illness. We miss Don deeply. Since his memorial service,

we have received many messages from students who cherish the wisdom that he shared with them.

Perhaps the best part of my job is hearing from you—interested members of the department community—about

what you’re doing. I’ve had a great time answering e-mails from people I once knew and many that I’ve never met,

including alumni whose time at Geneseo long precedes mine. Everyone here is thrilled to receive your messages. We're

delighted to hear that our graduates are following diverse paths and leading interesting lives. Send any messages to

[email protected]. Thanks again for your help and support, with

Best wishes for the coming year,

Dr. Richard Finkelstein



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Return to: Department of English, SUNY Geneseo * 1 College Circle, Welles 226 * Geneseo, NY 14454

The Peripatetic Observer

Department of English Newsletter

Editor * Dr. Walter B. Freed Jr.

Associate Editor * Michele E. Feeley

Visit us on the Web: http://english.geneseo.edu



Alumni News (cont.)

1993 (cont.)Kristina Petty is currently employed as a

catering coordinatior at the Lenox Hotel in

Brooklne, MA. She is utilizing her

certificate in Meeting Management from

Bentley College at Boston’s oldest luxury

hotel. Her duties include sales, marketing,

and customer service. The best part is the

hotel’s location next to Boston’s Public

Library. [email protected]

1992Vasant Marathe recently completed a

successful year at a magnet school in inner

city Knoxville, TN. He spent summer 2002

reflecting and refreshing himself before

beginning research on a novel about cheese.

He is currently attending graduate school for

a Master’s and has already completed his

M.S. in Elementary Education.

[email protected]

Jennifer (Seymour) Sommer has been

teaching English at Reszel Middle School in

the North Tonawanda City School District

for six years. With her husband Brett, she

has a daughter, Abigail and a son, Jacob.

1991Allison Hasting is currently employed as a

technical documentation coordinator for

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She

received her MS in Technical

Communication from RPI.

[email protected]

1990Teresa Andreoli is working as a writer for a

business magazine in NYC.

[email protected]

1989Lisa (Maddison) Fingar has been a

marketing coordinator at SWBR Architectsfor the past six years. She has been in

marketing positions since graduation and

credits her major in English as a benefit to

her employers. She has two children, Erin, 5

and Kyle, 18 months.

[email protected]

Denise Romano received an MFA in

writing and poetics (she studied with Allen

Ginsberg), went on to get MA in

Organizational Psychology and an EdM in

Counseling Psychology from Columbia, and

now has a dream job at Hudson River Park

Trust in NYC, where she's Director of

Human Resources and Organizational

Development and Training.

1987 Linda Poe (Tamasy) is a self-employed

interior designer in Palm Bay, Florida. She

completed her post-graduate work in art-

interior design, and obtained her BFA in

1992. She is married with two children, a

boy and a girl, ages 7 and 2.

1985 Marc DiPaolo is attending Drew Univeristy.

Derek Owens is a recently tenured

Associate Professor and Director of the

Writing Center at St. John’s University in

Queens, NYC. He is the author of

“Composition and Sustainability: Teaching

for a Threatened Generation” (NCTE Press,

Refiguring English Studies Series, 2001),

and “Resisting Writings (and the boundaries

of Composition)” (Southern Methodist UP,

1994). He is currently living on Long Islandwith his wife, fellow Geneseo alum (1985)

Teresa Hewitt, and 8 year-old son, Ryan.

[email protected] or

[email protected]

1981Stuart Strickland received a Master’s of

Science in Information Science from the

University of Pittsburgh in August 2001. He

is active in promoting urban mass transit to

Pittsburgh’s middle class, when not riding

his unicycle. [email protected]

1979

David Glerum is presently Music Director

of WMFE-FM in Orlando, FL, programannotator for the Orlando Philharmonic and

the Daytona Beach Symphony Society. He

was recently elected to a three-year term as a

member of the Board of Directors of

AMPPR, the Association of Music

Personnel in Public Radio.

1978Lisa Schalk is a freelance writer and mother

of three in New York City.

[email protected]

1977 Michael Murphy received his MA in

writing at Maharish University in 1993. He

is currently teaching technology and

multimedia in the Education Department at

Maharish University.

[email protected]

Elaine Shaughnessy is a Senior Staff

Analyst in the Computer Technology

Department at Citibank’s The Student Loan

Corp. in Rochester, NY.

1974Helene Siskind Parsons is a gagwriter for

syndicated and non-syndicated cartoonists.

In addition to writing for “The Lockhorns,”

cartoons containing her gags have sold to

Harvard Business Review, Barron’s,

Reader’s Digest , USA Weekend , Parade, and

Better Homes & Gardens.

[email protected] Claire Morgan is currently employed in the

Genesee Wyoming Catholic Central School

District in Attica, NY. After completing a

Master’s program with Empire College in

1995, she was employed as a substitute

teacher in local schools, and as a sales

assistant at Radio Shack. She recently

completed her first year teaching the fourth

grade.

1973Leslie (Ferris) Haggstrom is completing

her fourth year as an Assistant County

Attorney in Allegany County, NY

prosecuting abuse and neglect in family

courts. She graduated from UB law school

in 1977. She is active in the United

Methodist Church with many volunteer

activities, painting, quilting, and gardening.

[email protected]

1972Carolyn Vang Schuler, Ph.D. is currently

employed in the Monroe County Library

system. She is the publisher of “Choices: A

Core Collection for Young Reluctant

Readers,” (John Gordon Burke Publishers,

Carolyn Schuler/Shawn Brommer,

Compilers and editors, 2001, vol. 5). In

2001, she participated in a two-week

Children’s Literature Symposium in China.

[email protected]

1971Karen L. (Kosty) Stover is currently

employed at the Pickerington Public Library

as a Head Reference/Research Librarian.

After receiving her Master’s in Library

Science. She assisted local authors in

Columbus, OH, with their research. She has

also written articles for local papers and

library procedures handbooks. She has

enjoyed teaching internet classes to public

adult book talks. [email protected]

1966 Stephan P. Clarke retired from the

Spencerport Central School District in 1999.

He is now working on the second edition of

The Lord Peter Wimsey Companion, an

encyclopedic annotation of the Lord Peter

short stories and novels. He is also working

to create a genealogy for his daughter, Erin

2000 grad). He travels in Europe with wife

Mary Hawley '66. [email protected]

1964George Wilkerson is presently employed as

a technical editor at General Electric's

Global Research Center in Schenectady. He

also teaches classes online for Southern New

Hampshire University and he owns and

manages a commercial website. He has

three books in print-- one a college textbook,

one a trade book for business managers, one

a collection of short stories. He completed

his Master’s in Creative Writing at Syracuseand his PhD in Ed at U of Texas in Austin.

[email protected]



Sigma Tau DeltaGeneseo’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International

English Honor Society, has continued its efforts to become moreactive in the department, the campus, and the community. This

year’s induction ceremony was held in the Walter Harding Loungeon October 24 and upped the club’s enrollment to twenty-fivemembers. Professor Greenfield gave the ceremony’s key-notespeech and the event was presided over by members of STD’s e-board.

Since the induction, STD has become more active in theGeneseo community. On April 11, STD helped the WadsworthLibrary prepare for their annual book sale. Along with members

from other organizations on campus, STD worked throughout theafternoon setting up tables and hauling books out of storage. Thatevening the group baked cookies and breads for an STD-fundedbake sale, held the next day. The bake sale, which was the first oneever to be held in conjunction with the book sale, made $65 for thelibrary’s children’s collection.

The group also made its first trip to the Geneseo AssistedLiving Facility on Lakeville Road this April. Participating members

joined an intimate group of residents to read and discuss poetry. Bythe end of the afternoon, residents at the facility had even recited apoem or two for the students!

Sigma Tau Delta is in the process of electing new officers

for next year to carry on the group’s activities and to continue ourefforts to become an active, positive force in Geneseo.

~Jennifer Poggiali English Club

This semester has been an extremely successful one for theGeneseo English Club. We held two used book-sales in the UnionLobby, raising nearly $100! Along with funds from the AcademicAffairs Committee (AAC), the club was able to print out copies of OPUS, the club's first to-be-annual literary magazine.

Although most of our efforts have been concentrated onfund-raising, soliciting, collecting, selecting, editing, and organizing

submissions for OPUS, we've also had a lot of fun. We went to see"The Boys of Syracuse" on campus and, more recently, had a poetrysharing time on the college green.Questions, Comments, Donations?

We meet on weekly and our website ishttp://www.geneseo.edu/~englclub/

Standing before the marble pediment of the Parthenon of Athens (financed by Pericles and swallowed by the Brit ishMuseum), Geneseo students contemplate politics, history , economics, art, imperialism, and Romantic poetry during the2003 Literature in London Museums January class with Dr. Julia Walker.



2003 English Department Honors and Awards

Graduating Senior AwardsThe William T. Beauchamp Literature Award

Heidi E. Bollinger & Katherine Fusco

The Patricia Conrad Lindsay Memorial Award Jennifer Poggiali

The Rosalind R. Fisher Award for Student Teaching in English

Whitney Reed

The Walter Harding American Studies Award John Egan

The Calvin Israel Award in the HumanitiesKevin Fryling

The Joseph M. O’Brien Memorial Award Deanna Trella

Scholarships The Hans Gottschalk Award

Class of 2003: Heidi Bollinger & Marie Bonarski

Class of 2004: Mary Jane DiStasio

Class of 2005: Rue Kenyon

The Walter Harding Memorial Scholarship

Robert Allen

The Joseph O'Brien Transfer Scholarship Mark Dibble

The Cook/Herzman Senior ScholarshipColleen Butler

The Natalie Selser Freed Memorial Scholarship

Jessica Curran

The Don Watt Memorial ScholarshipSarah Callahan

The Jérôme de Romanet Award in African American StudiesKate Ann Steinnagel

The Creative Non-Fiction AwardFirst place: Marianne Joy Upham

Second place: Michael Sheehan

The John H. Parry Award in Critical EssayFirst place: Heidi E. Bollinger

Second place: Janine Giordano

The C. Agnes Rigney Award in DramaFirst place: Jennifer B. Poggiali

Second place: Michael Chin The Lucy Harmon Award in Fiction

First place: Beth Wasnock

Second place: Ashley Pankratz

Third place: Ben Stein The Mary A. Thomas Award in Poetry

First place: Katherine Fusco

Second place: Jesse Curran

Third place: ben valentin Annual Cover Design: Anna Balok

Annual Writin Awards



In Loving Memory of Dr. Donald Watt “He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;1938 - 2002 Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading,

And to those that sought him, sweet as summer.”~~William Shakespeare, Henry VIII

Dr. Watt came to Geneseo in 1967 and served as Professor of English until 2002. He acted as English Department Chair from 1984 through 1993. He wasrecognized with the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1981. He was a husband and father, a master teacher, an authoritative Aldous Huxley scholar,and a tireless mentor to students and junior faculty alike. Above all he was a friend.

In November of last year the department met to remember Dr. Watt formally. Students, friends, colleagues and the family of Dr. Watt held a simplememorial at the Campus House on Main Street in Geneseo. We gathered, shared uplifting stories of our friend, listened to traditionalCeltic music played on the violin, read from Dr. Watt's favorite books, and ate Twinkies. Legend has it that Dr. Watt's lunchwas very often a vending machine Twinkie. It had all the makings to become a sad affair. Someone had died, we weregathering on a dreary cold day to remember him and to say goodbye. How many times do we console ourselves by sayingthat we are really gathering to celebrate the life of the deceased, and then end up being sad anyway when we realizethey are gone forever? For some reason this was not the case at Dr. Watt's memorial. I suspect the reason was Dr.Watt himself, that his very nature defies sadness. We felt like he was there. We expected him to pop his beanie-capped head out from the corner and say, ironically, "Who died!?!" Instead of thinking of him as gone, we thought of all he gave, and how much better we all were for having known him.

Students, faculty, family, and friends shared stories of Dr. Watt and being in his company. Dr. Ken Asher toldus about his interview experience with Dr. Watt for his job at Geneseo. Dr. Asher’s plane had come in late fromCalifornia and Dr. Watt picked him up from the airport and took him to Livingston Lanes, the only late night eatery at the time,

and had Buffalo wings specially prepared. Knowing that Dr. Asher was a Californian and not accustomed to WNY deep frieddelicacies, Dr. Watt postponed the interview for a few hours to give Dr. Asher time to recoup. Dr. Ron Herzman shared stories of Dr. Wattas a basketball teammate and Boston Celtic enthusiast. I shared stories of Dr. Watt’s habitual wearing of a beanie cap and Birkenstocks with dress socks. Anotherstudent, Marie Bonarski, remembered Dr. Watt’s characteristic facial contortions and his love for the dry humor found in the deepest recesses of Dickens’ novels.

The most remarkable thing that I have found since I began writing about Dr. Watt is that everyone tells the same story about him. I asked alumni, faculty,students, and family for stories about him that I could share in this piece. Everyone spoke about the same traits- his humor, his compassion, his dedication to students,and his eagerness to help. Dr. Watt treated every person he met in exactly the same way. “That is the definition of integrity,” said Dr. Ed Gillin. I wish I could havelearned more from Dr. Watt. I would have been a better person for it. We will all miss Dr. Watt. His memory will live on in all of the people that he touched over hislong tenure at Geneseo. His example lives on in our reading and thinking, in our leadership of others, and in all of the bad jokes that we tell at work.

Thank you Dr. Watt,Jonathan W. Senchyne

Please note: Dr. Watt’s family has requested that any memorials in his honor be donated to the Geneseo Foundation and designated to the English Department.

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Documents

The Peripatetic Observer 2003