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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Writer and professor Dan Flores is featured in two public events at Utah State University. Flores is a guest in the Department of English Speakers Series.The first event is “Art and Regional Identity in a Western Paradise,” Wednesday, March 4, at 12:30 p.m. in the USU Haight Alumni Center (approximately 650 N. 800 East, Logan). Next, Flores presents “Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses” Thursday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. in Old Main, Room 115. All are invited to these free events. More

Monday, February 23, 2009

On Tuesday, February 24^th at 1:30 pm, USU Department of English Speakers Series will host guest speakers Grace Oshita and Rick Okabe who will present a lecture entitled, “Topaz Illuminated:Remembering the Incarceration of Japanese Americans in Utah.” The presentation will include National Archive photographs, documents, and personal stories to discuss this historical atrocity. Following their presentation, there will be an open-microphone Q&A- style discussion between the presenters and the audience. The free event, co-sponsored by the English Department and the Office of Multicultural Student Services, with generous support from the Utah Humanities Council, will take place in the USU TSC Sunburst Lounge. All are invited. More

Monday, February 23, 2009

At 12:30 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Utah State University department of English Speakers Series will feature USU professor of English Steve Siporin with a reading from his translation of Augusto Segre's “Memories of a Jewish Life. This free event will take place in the USU Haight Alumni Center, and all are invited. Professor Siporin's central research interest is the traditional culture of Italian Jewry. He has translated Augusto Segre's memoir from the Italian “Memories of Jewish Life: Italy to Jerusalem, 1918-1960,” and has published articles on Italian Jewish foodways and festivals. He has also written on Italian folklore including articles on Italian legends and the film “Life is Beautiful.” Currently Siporin is writing a monograph on an Italian mumming tradition known as the “befanata.” More

Monday, February 23, 2009

Two authors published by Utah’s Outlaw Artists Press will be the featured readers at the next Helicon West event, Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7 PM, at True Aggie Café, 117 North Main, Logan, Utah. If you like poetry that tells a powerful story, you won’t want to miss this event.

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Monday, February 23, 2009

On Wednesday, January 28th, lecturer Lynne McNeill defended her doctoral dissertation in Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland and passed with distinction. This marks the completion of a course of study in folklore that began with a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and continued with an MA from Utah State University. Now that she is finished with her program, Dr. McNeill plans to work on converting her dissertation, "Serial Collaboration: Small World Activities and the Global Community," into a book. She credits USU's folklore program with setting her on the path to success; it was through the many opportunities presented during her time here that she met both her PhD supervisor, Dr. Diane Goldstein, and her external defense examiner, Dr. Cathy Preston. And, as she notes, "it was USU's folklorists who showed me the invaluable contributions that folklorists can make to a university and a community." More

Monday, February 23, 2009

Denice Turner, who earned her MA from USU in 2003 and has recently completed her PhD at the University of Nevada-Reno, will chair two panels for the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA) this coming fall at Snowbird, UT, Oct 8-10, and invites USU colleagues and graduate students to propose papers. Proposals are due by March 1.

This panel welcomes experimental papers that combine textual analysis with life narrative to address ecological issues. Questions for potential papers include (but are not limited to): How does the hyper-visibility of the “I” engage, expand or challenge environmental discourses? Is a combination of textual analysis and narrative uniquely suited to address environmental concerns, and if so, how? Can narrative scholarship be theorized in such a way as to counteract accusations of being “soft hug the tree stuff?” What might a critically informed combination of life narrative and literary criticism look like? Can the use of life narrative address global concerns?

Inspired by the growing membership in international chapters of ASLE and the global effects of climate change and social injustice, this panel seeks papers with an international and cross-cultural ecocritical perspective.

For more information, please visit the following links:

https://owa.unr.edu/owa/?ae=Item&a=New&t=IPM.Note#_ftn1

https://owa.unr.edu/owa/?ae=Item&a=New&t=IPM.Note#_ftn2

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Monday, February 23, 2009

The Wilford R. and Marjorie C. Gardner Junior Faculty Travel Fund Award is designed to further the development of junior faculty at Utah State University by supporting international travel for education, research, or service. A USU faculty member is eligible to apply if he or she has a tenure track or tenured position, has less than 10 years experience as university faculty, and is involved in a field in which physics principles are applied or in instrumental or vocal music. The application cover sheet and a brief request, also signed by the faculty member's department head and college dean, should be submitted to the Dean, School of Graduate Studies, by 06 March 2009. More

Monday, February 23, 2009

Poet and Associate ProfessorMichael Sowder will be participating this week in an MFA thesis defense at the University of Wyoming via video conferencing--as part of a new joint working agreement between the creative writing programs at Utah State and the University of Wyoming. Sowder is serving on the thesis committee of Wyoming MFA student Randy Koch, whose thesis, The Deaths of the Conquistadores, comprises a series of dramatic monologues, each in the voice of a Spanish conquistador in the moments prior to his or her death. The Utah State University English Department and the Creative Writing Program at the University of Wyoming last year established a joint working agreement through which creative-writing graduate students at each school can elect to have a faculty member from the other school serve on their Master's thesis committee. Wyoming graduate student Randy Koch is the first take advantage of this new and exciting opportunity. More

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tonight, February 17, Utah State University poet and lecturer Maria Melendez will participate in a collaborative performance with singer Heidi Hart and pianist Jason Hardink. The event takes place at 7:30 pm in Salt Lake City's First Unitarian Church, 569 South 13 East. The event is free and all are invited. To read more about this event, click here, or follow the link below to read the Deseret News article http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705284932,00.html More

Monday, February 16, 2009

Director of Writing, Brock Dethier, has announced the selection of the 2010 Assistant Directors, Angela Sweeney and Allyson Jones."I would say that this year's AD selection process was the most difficult I've been involved in because all of the applicants were so good, and any one of them would have made an excellent assistant director," Dethier said. "We chose Allyson and Angela because of the work they did as both teachers and students last fall; because of their reliability, responsibility, excellent writing skills, good attitudes, and proactive stances toward their work; and because together they make an outstanding team." More

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University is announcing the USU-Tube Short Film Festival. The entry form, rules, and information are available at http://csa.usu.edu/filmfestival.aspx. Once an entry is received, it will be reviewed by the USU-Tube Committee and then passed on to our distinguished panel of judges, which include Utah State University President Stan Albrecht, Utah Public Radio's Lee Austin, Film Critic Andy Morgan, as well as many others. (You can see a full listing of judges on the website.) A film screening and announcement of winners will be 7:30 p.m. on April 24 in the Caine Lyric Theatre in Logan, Utah. Attached are various posters. Feel free to print and post as many as you'd like. If you have any questions regarding this film festival, please contact Sally Okelberry at mailto:sally.okelberry@usu.edu%3cmailto:sally.okelberry@usu.edu> or by phone at 435-797-1500. More

Saturday, February 14, 2009

In this program volunteers are assigned to public schools in regions throughout Chile, live with host families in their community, and receive a monthly stipend. Volunteers serve as English language teaching assistants to Chilean English teachers for 25 hours per week, and spend an additional 10 hours a week planning classes and leading extracurricular activities for the school community. English language instruction begins in the 5th grade and volunteers may be assigned to work with one or more grade levels anywhere from 5th to 12th grade. Volunteers are given their own classroom to work with groups of about 20 students on listening and speaking activities in conjunction with the Chilean English teacher. For many students and teachers, a volunteer is their only opportunity to listen to and practice speaking in English with a native speaker. The application deadline is March 16. For more information, click here More