Recent Achievements in English: May 2009

JOHN ERNEST's proposal for the Oxford Handbook of the African American Slave Narrative has been approved. The Handbook will feature roughly thirty original essays from both emerging and leading scholars in the field covering a range of historical, literary, theoretical, and methodological approaches to African American slave narratives.

JOHN ERNEST and Joycelyn K. Moody, the Sue E. Denman Distinguished Chair in American Literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will co-edit a book series for WVU Press titled "Regenerations: African American Literature and Culture." The series will produce informative editions of nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century African American texts that either are out of print or are unavailable in good editions.
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The Literature of the Scottish Reformation has just appeared from Ashgate Publishers with a contribution by RUDY ALMASY: "John Knox and A Godly Letter: Fashioning and refashioning the exilic 'I' "
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JAMES HARMS' second book, The Joy Addict, has just been redesigned and reissued in the Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series.
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In April JONATHAN BURTON ran a seminar entitled "High School Shakespeare," attended by academics, high school teachers, and professional development consultants at the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. He also gave a talk entitled "Found in Translation" at the University of Pennsylvania's one-day symposium on "Transnational Pasts."
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JASON KAPCALA has had three poems ("Fishing with My Father: Promised Land Lake in December," "Fishing with My Father: The Delaware in April," and "Fishing with My Father: Bay of Quinte in August") accepted to the Fall 2009 issue of Yale Angler's Journal.
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TERESA PERSHING presented a paper titled "Lesbian (Out)Skirts:
A Consideration of Lesbian Representation via Pop Culture Figures" at the Popular Culture
Association/American Culture Association joint national conference in New Orleans, LA from April 8-11.
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MARY ANN SAMYN published two poems, "There's No Time Like the Present" and "Loud and Clear," in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts (University of Missouri), and two poems, "Oceanic" and "Something about Vulnerability," in FIELD.
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LORI D'ANGELO's poem "April in Iraq" was published in The New Verse News and her poem "Visions of Sugarplums" will be published there at the end of April.
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NATALIE SYPOLT and RENEE K. NICHOLSON presented their paper "The Writing's On The Web: Technology In The Creative Writing Classroom" at the recent WVACET conference at Glenville State College.
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KIRSTEN BEACHY, who graduated from our MFA program in 2007 has an essay in the newest edition of Shenandoah called "Selling the Farm".
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SCOTT WIBLE published "Composing Alternatives to a National Security Language Policy" in the May 2009 issue of College English.
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Former MA student Sarah Hamilton and KIRK HAZEN published "Dialect Research in Appalachia: A Family Case Study" in the Spring 2009 issue of West Virginia History (3.1: 81-107).

WVU Outstanding Senior Sarah Vacovsky and Kirk made three trips to Glenville State College this spring semester to train GSC students in sociolinguistics fieldwork. Sarah and Kirk guest lectured in an upper division English class for future teachers, expounding on English linguistics, American dialectology, and sociolinguistic interviewing/transcribing skills. The West Virginia Dialect Project loaned out recording equipment and 17 interviews were conducted and transcribed.

Kirk gave two talks on May 1 to social workers at the WV chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in Charleston, WV. The first lecture, "Language in the Twenty-First Century," was presented in a networking session to 110 social workers. The second lecture, "Dialects in West Virginia", was presented to 250 social workers in a longer workshop.
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DONALD E. HALL finished his last year of service on the MLA Convention Program committee by reviewing and judging app. 250 possible special sessions for the convention in Philadelphia (he has to recuse himself from considering any of the fine proposals that included papers by members of our department). Donald has been nominated as a candidate in this year's election to serve on the Association of Departments of English Executive Committee. He has also been appointed to the national peer review board for the Fulbright Specialist Program, administered by CIES.
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Donald E. Hall
Chair, Department of English