Reading Matters, Vol. 11, Issue 3

From (under) the Chair's Desk

President Skorton delivered his third keynote address to the university today on the theme of internationalization. His particular focus was on contacts with South-East Asia and Islamic societies and he stressed the need for increased educational and research exchanges at every level. Singled out for mention and praise was Chris Merrill, of English and the IWP, both for the noble tradition of the International Writing Program and also for his report on cultural diplomacy and bold recommendations for action recently delivered to the State Department at Washington. Unmentioned, although fitting nicely within the theme of the speech, was last summer’s Overseas Writing Workshop, directed by Robin Hemley and Rowena Torrevillas, which saw some dozen NWP students working on their writing and interacting with the writing community in the Philippines. Nice to think that the English Department is already so stitched into the new initiative!

Much of President Skorton’s speech yoked internationalization with diversity. He praised Provost Hogan’s initiatives on diversity and announced two new programs: a Provost’s Symposium on International Issues in Spring 2006 and a President’s Award for Excellence in International Programs. While there was some clear danger of bathos in such small specific steps following from such an emphatic speech, the broad initiative is one within which the department may well participate. The President also announced a future Latino/Latina studies program in CLAS, which is something that we as a department are likely to play a prominent part in. Of course, the President made no mention of travel money, which is described elsewhere in this issue and in a separate memo. It seems to me that we now have a level of support for professional travel that is no longer risible, but our budget is clearly still inadequate to encourage the kind of international presence that would be possible with fully-funded trips. Now, there’s a prospect to dream of! Still, we will work with what is feasible and I look forward to reminding various parts of the university what an internationalized English Department we are.

A lot of my last two weeks has been taken up with working over personnel questions: reviews (how can there be so many?), review procedures, appointments, split appointments, personnel files, and the like. In this context, I was interested to get a chance recently to try to pin Dean Maxson down on her sense of future hiring trends. She was eloquent on the pain inflicted on the College by the Board of Regents’ mandate to visibly reallocate funds and she was also adamant that the present near-hiring freeze for faculty would stay in place for the next couple of years. What hiring there will be will come in the form of special initiatives, she thought. That, of course, is just her opinion, but the Dean of CLAS probably has an opinion worth listening to on hiring trends within the College.

In this and other discussions, it has become clear to me that both Dean Maxson and Dean Curto are positively obsessed with the need to increase CLAS faculty size. The faculty numbers in the College are currently about 640 FTE and the earlier strategic plan called for an increase to 710 FTE. I share their desire, and I’m happy to have them agitating for more faculty lines, although, like all obsessions, this one can veer towards the unhealthy. Twice now I have been in discussions where the deans have floated the idea of reducing TA lines as a way of boosting the number of faculty. My immediate response has been that while English would certainly like more faculty, we don’t want them at the cost of shrinking our Ph.D. program any further. I have been able to point to our Graduate Task Force Report and the discussion around it as evidence that the English Department is very thoughtful about the size of its graduate program, which is the result of careful planning, not mere accident. Diminishing graduate numbers in a strong department like English would have potentially devastating effects on faculty morale if it meant that we felt we didn’t have access to teaching the best and the brightest to continue our fields. Thanks to that task force and to all of you who participated in the discussion, which I think has served us well.

Finally, on the question of hiring, let me end by celebrating the stop-the-press news that we just got authorization for our requested two hires in African American studies. The College has asked us to add the sentence “The department is especially interested in scholars who will contribute to the African American Studies area of the University’s curriculum,” which is easy to add since it is entirely within the spirit of our request, and has otherwise approved us for “up to two new positions for assistant professors.” Presumably “up to two” depends on our success in identifying great candidates and encouraging them to come to Iowa, while the stipulation of rank is presumably an economy. Still, it is good to get approval for up to two, which I see as a vote of confidence in the English Department, and which has the minor but pleasing effect of not making the rhetoric of our ad look completely silly the way authorizing one line would have!

And thanks for all the kind words about the Fall Reception (pictures below). It was a delight to see so many faculty and graduate students and thanks to Gayle, Cherie, and Elizabeth for all their wonderful help with the event. Now we just have to survive the semester until the Christmas party…

Travel Matters

This academic year, we again have two sources of funds for travel support: the College of Liberal Arts and Science's allotment for travel to conferences and the Department's Glick Foundation Fund for research travel. The College has increased our allocation (which is apportioned according to the College’s assessment of faculty quality and the number of research-active faculty members in a department), but the Glick Foundation Fund is somewhat depleted. In order to keep support at an appreciable, if not princely, level, we will draw again this year on money returned to the department from summer and Saturday & Evening course rebates. On that basis and according to general guidelines approved by Executive Committee, Gayle Sand and I have matched available funds with faculty travel plans. Given anticipated travel needs, allotments look like this:

Assistant, associate, and full professors or lecturers will be able to count on $500 per trip to conferences at which they will be delivering a paper or chairing a session. Funds may not be combined to cover expenses for a single meeting. Indicating travel to conferences are Bloom (2), Boos (2), Branch (2), Brown (1), Creekmur (1), Diehl (1), Diffley (1), Eckstein (1), Emery (1), Fox (2), Gidal (3), Glass (4), Hamilton (1), Hemley (1), Herr (1), Ho (3), Kopelson (2), Kuenzli (1), Kupersmith (1), Latham (2), Lavezzo (3), Lohafer (1), Mangum (2), Morris (3), Nazareth (1), Pascoe (1), Round (2), Snider (3), Sponsler (1), Stapleton (1), Stecopoulos (3), Trevor (1), Trubowitz (4), and Wittenberg (4).

Assistant, associate, and full professors or lecturers can also count on $500 for each trip to a research library. Faculty who have scheduled research trips are Bloom (1), Boos (3), Branch (1), Brown (1), Creekmur (1), D’Agata (1), Diehl (1), Diffley (1), Eckstein (1), Emery (2), Foster (1), Fox (2), Glass (1), Hemley (1), Herr (1), Ho (2), Kumar (1), Lavezzo (1), Pascoe (1), Porter, H. (1), Rigal (1), Round (1), Snider (1), Sponsler (1), Stecopoulos (1), Trevor (1), Trubowitz (2), Turner (1), Wittenberg (2).

Faculty with joint appointments, or less than 100%, will receive proportional allocations of the above, and should check with their other department for availability of further funds. This applies to conference and research travel for Brown, Creekmur, Ho, Kuenzli, Latham, Porter, Rigal, Turner, and Wittenberg.

My hope is that this departmental travel support money will serve as a good start to covering expenses for domestic trips and as an initial contribution that can generate further funding for more expensive trips. In all cases, think about applying for additional travel funds in any grant applications you make, including Arts and Humanities Initiative grants. For further information about funding opportunities, see http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/research/index.html. In the case of international travel, you should seek additional funding from International Programs; see http://intl-programs.uiowa.edu/ipresearch/faculty/index.html. Some research trips, in particular, were described as tentative or as possibly occurring in the next fiscal year, which is important since the above allotments fully spend all of our available travel money (and then some). I mention this to signal that the department will have difficulty augmenting these amounts, even in special circumstance.

If your plans change, please inform me immediately. If you did not turn in travel plans, we have assumed you do not plan to travel (if you find you need travel support, you will need to talk to me about whether there are any funds left). Anyone else needing to make a research trip must also check with me about availability of funds.

These guidelines are in effect for the fiscal year: they cover all travel beginning July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006. Travel must be completed and vouchers turned in by June 15th. For travel between June 15th and June 30th, you will need to make special arrangements with Cherie Hansen-Rieskamp for reimbursement. All travel claims are now handled online with access from your Human Resources self-service page; see Cherie for further details and help in filing your claims.

Happy and productive travels!

Publications, Presentations, and other Faculty Matters

A few photos of the Fall Reception, taken by Elizabeth Curl, are available online. Click on the images to see larger versions of the photos.

Barbara Eckstein delivered a talk titled "New Orleans and the American City of Sprawl" at the Annual Rhetoric Public Forum on Monday, Sept. 26. The topic of this year's Forum was "Gulf Coast Underwater: America Uncovered."

Ed Folsom gave a talk on Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes at the Leaves of Grass Sesquicentennial Symposium at The College of New Jersey (Sept. 22-25). Next week, he goes to Boston for a one-day symposium, "Talking Back to Walt Whitman," that will focus on his work on Whitman, and he will give the keynote address on Whitman as an International Poet the next day at a public program at the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century.

Rob Latham has had three articles based on his current book project published recently:

Claire Sponsler's Ritual Imports: Performing Medieval Drama in America (Cornell 2004) has been awarded the 2005 Barnard Hewitt Award by the American Society for Theatre Research.

Thom Swiss is on leave this year, teaching at the University of Minnesota and as a Fellow in the Institute of New Media Studies. He has a chapter on New Media writing and teaching in the forthcoming book Towards A Theory Of Writing, an edited collection of new essays from international scholars in the field of writing and writing practice in existing and new media. Swiss was also at the University of Queensland in Australia on August 9, 2005, to give an invited talk on “New Media Writing and Art: A Writer’s Perspective”. Swiss discussed the possibilities for writing offered by the electronic convergence of words, images, and sound. On August 10, Swiss gave an invited talk at Griffith University on the Australian Gold Coast on a similar topic. His co-authored book, Digital Writing in the Classroom, will appear in 2006.

University Matters

The Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building dedication and celebration will take place on Friday, September 30, 2005, 1:30 p.m., at the Adler Building Plaza (near the intersection of Washington and Madison streets just north of the Main Library). Self-guided building tours will follow the dedication program and reception. For more information, see http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/events/2005/09/30_adler.shtml.

News Matters

Committee Including UI's Merrill Calls For Urgency In Cultural Diplomacy:
"Throughout history, cultural diplomacy has bridged the gaps left by political disagreements, and now more than ever the U.S. should be devoting resources to sharing its cultural riches with the world, according to a new report drafted by Christopher Merrill, University of Iowa professor of English and director of the International Writing Program. The Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy is the result of a year's worth of research and fact-finding by a nine-member committee including Merrill. The committee was charged with advising the Secretary of State on programs and policies to advance the use of cultural diplomacy in United States foreign policy."
http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/september/091505merrill-diplomacy.html

Trevor To Speak On Shakespeare And Emotion Sept. 24
The works of William Shakespeare transcend the centuries, retaining relevance for modern audiences in part because they cut straight to the heart of human emotions not bound by time. Doug Trevor, associate professor of English in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will explore the ways in which The Bard's work is a reflection of his era, speaking on "Shakespeare on Passion, Deceit and Sadness," on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. in room 40 Schaeffer Hall. This lecture and discussion session is free and open to the public as part of the college's annual Saturday Scholars series.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/september/091905trevor_lecture.html

Upcoming Events

Oct. 10 (Mon.) 12:00 noon-1:30 p.m., Gerber Lounge – A lunchtime discussion will focus on "Uncritical Reading" by Michael Warner. A sign-up sheet and a copy of the essay are available in the Zimansky Reading Room.

Oct. 10 (Mon.), 8:00 p.m., Shambaugh Auditorium - Fiction reading by Grace Paley (sponsored in part by the English Dept.)

Oct. 18 (Tue.), 4:00-6:00 p.m., IMU, South Room – Gerry Heng talk/reception

Oct. 21 (Fri.) – Deadline for submitting Flex Load Assignment applications to Jon Wilcox.

Oct. 21 (Fri.), 7:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore – Paul Collins will read from his new book The Trouble With Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine at Live from Prairie Lights. The reading will also be broadcast live on WSUI, 910 AM.

Oct. 25 (Tue.), 3:30 p.m., Gerber Lounge – The Graduate Awards Ceremony will be held to welcome the incoming class of Ph.D. students and honor those students who have received teaching, research, or dissertation awards in the past year. A reception will follow.

Oct. 26 (Wed.), 5:00 p.m., Gerber Lounge – talk by Richard Burgin, editor of the prestigious literary quarterly Boulevard

Oct. 26 (Wed.), 7:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore – Richard Burgin will be reading from his new collecction of short stores at Live from Prairie Lights. The reading will also be broadcast live on WSUI, 910 AM.

Nov. 3 (Thr.), Gerber Lounge –This year's Freedman Lecture will be given by Romanticist James Chandler, Univ. of Chicago. Topic and exact time to be announced.

Nov. 4 (Fri.), Gerber Lounge – This year's Freedman Seminar will be led by Romanticist James Chandler, Univ. of Chicago. Topic and exact time to be announced.

Nov. 5-Feb. 6, 2006 – “Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass” exhibit at the U of I Museum of Art (in conjunction with the “Whitman Making Books / Books Making Whitman” Symposium, see below).

Nov. 8 (Tue.), 7:30 p.m., Gerber Lounge – Alan Trachtenberg, Yale Univ., will give this year's Carver Lecture on Melville and Whitman.

Nov. 9 (Wed.), 8:00 p.m., Tippie Auditorium, W151 Pappajohn Business Building - Reverend Barry Stopfel, the first openly gay ordained Episcopalian priest will give a public lecture as part of his Nov. 8-14 residency.

Nov. 10-12 (Thr.-Sat.), IMU – NONFICTIONOW Conference. Keynotes and readings will be delivered by Philip Lopate, Pico Iyer, and Lauren Slater. Other panelists and readers include NPR reporter Jacki Lyden, Anthony Shadid, Jack Hitt, Faith Adele, Hope Edelman, Bob Shacochis, James Alan McPherson, Albert Goldbarth, David Shields, and many others.

Nov. 10-12 (Thr.-Sat.) – The “Whitman Making Books / Books Making Whitman” symposium will celebrate Whitman as a bookmaker. The keynote speaker will be Ezra Greenspan of Southern Methodist Univ., and other speakers will include Betsy Erkkila, Ted Genoways, Charles Green, Jerome Loving, and Kenneth M. Price. The symposium is directed by Ed Folsom and David Schoonover.

Nov. 10-13 (Thr.-Sun.), The Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI – The 47th Annual M/MLA Convention. The theme of this year's convention is "History, Memory, Exile."

Nov. 15 (Tue.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge – Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss P&T cases of Lori Branch and Kathy Lavezzo

Nov. 17 (Thr.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge – Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss P&T cases of Lori Branch and Kathy Lavezzo (if needed)

Dec. 1 (Thr.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge - Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss PF cases of Barbara Eckstein, Patricia Foster, and Judith Pascoe

Dec. 6 (Tue.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge - Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss PF cases of Barbara Eckstein, Patricia Foster, and Judith Pascoe

Dec. 8 (Thr.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge - Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss 5th-year reviews (and other reviews, if needed)

Dec. 9 (Fri.) – Deadline for submitting Old Gold Summer Fellowship applications to Jon Wilcox.

Mar. 2, 2006 (Thr.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge - Promotion and Review Meeting: DCG Meeting to discuss 3rd-year review of Lara Trubowitz

April 27 (Thr.), 3:30-5:00 p.m., State Room, IMU (Please note the change of location this year) - Undergraduate Honors Awards Ceremony

Other Calendars

Future Issues

Please send any items for Reading Matters or the departmental calendar to Carolyn Jacobson at carolyn-jacobson@uiowa.edu. Reading Matters will appear every other Wednesday, and submissions should be received by 5 p.m. on the preceding Tuesday. Please send submissions for the next issue by 5 p.m. on Oct. 11. Thanks very much.