Reading Matters, Vol. 13, Issue 7

From (under) the Chair's Desk

As our search season climaxes with the final decision meeting, I’ll keep this week’s column short, and just mention that there are several stages twixt the department’s decision and the candidate’s acceptance (including writing up the details of the offer, attaching piles of paperwork clarifying our search procedures, getting the package approved by CLAS and EOC, and, in the case of the first of this season’s offers, having the whole package get lost somewhere in the works during last week’s snowstorms and office closures!). At this stage, I can say that candidates from our first two searches have been contacted, know that offers are on the way, and that the whole process is ticking along nicely, even if we don’t yet have any definitiveresponses. I’ll report to the department as soon as those come in. And within two weeks we will need to submit our priorities, rationales, and hiring plan for next year’s searches!

Departmental journals remain a work in process but also with some elements approaching a conclusion. Dean Maxson recently approved the revival plan for Philological Quarterly under the energetic guidance of Alvin Snider, with the oversight of the new editorial board, and now more straightforwardly situated within the Department of English in CLAS. Kathleen Diffley has been working on detailed negotiations over the movement of the M/MLA to another host institution. And yesterday the Interim Provost met with myself and those of the executive committee who were available to outline her plans for a new more highly visible profile for The Iowa Review, reporting directly to the Provost’s Office, staffed with a permanent managing editor, with the involvement of three graduate assistants, and with a national search coming soon for a full-time editor of the journal.

In other news, CLAS just put out its annual call for proposals for the Excellence and Innovation fund. Details are here. Let me know if you have any suggestions for an English Department project drawing on these. In terms of reflecting on our past excellence, the best name I’ve received so far for famous English Department alumni is T. C. Boyle, who took his Ph.D. from this department in the early 70s. Do we have any other famous alums who carry name recognition? Let me know if you think of any.

Publications, Presentations, and other Faculty Matters

Visiting Assistant Professor and recent dissertation prize winner Mike Chasar is working on making available online a number of poetry scrapbooks. For the latest version, click here.

Huston Diehl delivered a paper, “Fingering History’s Jagged Edges,” at a session on hybrid non-fiction at the AWP Conference in New York City in January. She will be giving a reading from her book Dream Not of Other Worlds at Washington College in Chesterton, Maryland, at the end of February. During her visit there, she will also give a lecture on Othello to an honors English class.

Barbara Eckstein's latest Iowa River tour was a success with many people turning out for the trip to the reservoir, the art exhibit at the library and the Iowa City Water Treatment Plant. Many thanks to Donald Baxter for providing a slide show of the tour.

Folsom comments on Whitman notebooks (Leaders and Success/Yahoo, Feb. 4):

A story about poet Walt Whitman notes that to hang onto his impressions and ideas, Whitman usually carried around a pocket notebook and pencil to jot down images as they occurred to him. Later, they'd become material for his poetry. Ed Folsom, an English professor at the University of Iowa and editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, said, "Those notebooks let him record unmediated thoughts and not restrict himself by trying to fit them into conventional rhyming schemes. When he saw his notebooks, he realized he had invented a new organic style that wasn't mechanical or cobbled together." More information can be found here.

Patricia Foster has an essay forthcoming in Winter/Spring 2008 Organica Magazine.

Steve Kuusisto arranged two upcoming talks by Professor Brenda Brueggemann who directs the American Sign Language Program and the Disability Studies Program at The Ohio State University. The first talk titled "Eugenics, Economics, Euthanasia: The Nazi T-4 Program against People with Disabilities" takes place tonight, Thursday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Gerber Lounge. Her second speech, "Posting Mabel" happens Friday, February 15 at 3:30 p.m. in Gerber Lounge.

On February 13th Steve Kuusisto had a poem featured on Verse Daily. Click here to view the poem.

Peter Nazareth is the subject of a recent story in The Iowa Source written by Megan Carney, a journalism student who took one of his classes. The link to the story can be found here.

Brown Bag Lunch Matters

An additional Brown Bag Lunch has been added to the lineup this spring:

April 2 (Wed.) 12:00 p.m. Gerber Lounge: Free Lunch / Free discussion of an essay (TBA) by D. A. Miller in anticipation of his April lecture. Copies of the essay will be available in 310 EPB in late March. Sign up for sandwiches closes March 31st at 4:30 pm. Garrett Stewart will kick off the discussion.

All Brown Bag Lunch dates can be found on the Departmental Calendar.

Early Modern Reading Group Matters

The Early Modern Reading Group has regrouped and will be meeting on the following dates:

February 29th, Friday at 3:30 p.m., 331 EPB
March 28, Friday at 3:30 p.m., 331 EPB
April 24th, Thursday at 5:00 p.m., 331 EPB
May 9th, Friday at 3:30 p.m., 331 EPB

Thanks to Jailyn Moreland for organizing this.

Alum Matters

Kathryn Moncrief, who took her Ph.D. from here in 2000, director Huston Diehl, is now an Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at Washington College, Maryland. More information can be found here.

Department Calendar

The calendar is now housed on its own page, and both the calendar and Reading Matters are now available via links from the main English Dept. webpage, making it easier to access them. You can find a full listing of upcoming events at the English Department Calendar.

Other Calendars

UI Master Calendar of Events | UI Academic Calendar | The Writers Workshop Reading Schedule | The International Writing Program Calendar

Future Issues

Please send any items for Reading Matters or the departmental calendar to Erin Hackathorn at erin-hackathorn@uiowa.edu. Reading Matters appears every other Thursday during the semester, and submissions should be received by 5 p.m. the day before. Please send submissions for the next issue by 5 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 27. Thanks very much.