Readings by English Graduate Students

On Wednesday, April 23, in the Coyote Student Center, the USD literary community enjoyed a creative reading by M.A. graduate students Amy Potter and Stephanie Lawyer. Stephanie read from her short-story collection, "Strange Houses, Stranger Homes." Amy Potter then read from her poetry collection entitled "Twisted Apples."
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 11:47 AM

Fan Bus for Roripaugh

On Tuesday, March 18, the English Department's second Fan Bus of the semester journeyed to Sioux City to attend Lee Ann Roripaugh’s poetry reading at Morningside College. The "Fans" included (in alphabetical order) Barb Baisden, Joe Basile, Brian Bedard, and Nancy Zuercher. Brian’s intrepid navigation through an occasionally near-blinding rain, a savory dinner at dependable Minerva's, Barb's ingenious back-roads/short-cut directions to/from Morningside, and Lee's spirited reading and illuminating comments were the highlights of the evening.
posted by Anonymous at 10:44 AM

The Vermillion Literary Project sponsored another successful poetry reading at the Coffee Shop Gallery Thursday evening, March 27th. Joel Waters took second place in the poetry slam, while Shannon VanOsdel won first. Both are English majors.

Garrett Bruening (a business major!) hosted the open-mic segment, while Hilary Lehmann (Clayton Lehmann's daughter, on spring break from St. Olaf College in Minnesota) hosted the poetry slam. And what a fine job they both did. Garrett fooled everyone with his computer-generated haiku poems that he read in between the open-mic readers. A special thanks to both Kim Raaphorst and Shannon VanOsdel, who organized the reading and to the slam judges, including Ed Allen, Victor Singingeagle, Lisa Dooley (a creative writing student), Garrett Bruening, and Joshua Smith (grad student in computer science; English major alumnus).


posted by Anonymous at 10:37 AM

VLP Receives Award for Academic Excellence

The Vermillion Literary Project received the Board of Regents 2003 Award for Academic Excellence. On hand to accept the award at the BOR meeting on Friday, March 14th in the Coyote Student Center were VLP members Garrett Bruening, Stan West, Stephanie Lawyer (serving as both a student representative and co-faculty advisor), and co-faculty advisor Michelle Rogge Gannon. Also in attendance were President Abbott, other USD officials, and other members of the USD community.
posted by Anonymous at 10:23 AM

Dennis Sjolie received recent notice that his short story “Trinket Bells in Pagan Temples” is forthcoming in Samsara.
posted by Anonymous at 10:19 AM

Jim Balakier showed his advanced Governor’s Technology Grant project at the State House in Pierre on March 4, along with 15 other recipients from USD. His presentation was titled “Upgrading the Cultural Content of British Literature II Using Computer Technology.” He discussed his project with state legislators; faculty from other South Dakota universities; Vice President Don Dahlin; and Tad Perry, Executive Director of the Board of Regents.
posted by Anonymous at 10:18 AM

Teaching Assistants' Achievements

Eric Pickar will be graduating from the University of South Dakota School of Law on May 10, 2003.

Angela Hanson gave a presentation on Arab Families at an In-service training entitled “Serving Diverse Families” at Washington High School in Sioux Falls on February 26, 2003.

On March 21, 2003, Brenda Paulsen presented her thesis work during the Michigan Academy of Science Arts and Letters annual conference at Hope College in Holland, MI. The Michigan Academy is “one hundred and nine years old and has a stated mission to ‘disseminate research and diffuse knowledge.’” Almost four hundred presenters from various disciplines participated in this year’s conference. Paulsen’s presentation, “Is There ‘Elbow’ Room for a Palm PDA in the Composition Classroom? Not Without a Keyboard,” was well received by the Rhetoric and Composition members.

Amy Potter’s short story “The Lottery” was published online at www.the3rdegree.com. The 3rdegree takes hardboiled PI and/or noir crime settings or comment/review of published works within the genre. “The Lottery” was submitted as revenge fiction and was the first short story Potter had written as an undergraduate student.

posted by Anonymous at 4:59 PM

Michelle Rogge Gannon received the South Dakota Board of Regents Excellence in E-Learning Award in the Internet-Only category for her Internet-only section of ENGL 101. In addition, she won in the category of “Best Overall.” The award comes with $2,500 plus a paid registration fee for the state Distance Education Conference to be held in Aberdeen on April 10-11, where she will be formally presented with the award.

Michelle Rogge Gannon attended special training on weblogs in her work with the National Writing Project Electronic Design Team; the training took place in Chicago on February 13-14. On the weekend that followed, she co-chaired the NWP Design Team’s annual retreat, putting to use the blog training, with team members discussing D-Team work online in a weblog. D-team members include K-College teachers, a librarian, technologist, and NWP staff, coming from Chicago, Philadelphia, Berkeley, West Virginia, Vermont, Nebraska, and, of course, South Dakota.

See http://blogs.writingproject.org/dteam for pictures and more information.



posted by Anonymous at 4:42 PM

Lee Roripaugh’s second volume of poetry, Year of the Snake, was named second-prize winner in the Crab Orchard Review Contemporary Poetry Series, and will be published by Southern Illinois University Press in April 2004. In addition to the book contract, the prize also entails a cash award of $1,500, and a public reading at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale to celebrate publication of the book. Year of the Snake was selected as second-prize winner by Judge Ralph Burns out of over 500 entries in the nationwide competition.
posted by Anonymous at 4:36 PM

Lee Roripaugh recently traveled to Fresno, California on March 14, 2003, to participate in an afternoon symposium on multicultural poetry and to give a public reading with poets Phil Levine, Quincy Troupe, and Luis Omar Salinas. The event was sponsored by the Chicano Writers and Artists Association and was given in honor of long-time Fresno poet Luis Omar Salinas and Pulitzer-Prize and National Book Award recipient Phil Levine.

Roripaugh also recently gave a poetry reading at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 18, 2003, as well as both a poetry reading and a paper presentation at the Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 12-15, 2003. On November 8, 2002, Roripaugh gave a fiction reading at the Midwest MLA Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Roripaugh’s poem, “Luscious Things,” has been accepted for publication by Crab Orchard Review.

Lee Roripaugh was also the recipient of a Technology Enhancement Grant this semester from CIDD in the amount of $500. The grant is being used to make online resources and readings easily available to students in her ENGL 469: Contemporary American Poetry course, as well as to incorporate use of weblogging into the course curriculum.
posted by Anonymous at 4:08 PM

Ed Allen attended the 2003 Associated Writing Programs convention, which was held in Baltimore from February 26 to March 1, as an at-large representative for the USD creative writing program and for South Dakota Review.

posted by Anonymous at 4:05 PM

Norma Wilson and her husband Jerry Wilson presented a workshop on travel writing at the W.H. Over Museum, Saturday, March 22, 9:30-11 am. Norma read some of her poems from Mojacar. Jerry focused on his Pan-American journey in American Artery.

Norma was invited to speak at the Pi Beta Phi Scholarship Dinner in Vermillion, March 13. She urged the scholars to recognize their potential as women to offer the world new ways of thinking and acting that can help humanity to survive. She emphasized the importance of supporting literacy programs to help girls and women throughout the world.

Norma Wilson and Lee Ann Roripaugh introduced their recent books at the Celebrate Academics luncheon with other authors from the College of Arts and Sciences on March 20.

posted by Anonymous at 4:03 PM

Dr. Harry Berger visits campus

While on campus last week the noted Shakespearean Dr. Harry Berger visited Jim Balakier’s Shakespeare class to discuss RICHARD III with the students. Counter to the “standard” view of the play as an expression of Shakespeare’s acceptance of the official version of Richard’s providential defeat by the first Tudor king, Henry VII, Professor Berger argued that RICHARD III is actually a politically subversive comic parody of Tudor propaganda. He enjoyed the interactions with the students, and commented afterwards that it was “the most fun” he has had lecturing on campuses across the country this semester.

posted by Anonymous at 3:59 PM

English Department gives students over $26,000 in awards

On Sunday, April 13, the English Department celebrated its annual Spring Awards Banquet. At the awards ceremony, 55 graduate and undergraduate students received monetary gifts from the English Department.

Margaret B. Sanger Scholarship winners included Michele Dain, Eric Davis, Patrick Dickes, Dawn Ernster, Adam Fischer, Cheryl Geraets, Carmen Graber, Garrett Hartwig, Melissa Houghton, Ellen Jacobsen, Megan Jensen, Jessica Larson, Kelly Meyer, Rebekah Mulder, Kim Raaphorst, Ellen Ryan, Amanda Sides, Dan Swanson, Lisha VonEhwegen, Matthew Walker, Alison Wallace, Amber Wegehaupt, Michael Weisbecker, and Gavin Woltjer at the college level. The English Department also gave Sanger awards to high school students who are planning to come to USD and have declared an English major. Those students were Rachel Buser, Timothy Harden, Katie Peters, Jennifer Pohlman, Peter Fischer, Mark Joyce, Heidi Kolbeck, and John Mullin.

In addition to the Sanger awards, the English Department gave away the following awards:

Sigurd & Vivian D. Anderson Award - Wayne Venhuizen and Megan Nearman

Alvina & Robert Hall Scholarship - Melissa Houghton and Rebekah Mulder

English Department Memorial Scholarship - Justin Blessinger and Kristin Johnson

Dorothy Baisch Selz Scholarship - Anne Marie Michaels, Renee Della Fave, and Philip Postma

John G. Dow Scholarship - Courtney Krugman

Elizabeth Shreves Scholarship - Jami Olson, Kristin Johnson, and Erin Kaufman

Archer B. Gilfillan Awards - Mary Artichoker, Mary Honerman, Erin Kaufman, Catherine Napier, Amy Potter, Elliot Riis, Shannon VanOsdel, and Joel Waters

Gertrude B. Gunderson Award - Stephanie Lawyer

Gladys J. Hasse Award - Elliot Harmon

Betty Beasom Crew Scholarship - Cecilia Ragaini and Jennifer Zimmerman

Elbert W. and Marjorie Harrington Book Award - Jennifer Nauman

Alpha Lambda Delta Award - Courtney Krugman

Gasque Study-in-Britain Award - Ellen Jacobsen

posted by Anonymous at 12:32 PM

The USD English Department welcomes two new faculty members

The USD English Department is happy to announce that Dr. John Dudley and Dr. John Pitcher will be joining our faculty as assistant professors beginning in the fall 2003 semester.

A scholar of American literature and culture, Dr. Dudley has teaching and scholarly specializations that include literary realism and naturalism, gender studies, African-American literature, and American Indian literature. Dr. Dudley received his Ph.D. in English from Tulane University. Since completing his doctoral work, he has served as an Assistant Professor of English at Southern Arkansas University. Dr. Dudley's master's degree is from the University of Virginia, and his undergraduate degree from Cornell University.

Dr. Dudley's book, A Man's Game: Maxculinity and the Anti-Aesthetics of American Literary Naturalism, is forthcoming from University of Alabama Press. He has published scholarly articles in recent issues of American Literary Realism and College Literature.

Dr. Pitcher's teaching and scholarly specializations are the study of Chaucer and the Medieval period. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, completed his Master's in English at SUNY Binghamton, and received his Ph.D. in English from Brown University. He served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Maine from 2000 to 2001 and then as a lecturer at Western Washington University.

Dr. Pitcher wrote his dissertation on "Equivocations: The Agency of Desire in The Canterbury Tales." An article by Dr. Pitcher, entitled "'Word and Werk' in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale" is forthcoming in Literature and Psychology..
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:53 AM

Attend the VLP Reception and Authors' Reading

You're invited to attend the Vermillion Literary Project's annual reception and authors' reading, celebrating the publication of the 2003 VLP magazine. This event will be held on Thursday, April 24th, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Coffee Shop Gallery, 24 W. Main Street, downtown Vermillion. Authors published in the magazine have been invited to read their work. Copies of the magazine will be available for sale at $7 each. Treats will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, call 605-677-5229 (English Department).
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 8:29 PM

Celebratory English Dept. events

Please come celebrate the achievements of our graduates. In the next month, five USD English Department graduate students will be presenting work from their theses. Dates and times are as follows; refreshments will be served.

Wed., 4/23 at 3:30: Stephanie Lawyer and Amy Potter (MA students in Creative Writing) – Hoy B, Coyote Student Center

Fri., 4/25 at 3:30: COLLOQUIUM presentation by Jolene Buehrer (PhD student, critical track) – Hoy A, Coyote Student Center

Fri., 5/2 at 4:00 - note time change: Rebecca Anderson and Scott Hazeu (MA students in Creative Writing) – Hoy A, Coyote Student Center
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 8:16 PM