Upcoming Events

The first South Dakota Festival of Books will take place October 3-5, 2003, in Deadwood. The festival will feature national, regional and local writers. This is a great time to spend in the Black Hills. For more information, visit http://web.sdstate.edu/humanities/festival/final.html/.

Lakota author Delphine Red Shirt will present a reading of her work Monday, October 20, from 1-1:50 in Frankenfeld A and B of the Coyote Student Center at USD. Her reading is open to the public. She will also speak to students from 9-9:50 in Old Main 301 and from 11-11:50 in the South Dakota Union 321. Faculty and students are welcome to attend these sessions as well.

You are invited to attend the Vermillion Literary Project's open-mic reading and poetry slam, scheduled for Thursday, September 25, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Coffee Shop Gallery, 24 W. Main Street, downtown Vermillion. The open-mic begins at 7 p.m.; writers are welcome to read poetry, short-short fiction, and other creative works. The slam, a competition for poets, begins as soon as the open-mic ends. Slam poets should bring at least two poems. This event is free and open to the general public. For more information about the Vermillion Literary Project, visit http://www.usd.edu/~projlit.

posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 8:55 AM

USD English Faculty/Student Accomplishments

Patti DiMond will be attending the Fifth Native American Symposium at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, OK on November 14th. She will be presenting a paper called "The Other Side of the Story: The Importance of James Welch’s Fools Crow Novel." Ms. DiMond was also chosen to write entries on James Welch, Janet Campbell Hale, and Wendy Rose for the Encyclopedia of Ethnic American Literature, a multi-volume work that will be published in the fall of 2004.

Joe Basile’s essay, "The Literary Struggle of Lewis and Clark," will be published next spring by the Center for Western Studies in The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Then and Now, edited by David Kuernes. The essay was awarded second prize in the Professional category when it was presented at the 30th Annual Dakota Conference at Augustana College in May, 1998.

Brian Bedard’s short story, "Cold Snap," was recently accepted for publication by Snake Nation Review, a literary magazine published in Valdosta, Georgia.

Dennis Sjolie was recently notified that his short story "Edges" will appear in Flesh & Blood: Quiet Tales of Horror & Dark Fantasy. Dennis was also nominated for and elected to the Dakota TESL Association to serve on the board as the higher education representative. The Dakota TESL Association serves both North and South Dakota.

Norma Wilson presented an overview of the development of Lakota/Dakota poetry tradition at the Unity Fest held at the Sekagewea Center in Mobridge, SD, May 23, 2003. In addition, Dr. Wilson’s essay, "Letter to Carter Revard," was published in Studies in American Indian Literatures, 15, 1 (Spring 2003): 60-65.

Keith Collett, doctoral student, is now a full-time instructor at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, MO. He is teaching composition and developmental writing courses.

Nancy Zuercher presented "Computer Classroom or Smart Classroom: What Difference Does it Make?" at the Great Plains Alliance for Computers and Writing, Peru, NE, on April 25, 2003.

Zuercher and Michelle Rogge Gannon directed the Dakota Writing Project’s four-week Summer Invitational Institute at USD in which twelve SD teachers and one South Carolina teacher participated. Brian Bedard was the featured guest writer.

Michelle Rogge Gannon has been continuing with her work for the National Writing Project. In July, she co-facilitated the NWP’s first-ever technology institute, held in Huntington, WV at Marshall University. This four-day technology institute was designed to help NWP technology liaisons learn ways to fuse writing and technology effectively at their sites. Gannon also served as a co-facilitator for the NWP E-Anthology, an online forum for educators participating in NWP summer institutes nation-wide. Gannon also led a planning team for the Technology Liaisons Advisory Committee in Berkeley on September 13-14th. Additionally, Michelle co-taught, with Karen McComas from Marshall University, an eight-week online MOO class for NWP teachers from around the country.

posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 8:48 AM