Monday, June 29, 2009 WELCOMING OUR NEW DEPARTMENT HEAD, JEANNIE BANKS THOMAS
 Effective July 1, 2009, Professor Jeannie Banks Thomas will be head in the Department of English at Utah State University. She was named to the position after an internal search conducted during 2008-09. A specialist in folklore, Professor Thomas received her PhD from the University of Oregon, has taught previously at Indiana State University, and has been at Utah State since 1999. Besides s directing the folklore program in the Department of English, she has also been Interim Department Head of Interior Design, and Associate Dean for the Arts in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. She replaces Professor Jeffrey Smitten, who has served as department head since 1990. He will return to full-time teaching and research. "Professor Thomas will be an outstanding department head," said Smitten, "because she brings excellent qualifications to the job. Plus, there is no better department to work with anywhere." Professor Thomas may be reached at 797-2733 or by email at english@usu.edu. More
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Monday, June 29, 2009 USU GRADUATES AND FACULTY SELECTED TO PARTICPATE IN ADVANCED PLACEMENT PROGRAM READING
 Former USU English department graduate students Jackie Harris, Sarah Sission, Curtis Newbold, Sita Bell, and Jacoba Mendelkow as well as PhD candidate Laura Vernon and lecturer John Engler were selected to participate in the annual Reading and scoring of the College Board's AP Examinations this June in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year the AP Program, sponsored by the College Board, gives more than one million capable high school students an opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses and examinations and, based on the exam performance, to receive credit and/or advanced placement when they enter college.Over 10,000 AP readers from universities and high schools evaluated more than 2.7 million examinations from 37 AP Courses. Representing many of the finest academic instructors in the world, these men and women are some of the best high school and college educators in the United States, Canada, and abroad.The AP Reading is a unique forum in which academic dialogue between secondary school and college educators is fostered and strongly encouraged. “The Reading draws upon the talents of some of the finest teachers and professors that the world has to offer,” said Trevor Packer, Vice President of the Advanced Placement Program at the College Board. “It fosters professionalism, allows for the exchange of ideas, and strengthens the commitment to students and to teaching. We are very grateful for the contributions of talented educators like those who participated from Utah State University.” More
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Monday, June 29, 2009 A NEUROBIOLOGIST’S CANVAS, EDITORS’ PRIZES AND REMEBERING WALLACE STEGNER – ISOTOPE RELEASES ITS SPRING/SUMMER 2009 ISSUE.
 Inside Isotope issue 7.1, featured artist and neurobiologist, J. David Sweatt, showcases paintings inspired by his ongoing research regarding memory formation and memory disorders. His paintings of neurons and nervous-systemprocesses offer an intuitive perception of what he states are "real things that no one has ever seen" and represent the abstract and realistic nature of these subjects. His work has also been featured in the PBS television series "NOVA". More
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Monday, June 29, 2009 UTAH SYMPOSIUM IN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE ANNOUNCED
 The 2009 Utah Symposium in Science & Literature will take place on November 5-7 (Thursday - Saturday). Previous symposia havebeen highly successful, and we expect no less from this year's event. The title of the 2009 Symposium is "Mathematics, Language, and Imaginations." For more information contact Timothy O'Keefe at okeefe@mac.com More
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Monday, June 29, 2009 “POETRY AT THREE” GROUP TO READ AT ENTRADA INSTITUTE
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Monday, June 29, 2009 SEEKING PANELISTS FOR “CONNECTIONS” COURSE
 The Connections program is seeking faculty to speak to first-year students as they enter Utah State University as part of the Connections course. (USU 1010) This course is designed to ease students transition to the university and address their many concerns. Often students are concerned about their ability to be academically successful in their courses. Students understand that their path to many majors depends upon their completion of the required courses. The faculty panels serve the faculty and the students. Participating on a panel provides your department an opportunity to tell students how to be successful in courses and the resources that are available to them. Students attending the panel see that faculty and instructors can be a support and resource for their academic success. Also students gain a sense of the many career opportunities available on a university campus. A professor or instructor on a panel can be the first step toward a student pursuing more information regarding a major. For more information, click here, or contact Noelle Call at noelle.call@usu.edu More
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Monday, June 29, 2009 NCCU SEEKING APPLICANTS FOR ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT
 The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is accepting applications for the position of Associate Vice President. The AVP job description and additional information on the Commission can be found on the Commission's website (www.nwccu.org). Review of applications will begin on July 20, 2009, and continue until the position is filled. More
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Monday, June 15, 2009 HUBBARD FAMILY SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED TO ENGLISH MAJORS
 Two students have received 2009-2010 Hubbard Family Scholarships at Utah State University, Zachary Maughan, a senior from Providence majoring in American Studies and German, and Julie Sheen, a junior from North Logan majoring in English education and minoring in history, with an associate of science certificate in horticulture. Maughan and Sheen were selected from a field of 12 applicants. More
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Monday, June 15, 2009 WRITING CENTER ANNOUNCES SUMMER HOURS
 The Writing Center is now open Tuesday through Thursday from 9:30 to 2:30, until July 30. Please remind your students to drop in (RWST 104) or sign up online (writing.usu.edu) for appointments. More
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Monday, June 15, 2009 JENSEN'S BOOK NOTED IN TLS
 Utah State University professor of English Phebe Jensen's recent book, Religion and Revelry in Shakespeare's World, has just been recognized in the Times Literary Supplement. Noted critic Ronald Hutton calls the book “a lively and ambitious updating of C.L. Barber's classic Shakespeare's Festive Comedy (1959), incorporating the insights produced by historians of early modern English religion and society over the intervening half-century.” More
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Monday, June 15, 2009 NEW WAL ISSUE AVAILABLE
 The spring 2009 issue of Western American Literature is now available. The opening essay by Elisa Warford, “‘An Eloquent and Impassioned Plea': The Rhetoric of Ruiz de Burton's The Squatter and the Don,” examines the art behind the first Californio novel published in English (in 1885) by a Mexican American woman, María Amparo Ruiz de Burton. Warford describes how the author borrowed from several different genres to successfully dismantle stereotypes and prejudices of native Californians and to show that their problems affected the entire state. More
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Monday, June 15, 2009 NEW STC OFFICERS ANNOUNCED
 The new STC officers are president, Ben Minson; vice-president, Paul Pehrson; secretary, David Gravelle; PR manager, Lisa Ferrara; webmaster, Tom Johnson; treasurer, Marj Hermansen-Eldard. There are still opportunities to get involved and maximize STC's offerings and benefit for the members of our chapter. See http://www.intermountain-stc.org/officers.html for the open positions. More
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