News & Events
News
Bryan Hampton and Rebecca Cook Honored for Teaching and Scholarship
[Nov 28, 2006]
Two members of the English department faculty were
recently presented with College of Arts and Sciences Awards at UTC's Faculty Honors Day. Dr. Bryan Hampton,
Assistant Professor of English and Co-ordinator of Humanities, won the College's Outstanding Teaching Award. Rebecca Cook, Lecturer,
won the College's Outstanding Creative Scholarship Award. Congratulations to both for these important recognitions!
Dr. Jennifer Beech's Scholarship Named by the Chronicle of Higher Education
[Nov 28, 2006]
For the second time since coming to UTC, Dr. Jennifer Beech's scholarship has
been recognized in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In the November 17, 2006 print and online versions of the Chronicle,
Beech's lead chapter from the book Reflections from the Wrong Side of the Tracks: Class, Identity, and the Working Class Experience in
Academe (Rowman and Littefield, 2006) is detailed in Robin Wilson's review of the book. In June 2004, Professor Beech's co-authored
article, "The Work Before Us," was recognized on the front page of the online Chronicle as an important piece of scholarship for
English studies. With Professors Ira Shor (CUNY) and William Thelin (University of Akron), Professor Beech is the co-chair of the
Working-Class Culture and Pedagogy Special Interest Group of the Conference on College Composition and Communications.
Dr. Edgar McDowell Shawen Named UTNAA Outstanding Teacher
[May 10, 2006]
Dr. Edgar McDowell Shawen, Associate Professor of English,
was recently honored as 2006 Outstanding Teacher by the University of Tennessee National Alumni
Association. The distinction, which honors classroom excellence and unusual committment to students,
is given each year to only two faculty members from each of the four UT system campuses. Past
winners from the UTC English department include Professors Katherine Rehyansky, Christopher Stuart,
Gregory O'Dea, Immaculate Kizza, and Earl Braggs.
Dr. Richard Jackson's Poetry and Prose Featured in Online Literary Magazines
[Jan 23, 2006]
The January 2006 issue of The Cortland Review, a prize-winning online literary magazine, features five
new poems and an essay by Dr. Richard Jackson,
UC Foundation Professor of English at UTC. Jackson's poems are presented as text and with audio; his essay, "Language-Driven
Poetry: An Introduction to the Principle of Generating Poems," "begins with Dante and Petrarch and walks us through poems of Wordsworth, Keats,
Robert Frost, Andre Breton, Cesare Pavese, Richard Wilbur,
Wislawa Szymborska, Anna Akhmatova, all the way to Heather McHugh to demonstrate that the imaginative vision possible to us through poetry
exists not in the dressing up of ideas, feelings or events that the poet tries to find words to describe, but in its exploration of language,
'not merely a record, but a gesture always trying to escape itself, escape our human condition towards something universal...'."
Jackson has also recently collaborated on a multimedia presentation of his poem "Midnight" in Born Magazine.
Dr. Gregory O'Dea Receives Humanities in Medicine Award
[Nov 5, 2005]
The Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Physicians has named Dr. Gregory O'Dea, UC Foundation Professor of English and
Director of UTC's interdisciplinary honors program, as the 2005 recipient of the Clifton R. Cleaveland Humanities in
Medicine Award. The award recogonizes outstanding contributions to humanism in medicine, as well as scholarly achievement in history,
literature, philosophy, and ethics. In presenting the award during the Tennessee ACP's annual meeting in Nashville, Dr. Stephen Miller,
Governor of the College, noted Professor O'Dea's "deep awareness of the importance of humane letters, particularly literature and
history, to the work of physicians" as well as his "unstinting commitment to teaching medical humanities, and his invaluable
contributions to the success of the humanities and medicine programs he directs in Tennessee, Georgia, and at the national level.
His teaching expertise is legendary; at each venue, his workshops and lectures are over-subscribed. His devoted audience
for the Tennessee programs alone is drawn from over half a dozen states."
Dr. O'Dea also delivered the keynote address at the conference, entitled "Who are the Humanists?: Reading and (Re)Writing the Human Body."
Dr. Jennifer Beech Elected to CCCC Nominating Committee
[Oct 12, 2005]
Dr. Jennifer Beech, Assistant Professor of English and Writing Center Director, has won a national
election for a seat on the 2006 Nominating Committee for the Conference on Composition and
Communication (CCCC). CCCC, an affiliate organization of National Council of Teachers of English,
supports and promotes the teaching and study of college composition and communication by 1) sponsoring
meetings and publishing scholarly materials for the exchange of knowledge about composition, composition
pedagogy, and rhetoric; 2) supporting a wide range of research on composition, communication, and rhetoric;
3) working to enhance the conditions for learning and teaching college composition and to promote professional
development; and 4) acting as an advocate for language and literacy education nationally and internationally.
As a member of the Nominating Committee, Beech will work with other CCCC elected officials to nominate
dedicated and qualified CCCC members for a variety of important committees within the
organization.
Department Alum to Publish Poetry Volume
[Aug 28, 2005]
Paul Guest, a graduate of UTC’s English Department, will have his second book of poems published this fall. Entitled Notes for My
Body Double, the volume is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press.
Guest is among several UTC poetry students from the last decade who have published books: Bradley Paul, who teaches in Austin, Texas, Cathy Wagner (2 books), who teaches in Baltimore, Ever Saskaya (a Ph.D. Student in Colorado), and Khaled Mattawa, who has published several books of poems and translations and teaches at the University of Michigan. Numerous other students have published chapbooks and poems in highly respected journals, and a couple have published books of prose.
"This level of achievement is unrivaled by any current undergraduate creative writing program, and is underscored by the program’s 100% rate of students receiving major fellowships to graduate school—a figure no other school in the country can match," according to Dr. Richard Jackson. UTC's creative program is sometimes compared to the undergraduate program of Fresno State headed by Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Levine in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and has been called “a graduate program disguised as an undergraduate program” by prize-winning author Stanley Plumly of the University of Maryland.
Department Welcomes Professors to the Faculty
[Aug 1, 2005]
The English Department is pleased to welcome two new tenure-track professors to its faculty. Dr. Rebecca Jones (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Assistant Professor, joins us after serving two years on the English faculty at The University of Texas - Pan American. A specialist in rhetoric and composition, Dr. Jones has teaching and research interests in the areas of discourse studies, rhetorical theories and histories, women's rhetoric, and protest and visual rhetorics. Professor Aaron Shaheen, Instructor, has just finished his doctoral work in American Studies at The University of Florida, where he taught courses in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature and American modernism. Professor Shaheen's current research concerns the intersections of gender, the body politic, and American modernism.
Rehyansky Named UTNAA Outstanding Teacher
[July 1, 2005]
Dr. Katherine Heinrichs Rehyansky, Dorothy and James D. Kennedy, Jr. Associate Professor of English, was recently honored as 2005 Outstanding Teacher by the University of Tennessee
National Alumni Association. The distinction, which honors classroom excellence and unusual committment
to students, is given each year to only two faculty members from each of the four UT system campuses. Past winners from UTC the English
department include Professors Christopher Stuart, Gregory O'Dea, Immaculate Kizza, and Earl Braggs.
Department Head and Associate Head Appointed
[July 1, 2005]
Dr. Verbie Lovorn Prevost, Katharine H. Pryor Professor, has been appointed to the position of Department Head in English. Dr. Prevost, who joined the department's faculty in 1986, served as Acting Head during the 2004-2005
academic year—a position she also held from 1998-2001. She has also served as President of UTC's Faculty Senate. In a much-needed expansion of the department's administration, Dr. Joe Wilferth, UC Foundation Assistant Professor, has been appointed to a two-year term as Associate Department Head.
Upcoming Events
Meacham Writers' Conference, February 28 - March 1
[February 10, 2008]
The Meacham Writers' Workshop will take place February 28 - March 1, 2008 at UTC (Friday and Saturday), Chattanooga State Technical
Community College (Thursday), and at Rock Point Books in downtown Chattanooga (Sunday). A full schedule and biographies of
award-winning visting writers can be found here.
The Meacham Workshops are free: everyone is welcome to attend and there is no formal registration. Jean Meacham, a former UTC professor and widely regarded as one of the University's finest teachers, gave a generous endowment to UTC in memory of her husband, Ellis, a writer and judge. The terms of the bequest, and a tribute to Jean's extraordinary vision, stipulate that the workshops be free and open to the public with no formal registration. She intended the workshops to be a place where professional, student, local, and amateur writers might freely meet, listen to each other, and help each other improve. She also intended the workshops to include readers, not just writers, an audience that could hear first hand some of the best national and international writers.
The Program is sponsored by: Tennessee Arts Commission, Allied Arts of Chattanooga, Chattanooga State Technical Commununity College, UTC Speakers & Special Events Committee, UTC English Department, UTC Honors Program, and Poetry Miscellany.
Student Writing: Submit Your Work to Igou, Smith and Young Prize
Competitions
[January 7, 2008]
The Thelma Styles Igou Poetry Award:In the spring of 2008, the English Department at UTC will award the second annual Thelma Styles
Igou Poetry Award. There will be two separate categories, undergraduate and graduate. The winner in each category will receive a cash prize at the
annual English Department Banquet (scheduled for April 10, 2008) and may have his/her poem published in a campus publication. Download guidelines and a submission form
The Ken Smith Fiction Prize: In the spring of 2008, the English Department at UTC will award the first annual Ken Smith Fiction
Award. There will be two separate categories, undergraduate and graduate. The winner in each category will receive a cash prize at the annual
English Department Banquet (scheduled for April 10, 2008) and may have his/her work published in a campus publication. Download guidelines and a submission form
The Sally B. Young Essay Prize: Submit the best critical essay written for an undergraduate English course at UTC during the 2007
calendar year (Spring, Summer, Fall 2007 terms) and win $250, in addition to having your name added to the award plaque in the Conner Reading Room.
Winners will be selected via blind review by a five-member faculty committee and will be announced at the annual English Department Banquet on April 10,
2008. Download guidelines and a submission form
Recent Events
Dr. Richard Jackson Leads Students on a Creative Writing Tour of Europe
[December 18, 2007]
As he has done for the past several years, this past May Dr. Richard Jackson led a
group of UTC creative writing students and alumni on a three-week tour of Europe, including prolonged stays in Switzerland, Tuscany, and
Slovenia. You can read Dr. Jackson's
full report -- with pictures -- here (MIcrooft Word document).
Student Writing: Submit Your Work to Dunbar and Igou Prize Competitions
[May 10, 2006]
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Poetry Competition: On February 1, 2007, UTC will host a Paul Laurence Dunbar Festival
with a variety of musical and poetic compositions being performed. The festival will include
recitation of original poems created by UTC students. All students are invited to participate
in the poetry competition for this event. Download guidelines and a submission form
Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay Competition: All UTC students (undergraduate or graduate) are invited to submit entries for a Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay Competition, in connection with the Paul Laurence Dunbar Festival to be held on February 1, 2007. Download guidelines and a submission form
The Thelma Styles Igou Poetry Award: In the spring of 2007, the English Department will award the first annual Thelma Styles Igou Poetry Award. There will be two separate categories, undergraduate and graduate. The winner in each category will receive a cash prize at the annual English Department Honors Day and may have his/her poem published in a campus publication. Download guidelines and a submission form
Herbert Martin Inaugurates Paul Laurence Dunbar Celebration
[Sep 20, 2006]
When: Wednesday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Roland Hayes Concert Hall
One hundred years after Paul Laurence Dunbar's death, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is sponsoring a year-long celebration of his life and work. The initial event occured October 4 when Herbert Martin, an internationally acclaimed scholar and interpreter of the works of Dunbar, brought his one-man performance to Chattanooga.
Through dramatic portrayals of Dunbar's work, Martin has captivated audiences for more than three decades. A poet himself, with six published volumes, Martin is widely acknowledged as Dunbar's foremost interpreter. He actually dresses in the role of Dunbar and performs, rather than reads, a wide variety of Dunbar's work.
Growing up in Alabama, Martin says that he felt the spirit of Dunbar hovering over him, but in a rather negative way. His physical resemblance to America's first nationally-acclaimed African American poet was often noted, and teachers frequently asked him to read Dunbar's poetry aloud. Martin grew irritated at the comparisons and was thus inclined to turn away from Dunbar.
When he accepted a position at the University of Dayton in 1970, however, he found himself in Dunbar's native city, and he began to study Dunbar. His attitude toward Dunbar changed rapidly, and he soon became a champion of Dunbar's poetry. In 1972 he organized a Dunbar festival that attracted top African-American poets.
That same year he also began performing his one man show, expanding on his earlier experiences reading in coffee houses. Martin presents both the works written in standard English and those in the dialect of the black community of Dunbar's day. He even sings some of Dunbar's verses, emphasizing the musical nature of the poetry. He also captures the humor inherent in much of Dunbar's work, emphasizing that Dunbar had the ability to see humor in nearly everything.
Martin has performed numerous times for schools, reading clubs, the general public, Black Entertainment Television, cable television, and even a Fortune 500 company. He is also an accomplished scholar, teacher, poet, and musician. A biography entitled Herbert Woodward Martin and the African American Tradition in Poetry traces his career as a writer and performer. The Mellon Poetry Prize, an honorary doctorate from the University of Dayton, a Fulbright Scholarship, the 2002 Governor's Award for the Arts (Ohio), and the Mark Twain Award for Creative Writing are among the numerous awards given to Martin.
The event is sponsored by the Departments of English,
Music, and Art and is free to the public.
Take Five Lecture Series, May 2006: Contemporary International Fiction
[Apr 23 2006]
Each Tuesday in May
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Racoon Mountain Room, University Center
The English department is pleased once again to sponsor the acclaimed Take Five Lecture Series on Tuesday evenings in May 2006. This year's series will feature five lectures and panel discussions on contemporary international fiction. The series is open to the public; registration is not required. Each of the five evening sessions includes a 45-minute lecture and a one-hour panel discussion among presenters and audience members. Books are available at the UTC Bookstore and other local book sellers. For more information, please contact Verbie Prevost at verbie-prevost@utc.edu
Schedule
May 2
The Bridge on the Drina, by Ivo Andric
(Lecturer: John Trimpey, Professor of Humanities)
May 9
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
(Lecturer: Gregory O'Dea, UC Foundation Professor of English and Director of The University Honors Program)
May 16
Remembering Babylon, by David Malouf
(Lecturer: Verbie Prevost, Kathryn Pryor Professor and Head of English)
May 23
Texaco, by Patrick Chamoiseau
(Lecturer: Victoria Steinberg, Assistant Professor of French)
May 30
The Leopard, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
(Lecturer: Christopher Stuart, UC Foundation Associate Professor of English)
Meacham Writers' Workshops to Feature Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Winners
[Oct 10 2005]
The Meacham Writers' Workshop will take place this October 27, 28, 29 at UTC (Friday and Saturday) and CSTCC (Thursday).
This year two of the featured writers are Gerald Stern, National Book Award Winner in Poetry, and James Tate,
National Book Award Winner and Pulitzer prize Winner in Poetry.
Other writers include multiple prize winning authors Sebastian Matthews from North Carolina, Dara Wier from the University of Massachusetts, Ann Marie Macari from Philadelphia, Evie Schockley from Rutgers University, and Cherie Priest. A number of local writers also participate, including Meacham Director Richard Jackson, winner of numerous International Awards; UTC Professor Earl Braggs, who has won national awards for his poetry and his fiction; Rebecca Cook, who teaches creative writing at UTC and whose poetry and prose has been published widely; Barry Graham, Laura Howard, Helga Kidder and others.
This year the program will also include a special workshop session for over 50 area high school students on Saturday morning, October 29.
Anyone interested in having a manuscript discussed should send 3 COLLATED copies (of 3 poems or 12 pages of prose) to the English department by October 17.
The Meacham Workshops are free: everyone is welcome to attend and there is no formal registration. Jean Meacham, a former UTC professor and widely regarded as one of the University's finest teachers, gave a generous endowment to UTC in memory of her husband, Ellis, a writer and judge. The terms of the bequest, and a tribute to Jean's extraordinary vision, stipulate that the workshops be free and open to the public with no formal registration. She intended the workshops to be a place where professional, student, local, and amateur writers might freely meet, listen to each other, and help each other improve. She also intended the workshops to include readers, not just writers, an audience that could hear first hand some of the best national and international writers.
The Program is sponsored by: The Meacham Fund, Allied Arts of Chattanooga, CSTCC, UTC Speakers and Special Events Committee, UTC English Department, UTC Honors Program, and the Poetry Miscellany.
Schedule and Biographies of Participants
Sunday, September 11, 3:30 p.m. — Dorothy Hackett Ward Theatre
A Lecture by Dr. Susan Willis (Auburn University):
"Pursuing Shakespeare; or, a Response to 'No, I've Seen Hamlet Before.'"
Dr. Susan Willis of Auburn University will deliver a lecture as part of a program sponsored by The Connor Society. In addition to teaching at Auburn, Dr. Willis has served as dramaturg of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for twenty years. She directed this season's production of The Taming of the Shrew for ASF, and is the author of The BBC Shakespeare: Making the Televised Canon.
