Highlights from a month that marched right by.
by Fabiola M. Martinez Del Valle
Spring break slipped by just as March did, and as we settle back into the semester, we are taking a moment to highlight the accomplishments that shaped the month. March brought awards, publications, and recognitions that reflect the strength of our English community. Here is what we accomplished:
Awards & Achievements
- Diego Alegría (Literary Studies PhD student) received a Capstone TA Teaching Award, which recognizes TAs with an outstanding teaching record during their UW–Madison tenure.
- Ellie Kincaid (Literary Studies PhD student) received an Early Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes exceptional performance by TAs with fewer than four semesters of teaching experience.
- Gloria Pham (Literary Studies PhD student) was selected to serve as an L&S Teaching Mentor for Fall 2026, helping train incoming TAs at the Fall TA Orientation and throughout the semester.
- Christa Olson (English Department Chair and Composition and Rhetoric Professor) was elected to the six‑year leadership cycle for the Rhetoric Society of America. She will serve as president-elect, then president, and finally immediate past president.
- Jen Plants (Creative Writing & Interdisciplinary Theater Studies Professor)was elected incoming Program Director for Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies and will begin the position this summer.
- Lisa Cooper (Literary Studies Professor) has been appointed by the MLA Executive Council to the PMLA Editorial Board for a two‑year term from July 2026 to June 2028.
- Morris Young (Composition and Rhetoric Professor) was selected for the 2026 L&S Graduate Advising Award.
- Ramzi Fawaz (Literary Studies Professor) was awarded a Bogliasco Center fellowship for December 2027, where he will work in Genoa, Italy, on a chapter of his forthcoming book How to Think Like a Multiverse: Psychedelic Pathways to Embracing a Diverse World.
- Sarah Ensor’s (Literary Studies Professor) book Queer Lasting: Ecologies of Care for a Dying World is one of five finalists for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Studies. The winner will be announced at the 38th Annual Lammy Awards in June.
Publications
- Christa Olson (English Department Chair and Composition and Rhetoric Professor) and Brandee Easter (Composition and Rhetoric PhD Alum) published their new book, On Visual Rhetoric, with the University of Michigan Press, available open access.
- Lisa Marvel Johnson (Writing Center Assistant Teaching Professor) and Ellen Cecil‑Lemkin (Writing Center Assistant Teaching Professor) published a chapter titled Centering the Human: A Tutor Training Approach to AI‑Generated Writing Technology in the open‑access collection Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations.
- Michael Imossan (Poetry MFA student) published his first poetry book All That Refuses to Die, winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
Publicity
- Dantiel Moniz (Creative Writing Professor) was featured in the On Wisconsin magazine, spotlighting her work and creative trajectory.