University of Wisconsin–Madison

Author: avieth

Celebration of Graduates Spring 2019

On May 12, 2019, UW-Madison’s English department held a ceremony for its graduating English majors. Below see a video of the speeches given by three graduates (Ryan J. Mulrooney, Richardo Cortez de la Cruz II, and Alexandra Pleasant) as well as some photos from the event.

English Department Retirements

On April 11th, friends and family gathered to celebrate this year’s retirees from the English department. The crowd raised glasses to celebrate Susan Stanford Friedman, Theresa Kelley, Lynn Keller, Judith Mitchell, and Karen Redfield. One highlight of the evening was a musical performance for the retirees. You can watch the song here. Additionally, a few retirees …

Global Black Literatures at UW

In the fall, we introduced our readers to the four new professors hired to the English department this school year. Professors Laila Amine, Ainehi Edoro, Yanie Fecu, and Kristina Huang joined the department after a year-long search that attracted close to 200 applicants. For readers less familiar with the hiring process for literary studies professors, …

Saying the “Unsayable”: An Interview with Sonya Larson ‘05

Saying the “Unsayable”: An Interview with Sonya Larson ‘05 Sonya Larson’s (B.A. ’05) short fiction and essays have appeared in Best American Short Stories 2017, American Short Fiction, American Literary Review, The Harvard Advocate, and more. Her story At the Bottom of New Lake was recently published as part of Amazon’s Warmer series, a group …

Diversity + Inclusion Student Committee (D+ISC)

Readers of the fall newsletter might remember the announcement that Composition and Rhetoric graduate student Neil Simpkins won the inaugural Leadership and Service Award organized by the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Student Committee (D+ISC). This semester, we have invited the D+ISC to share a little more about the group. Here is what they had to …

2019 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner: Gillian Laub ’97

“Then I stumbled on a more complicated story.” With this simple segue in her 2015 HBO documentary film: Southern Rites, Gillian Laub (BA ’97) shifts focus from her ongoing photographic chronicle of segregated proms in Montgomery County, GA to the wrenching aftermath of the 2011 shooting of an unarmed black man by a white homeowner …

English Department TA Awards 2019

The English department celebrated its award-winning TAs this year at the April 30th department meeting. See below for the names of all award winners and for pictures from the event. In other big news, English TA Naomi Salmon won an L&S teaching award earlier this semester. Her picture is also below. Award Winners: Professor Paula …

Undergraduate English Major Awards 2019

On April 28, 2019, the English Department celebrated its award-winning majors in a ceremony at the Pyle Center. Pictures for the event below. For a full list of award winners, see the program here.

My Odyssey: Conversations with Romare Bearden

This year, Ron Harris’s students in English 155 “Myth and Modern Literature” produced more visual projects than might be typically expected in an English class. Students reimagined the work of Romare Bearden who reimagined Homer’s The Odyssey in collages that are on display at The Chazen. Check out the program from the class’s art show here, and …

Literati 2019: Contemplations

MUSE, the Madison Undergraduate Society for English, held its annual conference on Sunday, April 7th this year. Take a look at the program here, and look below for some pictures from the event.