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Humanities Distinguished Professor and Chair Richard Dutton

english departments are about words—about writing them, understanding them, valuing them. But occasionally our attention wanders (as that of the general public often does) from words to the people who write them. as scholars we tend to keep them at arms’ length. We call them “authors” and treat them as machines for the generation of literature. yet few of us are immune to the mystique that surrounds famous authors. in england, people go on pilgrimages to the Brontë parsonage at howarth, to “hardy’s Wessex,” and so on. in america, you can visit melville’s house and see a whale-shaped hill in the distance (well, somebody said it was whale shaped), and the houses of hawthorne and emily dickinson are nearby.

But if dead authors attract, what of the living? i have wondered what collective memory of great authors we might have in denney hall. in the hope of starting some kind of dialogue on the subject, i’ll share a few of my own experiences. i went to king’s College, Cambridge and one of my first shocks was to discover that e. m. forster (whom i had supposed long dead) was very much alive and living there, a quiet and courteous old gentleman. he liked the company of undergraduates and occasionally held open evenings when he read from his books, including the still-unpublished Maurice and unfinished Arctic Summer. he wouldn’t talk about his own books but would recall acquaintances from the past, including (as he always called her) “mrs. Woolf.” By an irony of history, a year ahead of me at king’s was Salman rushdie (though i don’t believe i ever spoke to him). So the authors of A Passage to India and Midnight’s Children rubbed shoulders, so to speak, a curious reflection on the passage of the British empire. a visitor to king’s was ted hughes, who knew one of my tutors—a very intense presence, who went into a semi-trance when reading his poetry, knitting his brows and spitting out the words in his clipped yorkshire accent.

the most famous american author i ever encountered, at a reading, was robert lowell. this was as the Vietnam war was drawing to a close. he seemed a drained man and spoke in a stammering rush. his mood was perhaps not helped by some sniping comments from the eminent english critic, William empson, resplendent in his trademark handlebar moustache. i saw, but never spoke to, W. h. auden, his face in old age even more cracked like crazy-paving than it looks in photographs. Some i never saw at all but tried to communicate with, when i wrote a book on the “absurdist playwrights.” the agents of harold Pinter and tom Stoppard merely demanded money for any quotations. edward albee’s agent was happy to let me quote anything, but mr. albee insisted on reading all criticism before it was published, and there was currently a five-year wait … But the one true joy was a personal, hand-written note from Samuel Beckett that simply said, “Print what you like.” actually, i did once see Stoppard: i literally bumped into him as he was leaving a london bookshop, his bee-kissed lips unmistakable. unfortunately i was too stunned to say anything.

the novelist and critic, david lodge (Small World) was a droll lunch guest, very affable to junior faculty. Susan hill (The Woman in Black) was a gracious host on the lawn of the Shakespeare institute—her husband is the Shakespeare scholar, Stanley Wells—and did a very good job of pretending not to notice that her own daughters and ours were running around out of control, until our kate managed to knock over a jar of instant coffee. i could also tell you about all the science fiction writers that my wife, who writes on sci-fi, contrives to meet. But perhaps i’ll spare you that. Playing the game of “one degree removed from,” however, does expand the possibilities exponentially. i had minor surgery a couple of years ago, and it turned out that my surgeon had been taught at college by robert frost. (i wasn’t sure whether to be reassured by that or not.) the russian-emigré grandmother of a friend of mine remembered having tea as a child with Chekhov …

But let me open the game up to you, at one remove or no removes at all. Whom have you met or seen? What memories do you have? Please share them with us.

richard dutton, chairEN

GLI

SHA MEssAgE fRoM tHE CHAiR

duriNg WiNter 2012, NeW YoRk TIMeS BeStSelliNg author JeNNifer CruSie (mfa, 1997) WaS iNterVieWed By ohio State alumNa megaN reid (ma, 2011), NoW aN editorial aSSiStaNt With SimoN aNd SChuSter’S touChStoNe BookS. CruSie, BeSt kNoWN for her romaNCe fiCtioN iNCludiNg moSt reCeNtly MAYBe THIS TIMe, WaS oNe of the WriterS that reid examiNed iN her ma Portfolio PaPer.

What were the reactions of your PhD/MFA professors when you started writing romance novels? (As a grad student who was just writing about them, I know I got some reactions that were…skeptical, to say the least.)

that depended completely on the professor. i had a professor tell me all romance novels were alike, evidently on the assumption that i agreed i was a copy machine. i had a creative writing professor tell me that i wrote very well and then ask if i’d ever thought about writing literature, evidently on the assumption that only literary fiction is literature. i had professors who very clearly only had my best interests at heart tell me not to let anybody know i wrote romance. But the head of the creative writing department at the time, lee k. abbott, stood up in front of my first writing class and announced that anybody who made fun of writing romance was making fun of Jane Austen, and anybody who made fun of Jane Austen was going to answer to him. Needless to say, he’s my favorite.

What was the transition like as you moved from your PhD studies to committing to writing fiction full time? (Also—and this is a question a fellow student and I debated at length one night—which one was harder? Sex scenes sound tricky.)

i’d published while i was working on the course work for my Phd, so there really wasn’t a transition; i was doing both. i did transfer from the Phd to the mfa program when i was aBd. lee let me in the program only if i promised to go back and finish the Phd when i was done. i’m definitely going to do that some day. the biggest change was in my approach to fiction. i’d done all my coursework for the Phd, but then had to drop out because i’d only had a sabbatical from my job for one year and i was a single mother, so no back-up for graduate studies. four years later, my daughter was a senior

in high school, so i quit teaching and went back to do my generals and dissertation, but by then i was writing fiction. When i did my general exams, one of the professors who’d been working with me the whole time said,

“your criticism has changed a lot,” and i think it was because i was on the inside of the story-making now and i knew what writers went through. i was much more sympathetic to the writer and much less arrogant in my assumptions. Writing fiction is hard, she whined. much harder than academic writing. (Sex scenes are tricky.)

What’s the most surprising thing your time at Ohio State taught you as a writer? As a person?

Surprising? i’m not sure. exciting? the way lee taught fiction. i didn’t start writing novels until i was 41, and then suddenly i was avid to learn. i read everything about writing i could get my hands on, joined writers’ groups, took a screenwriting course, really searched for answers, but it wasn’t until i sat in lee’s seminars and workshops that i understood how story works. he has such an understanding of the bones and blood of narrative, and i’d go into those classes and every time my head would explode because i’d see something else about story that i hadn’t seen before. i was absolutely drunk on the education he gave me in narrative. i still am. the guy’s a genius.

What else? oh what did ohio State teach me as a person? that i loved teaching but didn’t want to be an academic. that a university can be both the most exciting and the most exasperating place to be if you’re in a creative field. and that you never really know people until you’ve gotten drunk with them at larry’s.

How did your writing contribute to your teaching, and vice versa?

i had a much better understanding of how authors work, how story comes

to you and how you shape it, and that helped me break it down for students. i also became much more interested in writers’ choices, so we’d talk about why an author made a choice, what happened to the text because of that choice, for example, where an author left space in a text for a reader to participate, and what that did to the reading experience. it opened up literature in new ways for me that i could then show my students. i think i was a much better teacher after i became a fiction writer. i know i was a better student afterwards.

What did you like about teaching at Ohio State?

i really liked my students. they came from all over, so there was a great variety of opinions and backgrounds. and they were fun. i liked the shared office space with the other grad students. Writing is a very solitary occupation, so going in every day and catching up with everybody was great. ohio State was just a great place to teach.

And why didn’t you want to be an academic, or what helped you come to that decision?

Being an academic is a lot more than teaching. there’s committee work, publication, department politics . . . it’s exhausting. if i wanted to teach, teaching as an adjunct just made

more sense. Plus i went to mla one year and you’d have needed an ax to cut the desperation in the air. it just wasn’t for me.

Your books have great Ohio settings—and even use both Ohio State and Columbus specifically. What are your favorite spots on campus, and why?

i loved sitting on the oval and talking fiction with my officemate. We were both such wonks. i loved larry’s for the same reason, a great place to talk to really smart people who wanted to talk about what i was fascinated with. it was really the people who made ohio State for me.

What was it like transitioning from being someone who theorized romance novels versus someone who writes them? Do you ever turn your own academic eye on your themes?

{ALuMNI PROFILE}

JEnnifER CRUsiE

We Need CritiCS if We’re goiNg to get Better, But NothiNg iS harder thaN aCtually taP-daNCiNg Naked oN that Page.

i thiNk all WriterS Write to aNSWer a dark queStioN Buried deeP iNSide them…

new York times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie (MfA, 1997)

And how hard is it to keep those two parts of your brain separate?

the difference between being a critic and a writer is the difference between sitting up in the stands and saying, “you know, she wobbled on that last triple axel” and going down on the ice and hitting the triple axel. We need critics if we’re going to get better, but nothing is harder than actually tap-dancing naked on that page.

do i ever analyze my themes? i try not to. i’m fairly sure i’m trying to answer a question, i think all writers write to answer a dark question buried deep inside them, but if i figure out what the question is and answer it, then i won’t need to write any more, and that’s how i pay the electric bill. So no. But there’s been some really good criticism done on my work, and it’s been eye-opening. as far as keeping the two parts of the brain separate, you don’t. you write rough drafts in flow and you rewrite in analysis. you need both to make a good story.

Your books are the first ones I recommend when I’m trying to turn someone on to romance—from my roommate, to my coworkers—and people have described your novels as genre-bending, or somewhat outside of the bounds of traditional romance fiction. Do you agree? Is this something you have in mind as you write?

i don’t think you can have anything in mind as you write except to tell your protagonist’s story in as clear and true and entertaining a manner as possible, cutting out all your ego and fancy stuff to connect with your reader. if you start to think about what a story does, you lose what a story needs to be. and it’s useless anyway; your reader is going to take your story and interpret it her way; all fiction writing is a collaboration between you and your reader, so

foCuSiNg oN oNe geNre iS like eatiNg from oNe food grouP: you may like it a lot aNd it may eVeN Be good for you, But it’S Not goiNg to keeP you healthy all By itSelf.

BUCkEYE EnglisH AlUMni MEntoRing PRogRAM (BEAM)the department of english wants to be more proactive about ensuring that its majors have a unique and memorable experience. We also want to create more opportunities for alumni to stay connected to the life of the department. the department is therefore launching a new initiative, Beam: Buckeye english alumni mentoring, which will pair alumni with current students. alumni do not need to be in ohio to participate, or even in the united States! the only requirement is a willingness to reach out to our current students—whether you’re located across an ocean or across lane avenue. for more information and/or to participate as an alumni mentor or current student mentee, please visit english.osu.edu/beam-program.

touchstone Books Editorial Assistant Megan Reid (MA, 2011)

trying to control that is not only arrogant and selfish, it’s futile. So no, i never thought, “i’ll write books that people will recommend as entry drugs to the genre.” i thought, “i want to be the twenty-first century

georgette heyer” because heyer’s books had made me so happy. oh, and thank you for recommending the books!

What are the top three reasons all English majors should read romance novels?

all english majors, especially all creative writing majors, should read story in all its forms, not just all the genres—mystery, fantasy, horror, literary, romance, etc.—but also graphic novels and screenplays and

stage plays and radio plays. focusing on one genre is like eating from one food group: you may like it a lot and it may even be good for you, but it’s not going to keep you healthy all by itself. you need a breadth and depth of knowledge of story before you can begin to understand how it works and how to analyze it.

all female english majors should read romance just to keep from killing themselves after reading The Awakening, Madame Bovary, Anna karenina, The Scarlet Letter and every other classic where a woman has sex and dies horribly or spends the rest of her life apologizing in a letter sweater. a great deal of depression in female english majors comes from the relentless beat of patriarchal stories where women are supporting players or punished for trying to take control of their own lives. read about women who have sex and live. it’s good for you.

all english majors should read romance novels because there is more romance read than any other. in 2010, sales for the genres broke down into $759 million for inspirational fiction, $682 million for mystery fiction, $559 million for science fiction and fantasy, and $455 million for literary fiction. in the same year, romance sales were $1.358 billion. yes, billion. Which means that a lot of people are finding something important in the romance genre. attention should be paid. (and to those of you out there sneering that popularity is no indicator of quality: neither is unpopularity. romance readers are not people with bad taste. they may not be people with your taste, but that doesn’t make it bad; it just makes it different. get over yourself.)

Basically, everybody should read romance novels. in a world full of violence, poverty, inequality, greed, injustice, and fox News, they promise a better tomorrow if you connect to other people and care about them. they’re good for your soul.

2011 stUdY ABRoAd PRogRAMthe department continues to offer a thriving series of short-term and summer study abroad programs for undergraduates. the students in Professor hannibal hamlin’s Winter 2011 literary locations course traveled to london after spending the quarter studying literary representations of that city by renaissance, 18th-Century, Victorian, and 20th-Century writers, while the students in Professor Sean o’Sullivan’s Spring 2011 literary locations course concluded their exploration of literary rome with a visit to what Professor o’Sullivan has called, “the city of many histories.” during Summer 2011, participants in the greenwich Summer Program enjoyed six weeks of study at the university of greenwich, located just outside of london. under the direction of Professor ray Cashman, the 2011 greenwich Program participants spent their mornings attending lectures offered by greenwich faculty on the literature of london and their afternoons engaged in visits to museums and sites of historical and literary importance.

ohio State celebrated the year of Shakespeare during the 2011 — 2012 academic year, marking the third year of the university’s unique partnership with the uk’s royal Shakespeare Company. the partnership focuses on guest artist residencies, professional development for local k-12 teachers, and teacher-artist training (including workshops in Stratford-upon-avon).

at the core of this landmark collaboration is the rSC’s innovative Stand up for Shakespeare manifesto: See it live, do it on your feet, and Start it earlier. to date, over 38 teachers and 4000 central ohio students have been engaged in the Stand Up for Shakespeare program. the transformation of engagement of students with Shakespeare from third grades through high school has proven dramatic. the culmination of the first three years of the partnership was a young People’s Stand up for Shakespeare festival at the drake Performance and event Center, thurber theatre. in addition, ohio

sHAkEsPEARE CoMEs AlivE:OHIO STATE And RSC by Emeritus Professor David Frantz

Undergraduates in Emeritus Professor of English david frantz and theatre Professor Robin Post’s spring 2012 Experimental shakespeare Course

State was a co-presenter with the Park avenue armory and lincoln Center festival of the rSC’s exceptionally successful residency in New york City and hosted the rSC’s young People’s Shakespeare version of Hamlet in Columbus.

during the year of Shakespeare, the thompson library featured an exhibit that showcased the library’s holdings from the lawrence and lee theatre research institute and rare Books and manuscripts collections (including books that were donated

by the late Professor Stanley J. kahrl of the english department). emeritus Professor of english, david frantz, has overall university responsibility for this partnership, which is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. Spring quarter 2012, he

team-taught an experimental upper-division undergraduate Shakespeare course with robin Post of the department of theatre that combined a traditional literary approach with performative components.

the department of english expects to play an increasingly prominent role in the partnership as it continues to expand. the oSu/rSC partnership has been supported from the outset by extraordinarily generous gifts from leslie and abigail Wexner, members of the university’s Board of trustees, and many other members of the university

family. readers who want to see more about the partnership can go to a piece that ran on the Big ten television Network last summer:go.osu.edu/btn_rsc

{GRADuATE STORY} EnglisH: HAPPY EvERYdAY

given the articles directed at grad students in The Chronicle of Higher education (“graduate Studies in the humanities: Just don’t go” or “if you must go to grad School...” or “Just don’t go, Part 2”), it’s perhaps a surprise that anyone pursues a graduate education in english at all—or, at least, anyone apart from starry-eyed fools and trust-fund kids. however, the grad students of ohio State’s english ma/Phd program are neither delusional nor entitled; for the most part, we are a clear-eyed group, practical about the necessary flexibility of an uncertain post-Phd future, but deeply convinced of the value of our work.

the ohio State english grad program is fueled by a steady supply of caffeine, the bagels that appear magically in the grad lounge each tuesday, and a fundamental passion for becoming the best scholars and teachers possible. our appetite for the work is hardly

surprising—after all, few pursue an english Phd for the money—but it is indispensible; my colleagues approach the sometimes grinding intensity of the work with a good humor rooted in sincere passion.

So sure, thinking about the future as a graduate student can be unnerving, but these days it’s no more unnerving than contemplating the future as a law student or an entry-level grunt in the corporate world. and, as i was reminded one drizzly and sleep-deprived day in early december, a grad student’s present can be intensely fulfilling. that afternoon, i received an email from one of my composition students, a young man from China who had frequented my office hours during the term. in strongly accented but clear english, he confessed that this was the first thank you letter he’d ever written and wished me “happy everyday in [my] life.” i had spent that morning struggling with term papers, doubting that my work would ever make an impact, but i ended it knowing that, at least for that student, it had.

by Kate Novotny, PhD, Class of 2015

{uNDERGRADuATE STORY} digging tHRoUgH ARCHivEs of AnCiEnt PoEtRY

in a glassed-in room within the rare Books and manuscripts library, a refuge for ancient books and delicate pieces of ephemera, my english class pored over books of poetry, letters, and playbills yellowed from being stored for over 200 years. We looked at the ancient artifacts as if we were detectives, studying their fraying forms and prim rhetoric, and then looked back

by Ashley Fournier, BA, Class of 2013

Current English Phd student kate novotny

Professor Elizabeth Renker and current ohio state English major Ashley fournier

2011 stUdY ABRoAd PRogRAM

by Emeritus Professor David Frantz

it’S a StraNge Story i muSt tell of a StraNge CouNtry! Well, theN—Well

into our laptop screens where we typed descriptions of their unique features. as i glanced up from a school yearbook dated 1876, i noticed that all of my twelve classmates shared an expression of fascination, awe, and excitement. We knew that we were of a select few to flip through the antique pages and inhale the stale ink of a nineteenth century poet’s pen.

“take a look at this!” said our professor, elizabeth renker, displaying a particularly dusty and ornate volume. her exhilaration at discovering such an old object was contagious, and truly, we all felt like we were digging up gems in a strange country, learning more about nineteenth century culture and literature than we ever could have from a textbook.

there is something quintessentially ohio State about our research experience. only through the ohio State english department can undergraduates explore a breadth of offerings that knit together the ancient and the modern, the small and the huge, the foreign and the familiar. and although only several of us continued the investigation after the class ended, all of us discovered what it means to get our hands dirty with the messiness of archival research—and leave the “strange country” bursting to tell about it.

{“a Strange Country” by Sarah Piatt}

2011 – 2012 EnglisH dEPARtMEnt AWARds And HonoREEs

AWARDS IN BuSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING

The Kitty O. Locker Prize for Excellence in Business Communication annie mendenhall, “Joseph V. denney, the land-grant mission, and rhetorical education at ohio State: an institutional history” (College english 74.2, Nov. 2011)

Kitty O. Locker Travel Awards Will kurlinkus ryan omizo Blake Wilder

The Kitty O. Locker undergraduate Professional Writing Contest 1st Place Group: ana-ilia fitzhugh, kit lewis, kaitlin manahan, and Brianna Wolfe

2nd Place Group: allison dalrymple, karlton lastes, Jordan mcfall, and amber Washington

AWARDS IN CREATIvE WRITING

The Reba Elaine Pearl Burkhardt Roorbach Award in Creative Nonfiction albert Shin, “i See Now”

The Jacobson Short Story Award Joshua kleinberg, “New Baby”

The Gertrude Lucille Robinson Award elizabeth long, “draft horses in tickland”

The Citino undergraduate Poetry Award derek Pfister, “documenting the Changes”

The vandewater Poetry Award Joshua kleinberg, “the letdown, the lift”

The Academy of American Poets Award (The Arthur Rense Prize) lois kwa, “man o’ War,” “Canis lupus familiar song of songs,” “arrow”

The Haidee Forsyth Burkhardt Award in Creative Nonfiction ashley Caveda, “the Shorebirds”

The Tara M. Kroger Award dominic russ, “manglevine”

The Helen Earnhart Harley Fellowship in Fiction Award Nick White, “the geography of Skin,” “Break,” “tattletale”

The Helen Earnhart Harley Fellowship in Poetry Award Ben glass, “Cold open”

The Helen Earnhart Harley Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction Award thao thai, “fatherland”

Citino Awards for Travel Zachariah mcVicker Stephen rodriguez

AWARDS IN FIRST-YEAR WRITING

The First-Year Writing Program Award for Outstanding Research Paper Njoki mwangi, “the delivery man has Changed, but the Source remains the Same: remittance as relief aid”

Outstanding Commonplace Essay Jonathan holan, “tattoos: What you See is What you get” emily fox, “our (dis)Connection with meat”

Department of English Teaching Award for First- Year Writing meg lemay

Award for Excellence in Teaching by a First-Year GTA Joe mcqueen

AWARDS IN DIGITAL MEDIA STuDIES

Digital Media Prize for Outstanding undergraduate Work rose Buoni rachel Joy Baransi emily Nordengren and laura friday max maureman and Shay trotter

Digital Media Prize for Outstanding Graduate Work trey Conatser, Jonathan holmes, Will kurlinkus, Jonathan leidheiser-Stoddard, Carmen meza, Jen michaels, Victoria munoz, ashley owens, evan thomas, rachel Waymel, and marion Wolfe, “Selected letters from the ivan S. gilbert Collection of Stephens family travel letters and ephemera”

Digital Media Prize for Outstanding Graduate Scholarship in Digital Media Ben glass, derek Palacio, and gabriel urza, “a Stationary feast: exploring Notions of transience and the impermanent moment”

Elizabeth Renker and thomas davis, center, received 2012 English Undergraduate organization Professor of the Year Awards

Eric Walborn Award for Excellence in Digital Media and English Studies Instruction ashley Caveda

GRADuATE AWARDS

Muste Dissertation Prize matthew Bolton, “a rhetorical approach to adaptation: effects, Purposes, and the fidelity debate”

Estrich Paper Prize kate Novotny, “the Fors of a fart: Power and the grotesque Body in The Summoner’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale”

Sacks Paper Prize matthew Poland, “Beyond the frame: the ethics and aesthetics of Narrative ambiguity in michael haneke’s Cache”

university Graduate Associate Teaching Award leila Ben-Nasr adam Stier

university Presidential Fellowships erin mcCarthy, Spring 2011 adam Stier, autumn 2011

2011 — 2012 GRADuATE DEGREES

Master of Arts Jazmin Colin (advisor: frederick aldama), kondwani harawa (advisor: koritha mitchell), James harris (advisor: Joe Ponce), Suzanne hartwick (advisor: les tannenbaum), Joseph mcqueen (advisor: Clare Simmons), Carmen meza (advisor: alan farmer), Victoria muñoz (advisor: Jennifer higginbotham), kate Novotny (advisor: Sandra macpherson), Ben owen (advisor: Jared gardner), matthew Poland (advisor: ryan friedman)

Master of Fine Arts tory adkisson (advisor: henri Cole), ashley Caveda (advisor: lee martin), Clayton Clark (advisor: andrew hudgins), allison davis (advisor: kathy fagan), James ellenberger (advisor: andrew hudgins), asha falcon (advisor: lee martin), rebecca fox-gieg (advisor: lee abbott), Benjamin glass (advisor: henri Cole), lois kwa (advisor: kathy fagan), hannah langhoff (advisor: erin mcgraw), derek Palacio (advisor: erin mcgraw), molly Patterson (advisor: erin mcgraw), Jennifer Patton (advisor: lee abbott), Samara rafert (advisor: erin mcgraw), Bill riley (advisor: lee martin), alex Streiff (advisor: michelle herman), thao thai (advisor: lee martin), gabriel urza (advisor: michelle herman)

Doctor of Philosophy

Summer 2011 tammy Birk (advisor: marlene longenecker), rachel Clark (advisor: richard dutton), tiffani Clyburn (advisor: Valerie lee), kathryn Comer (advisor: kay halasek), gregory Smith (advisor: Sebastian knowles)

Autumn 2011 matthew Bolton (Co-advisors: Brian mchale and Jim Phelan), anne-marie Schuler (advisor: richard dutton)

Winter 2012 amanda gerber (advisor: lisa kiser), maria eugenia gonzalez-Posse (advisor: david riede), Paul mcCormick (advisor: Jim Phelan)

Spring 2012 genevieve Critel (advisor: Cynthia Selfe), Catherine hart (advisor: Clare Simmons), karin hooks (advisor: elizabeth renker), ryan Judkins (advisor: richard green), erin mcCarthy (advisor: richard dutton), aaron mckain (advisor: Jim Phelan), Christine moreno (advisor: lisa kiser), ryan omizo (advisor: Wendy hesford), rebekah Starnes (advisor: Jared gardner), heather thompson-gillis (advisor: Susan Williams), Paige Vanosdol (advisor: Nan Johnson)

uNDERGRADuATE AWARDS

Ohio State Libraries 2011 undergraduate Research Prize kelsie king, “american literary reactions to the Pétroleuses of the Paris Commune”

The Robert E. Reiter Prize for Critical Analysis Claire ravenscroft, “masters and Slaves in endless Cycle: Moby-Dick in the transitioning 19th-Century american economy”

The Helen Morrison Earnhart Harley Scholarship in English ashley fournier

The Rosemarie Sena Scholarship in English Sage Boggs

The David O. Frantz Thesis Award Scott dieter, “Narrative theory in light of Contemporary Narrative Practice” Justin hanson, “inside the Body Politic: examining the Birth of gay liberation”

The Denney Award Cody St. Clair

FACuLTY AWARDS

English undergraduate Organization (EuGO) Auxiliary Faculty of the Year matthew Cariello

EuGO Professor of the Year thomas davis elizabeth renker

English Graduate Organization (EGO) Professor of the Year lee k. abbott Cynthia Selfe

The Marlene Longenecker Award for Teaching and Leadership Chadwick allen

university Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching david herman

university Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award martin Joseph Ponce

Faculty Retirements lee k. abbott marcia farr les tannenbaum

Cynthia selfe, center, received a 2012 English graduate organization Professor of the Year Award

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Nicole Cochran, hr and fiscal manager

614-292-6065

cochran.113@osu.edu

For the department to realize its opportunities for excellence, it must build upon the base established with state and tuition funding by drawing support from its alumni and friends. Here are a number of ways you can invest in this department and its programs.

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mail this form to: department of englishc/o Nicole Cochranthe ohio State university421 denney hall164 W 17th ave.Columbus, oh 43210-1370

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English undergraduate and graduate students enjoy the department’s end-of-year Awards Reception.