News and Events
News for the 2007-2008 academic year is posted below.
News from 2006-2007 can be accessed here.
A recently published anthology of poetry includes work from Macalester College's Spring Poetry Workshop. Entitled The Seventh Poetry Consortium, this uniquely all-male workshop was coordinated by Associate Professor Wang Ping. Full information and a PDF file of the entire collection can be accessed here.
Fall 2008 registration was held April 21 - May 2. Check the Courses page for a current list, and go to the Macalester Office of the Registrar online for other general information.
A Spring Lunch for English majors and minors was held on Wednesday, April 30, at noon in the Old Main Lounge on the fourth floor. Lunch and tee-shirts sponsored by the English Department.
Invited speakers for the Spring semester included the following:
- February 6
2008 African American Poetry Festival
Afaa Weaver, Tyehimba Jess, and Crystal Williams
Reading at the Weyerhaeuser Chapel at 7PM
- February 7
Round-table Talk on Contemporary American Poetry
Afaa Weaver, Tyehimba Jess, and Crystal Williams
At noon in the Harmon Room, Library
- February 22
Poet Daniel Tiffany
Reading at the Fine Art Gallery at 4:30PM
- April 23
Poet Kimiko Hahn, ACTC Poet-in-Residence
Aku Wuwu, Professor of Yi Literature at Southwest Nationalities University, Sichuan
Reading at the Weyerhaeuser Chapel at 7PM
Contact Associate Professor Wang Ping for more information on any of these events.
Associate Professors James Dawes and Wang Ping have new books, both of which were finalists for this year's Minnesota Book Awards. From Dawes, in the category of General Nonfiction, That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity (Harvard University Press, September 2007) tells the powerful and moving story of the successes and failures of the modern human rights movement. Drawing on firsthand accounts from fieldworkers around the world, beginning with those that emerged from the Rwandan genocide, the book interweaves personal stories, intellectual and political questions, art and aesthetics, and breaking international news.
In the category of Novel & Short Story, Wang Ping's The Last Communist Virgin (Coffee House Press, April 2007) won the Minnesota Book Award and stands out as one of the few books on modern China and the contemporary Chinese-American experience. From the restaurants of New York's Chinatown to the retail emporium of Bergdorf Goodman, and from remote Chinese military outposts to the streets of Beijing, these stories open a window into the rapid transformations of an ancient culture. The Awards Gala to honor the finalists and announce the winners was held April 12, 2008.
Visit The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Awards Web site for more information about the Minnesota Book Awards.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Don Lee and Visiting Instructor Peter Bognanni, whose recent short stories have been listed in the "100 Distinguished Stories of 2006" in The Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King.
New and visiting faculty members for the 2007-2008 academic year include:
- Michael Cohen
- Marlon James
- Casey Jarrin
- Don Lee
- Jeff Shotts
Help us in welcoming them aboard! Visit the Faculty page for a complete list of current members.
Spring 2008 registration was held November 12-30. Check the Courses page for a current list, and go to the Macalester Office of the Registrar online for other general information.
On October 11, Associate Professor Wang Ping made a presentation on her travels along the new Qinghai-Tibet railroad and its impact on the environment, people, and source of Asian water. The presentation was part of Macalester College's "Environment Thursdays at Noon" program, held in Olin-Rice Room 250.
The yearly luncheon for English faculty and majors took place on Tuesday, October 2, at noon in the Weyerhauser Boardroom lounge. A terrific lunch was provided by Bon Appetit. John Parker and Jim Dawes read briefly from their new books, new faculty were introduced to the students, and announcements were made about the year's activities.
Three just-graduated seniors presented papers at a conference, Literatures in English, at Saint Olaf College from June 7th to 9th, under the mentorship of David Chioni Moore, Associate Professor of International Studies and English.
- Analee Heath (English / IS) presented "From Tribal Tale to Global Classic: Achebe's Things Fall Apart and the Making of World Literature," which closely examined sixteen separate editions of Achebe's 1958 novel, as well as its history of reception, in the context of recent world-literature studies by Franco Moretti and Pascale Casanova.
- Christina MacGillivray (English / IS) presented "Frankenstein and Fanon: Race, Monstrosity, Legacy," which examined the remarkable thematic resonances between Mary Shelley's 1818 novel and the revolutionary 1950s theories of the Caribbean psychiatrist and activist Frantz Fanon, proposing a common ancestor in reactions to the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803.
- Jennifer Henry (Religion / IS) offered "Is the Moon Postcolonial? Territoriality, Empire, and Empty Space," arguing that the US/USSR race to the Moon in the 1960s was the inevitable result of worldwide decolonization eliminating terrestrial conquest as imperial style.
The three papers, among the very few at the conference offered by student participants, were widely hailed for their innovation and brilliance.
Applying for graduate school? The Thomas E. Critchett Fund will, within certain limits, reimburse Macalester English majors for expenses involved in the application process. The Fund will do so for majors who apply while they're a student here, OR if they apply within two years after graduation.
If you are a student, please remember that we can help you out this way! If you are a faculty member, please remind any recent graduates (for whom you might be writing recommendations) that we can do this. You can read the details and the rules for these reimbursements on The Critchett Fund page of the English Department Web site Student Resources section.
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