Professor Rachel Hall’s collection of linked stories, Heirlooms, has been selected by acclaimed poet and novelist Marge Piercy for the 2015 BkMk Press G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize. The book will be published in 2016. Stories from the collection have appeared in Bellingham Review, Fifth Wednesday, Gettysburg Review, and Water~Stone Review.
2015 English department writing awards
Congratulations to the SUNY Geneseo students who took first, second, and third place this year in the categories of critical essay, diversity studies, first-year critical writing, research, creative non-fiction, literary fiction, and poetry. Congratulations as well to the students who won in each of three categories for work in Africana/Black studies.
John H. Parry Award: Critical Essay
- Sean Neill, “Towards a Theory of Auto Horror”
- Sarah Simon, “Erupt/Endure”
- Liam Cody, “Repurposing Bodies in ‘The Grauballe Man'” and Zachary Muhlbauer, “Tom Wolfe’s Never-Never Land (What?)”
Jérome de Rômanet de Beaune Award: Diversity Studies
- Meghan Kearns, “No Magic Here: Archival Violence and the Body”
- Kyle Parnell, “Disability as Metaphor in Curricular Literature: A Case Study on Of Mice and Men“
- Emily Ercolano, “Kramer vs. Kramer: The Subversion and Affirmation of Masculine Hegemony in the Male Mother”
Irene E. Smith Award: First-Year Critical Writing
- Noah Chichester, “We Shall Overcome: Ferguson and the History of Black Protest in America”
- Sophie Boka, “Destabilizing Definitions”
- Halee Finn, “Optimism Can Influence Perspective”
Research Paper Award
- Harrison Hartsough, “Constitutional Rights as an Unfunded Mandate: The Problems with the Implementation of Gideon v. Wainwright in New York State”
- Connor Valvo, “The Place of Theory of Mind in The Catcher in the Rye“
- Sean Fischer and Benjamin Wach, “United We Stand: An Ethical Framework for Literary Criticism, A Case Study Analysis”
Creative Non-Fiction Award
- Erin Koehler, “The Phototroph”
- Kathryn Waring, “Open Diary”
- Lara Elmayan, “Scavengers”
Lucy Harmon Award: Literary Fiction
- Katie Soares, “Kill the Carrier”
- Sophie Boka, “To Know One”
- Marissa Canarelli, “The Magpie”
Mary Thomas Award: Poetry
- Chrissy Montelli, “Aftermath of: Twin Mental Health Evaluations”
- Lara Elmayan, “Last Prayer to Mack Wolford”
- Codie Hazen, “[Unspecified Endocrine Disorder]”
Africana/Black Studies Award
- Best Critical/Analytical Essay: Sean Neill
- Best Research Paper: Cassandra Nicol
- Best Creative Writing: Devon Poniatowski
Cori Winrock numbered among “Best New Poets”
For her poem “Débridement,” the online anthology Best New Poets has included Visiting Assistant Professor of English Cori Winrock on its list of 50 best new poets for 2013.
Each year, a guest editor selects 50 poems for the anthology from an open internet competition and nominations made by literary magazines and writing programs.
Correction (10-11-13): This post previously referred to Best New Poets as an “online anthology.” In fact, Best New Poets is printed on paper. (Submissions are solicited online.) You can order an individual copy from the Best New Poets website, buy it from online retails such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, or purchase it from an independent bookseller.
Gillian Paku wins award for innovative course design
SUNY Geneseo Assistant Professor of English Gillian Paku has been named a winner of the Innovative Course Design Competition organized by the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies for her course “Authorial Ide
ntity: What’s in a Name?”
Established in 1969, ASECS is an interdisciplinary group dedicated to the advancement of scholarship in all aspects of the period stretching from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century.
The organization’s award for innovative course design comes with a $500 honorarium and an invitation to present at the Society’s annual meeting.
In recognizing Professor Paku’s achievement, the selection committee observed:
This course takes a difficult topic – authorial identity – and makes it accessible and interesting without sacrificing any conceptual clarity or rigor. Indeed, its course objectives – with their attendant interest in the meta-analysis of authorship and canonicity – are remarkably ambitious. Laurence Sterne’s work is difficult to decipher and yet Paku succeeds in using Tristram Shandy to actually render a more recent postmodern text more accessible to students by the end of the semester. This is a serious and innovative accomplishment. Along the way, the use of Skype is perfectly tuned to the course goals and allows the living post-modern author (Plascencia) to ‘perform’ in ways that can be discussed and deconstructed after the fact. In a major authors course, the identity and intentions of the author are always foregrounded, but students inevitably seem to wonder if they’ve accessed the “real” Sterne or the “real” Dryden or the “real” Milton. Paku’s arrangement for an interview with a living author allows students to experience “authentic” contact that will shape their understanding of how well the written works capture the essence and intents of their creator. The use of puppets (and indeed muppets) is also conceptually sound and pedagogically useful. These are not gimmicks.
Beth McCoy named SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor
The Board of Trustees of the State University of New York has awarded Geneseo English Professor Beth McCoy the title of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.
From the SUNY press release:
The Distinguished Professorship recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. For this prestigious tribute to be conferred, candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship and professional growth, and adherence to rigorous academic standards and requirements. Further, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years, have completed at least three years of full-time teaching on the nominating campus, 10 years of full-time teaching in the System, and must have regularly carried a full-time teaching load as defined by the campus at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional level.
About Professor McCoy herself, the press release accurately observes:
Both students and other faculty extol [Professor McCoy’s] generosity as a mentor, and note that what they learn from her stays with them long after they leave her classroom or office. Professor McCoy … is highly skilled at bringing everyone in her classroom into the conversation regardless of their background or inclination to tackle difficult questions. Professor McCoy sets a high bar and assists her students in achieving beyond their own expectations. She has been successful in adapting this model to campus-wide teach-ins, which she introduced as a method of engaging the Geneseo community in national and local issues related to race, identity and privilege.
SUNY’s distinguished ranks represent the highest system honor conferred upon SUNY instructional faculty. All distinguished faculty in active service within SUNY also become members of the SUNY Distinguished Academy.
Professor McCoy joins Professors Ron Herzman and Gene Stelzig as active English department faculty members holding the rank of Distinguished Teaching Professor.