Michigan State University

The Department of English at Michigan State University provides students with an excellent education in the liberal arts—one that strikes an ideal balance between creativity and critical inquiry. Undergraduate and graduate students, whether planning to enter professional or academic job markets after graduation, leave with skills allowing them to communicate, collaborate, and problem solve in a cultural landscape growing increasingly global.

Student–faculty interaction is at the center of our department. At present, more than 40 faculty members dedicate themselves to teaching excellence and outstanding scholarship. Faculty areas of specialization are wide-ranging and encompass literary periods and genres, language studies, critical theory, new media studies, cultural studies, and creative writing.

Our students develop exceptional writing skills. And, because they are exposed to a variety of learning experiences and faculty members who offer disparate perspectives, they acquire the know-how to confront large-scale issues and effect change around the world.


Faculty News

Marcia Aldrich's essay, "Spoon Altar," originally published in the Tampa Review, has been selected as a Notable Essay of 2007 in the forthcoming Best American Essays of 2007 (Houghton Mifflin). Marcia also won an MSU Alumni Club of Mid-Michigan Quality in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2009.

Kurt Dewhurst was elected President of the American Folklore Society. His term runs from 2010 to 2012.

Ken Harrow has been given the 2009 Distinguished Member Award from the African Literature Association.

Salah Hassan has been awarded the John Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Program Award. This award recognizes a faculty member who is making a significant impact early in his/her career on the advancement of international scholarship, teaching, and/or public service and outreach at MSU. Salah is also part of a research team that has been awarded a major grant for a project entitled "Reporting about Muslim Peoples and Islam."  The grant was awarded through the Social Science Research Council with funding provided by the Carnegie Corporation. 

Lloyd Pratt has been selected as Lilly Teaching Fellow for 2009-2010.

Stephen Rachman appeared on NPR's "On Point" program on January 23, 2009. This episode of Tom Ashbrook's popular radio show focused on Edgar Allan Poe, on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Go here to listen to the episode.

Geneva Smitherman has received an Excellence in Diversity Award (EIDA) honoring her lifetime contributions to the principles of diversity and inclusion. The Award is given by the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.

 

 

 

Home Page Content

Previous events in 2008-2009:

April 23, 2009: Undergraduate Creative Writing Student Reading
Series. 7:30 pm in the LookOut Gallery on the second floor of Snyder-Phillips. Featured readers were Liz Young, Kelly Caldwell, and Lia Greenwell.

April 16, 2009: Student Writers Night. The winners of our Undergraduate Creative Writing Awards presented their award -winning poetry. 7:30pm in the Main Library, room W449.

April 10, 2009: Screenwriter, Chuck Pfarrer presented "How to pitch a script". His works include Dark Man, Hard Target, Barb Wire, Jackal, Virus, and Red Planet. He also was the host of our departmental screenwriting contest winners and gave a talk entitled "Screenwriting Today".

March 30, 2009: "GLORY BOX" a performance by Tim Miller.

March 27, 2009: Critical Institutions, featured Prof. Dana Nelson (Vanderbilt University). This year's topic was : "The People."

March 26, 2009: Undergraduate Creative Writing Student Reading Series. 7:30 pm in Snyder-Phillips C203.  Featured readers were seniors Kate House (poetry), Adam Holwerda (fiction), and Elizabeth Bohnhorst (nonfiction and poetry).

March 19, 2009: Richard McCann, poet, novelist, essayist (American University), read from his work.

February 26, 2009: Michael Awkward (University of Michigan). Sponsored by the Undergraduate English organization. MSU Union, Gold room, 7 pm.

February 19, 2009: Undergraduate Student Reading Series. Creative writing students read from their work. Featured writers: Ian Brown, Jill Kolongowski, Michael Lala.

February 20, 2009: Jo Ramaka, dir. Karmen Gei, screening and discussion.

February 12, 2009: Akira Mizuta Lippit (University of Southern California). Gave a Lecture on film studies.

November 14, 2008: David Madden, Cal State Sacramento, Pat O'Donnell, and Justus Nieland, "Writing the Future Canon."

October 28, 2008: Robin Silbergleid, Assistant Professor of English. Read from her poetry.

October 24-25, 2008: Early modern conference: "Criminallity, Liminality, and Imprisonment in the Early Modern Era."

October 17, 2008: David Clark, McMaster University. "Imagining Peace: Kant's Wartime and the Tremulous Body of Philosophy".

October 16, 2008, November 20, 2008 and February 19, 2009: Student writers read from their work.

October 7, 2008: Michael Kimball, novelist, read from his novel, Dear Everybody.

 

College of Arts and Letters

Year of Arts and Culture

In Memorium: Aimé Ellis (1969-2009)

Aimé Jero Ellis died at his home in Lansing, Mich., on May 26, 2009. He was 39.

Aimé was an associate professor of English and core faculty in African and African American Studies at Michigan State University whose scholarship focused on practices of freedom and experiences of violence and incarceration in Black history and popular culture in the United States. He was an engaged and passionate teacher who transformed the lives of students in Texas, Kentucky, and Michigan.

A talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Aimé drew on cultural traditions of the Black Atlantic as well as contemporary punk and pop to create a body of songs he recorded as Aimé Ellis and the Pleasures of Exile.

Aimé was born in Seattle, Wash., one of two sons to Ora J. Ellis and Kenneth Ellis. He had a strong sense of style from a young age, beginning during his first years of school in Jamaica. His musical gifts first became apparent after the family moved to Saudi Arabia, where he joined his schools choir at the age of 12.

He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his PhD from the University of Texas, Austin. His first teaching position was at the University of Kentucky. He joined the MSU English Department in 2001.

It was in Kentucky where Aimé first met Amanda Macheé York. They married in a small ceremony at the St. John's Courthouse in Clinton County, Mich., on February 27, 2009. On May 24, a host of family and friends celebrated their marriage at their home in Lansing.

Aimé Ellis lost his brother, Ian Alexander Ellis, in 2007. Aimé is survived by his wife, Amanda York Ellis of Lansing; nephews Dylan Ellis of San Antonio, Texas and Isaiah and Levi Ellis of Dallas, Texas; his mother, Ora J. Ellis of Garland, Texas; his father, Kenneth Ellis of Old Harbour, Jamaica; extended family and scores of beloved friends.

We mourn a loving, loyal, brilliant, and compassionate man.

 

Spotlight

Alumni, students, and friends of the English Department. Take a few minutes, please, to send us your contact information. We would like to keep you updated on what we're doing. Click here.

Previous editions of The Tattler:

The Tattler (PDF) (2009)

The Tattler (PDF) (2008)

The Tattler (PDF) (2007)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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