The English Department is alive with a range of opportunities in which students can become involved! Explore UIS clubs and organizations, discover the Verbal Arts Festival, or read/contribute to the Alchemist Review, the University's literary Journal.
Dr. Ethan Lewis, Chapter Sponsor
The University of Illinois at Springfield is home to the Alpha Nu Tau chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English Honor Society.
Sigma Tau Delta's central purpose is to confer distinction upon students of the English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies. Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature. For more information, contact the English Program GA.
Dr. Sara Cordell, Advisor
The UIS English Club is a consortium of students who assist with the publication of The Alchemist Review, the English Program’s literary journal, and support the annual production of the Verbal Arts Festival through participation in and planning of Verbal Arts Festival activities such as readers’ theater, poetry and short fiction readings. The English Club also sponsors events such as trivia nights, book sales, and other fundraising activities throughout the year. English Club meetings are held monthly. For more information, contact the English Program GA.
Dr. Tena Helton, Advisor
The purpose of the Graduate Student Association is to establish an academic and professional network of UIS graduate students across disciplines, facilitating a strong sense of community among UIS graduate students. Any UIS student may attend GSA meeting. Voting privileges and the right to hold office, however, are reserved for graduate students only. For more information, contact the GSA President (position currently vacant).
Dr. Marcellus Leonard, Advisor
UIS Writers Repertory sprang into life when students in English 470 Playwriting were required to produce their plays
as a final examination. Doing so was such a motivating
experience that students wanted to expand their
productions, although neither they nor Marcellus
had extensive training in acting and stagecraft.
Only two students had
acted before, while Marcellus had had a few courses
in acting and stagecraft. Those first students
produced their first play, Fall Semester at the
Center of the Universe in 1997. Since then, the Repertory Theatre has
produced a number of student-created works. To
learn more, please contact Dr. Marcellus Leonard.
Dr. Ethan Lewis, Advisor
The UIS Poetry Group began rather informally in 1994. A half-dozen students sought to share their work and garner feedback, and so met every fortnight in a conference room down the hall from Ethan’s office. As they enjoyed each other's company and were learning a great deal, they decided to meet weekly--and have kept to that schedule throughout successive semesters, still commenting on each others' poems, suggesting revisions, offering support, and discussing specifics of theory and composition (e.g., how one writes; using meter; what Eliot calls the auditory imagination, that sound quality that works beneath meaning; imagery; motives for metaphor, to cop a title from Wallace Stevens; and the varying [at times nonexistent] significance of narrative in a poem.)
In their short history, as befit a folk who go the way of Ovid, they have undergone some metamorphoses of personnel. The UIS Poetry Group welcomes new participants, from campus and local community. To learn more, please contact Dr. Ethan Lewis.
