Department of English and Modern Languages
The UIS Department of English and Modern Languages offers majors in English on campus and in English online with minors in English and Spanish. We also offer a professionalized M.A. in English with two concentrations: digital pedagogy and digital publishing.
Check out the Fall 2017 Newsletter (PDF) to learn more about our successful alumni, hardworking graduate students, and new faculty!
What’s New:
Apply for Graduate School
Earn your M.A. in English at UIS!
Our program offers a variety of professionalized courses that engage digital contexts in fields as disparate as publishing and pedagogy. Priority deadline is April 1. Contact the graduate committee chair, Dr. Donna Bussell, to inquire or apply.
UIS English welcomed Dr. Debbie Olson, assistant professor of English at Missouri Valley College, last night for the ECCE event “Black Children in Hollywood Cinema: Cast in Shadow.” Olson’s presentation traced histories of Black representation, from Victorian advertisements to Black Panther, noting the perpetual absence of Black children in Hollywood media.
“Western media promotes a vision of childhood that does not leave much room for other, richer, more diverse stories about children,” Olson said.
During a Q&A session after the event, Olson encouraged students to speak about representation on social media. “You all have more power than you think,” she said.
Dr. Lan Dong, literature professor and department chair, has just been recognized as the Louise Hartman Schewe and Karl Schewe Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences. “My students inspire me. I like to write about the texts I teach and teach the texts I write about,” Dong said.
Upcoming Events:
Shelterbelt Reading Series: Chen Chen
The University of Illinois Springfield Shelterbelt Reading Series and the Student, Technology, Arts, and Research Symposium are excited to present Chen Chen, a 2018 STARS keynote speaker! Chen Chen’s reading will be held in the UIS Brookens auditorium on Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. This event is FREE and open to the public.
Shelterbelt Reading Series: Eloisa Amezcua
Eloisa Amezcua, recipient of the 2017 Shelterbelt Poetry Prize, will read on Thursday, April 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Brookens Auditorium. This event is FREE and open to the public.
English Department Trivia Night!
Join the UIS English Department for our annual trivia night on April 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the UIS Sangamon Auditorium Lobby! This trivia night features a cash bar, silent auction, and (of course) cash prizes. [$10 public, $5 students, max 10/team.] Contact Dr. Gillian Bauer at gbaue2@uis.edu or 217-206-8332 to reserve a table.
Competitive Degree Programs
Our department prioritizes a personalized education experience for English and Modern Languages students. We offer small class sizes to encourage one-on-one communication between students and faculty. Currently we offer a Bachelor of Arts in English on-campus and online; a Master of Arts in English with an emphasis in digital publishing or digital pedagogy; a graduate certificate in teaching English; and a minor in English or Spanish. Our program facilitates strong written and verbal communication while emphasizing communication, genre writing, literary analysis, and emergent digital technologies.
Student Involvement Opportunities
The English and Modern Languages Department at UIS offers a number of hands-on community engagement opportunities that extend student learning beyond the classroom.
Undergraduate students can gain publishing experience through The Alchemist Review, an undergraduate student-run journal of fiction, poetry, and visual arts, or present their own research at STARS: the Student Technology, Arts, and Research Symposium.
The Shelterbelt Press and Reading Series offers students a unique opportunity to meet nationally-known authors and participate in the publishing process, while digital publishing graduate students manage Uproot, a literary journal dedicated to publishing quality work about experiences of place and movement.
Learn more about our student clubs and organizations.
English Department Scholarships
Frank and Linda Kopecky Scholarship
Based on merit and demonstrated financial need
Awarded to a full time junior or senior
Renewable until the degree is completed
Award: $1000
Alfred and Mildred Roese Memorial Scholarship
GPA of 3.75 or higher
Recipient must display financial need
Preferred female recipient
Award: $500
John and Barb Blackburn Scholarship
Awarded to an English or Education major in good academic standing
Award: $1000
To apply, please complete the UIS Institutional Scholarship Application
Dr. Cordell and online student Tammy Hollo discuss online learning
Online English student Cheryl Sabas presents at research conference
UIS online undergraduate English student Cheryl Sabas recently presented her paper, “Purity and Passion in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” at an Illinois English research conference.
Hosted by the English Graduate Organization (EGO) and the Sigma Tau Delta (ΣΤΔ) Phi Delta chapter of Western Illinois University, the conference explored the role of empathy and anger in literature and contemporary literary theory.
Sabas initially wrote “Purity and Passion” for Dr. Sara Cordell’s ENG 311: Literary Study and Research, a course that introduces English majors to discipline-specific theories and practices.
Although Sabas, a recent inductee to the UIS chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, thought her paper did not meet the conference criteria, she submitted a paper. She said, “I’ve got nothing to lose by submitting a paper just to learn more about the process.” To her surprise, Sabas was accepted to present her paper.
Reflecting on the experience, Sabas said, “I was impressed by the friendly welcome I received from students and faculty . . . this open and welcoming atmosphere meant a lot to me.”
The conference provided an excellent networking opportunity, Sabas said, and she has remained in contact with fellow conference presenters.
After the conference, Sabas said that the experience taught her “about new areas in the field of English literature.”
English students experience knighthood and weaponry at Chicago’s Deering Family Galleries
In the UIS English and Modern Languages department, English Studies extend beyond the
classroom.
To augment traditional literary studies, students in Dr. Donna Bussell’s Arthurian Literature class recently attended a gallery talk about medieval weaponry and armor. Through ceremonial armor exhibits, students learned about pageantry, knighthood, and chivalry.
The talk, held at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor, featured a museum educator presentation. Attendants immersed themselves in the gallery’s interactive technologies and themed exhibits.
Lauren McPherson, an English pedagogy graduate student, especially enjoyed a particular Viking sword display. The sword contained traces of foreign metals, causing researchers to speculate its exposure to ceremonial fire.
McPherson found it “powerful to see how history and very human ritualism is uncovered in the things left behind.”
After the talk, Dr. Bussell and students shared lunch and dialogue about Medieval craft.
Through gallery talks and other extracurricular opportunities, UIS English students consistently meld English studies and materiality, expanding learning beyond written texts.
Professor Jennifer Whalen new to UIS campus; named finalist for poetry fellowship
UIS composition instructor Jennifer Whalen’s short story collection “Eveningful” was recently named a finalist for the 2017 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowships.
Through imagery the collection navigates “the transition between day and night” and the speaker’s reflections, all while negotiating a relationship to the reader as the “destination of the writing.”
Whalen was nominated by Brenda Shaughnessy, author of Interior with Sudden Joy (1999), Human Dark with Sugar (2008), Our Andromeda (2012), and So Much Synth (2016). The Poetry Society of America offers the chapbook fellowship to support emerging authors and broaden poetry’s audience.
Professor Meagan Cass wins Katherine Anne Porter Prize for her fiction
UIS Creative Writing professor Meagan Cass has just won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for her short story
collection “ActivAmerica,” which will be published in November of 2017 by University of North Texas Press.
Dr. Cass teaches a range of classes at UIS, from women’s literature and feminist theory to creative writing and publishing. Her short fiction has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Pinch, DIAGRAM, Joyland, and Puerto del Sol, among other places. She also won the UIS College of Liberal Arts and Sciences teaching award for 2015-16.
You can read more about Dr. Cass’s accomplishments and forthcoming book at UIS’s blog.
New Addition to Campus: The Shakespeare Garden
UIS unveiled the Shakespeare Garden on September 29, 2016, marking the 400th anniversary of the poet and playwright’s death. The garden features a life-size bronze sculpture of Shakespeare on a bench admiring his surroundings. Located in the Patton Park area of campus, the garden is just north of Brookens Library. Read more about the unveiling, or see more pictures.
To learn more about our department, our mission, and what we offer our students, check out our About section.