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Congratulations to Marie Henry for her fine work and noble example.
Thanks to your help, we have had a wonderfully active year in the English Department. Faculty members
continue to be energized by our present and past students. We are excited to be building a strong community in
Geneseo, and increasingly through electronic media, with former students who have become current friends.
This year saw the founding of the Geneseo Literary Forum by Professor Rachel Hall and other members of the
Department. The Forum now serves as the umbrella organization for bringing visiting speakers to the department. The
stepped-up schedule of fiction writers, essayists, and poets brought to campus was made possible largely through
donations that alumni designated to the department.
Our film minor is up and running and we continue to expand our instructional collection of films on DVD and
VHS. They don't just support courses in Film: I never thought Id have the opportunity to screen clips from a brilliant
film version of Shakespeares once obscure Titus Andronicus, but I did just that in Shakespeare II this spring. We
received a generous contribution from retired Professor Sarah Watts in support of activities connected with the program
that has helped us move forward with a host of new courses. Happily, we now find ourselves desperately in need of a
secure storage area for our growing film collection and have begun preliminary discussions about adapting an existing
space.
Ive been delighted to see our students engage in the kinds of community service activities central to the college
mission of a public liberal arts college. With the help of Professor Mary Gillin, the English Honor Society Sigma Tau
Delta organized a poetry reading at a local nursing home and did a benefit for the local library. We are sponsoring a
growing number of internships, including one with BOA, the distinguished publisher of poetry based in Rochester.
Professor Wes Kennison, who is also the Geneseo Town Supervisor, is hard at work finding internship settings for our
students with local community groups. As people are doing at other top colleges and universities, I am actively seeking
financial support that will at the very least allow students to be reimbursed for the commuting expenses to these jobs,
positions that benefit the community and provide opportunities after graduation. Speaking of new support for students, I
am delighted to tell you that a generous new merit scholarship has been endowed for an incoming senior in memory of
Natalie Selser Freed, mother of Professor Walter Freed.
This year of new opportunities has also been a year of transition. Rita Gollin, one of the two SUNY
Distinguished Professors who has served the Department, retired last spring after 35 years at Geneseo. One of the
worlds most distinguished Hawthorne scholars, Professor Gollin may have stopped teaching, but she has just brought
out a new book and is still a strong presence at national conferences on American Literature. I am very sad, though, to
tell you that Professor Don Watt died last summer after a long illness. We miss Don deeply. Since his memorial service,
we have received many messages from students who cherish the wisdom that he shared with them.
Perhaps the best part of my job is hearing from youinterested members of the department communityabout
what youre doing. Ive had a great time answering e-mails from people I once knew and many that Ive never met,
including alumni whose time at Geneseo long precedes mine. Everyone here is thrilled to receive your messages. We're
delighted to hear that our graduates are following diverse paths and leading interesting lives. Send any messages to
finkelst@geneseo.edu. Thanks again for your help and support, with
Return to: Department of English, SUNY Geneseo * 1 College Circle, Welles 226 * Geneseo, NY 14454
Please consider supporting the Department of English students and faculty in their pursuit of a high quality
education with your tax deductible contribution. Matching gifts from your place of business are also welcome.
Return to: Department of English, SUNY Geneseo * 1 College Circle, Welles 226 * Geneseo, NY 14454
Standing before the marble pediment of the Parthenon of Athens (financed by Pericles and swallowed by the British
Museum), Geneseo students contemplate politics, history, economics, art, imperialism, and Romantic poetry during the
2003 Literature in London Museums January class with Dr. Julia Walker.
2003 English Department Honors and Awards
Scholarships
The Hans Gottschalk Award
Class of 2003: Heidi Bollinger & Marie Bonarski
Class of 2004: Mary Jane DiStasio
Class of 2005: Rue Kenyon
The Walter Harding Memorial Scholarship
Robert Allen
The Joseph O'Brien Transfer Scholarship
Mark Dibble
The Cook/Herzman Senior Scholarship
Colleen Butler
The Natalie Selser Freed Memorial Scholarship
Jessica Curran
The Don Watt Memorial Scholarship
Sarah Callahan
Annual Writing Awards
The Jrme de Romanet Award in African American Studies
Kate Ann Steinnagel
The Creative Non-Fiction Award
First place: Marianne Joy Upham
Second place: Michael Sheehan
The John H. Parry Award in Critical Essay
First place: Heidi E. Bollinger
Second place: Janine Giordano
The C. Agnes Rigney Award in Drama
First place: Jennifer B. Poggiali
Second place: Michael Chin
The Lucy Harmon Award in Fiction
First place: Beth Wasnock
Second place: Ashley Pankratz
Third place: Ben Stein
The Mary A. Thomas Award in Poetry
First place: Katherine Fusco
Second place: Jesse Curran
Third place: ben valentin
Annual Cover Design: Anna Balok
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
Department of English PAID
SUNY Geneseo Geneseo, NY
1 College Circle, Welles 226 14454
Geneseo, NY 14454
Permit No. 1
In Loving Memory of Dr. Donald Watt He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;
1938 - 2002 Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading,
And to those that sought him, sweet as summer.
~~William Shakespeare, Henry VIII
Dr. Watt came to Geneseo in 1967 and served as Professor of English until 2002. He acted as English Department Chair from 1984 through 1993. He was
recognized with the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1981. He was a husband and father, a master teacher, an authoritative Aldous Huxley scholar,
and a tireless mentor to students and junior faculty alike. Above all he was a friend.
In November of last year the department met to remember Dr. Watt formally. Students, friends, colleagues and the family of Dr. Watt held a simple
memorial at the Campus House on Main Street in Geneseo. We gathered, shared uplifting stories of our friend, listened to traditional
Celtic music played on the violin, read from Dr. Watt's favorite books, and ate Twinkies. Legend has it that Dr. Watt's lunch
was very often a vending machine Twinkie. It had all the makings to become a sad affair. Someone had died, we were
gathering on a dreary cold day to remember him and to say goodbye. How many times do we console ourselves by saying
that we are really gathering to celebrate the life of the deceased, and then end up being sad anyway when we realize
they are gone forever? For some reason this was not the case at Dr. Watt's memorial. I suspect the reason was Dr.
Watt himself, that his very nature defies sadness. We felt like he was there. We expected him to pop his beanie-
capped head out from the corner and say, ironically, "Who died!?!" Instead of thinking of him as gone, we thought of
all he gave, and how much better we all were for having known him.
Students, faculty, family, and friends shared stories of Dr. Watt and being in his company. Dr. Ken Asher told
us about his interview experience with Dr. Watt for his job at Geneseo. Dr. Ashers plane had come in late from
California and Dr. Watt picked him up from the airport and took him to Livingston Lanes, the only late night eatery at the time,
and had Buffalo wings specially prepared. Knowing that Dr. Asher was a Californian and not accustomed to WNY deep fried
delicacies, Dr. Watt postponed the interview for a few hours to give Dr. Asher time to recoup. Dr. Ron Herzman shared stories of Dr. Watt
as a basketball teammate and Boston Celtic enthusiast. I shared stories of Dr. Watts habitual wearing of a beanie cap and Birkenstocks with dress socks. Another
student, Marie Bonarski, remembered Dr. Watts characteristic facial contortions and his love for the dry humor found in the deepest recesses of Dickens novels.
The most remarkable thing that I have found since I began writing about Dr. Watt is that everyone tells the same story about him. I asked alumni, faculty,
students, and family for stories about him that I could share in this piece. Everyone spoke about the same traits- his humor, his compassion, his dedication to students,
and his eagerness to help. Dr. Watt treated every person he met in exactly the same way. That is the definition of integrity, said Dr. Ed Gillin. I wish I could have
learned more from Dr. Watt. I would have been a better person for it. We will all miss Dr. Watt. His memory will live on in all of the people that he touched over his
long tenure at Geneseo. His example lives on in our reading and thinking, in our leadership of others, and in all of the bad jokes that we tell at work.
Thank you Dr. Watt,
Jonathan W. Senchyne
Please note: Dr. Watts family has requested that any memorials in his honor be donated to the Geneseo Foundation and designated to the English Department.