University of North Georgia

Spring 2017: Volume II, Issue III

Department of
English
Newsletter
Features A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Spring 2017 Graduates..............................................2
Sigma Tau Delta Update...........................................3
Faculty News.............................................................. 4-5
Student News.................................................................5
Announcements...........................................................6
E
ach term, this newsletter highlights activities and accomplishments of our faculty
and students. In this issue I wish to emphasize the achievements of one faculty
member in particular: Dr. Donna Gessell. Just about everyone knows Donna, but
not everyone knows that she has won the Triple Crown of teaching awards this year. First,
Donna was named Outstanding English Professor, Dahlonega Campus, by the Student
Government Association. Next, she was selected to receive the UNG Alumni Associations
award for Distinguished Professor of the Year, Dahlonega Campus. Third, Donna
recently learned that she has been named Distinguished Professor by CTLL. Donna has
undoubtedly earned this recognition for her many years of outstanding teaching and
leadership, and I feature her achievements here so that we may recognize Donna together.
Donnas success endorses my continued assertion that ours is the strongest department
of the university: three distinctly different divisions of UNG chose the same professor to
receive their highest honors!

Donna isnt the only English professor who warrants recognition here: Dr. Sam Prestridge
and Dr. Leverett Butts visited all five campuses this year in our Resident Author Series,
part of the Visiting Authors program. Both Sam and Lev delivered engaging talks on
their work: Sam read his poetry, while Lev read from his first western novel. Thanks to
both men for making our new Resident series successful. In the next academic year, our
Resident Authors will be Kathryn Hinds and John Ingrisano. Our next Visiting Authors
will be Dacre Stoker (yes, that Stoker hes a great nephew of Bram), who has written
Dracula: The Un-Dead; and in spring we will host Phillippe Diederich, author of Sofrito
and Playing for the Devils Fire. Much more information on their visits and copies of
their books will follow in the coming weeks; in the meantime, please consider including
Dracula in your syllabi (when appropriate) for fall.

Finally, at commencement last week, I counted 22 BA and 3 AA graduates from the

English Department listed in the program: congratulations to the entire department for
our students success. Please read the following pages for more English Department news.

Sincerely,

Joyce Stavick, PhD

Chair, English Department
NEWS and UPDATES 2017 Spring Graduates
Among our 24 graduates for Spring 2017 were 11 in Writing & Publication, 2 in
Literature, 9 in English Education, and 3 earning an Associate degree in English.
Graduate names are listed below, including concentration, honors, and capstone project
titles, when available.
Jason Taylor Allred Diane E. Jagels
BA English Education (Dahlonega) summa cum laude
BA English Writing & Publication
Mary Margaret Benefield (Dahlonega)
magna cum laude The Animated Phenomenon: Impact Beyond
BA English Education (Dahlonega) Childhood

Dalton Thomas Deavers Elizabeth Claire Kitchens

cum laude BA English Education (Dahlonega)
BA English Writing & Publication
(Dahlonega) Katelyn Rose Koehler
Sophistry and the Nutritional Supplement magna cum laude
Industry BA English Education (Dahlonega)

Laura Michelle Digioia Steven Lee Lock Graduate Sawyer Henderson

magna cum laude BA English Literature (Gainesville) with Drs. Leigh Dillard and
BA English Education (Dahlonega) Ambiguously Death-Sentenced: Freudian Anastasia Lin.
Theories on Death and Life at Work
Kelly Lynne Donnelly in Don DeLillos White Noise (faculty
BA English Writing & Publication mentor: Leverett Butts) Amanda Niemann
(Gainesville) magna cum laude
The Worlds Within Us: The Chestatee Patricia Elizabeth Maddox AA English; BA English Writing &
Reviews First Electronic Magazine magna cum laude Publication (Dahlonega)
BA English Writing & Publication The Impact of Language: Cross-Cultural
Selene Alexandra Godina (Dahlonega) Confusion Regarding Families that Span
AA English (Gainesville) Oranges and Multiculturalism in American the Deaf Divide
Exceptionalism
Jackilyn B. Goe Katherine Frances Reeves
BA English Education (Dahlonega) Amanda Marie Marshall BA English Writing & Publication (Dahlonega)
cum laude
Daniel Robert Gordon BA English Literature (Dahlonega) Cody Walker Sparks
cum laude AA English (Gainesville)
BA English Writing & Publication Zoe Kathleen Moore
(Gainesville) magna cum laude Terra Leann Sullens
UNG Writing Fellows: Past, Present, Future BA English Writing & Publication
BA English Education (Gainesville)
(Dahlonega)
Sawyer Cash Henderson The Lying Game: A Defense of Societys
Kassie Renae Thomas
magna cum laude Most Necessary Sin
cum laude
BA English Education; BS Psychology
BA English Writing & Publication (Dahlonega)
(Dahlonega) Michael Claude Myers
Gender as a Social Construction in The God
magna cum laude
of Small Things and The Last Report on the
Ethan Noah Howard BA English Education (Gainesville)
Miracles at Little No Horse
BA English Writing & Publication
(Dahlonega)
English and Non-English Majors Use of Cassidy Lee-Ann Webber
Epicene Pronouns cum laude
BA English Writing & Publication (Dahlonega)
Tracing Native American Feminism through
Myth and Poetry

2

F
ive students and two alums with ties to
UNG participated in the Sigma Tau Delta
International English Honor Society
Convention 30 March 1 April in Louisville,
Kentucky. Attendees included those from the
Gainesville chapter Shea Barfield, Ashley
Brooks, Emmy Dixon (BA English, 16),
Tara Heimberger, Joelma Sambdman, and
Daniela Scioscia (BA English, 16) along
with Sawyer Henderson, member of the
chapter in Dahlonega. Scioscia, Brooks, and
Barfield organized a roundtable session titled
Writing and Composition in a Digital World
with two students from the nearby Brenau
chapter in Gainesville. Their contribution to
the conference program provided insight into
some of the emerging issues writers face as
they consider a variety of digital environments.
Four of the attendees also delivered critical
presentations over the course of the four-day
event. Barfield presented Monastic Materialism
Meets Criminal Conviction: Holy Retribution
in Robin Hood and the Monk. Brooks presented
Nursery Versus Straightjacket: The Feminist
Paradox of The Yellow Wallpaper, a look at the
Charlotte Perkins Gilmans popular short story.
Henderson presented Recreating Medieval
Rhetoric in Middletons Drama, an inquiry into
the gendered language of Thomas Middletons
satire, The Revengers Tragedy. Dixon, now
a member of the UNG Writing Center staff,
presented Body of Christ, Bond of Man: Re-
Creating Bread, an essay originally crafted in
one of her undergraduate classes. Both chapters
look forward to sending more students to next
years convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Chapter updates appear below:
The Alpha Upsilon Phi chapter in Gainesville had a very busy semester,
inducting eight new members and hosting its usual flurry of events. In
February, we hosted our annual Groundhog Day Trivia Challenge, this
year teaming with the UNG Food Pantry by encouraging participants to
bring donations. The interdisciplinary faculty squad Alternative Facts
took the title. The big event of the semester was the successful launch of
UNGs first Little Free Library, thanks to the collaborative effort of Amber
Beauchamp for preparing a Sigma Tau Delta project grant and to Ethan
Jordan (BA English 16), whose current employer, The Northeast Georgian,
contributed the old newspaper box to house our books. (See additional
details on the announcement page.) To end the academic year, we hosted
an English department picnic/cookout, a social event for faculty, students,
and alumni; despite the cold and rainy weather, attendance was good and
the conversation lively. Maintaining our strong partnership with Athens-
based Books for Keeps, we sent five members to J.J. Harris Elementary to
help with book distribution on 17 May. Please remember that the Better
World Books/Books for Keeps drive is ongoing, so if any of you have books
NEWS and UPDATES
of any kind that need a new home, please contact
our book drive coordinator, Jennifer Harris. The
Gainesville chapter is also pleased to announce that
alum Brittany Barron (BA English 16), entering
her second year in the MFA program at Georgia
College and State University in Milledgeville,
was awarded a $1000 Sigma Tau Delta Regent
Scholarship, her second such award in two years.
The chapter has also launched its own Instagram
at EnglishMatters.UNG, which well kick off
officially in Fall 2017. Follow us!
Spring semester was busy and fruitful for
Dahlonegas Alpha Beta Epsilon chapter. We
welcomed several new members in our February
induction and also hosted our Bad Love Poetry
Open Mic Night in celebration of Valentines
Day, a comical evening that showcased faculty
and student performances of personal poems and
works, as well as recitations of classics. February
also included the Burns Supper, hosted by Dr.
Joyce Stavick, in honor of Scottish poet Robert
Burns. Many Alpha Beta Epsilon members took
part in this unique gathering that brought together
students and faculty in celebration of the written
word. In March, our chapter began working on a
scrapbook service project to benefit the Lumpkin
County Literacy Coalition. These scrapbooks
will be used by the LCLC as a tangible record of
the impact they have had through their service
to the community. Our chapter also took first
place in the UNG Honors Program Spelling Bee;
the winning team included Catherine Cubera,
Megan Broome, and Margaret Owens, who will
be invited to compete in the Lumpkin Literacy
Spelling Bee in the fall. Our chapter was also
excited to implement a new event which we hope
to put on every semester: our Life After Graduation Workshop. This
event entailed a panel of our English faculty, who answered questions and
shared their wisdom regarding graduate school, the job market, and other
facets of life post-undergrad. This event, although hosted for the benefit of
graduating seniors, was enjoyed by students of all class standing, and we look
forward to expanding this event in the future. Elections for new officers will
be completed in the upcoming fall semester, and we look forward to seeing
what the future holds for the Alpha Beta Epsilon chapter.
Officer updates and plans for 2017-18 will appear in the next newsletter.
Thanks to all our faculty for your support!
3
NEWS and UPDATES
News, Publications, and
Presentations
Congratulations to Donna Gessell, who earned
three teaching awards: the UNG Alumni
Associations Distinguished Professor Award for
2017 for Dahlonega; the UNG Dahlonega Campus
Student Government Associations Outstanding
Faculty Member for English; and the University
of North Georgias 2017 Distinguished Teaching
Award.
Congratulations are also in order for Karen Dodson,
who was awarded the Excellence in Education Award
by Piedmont College Alumni Association.
This April, several faculty members and students
participated in the USG Teaching & Learning
Conference in Athens, GA, as usual. Read on for
details.
Chris Bell was elected Education Coordinator for
the August Wilson Society.
The Denver Quarterly accepted four of Ezekiel
Blacks poems. These poems were part of a series of
erasure poems, where he erased words from a found
text until nothing but a poem remained.
Matthew Boedy published an essay in Technical
Communication Quarterly titled From Deliberation
to Responsibility: Ethics, Invention, and Bonhoeffer
in Technical Communication. He also wrote several
posts for a new rhetoric venture, CitizenCritics.
org, appeared on the Atlanta Journal-Constitutions
Get Schooled blog four times, and attended two
conferences.
Lisa Diehl has been appointed as secretary for
the Permanent Section in Teaching Writing in
College for the Midwestern Language Association
(MMLA) Conference held in November 2017 in
Cincinnati, OH. The position entails reviewing
submitted abstracts for inclusion in the conference.
She and Matthew McEver are co-authoring a
paper/presentation titled Academic Activism in
the college composition classroom: Promoting and
integrating social justice into the university first-year
composition classroom, which they will present at
MMLA as part of a panel entitled Deep Learning
and Shifting Paradigms in the Humanities. Diehl
has also been invited to be a conference panelist at
MMLA for Writing across the Curriculum, where
she will present her embedded tutoring program to
the attendees. Earlier this month, Diehl participated
in UNGs 2017 Grants Academy.
4
Leigh Dillard and Macklin
Cowart co-presented Problem-
Solving in the Literature Classroom: new book by our faculty
Creative Responses to Literary
Texts at the USG T&L Conference
with students Lori Biddulph, John Ingrisanos new novel,
Callie Bryant, and Joelma Alicia in the Ruins: A Story
Sambdman. This past year, Dillard of Survival, is about how
also completed the High-Impact one girl with an indomitable
Practices Academy led by CTLL, spirit survives the horrors of
with a focus on Undergraduate modern-day sex trafficking.
Research. Fifty percent of all profits will
be donated to organizations
In March, Terry Easton was working to stop sex trafficking
the guest author for Oakhurst in our lifetime.
Presbyterian Church Supper Club,
where he discussed his book, Raising
Our Voices, Breaking the Chain:
The Imperial Hotel Occupation as
Prophetic Politics. Easton presented
a paper on his book at the Atlanta manuscript of Gettin Around: Jazz, Script,
Studies Symposium, held at the Atlanta University Transnationalism went to the executive editor of
Center in May. the University of Georgia Press and is about to be
sent out for review.
Diana Edelman presented at two conferences
this spring. With Jim Shimkus, she presented This past spring, Brent Griffin and the Resurgens
Empowering Faculty, Staff, and Students: Applying Theatre Company partnered with UGAs
Growth Mindset to Writing Instruction at the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts to bring
USG T&L Conference. With her fellow CTLL Cambridges John Kerrigan to the Miller Learning
colleagues, she presented Running the Gauntlet Center in Athens. Griffin also delivered a paper on
Across Five Campuses: Creating and Sustaining Original Practices and Jonsons First Folio during
Professional Development Programs for Growing the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of
Institutions at the Southern Regional Faculty and America in Atlanta. And as a sponsored event of the
Institutional Development Consortium Conference. conference, Resurgens produced their SAA remount
This summer she will be on a panel at the British of John Websters The Duchess of Malfi, which
Women Writers Conference presenting her essay received exceptional reviews and broke a single-
Ann Radcliffe and the Sciences of Generation night attendance record at the Shakespeare Tavern
alongside former student Brittany Barron who Playhouse. UNG English majors and Resurgens
will be presenting the essay she wrote in Edelmans interns Nol Adams and Frankie Webster both
Gothic novel class last year, Victoria di Loredanis performed admirably in the production (as Julia and
Primal Unity in Charlotte Dacres Zofloya. Cariola, respectively).
Donna Gessell presented Garca Mrquez and the In April, Kathryn Hinds had three poems
Reclamation of Magical Thinking at the Carolina published in Violet Windows <http://tinyurl.com/
Conference on Romance Studies in Chapel Hill, l5r4hc9>. This month, Hinds will be attending the
NC (March 29-31, 2017) and Heightened Critical 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at
Thinking: Requiring a Prospectus and Annotated Western Michigan University, where she will be part
Bibliography in the Research Paper Process at the of the Medievalist Poets Reading.
USG T&L Conference.
John Ingrisanos novel, Alicia in the Ruins, won the
Jrgen E. Grandt presented April in Paris: award for best novel of 2017 from the Northeast
Transnationalism and Improvisation in Paule Georgia Writers Association.
Marshalls The Fisher King at the annual MLA
convention in Philadelphia, PA. In addition, Grandt In January, Kristin Kelly traveled to the Key West
presented Immigration Blues: Social Improvisation Literary Seminar January on a teacher scholarship.
in Steven Spielbergs The Terminal at the annual Kelly was named to the Advisory Board for the
CLA convention in Columbia, MO. A complete Talking Service national program headquartered at
the Great Books Foundation in Chicago, IL. With
her Presidential Semester Award for Fall 2017, Kelly
will finish an article on art and combat trauma and
then begin a book called Standing on the Bridge:
Civilian Witness to the Long Wars.
Anastasia Lin was the Keynote Speaker at the
Oglethorpe University 2017 Symposium of the
Liberal Arts & Sciences. Her talk focused on literary
cartography and undergraduate research. Lins
project, Mapping Los Angeles: Yamashitas Tropic
of Orange, GIS (Geographic Information System),
and Cartographic Pedagogy, was presented (in
absentia) at the MLA Convention in January. In
April, she presented Reading the Fuku as Structural
Violence in the Classroom: The Brief Wondrous Life
of Oscar Wao, Silence, and Pedagogy at Multi-
Ethnic Literature of the U.S. (MELUS) Conference
in Cambridge, MA.
Matt McEvers short story, Starlight Drive,
appeared in Great Jones Street in April.
Complete bibliographical details of 2016-17
publications and presentations will appear in the
August issue of the newsletter. Send additions and
revisions to cameron.crawford@ung.edu.
Student Achievements
The English Department had 20 majors and/
or those mentored by English faculty present at
the 22nd Annual Research Conference (ARC) in
March. Along with presentations in various panels,
two students from our department were recognized
with awards. English minor
NEWS and UPDATES
Jessica Brown won 2nd
place presentation overall
for her essay Thus in
the zenith of my lust I
reign; Rochesters Sodom as
Social and Political Satire
in Restoration England
(faculty mentor: Shannon
Gilstrap). Marcel Cantu
won 3rd place presentation
overall for A Feminist
Reading of The Brief and
Wondrous Life of Oscar
Wao (faculty mentor:
Anastasia Lin). A complete
list of presenters appears
on Digital Commons
<http://digitalcommons.
northgeorgia.edu/ Above: Ashley Brooks with an excited young reader at
ngresearchconf/>.
J.J. Harris Elementary in Athens.
Two student authors from the twentieth issue of The Council Conference (February) as well as the
Chestatee Review placed in The Southern Literary Southern Regional Honors Council conference in
Festivals Writing Contest. This includes Third Asheville, NC (March).
Place for Megan Broomes formal essay Shadowed
Three English majors completed thesis projects this
Memories, an Honorable Mention for her creative
nonfiction work The Depth of Humility, and an past semester to graduate with Honors. Sawyer
Honorable Mention for Quentin Morgans fiction Henderson, a double-major in English Education
work Home Again. In April, The Chestatee Review and Psychology, produced a library studies-oriented
published its twenty-first issue. project titled Reading the Rainbow: Availability
of Young Adult Queer Literature in Select Georgia
The Fencing Club placed second in the foil Secondary Schools (chair: Leigh Dillard). Zoe
competition at the Kennesaw Collegiate Fencing Moore completed a project titled Effects of English
Tournament. Orthography on ELL Adult Attainment of Written
Proficiency in English (chair: Donna Gessell).
Shea Barfield has been selected from a pool of Cassidy Webbers project is titled Tracing Native
national Sigma Tau Delta applicants as the Intern for American Feminism Through Myth and Poetry
Better World Books, an Alpharetta-based (chair: Anastasia Lin).
online book retailer. This summer position
will give Barfield invaluable experience Senior Capstone projects were completed by 28
in the publishing field and, regardless of students this past semester, including those in both
where she goes next, help sharpen her the Literature (6) and Writing & Publication (22)
communication and organizational skills. pathways. Capstone titles for Spring 17 graduates
are listed above. Abstracts from select projects
Castiel Dixon presented a paper titled are on display on the Digital Commons <http://
Silenced by Noise: Vonneguts Unique digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/eng_capstone/>.
Symbols of Perpetual Disruption at
the Georgia Collegiate Honors Council Complete bibliographical details of 2016-17 student
Annual Conference, held February 18, publications and presentations will appear in the
2017, in Columbus, GA (faculty mentor: August issue of the newsletter. Send additions to
Terry Easton). cameron.crawford@ung.edu.
Freshman Samantha Franklin presented
two papers composed in Matt McEvers
Fall English 1102 class--Victims of
Economic Failure: A Marxist Critique
of The Wolf of Wall Street and Quentin
Compsons Regression and Stance as an
Unreliable Narrator in That Evening
Sun--at the Georgia Collegiate Honors
5
NEWS and UPDATES
Announcements and
Summer Events
Leigh Dillard will be traveling to London
for the European Council study abroad
program in July/August. Colleague Kasee
Laster has been selected to teach in the 2018
Paris program, so if you have students who
might be interested, send them her way.
Students who have presented at a capstone,
internal conference, or external event are
encouraged to submit manuscripts to Papers
& Publications. This process often starts with
a word of encouragement from faculty, so
please review the work of your best students
from the past year and tell them to consider
revising for this purpose. Submissions are accepted
year round at <http://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.
edu/papersandpubs/> and are welcome from current
students and those who have graduated within the
past year. And if P&P isnt the right fit, encourage
them to submit elsewhere!
The English Department was awarded a $30,000
grant from Affordable Learning Georgia to develop
an open-access textbook for English 2112: World
Literature II. Anita Turlington is the project
manager, and the rest of the committee consists
of Matthew Horton, Laura Ng, Karen Dodson,
Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, and Corey
Parson.
In the fall, the First-Year Composition Program,
under the direction of Michael Rifenburg, is
hosting four workshops on antiracist writing
assessment. To structure our time together, we will
use Asao Inoues award-winning and open-access
book Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching
and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future. Be on
the lookout for dates and times.
Resurgens Theatre Company has announced its
lineup for the 2017-18 academic year. In November,
6
Volume II, Issue III UNG Department of English Newsletter designed by Leigh G. Dillard, edited by Cameron Crawford, May 2017.
book. Our structure,
made from a recycled
newspaper vendor box
donated by The Northeast
Georgian, sits outside the
Nesbitt Building and
boasts a variety of titles
for all ages. Stop by! For
more info, see <https://
littlefreelibrary.org/>.
Setting up a meeting with
a colleague on a different
campus but dont need
a full videoconference
setup? Dont forget that
the department has USB
cameras to help make
Resurgens will be producing Anonymous (and
this possible if youd like to use Skype for Business
Shakespeares?) Arden of Faversham. In April, the
or another similar platform. Contact your campus
company will stage Thomas Heywoods A Woman
department admin for more details. And if youre
Killed with Kindness. Look for more details in the
a committee chair, remember to use the online
August issue of the newsletter.
event request system at <https://calendar.ung.edu/
emswebapp/> to book your room(s).
Dacre Stoker will be the Visiting Author for Fall
2017. Mr. Stoker (pictured above: left) is the great-
In the next issue...
grandnephew of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.
Along with the usual reports on department news,
Dacre is a writer and filmmaker. He is the author
publications, presentations, and graduates, the Year-
of Dracula the Un-Dead, a sequel loosely based
in-Review issue will include committee updates.
on Brams own notes and letters, and co-editor of
Were also working on a where are they now feature
The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years.
for our graduates. Please email UNGEnglish@gmail.
The Spring 2018 Visiting Author will be Phillippe
com with news or suggestions for other items youd
Diederich, son of Bernard Diederich, who was our
like to see included.
first Visiting Author. Phillippe (pictured above:
right) is the winner of the 2017 PEN/Phyllis Naylor
Working Writer Fellowship and author of Sofrito and
Playing for the Devils Fire. Our Resident Author for
the fall will be Kathryn Hinds. She has published
a novel, The Healers Choice, as well as a collection
of poetry, Candle, Thread, and Flute. She has also
published a number of short stories, poems, and
over four dozen non-fiction historical/cultural books
for young readers. In the spring, John Ingrisano,
author of Alicia in the Ruins : A Story of Survival and
Captain Jollys Do Over, will be Resident Author. Stay
tuned for more details.
As noted on the Sigma Tau Delta
recap, the Gainesville chapter
cut the ribbon on UNGs first
Little Free Library in April. For
those unfamiliar with the Little
Free Library program, these
tiny, freestanding structures are
Amber Beauchamp and Kory Laird
meant to encourage enthusiasm
pose with the Little Free Library.
for reading and the open
sharing of books under the
mantra Take a book. Leave a
News not included? Email details to UNGEnglish@gmail.com for the next newsletter,
due out in August 2017. And dont forget to follow the department calendar at sites.
google.com/site/ungenglish