Welcome to the blog for the Villanova English department! Visit often for updates on department events, guest speakers, faculty and student accomplishments, and reviews and musings from professors and undergraduates alike.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Mary Grace Mangano's poem "Daybreaking"

Mary Grace Mangano, a junior English and Honors major with an Italian minor and Writing and Rhetoric concentration, has published her poem "Daybreaking" in the February 2013 issue of The DuBois Review.  Click here to see the poem and more of the magazine.  "Daybreaking" is Mary Grace's first published work;  it was originally written for Prof. Joseph Lennon's "Writing of Poetry" class last semester.

Daybreaking

wrapped up in the morning,
as daybreak blooms,
light slowly storming
through the pores of my room.

blessed luminosity hangs in space
in the quiet yawn of sunrise
the golden shafts lace
soundlessly before my eyes.

I tiptoe then pause,
buoyant, warm, and filled
with the gilded glowing gauze,
of the tender, peaceful lilt.

clear dawn grows,
undisturbed space so fair,
warm and hopeful rows
of hushed, humming air.

I watch the dust motes
meet the floating golden gleams
of falling beams that canter
through the window screen.

stretch to savor this flash –
extend time before it turns to ash.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Jane Austen Tea Party

Over fifty guests attended the department's Jane Austen Tea Party on Wed., Feb. 13.  Organized by Prof. Joe Drury and a band of student volunteers, the party celebrated the 200th anniversary of the publication of Austen's Pride and Prejudice and featured dramatic readings of scenes from the novel, Pride and Prejudice Bingo (renamed "Bingley" in honor of one of the book's characters), and a round of Quizzo devoted to questions about the novel.  Winners of the games received lavish prizes, and everyone marveled at and enjoyed the book-shaped Pride and Prejudice cake.

A special cake for the party.
A dramatic reading of a scene from the novel.
Bingley!
Quizzo winners Kenyn Cheatham and Sabrina Bernadel with prizes and cake.

Marketing Internship

If you live in the vicinity of Salem, Massachusetts, you may be interested in this marketing internship.  Despite the focus on marketing in the description, the company told us that it is indeed interested in English majors, since it’s looking for students with excellent writing skills.




BRIDGE Society's Nonprofit Mentoring & Networking Event

You are invited to the A&S BRIDGE Society's Nonprofit Mentoring & Networking Event  on Thursday, February 21, from 6:00--8:00 pm in Dougherty Hall West Lounge.

Alumni and professionals from 18 nonprofits will be visiting that night to mentor and talk to students. It's an exciting opportunity to learn more about mission-driven nonprofit work.

Registration is required;  click here to register.  Professional dress is also required for the event.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

2013 Kalas Award Applications

The Philadelphia Broadcasters Foundation is pleased to announce that the application period for the 2013 Kalas Award is now open.

The Kalas Award is given annually to a deserving college student(s) who has a stated desire and has shown initiative towards a career in sports broadcasting. The award was created in 2009 to honor the life and work of the late Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas.

To be eligible for the award, students must have completed their sophomore year of post-secondary education at one of the eligible colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region. Current sophomores who will complete the coursework at the conclusion of the spring 2013 semester will also be eligible for the award.

The Philadelphia Broadcasters Foundation will award a minimum of one scholarship grant of $1,500, payable for the 2013 fall semester.  Additional scholarships may be granted at the discretion of the Foundation.

Application submissions are due no later than April 30, 2013.  Applications are available here.





Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Prof. Hugh Ormsby-Lennon's Hey Presto!

Congratulations to Hugh Ormsby-Lennon, associate professor of English at Villanova, whose book Hey Presto!: Swift and the Quacks has been selected by Choice magazine as a 2012 Outstanding Academic Title in the “Humanities, English and American” category.  Its selection of Hey Presto! comes as no surprise as, in its May 2012 issue, Choice ranked the book as “Highly Recommended.” Its review said, “the book's sheer contextualizing detail makes it an invaluable, sustaining resource for future Swift scholarship.”

Prof. Ormsby-Lennon has published widely in the field of 18th-century studies.  Hey Presto! reveals how writer Jonathan Swift’s imagination was galvanized by ancient and modern medicine shows. In early modern medicine shows, quack doctors sold their fake treatments with charismatic presentations involving troupes of performers. Ormsby-Lennon explores how these spectacles inspired Swift’s wittiest satiric voices, especially in his A Tale of a Tub.

Prof. Ormsby-Lennon in Florence


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Feb. 13. Jane Austen Tea Party


Eve M. Troutt Powell event


Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellows (VURF) Program

VURF Call for Proposals, 2013-2014
The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships in the Office of Research and Graduate Programs, the College of Engineering, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have announced the ninth annual Call for Proposals for the Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellows (VURF) Program. Undergraduates from all of the Colleges may apply for funding to undertake a scholarly research project with a Faculty Sponsor.

Research projects will be conducted during the summer, and students funded by the program will receive a stipend of $3,500 for their summer projects.   On-campus housing accommodations for the summer are available for students whose research requires ready access to campus resources. Students must complete the application for summer housing (available shortly) in order to be considered for these accommodations.

The VURF Program also will provide up to $1500 of funding for summer research - for equipment, supplies, travel and other expenses related to conducting research. A limited number of travel grants up to $500 are available on a first-come basis for students to present their research at undergraduate or professional research conference.  Applicants for travel grants – as well as their research mentors - must submit the Research Conference Travel Request Forms on the CURF website.

Details of the VURF application process can be found here.

The application deadline is March 11, 2013. Award decisions will be made in late March.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

James Joyce Birthday Celebration


New article from Prof. James Kirschke

In conjunction with co-author, Scott D. Grapin, Prof. James J. Kirschke has published the article "From Colonist to Revolutionary: John Adams (1735-1826)" in 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era (vol. 19.  2012.  AMS Press, Inc.:  pp. 187-200).

This article takes a textual, historical and biographical approach to examining the voluminous published writings and extensive correspondence of John Adams, so as to indicate the torturous path that the statesman and author took to an eventual stance of independence from Great Britain.

Prof. James Kirschke at last fall's reception.

MSB at Notre Dame

The Master of Science in Business (MSB) has been designed specifically for students who have earned an undergraduate degree in a non-business area.    It is an 11-month program that will bridge each student’s passion with fundamental business skills.  The unique aspect of this graduate degree is that the ideal applicant will have little to no work experience and can apply in his or her final year of undergraduate studies.  For more information about the program, click here.


Commonweal Internship Program

Each semester, as well as during the summer, Commonweal magazine offers internships to one or two promising young Catholic writers, journalists, theologians and critics. We are currently welcoming applications for the summer of 2013.

Interns participate in the day-to-day work of the magazine and assist editors with proofreading, manuscript review, editorial administration, and other projects; they may also have the opportunity to contribute writing to the Commonweal website.


Work schedules can be arranged to accommodate ongoing school commitments, although we are hoping that an intern can make a commitment to be in our office at least two days each week. For outstanding candidates, internships can extend through more than one semester. Modest stipends are offered to help defray living expenses, although we cannot provide housing. Commonweal's office is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan near Columbia University.

The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline, as well as those who have completed degrees in the past two years. We are looking for applicants who can demonstrate active engagement with the intellectual life of the Catholic Church and a commitment to journalism and writing.

Applicants should send a cover letter describing their interest, their religious background, and their familiarity with Commonweal, and should detail their academic and writing qualifications (including writing samples if relevant). Applications and questions should be sent to interns@commonwealmagazine.org.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Judy Olsen Retirement Party

Judy Olsen has decided to retire after 25 years as a reference librarian at Falvey.  A party was held in her honor on Jan. 31.  Judy has been our library liaison and has many close friends in the department.  The department has appreciated her incredible helpfulness and generosity over the years and wishes her a profoundly happy retirement.

Judy Olsen and Evan Radcliffe at the retirement party.
The cake!