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.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The 2013 Nation Student Writing Contest

Eight years ago, The Nation launched an annual Student Writing Contest to identify, support and reward some of the numerous smart, progressive student journalists writing, reporting and blogging today.

This year, the magazine is looking for original, thoughtful student voices to answer this question in 800 words: It's clear that the political system in the US isn't working for many. If you had to pick one root cause underlying our broken politics, what would it be and why?

The Nation will select ten finalists and two winners total. Each winner will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and a lifetime Nation subscription. The five finalists will be awarded $200 each and subscriptions. Entries will be accepted through Saturday, June 30, 2013.

The contest is open to all matriculating high school students and undergraduates at US schools, colleges and universities as well as those receiving high school or college degrees in 2013. Submissions and questions can be e-mailed to studentprize@thenation.com.


Sunday, May 26, 2013

Adventure Awaits

Graduating senior English major Kathryn DiNardo articulates her sense of life after Villanova:  Adventure Awaits!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

News from Prof. Jim Murphy

From "retired" Villanova English professor Jim Murphy:
In 2010 I retired as Director of the Irish Studies Program  but “retired” hasn’t meant going away. I helped start the Irish Studies Program way back in 1979, so Irish Studies is “close to the bone,” as they might say in Ireland, and there’s no way I could easily just say good-bye. Thankfully, the Irish Studies Program has welcomed me to teach a course in each of the past two years. It’s been great for me to keep in touch not just with  students who keep me young and alive, but with the writers who have brought such richness to my life. What a great gift such Irish voices have been for me for so long. Any time in the classroom with these writers is great fun. Hard to give it up.
 
How could I not keep listening when Yeats sings,
    “Come away , Oh human child!
      To the waters and the wild
      With a faery, hand in hand
      For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand”
 
And, then there’s James Joyce who keeps challenging me and my students to take chances in his great closing of A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man: “Welcome, O Life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”
 
I have a special fondness for Seamus Heaney, like me, the first from a long line of Irish farmstock to go on to the heady world of a university and to study the great writers. Like Heaney,
   “Between my finger and my thumb
     The squat pen rests,
     I’ll dig with it.”
 
Now that I have more time in retirement, I’ve been doing my own “digging,” trying to get more into some memoir work that’s been itching in the back of my mind for a long time. In 2008, I had some success when “Finding Home” was published in the US and in Ireland. I had previously recorded the same story in Ireland for “Echo,” an audio magazine for the blind. Now it’s been published again in a new book, Extended Family: Essays on Being Irish American (Dufour Editions). It seems a story that has struck a chord with many readers.


For the past three years I have also enjoyed reading as part of “An Irish Christmas” at the Irish Arts Center in NYC. The reading recalls shopping for a Christmas tree long ago in the Irish-American Brooklyn of my youth. That world has been the main focus of my recent efforts. I’ve been exploring the dual cultural identity that is a part of the emigrant/immigrant equation. Given the importance of immigration in today’s political discourse, I hope my writing about Irish-America will resonate with others in the diverse cultural landscape that is at the heart of the American experience.


I hope to keep involved with the Irish Studies Program as it grows with such exciting initiatives as courses in the Irish Language and the new link with the world famous Abbey Theatre, the National Theater of Ireland. Irish Studies is a happenin’ place and I’m glad to keep my connection as it goes forward in these new directions.



Thursday, May 9, 2013

Job Opportunity with KYW Radio

Are you looking for a challenging opportunity promoting a leading news radio station through traditional, digital and interactive marketing communications tactics? This position could be for you!  KYW Newsradio 1060 is looking for a motivated, organized, self-starter to become the Promotions Coordinator. You will assist with all aspects of KYW Newsradio 1060's Traditional, Digital & Interactive Communications efforts, focusing on marketing and promotions for audience and sales development.

Skills/Experience:
KYW-AM has a unique opportunity for the right candidate looking to gain invaluable marketing and communications experience. You will manage the station’s promotions, create e-newsletters, and administer prize and prize winner databases and files. Job incorporates some production, including directing the station’s Kidcasting program, managing PSA’s, creating promos for air. Position includes light administrative duties and some nights & weekend events. Must have excellent writing, interpersonal and organizational skills.  Working knowledge of social/new media, print and digital production necessary.  Experience in HTML, Flash, Java, and Graphic Design is a plus.  Familiarity with various CMS, Photoshop and Illustrator is encouraged.  Excellent time management, communication, and prioritization skills are vital. College degree and a minimum of one year of experience in a marketing and communications/news environment preferred.

Responsibilities:
The right candidate will be able to manage multiple projects spanning the Promotions, Programming, and Sales departments and work with our webmasters to deliver our audiences excitement in the online space. Responsible for developing/executing stations daily activities. Primary duties and responsibilities include:  administration of all department paperwork inclusive of contest rules, contracts, purchase orders, invoices; help build and create sales packages for sales staff for major event sale; assist with the completion of proposals; assist with scheduling of event staff.

All interested candidates MUST apply to www.cbsradio.com. NO PHONE CALLS. CBS Radio/KYW-AM is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.


Teaching Award for Thomas Emerson ('06)

Thomas Emerson, an English and Honors major from the class of 2006 (he won the English department's Medallion of Excellence), is one of the Philadelphia high school teachers who has been chosen to receive a Lindback award.  The Christian R. and Mary S. Lindback Foundation celebrates excellence in education and has been awarding the teaching prizes since 2008.  Thomas teaches at High School of the Future.

The Philly.com article on the winning teachers says of Thomas:
"Teaching AP English, social studies, and drama, Emerson truly creates real world experiences for his learners.  He authored the school’s senior project curriculum and directed four musicals and serves as department chair, continuing to work toward realizing SOF’s mission."

Philadelphia's School of the Future.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Pictures from the 2013 Awards Ceremony

Prof. Crystal Lucky and Shannon Welch, winner of the Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Award for the most distinguished undergraduate essay written in a Villanova English course.
Rebecca Hepp and Cara Saraco, co-winners of the the Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award for the most distinguished graduate essay written in a Villanova English course.


Greg Watry, 2013 Class Poet.
Alexa Pastor, winner of the 2013 English Medallion of Excellence.

Friday, May 3, 2013

NBC Internship

NBC is looking for students to participate in a paid internship this summer involving about 16 hours of work per week.  What they specifically want is students with an interest in journalism (not broadcast journalism), particularly strong writers for print/digital sources.  Students must be juniors or seniors and must go through the Internship Office for course credit if they are selected.


Candidates may complete the attached application Prof. Radcliffe recently sent in an email to all English majors and apply directly to the contact below.  You can also pick up a print application from the Career Center.

Karen Araiza
Managing Editor
NBC10.com
C: 610-420-6714
O: 610-668-3783
E: karen.araiza@nbcuni.com