Tues, Nov. 12: Black Boys, Dolls, and Textual Histories: Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s “His Heart’s Desire” (1900)

Coming up on Tuesday, November 12th...

This virtual forum features Jean Lutes, Denise Burgher, Trinity Rogers, and Brigitte Fielder of Taught by Literature, a collaborative digital humanities project that re-centers Black women writers, beginning with the work of African American author and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson. The speakers will use Dunbar-Nelson’s short story, “His Heart’s Desire” (1900) to explore the challenges scholars face in recovering little-known African American texts when confronted by multiple textual variants, manuscripts without dates, and a readership unfamiliar with an author’s work.  A remarkable short story about a boy who wants a doll, “His Heart’s Desire” is one of twelve short stories Dunbar-Nelson wrote in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries about children living in a poor urban neighborhood. The stories were inspired by her work teaching Black kindergarteners at the White Rose Mission in New York City.  

Lutes, Burgher, Rogers, and Fielder will discuss Taught by Literature’s comprehensive digital resource for educators based on two different versions of Dunbar-Nelson’s story──the original written during the 1890s and published in a 1900 newspaper and a revision published at a later date──as well as its significance for the histories of boyhood, race, and material culture.

You can learn more and register for this virtual event here.

Ghostly Matters in the News

Professor Mary Mullen's Ghostly Matters class was recently featured on Villanova University's spotlight and on NBC 10. 

Photos from the Pre-registration Reception!

WXVU’s David Szczepanski Transports Listeners to the Action

WXVU’s listeners instantly recognize the voice. David Szczepanski’s signature energy and expertise transport his audience from their cars or residence halls to the excitement on the field or court. You feel like you are there, part of the action, even if you couldn’t make it to the game.

Villanova junior and WXVU Sports Director David
Szczepanski visited Journals 2023 on Thursday, October 10
andshared his experiences as a student journalist

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, Szczepanski shared that infectious energy, reliable expertise, and journalism experiences at Villanova with students in Journalism 2023, a Fall 2024 course that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 2:15 PM in Tolentine 405. 

A junior Communication major from the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, Szczepanski serves as the Sports Director, Villanova Basketball/Football broadcaster, and Founder/Host of “Villanova Sports Talk” on WXVU 89.1 FM, Villanova’s student-run radio station, located on the second floor of Dougherty Hall.

Szczepanski’s deep commitment to his craft extends beyond WXVU’s airwaves. A self-proclaimed lover of talking, he serves as a Villanova Sports Network Broadcast Spotter and a Premium Services Host with the Philadelphia Phillies. He also founded the television station – HGPTV – at his high school, Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem, Pa. 

 “Going to games and covering sports,” Szczepanski asked, “could there be a better job?” Szczepanski loves traveling and exploring different cities, and his WXVU position allows him to scratch that itch. He travels extensively with teams to cover games, bringing that action to our earbuds. Most recently, Szczepanski has reported from Madison Square Garden in NYC and Stony Brook on Long Island.  

Whether he’s reporting from the sidelines, pre- or post-game, or providing play-by-play coverage – standing throughout the game – Szczepanski strives to truthfully represent what he’s seeing and hearing so that his listeners remain informed. Context is key, Szczepanski said. Reporting information accurately and positioning it in its proper context helps journalists build trust with their audience and sources. 

In addition, preparing for interviews in advance and asking smart questions helps student journalists develop their interviewing skills as they build rapport with sources.

 “Instead of saying, ‘The offense was terrible. What happened,?’ say, ‘Coach, the defense played extraordinarily well tonight, but what happened with the offense? What didn’t work tonight?’” Questions framed more positively generally solicit greater and more nuanced responses and exchanges, allowing a journalist to go deeper, Szczepanski said.

Coming in with a playful, unique question – not a gotcha question but an unexpected and fun question – often relaxes the person you’re interviewing. For example, Szczepanski’s go-to question – What’s your favorite cheesesteak in Philly? – disarms his subjects. They might even smile as they share their answer. 

For the record, Kyle Neptune, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Villanova, doesn’t have a favorite cheesesteak spot, favoring an arguably healthier clean and grass-fed diet, because that is what the players eat, especially during the season, as revealed during a sit-down interview with Szczepanski. Completely fine – more Cheez Whiz for the rest of us.  

It’s important to remember that relationships between journalists and their sources are professional relationships, not personal ones. One of the many journalist responsibilities to their audiences is to ask tough, challenging questions to get to journalistic truth, and to be critical when appropriate. This gets complicated when the reporter and their sources are personally close. 

Public Relations and Journalism are distinct, Szczepanski said. “It seems like the two are confused or conflated at times. Public Relations is concerned with promoting an individual or an organization, and with communicating certain messages that make an individual or organization look good,” Szczepanski reminded us. “Journalism looks for the real story and the facts.” 

Active on social media, Szczepanski strives to share his reporting with a wider and wider audience in ways that they access information. Follow him here. And here. He’s also creating more and more videos, setting up his iPhone on an inexpensive tripod and reporting in video formats. Szczepanski, a one-person reporting/recording machine, seeks to develop his video production skills as he reaches broader audiences through this media. He’s doing it all, from producing the content to adjusting the lighting. 

According to its Web site, WXVU went on the air in 1991 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an educational license to Villanova University. On August 24, 2022, WXVU began full-time FM operations for the first time in its history. WXVU now broadcasts on the 89.1 FM frequency 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Tune in and you’ll hear student DJs hosting music programs featuring multiple genres, from rock and pop to jazz, alternative, and country. On Fridays at 9 AM during the semester, you’ll hear “The Morning Roar,” the first morning show in the history of WXVU. Student hosts bring listeners the latest news, weather and sports, along with conversations with Villanova community members and newsmakers. 

You can listen on 89.1 FM, on the WXVU Web site, on the RadioFX app, or on-demand via the station’s podcast feed and YouTube channel.

Opportunities for Villanova students to get involved with media organizations on campus abound. VTV, the Villanovan, WXVU, Tech Crew, and the Belle Air Yearbook always need dedicated, reliable, and interested students who seek to inform our community as they strengthen their reporting, interviewing, writing, editing, and other journalistic skills. Contact these groups to learn more. 

--
Kate Szumanski, ’95, ’97, teaches Journalism 2023 through the English Department at Villanova University. She also serves as the Director of Professional Development and Internships in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova. Kate wrote this blog post with support from the great David Szczepanski, ’26.

Dark Academia Game Night: Friday, October 25

The English Department Student Advisory Council is hosting a Dark Academia Game Night on Friday, October 25 from 7:00-9:00 pm in Bartley 2001. Come enjoy fun games and snacks! Open to all interested and declared English majors, minors, and friends.  

English Department Pre-Registration Reception

Join the English department for the Pre-Registration Reception, which will take place on Friday, October 25^th from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., in the SAC East Courtyard. This will be a chance to join faculty and fellow students as we discuss our very cool line-up of Spring 2025 courses over lunch. There will be a raffle of books and Villanova English swag; students will talk about their recent internships; and there will be a fun craft project for those of you who are so-inclined. This is an ACS-approved cultural event, and all are welcome! 

Please RSVP to Amanda Eliades by writing to her at amanda.eliades@villanova.edu 

English Major Will Corliss: From Legal Writing to Legal Internships to Law School Applications

Will Corliss '25

"If I had to only pick one major to go to law school, it would be the English major."

When senior English major Will Corliss signed up for Professor Karen Graziano’s Legal Writing and Analysis course last spring, he probably wasn’t expecting to then find himself sitting in a courtroom, observing a real trial, that coming summer—but that’s exactly what happened. Will, who is currently applying to law schools for fall 2025, sat down with the Nova English blog to discuss his journey from a prospective bio major to a pre-law, psych and English double major—and how his journey with English contributed to his professional development. 

In the spring of his junior year, Will took two undergraduate law-focused classes with Professor Graziano: Law and Modern Literature, and Legal Writing and Analysis. 

According to Will, In Law and Modern Literature, “We were reading some classic texts and some modern texts. We started out with an autobiography called One L, which described a Harvard student’s experience in their first year of law school, and it’s a very good teaching point for pre-law students because you really get to learn about law school culture, about how it actually operates, and how it differs from college and any other educational setting you’ve ever been in.” The readings in the class not only touch on law in society, but also prepare students for the lived experience of integrating into the law profession. 

But Law and Modern Literature is first and foremost a literature class, one with a focus on the role of law in society, culture, and the life of the individual as seen through the texts: “Other texts weave in how we see law in society. There was the classic Kafka novel The Trial, the famous play Twelve Angry Men… race and gender in law, and how that plays a role.” The class draws on a diverse cross-section of Villanova students: “The class is not exclusive to just English and pre-law students. I was classmates with pre-med students, pre-dental students, engineers, and tech majors.” 

Legal Writing and Analysis is a different kind of course, one more focused on developing and applying the unique skills involved in legal writing and research. “In our academic setting,” notes Will, “we’re writing essays and arguing of course, but with legal writing it’s a very different style. It’s a different mentality, and a different way of gathering and using information.” 

The class is primarily structured around a large, final project. “You create your own journal article,” says Will, “a legal journal article like one would see in a law review. We spent the bulk of the semester working on it, from the most basic elements, navigating Nexis Uni, which is a legal database for undergraduates. At the course’s end you submit your final, which is a polished version of this journal article, with the very first attempts at legal reasoning and Blue Book citations.” 

Students are given a great deal of autonomy in choosing research subjects. “A lot of people would choose topics on the emergence of AI... a few people did education with book banning and censorship, affirmative action in the admissions process,” notes Will. “I chose the growing concerns and issues with artificial turf in the NFL. There has been lots of scrutiny in the past few years concerning non-contact-related injuries outside the nature of play. Even recently, the Eagles game against the Packers in São Paolo, Brazil, was under scrutiny—they played on a patchy field that many players slipped on. This made waves within the players’ union, the NFLPA. What I wanted to do was advocate for all teams across the league to use natural grass over artificial turf. I examined the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and talked about some provisions in there—some alterations that could be made, some possible solutions.” 

As part of the research for his paper, Will conducted two interviews with working lawyers: “I spoke with a lawyer named Brian J. Duff, name partner of a law firm based in Tom’s River and Hamilton, New Jersey. I had never met him; I didn’t know him before I read his journal article from 30 years ago talking about this issue. I reached out to him and talked to him for about an hour about this issue. It helped big time, not only with my paper, but also it turned into a networking and professional development opportunity. 

“Over the summer, I was able to go to one of his local offices a few times, and most significantly observe him in a trial he was doing. It was a great and exciting experience for me to have, and I’m so glad that that was able to come about all due to a legal writing project.” 

Professor Graziano emphasized the importance of Will’s professionalism and writing skills in being offered the internship opportunity. "After Will shared his final legal journal article with a lawyer he interviewed in the research process, I received an email from the lawyer with a glowing review stating how professional Will was and how outstanding his legal writing was as well. As a result of his professionalism and legal writing skills, Will was offered a professional development opportunity with the lawyer's office.” 

As Professor Graziano notes, in praising Will’s initiative, "I have only received an email from an attorney who was interviewed for the course on a few occasions, and while over the years several of my legal writing students have created opportunities like Will's at law firms, it's always notable. It’s rare for undergraduates students to be offered an opportunity at a law firm based on their legal research and writing skills." 

Will’s second interview for his paper was with a well-known Villanova professor. “I got to go over to the Villanova Law School and talk to the head of the Sports Law department, Professor Andrew Brandt. He was also formerly the Vice President for the Green Bay Packers. He brought a wealth of knowledge. He had some really great things to say about the issue and the Collective Bargaining Agreement, very different too. Speaking to somebody with an NFL background like that provided a lot of help with thinking of solutions.” 

As Will describes it, “It was very cool even to get in that room and talk. That doesn’t happen without that project, the motivation, and the investigatory work that’s involved in it. It was a very formative experience in my academic journey here at Villanova.” 

In summary, Will has found the English major to be largely beneficial in his path as a pre-law student. Initially, Will majored in Biology, but ultimately changed course. “I talked to a family friend who’s a lawyer. He had always said, ‘Major in the sciences and minor in English, because law school is so much reading and writing. If you can learn to read and write like that, at high volumes like that, you’ll be very well prepared as an undergraduate for law school.’ So I took that into consideration and thought, hold on, why not major in this instead? And also, in high school, I took AP Lit, I took AP Lang, and I liked them a lot. So it all made sense.” 

Will found that the English major dovetailed perfectly with his professional and educational ambitions, from the aforementioned legal internship to valuable experience tutoring at the Writing Center. “I have accomplished much more in my pre-law journey as an English major,” says Will. “Formally, on my transcript, it will say that my primary major is Psychology and my second major is English, but anybody that’s heard me talk about my academic experience would definitely agree that it’s really the other way around. And it’s not a knock on the Psychology major at all, but I’ve always felt more that English was really my primary major. If I had to only pick one major to go to law school, it would be the English major. That’s because the skills are so liquid. Every essay is an argument. You’re crafting arguments and evidence through the texts. You’re reading a lot. You’re writing a lot. You’re becoming a better orator in class discussion. You are constantly sharpening the crucial skills for law school.” 

Having gone through his academic and pre-professional experiences over the spring and the summer, Will is now focused on finishing out his senior year and applying to law school. “I spent the summer studying, crafting my personal statement, collecting input and feedback for my resume,” he notes. “As I continue the application process, I’ve always had the mentality of best fit over best school. It reminds me of my senior year of high school again. This whole way, I am just trying to remember that this is a privilege and a blessing to get to this point in the game. It’s not a bad thing—it might be daunting, but it’s not bad at all. It’s quite the opposite. And I am very grateful for the faculty of Villanova’s English department to allow me to tap into my potential.”