Thursday's Notes

1. Announcements:

• The fall meeting for the CSU English Council is scheduled for October 26-28 at the Dana Resort Hotel in San Diego. Participants must make hotel reservations by October 5.
• The CSUN Faculty Retreat 2006, “Creating a Collegial Community: Survival, Support, Scholarship, Social Relationships and Success,” will be held on January 23 and 24, 2006 at the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard. Faculty are invited to submit proposals for oral presentations and poster presentations that focus on strategies that promote this theme. Proposals are due on Friday, October 28, 2005 and can be e-mailed to Heidi Wolfbauer (heidiw@csun.edu) or mailed to the Faculty Senate Office (MC: 8221). For a hard copy of the proposal form, please call Heidi at x3263.

2. Reminders:

• The deadline for Academic Programming Support proposals is September 23, 2005.Please submit your proposals to the College of Humanities, SH 461.
• Sabbatical applications for 2006-2007 are due to the Chair by Friday, September 30, 2005. Application forms are available in Martha Alzamora's office.
• Please submit all requests for travel support to Kavi Bowerman by Monday, October 3, noon. The Chair needs to sign the paperwork before sending the requests forward to the Dean’s Office.
• Please announce to students that the Northridge Review is accepting drama, fiction, poetry, and art for its next issue. The deadline for submission is October 3. Please submit work to ST 706 or mail it to NR, CSUN, English Department, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330.
• The department is cordially invited to attend the Awards Ceremony for New Voices and WINGS on Friday, October 7, 3-5 p.m., in the Grand Salon in the USU. This gala celebration will honor Developmental and Freshman student writers for their work in several genres. Refreshments will be served.
• Application materials for the 2005-2006 Distinguished Visiting Speakers Program are due on October 6, 2005. If you have questions, please contact Hedy Carpenter at x2138. Applications are available on the website http://www.csun.edu/graduatestudies/.
• The College of Humanities Faculty Fellows Program plans to award five course reassignment fellowships for spring 2006 to tenure-track faculty who provide exceptional proposals and are recommended to the Dean by a faculty committee, chaired by the Associate Dean. No one receiving other university-assigned reassigned time in spring 2006 may receive a Faculty Fellowship. The Dean will be responsible for final selection and approval. Applications for the 2006 Faculty Fellows Program are due in the Dean’s office no later than Friday, October 7.
• The Office of Graduate Studies has received funds to support costs incurred by classified graduate students working on theses, projects, or artistic performances in the 2005-2006 academic year. Awards up to $1,000 may be provided to selected students, based on review of an application that outlines the project and the anticipated costs. Deadline for submissions is October 3, 2005.

3. Faculty/Student Achievements:

• Charles Hatfield’s just-published Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature (UP of Mississippi) is featured in the September 2 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education as part of their roundup of new scholarly books. In addition, Charles’s essay, “Comic Art and Fragmentation in Aliki’s How a Book is Made,” appears in the latest issue (30.1) of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. Finally, Charles’s feature-length interview with graphic novelist Craig Thompson is the centerpiece of the recently-released Comics Journal No. 268 (June/July 2005).
• Brian Leung's short story collection, World Famous Love Acts, has received the 2005 Asian American Literary Award in fiction. His short story, "Shuhua's Suite," appears online at Blithe House Quarterly (http://www.blithe.com/).
• Eve Caram has published her fourth novel, The Blue Geography. She will be reading and signing her novel at Dutton's Brentwood Books, 11975 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, 7 p.m., Wednesday, September 28, telephone # 310-476-6263.
• Leilani Hall presented her paper "Race-ing Memory, Minding Space in Toni Morrison's Beloved" at the Toni Morrison Society Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, in July. She will be reading her work as well as other selections from In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare at the West Hollywood Bookfair, October 2.
• On September 13th, Irene Clark participated in a panel, entitled "The Path to Literacy: Language Issues" at the English Language Development conference sponsored by Teachers for a New Era. Fred Field organized this panel, and Sharon Klein was a facilitator.
• Joseph Thomas was a guest scholar at Simmons College's Biennial Summer Institute, this year called "Let's Dance." While there, he held two one hour Professional Connections Sessions, his called "Dancing with Different Partners: Exploring Multiple Poetries." At the institute he also, along with Kelly Hager and Richard Flynn, presented to Marilyn Nelson the Lion and Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry, for which he was a judge.
• Robert Louis Chianese was elected to the Executive Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science-Pacific Division, the only Humanist on the Committee. He is chair of the General and Interdisciplinary Section of the annual conference, assembling panelists to present papers on humanities-science connections.

4. New Items in the Thursday’s Notes file (ST 708) or on Bulletin Board (Outside 710)

Conferences and Calls for Papers

• The Center for Southern California Studies is sponsoring the 17 th Annual Envisioning California Conference, from September 22-23, at the Warner Center Marriott in the Woodland Hills Section of the City of Los Angeles. Keynote speakers include Fabian Nunez, Speaker of the California State Assembly, Patt Morrison, author and columnist with the Los Angeles Times, and former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. The $75 registration fee includes reception, meals, keynotes, and panels. To register, please call 818-677-2504.

Competitions and Fellowships

• The Boston Review is calling for submissions for their Thirteenth Annual Short Story Contest. The winning author will receive $1000 and have his or her work published in the April/May 2006 issue of Boston Review. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2005. A $20 processing fee must accompany each story entered. Send entries to Short Story Contest, Boston Review, E53-407 MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139. For further information, visit http://bostonreview.net.
• The 2006-2007 Rockefeller Foundation Resident Fellowships in the Humanities are now available from chosen host institutions. For more information, please visit the Rockefeller Foundation web site at http://www.rockfound.org.

Lectures and Other Events

• Next Monday night, September 26, Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" will be presented at 7:00 p.m. in the Armer Theater (Manzanita Hall 100). Vincent Coppola will be the guest lecturer and discussion leader. Professor Coppola teaches comparative religions, ethics and film studies in the Departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He was one of the writers of "The Conversation," and took part in its production.
• CFA is sponsoring a Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Workshop on Wednesday, October 5 th and Thursday, October 6 th, from 2:00-3:30 p.m., in the Business Building 4117. For more information, contact the CFA office at ext. 5919.
• Eve Caram will be reading and signing her fourth novel, The Blue Geography, at Dutton's Brentwood Books, 11975 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, 7 p.m., Wednesday, September 28, telephone # 310-476-6263.

Compiled by Sandra Stanley, Associate Chair