Thursday's Notes

1. Announcements:

• Joseph Thomas has accepted a tenure-track position at San Diego State University beginning in Fall 2007. His appointment includes the opportunity to direct doctoral dissertations through the San Diego State-UC San Diego graduate tie-in. In making the announcement, English Department Chairman George Uba said, “Even though he'll just be down the 405 a piece, it's always sad to bid farewell to one of our colleagues. I know that all of you join me in congratulating Joseph and in wishing him the very best as he begins this new professional venture.”
• Please announce to your classes the various departmental awards for undergraduate and graduate students. You can get information on the awards in the English Department office.
• Please announce to your classes that the Northridge Review reading/celebration of the Spring 2007 issue will be at 7 p.m. March 23 in JR 319.  All are welcome.  There will be refreshments.  Please bring family and friends.

2. Reminders:

• This year’s Sigma Tau Delta and Honors English Colloquium, scheduled for March 27, will explore crises and the Modern Period. Whether they are natural disasters, political upheavals, personal or international instabilities, crises have played a key role in literature and thought since the dawn of the Modern Era. Students are invited to submit papers dealing with all genres encompassing the end of the 15th Century to the present, and those dealing with the myriad ramifications of the term “crisis” and its effect on literature and society. Five-hundred word abstracts are due in the English Department office by March 7. Do not include name or identifying information on the header or body of the abstract.
• The Associated Graduate Students in English (AGSE) at CSUN will hold its annual graduate student conference on April 28, 2007.  This year's conference title is "Red Light Literature: Confronting Taboos.”  Students are invited to submit paper proposals that explore the theme of taboos and their incarnations and transformations including, but not limited to: dissections, deconstructions, blurrings, violations, regulations, disruptions, and/or transgressions. For more information visit http://www.csun.edu/~agse/.
• The university is seeking nominations for four Outstanding Graduating Senior Awards ($1,000 each). Students will be selected for the award based on academic excellence, campus and community service, and exceptional achievements or personal life circumstances that have been overcome. The application deadline is March 29. Nomination forms are available in the main English Department office or online at http://www.csun.edu/studentaffairs/students/.
• The English Department Alumni Newsletter is now available online at http://www.csun.edu/english/newsletters/newsletter.html. The newsletter, along with archives of past newsletters, can be accessed by clicking the alumni newsletter link, which has been added to the English Department home page.
• Thursday’s Notes is also published weekly on our department webpage. Please submit items for upcoming Thursday’s Notes to Scott Andrews, the Associate Chair, or to the Thursday’s Notes folder in Martha Alzamora’s office.

3. Faculty/Student/Staff Achievements:

• Scott Andrews chaired a panel on American Indians and popular culture at the Native American Literature Symposium in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., on March 8-10. As part of the panel he presented a paper on a Southern California performance and installation artist: “James Luna: He Put the Man in Manifest Destiny.”
• Ranita Chatterjee's article "Filial Ties: Godwin's Deloraine and Mary Shelley's writings" appears in the current volume of European Romantic Review (Vol. 18, No. 1, Jan. 2007).  Her article examines the crucial significance of William Godwin's last novel for our understanding of Mary Shelley's novels and short tales.
• Lisa Riccomini has been appointed to the Enrollment Retention Subcommittee of the CSUN Enrollment Management Committee.

4. New Items in the Thursday’s Notes file (ST708) or on Bulletin Board (Outside 710)

Lectures and Other Events

• The Native Voices series at the Autry-Museum of American West is offering free tickets to California State University faculty members for the current production of The Berlin Blues by Drew Hayden Taylor. The comedy concerns efforts by German investors to build a theme park on a small reservation in Canada and a trickster-like resident who is ready to “help” them and win back the love of his sweetheart. The free tickets will be made available at 7:55 p.m. for the 8 p.m. performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The play runs through March 25 (though the March 24 performance is sold out). For more information, visit http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/nv_events.php.
• “Strategies for Successful Publishing” will be presented by James David Ballard of Sociology and Carrie Rothstein-Fisch of Psychology & Counseling at noon on March 19 in the Whitsett Room of Sierra Hall. The presentation is sponsored by Faculty Development. For reservations, contact Kelly Kroeker at kelly.kroeker@csun.edu.
• The annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship hosted by the College of Humanities is scheduled for 3-4:30 p.m. May 15 of the Whitsett Room of Sierra Hall. If you would like your own efforts to be included in the event, send the Dean’s Office information about your publications or performances from the past year. Forthcoming publications and works will not be included in the celebration. For more information, send e-mail to tina.lee.anne.chewning@csun.edu.

Compiled by Scott Andrews, Associate Chair

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