Thursday's Notes

1. Announcements:

• Donald Hall, former English Department chair and now a professor at West Virginia University, will be the keynote speaker for the Sigma Tau Delta and Honors English Colloquium on March 27. His presentation is titled "The Hermeneutics of Travel: James Baldwin's Loveless American in Paris" and he will be speaking at 2 p.m. in the Thousand Oaks Room of the University Student Union, after the complimentary luncheon, which will start at about 12:30 p.m. The colloquium will feature two periods of student presentations, 10-11:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the Reseda and Balboa meetings rooms. Faculty and students are encouraged to attend any of the events.
• Applications for two $1,000 awards for graduate students are due March 29. The Association of Retired Faculty Memorial Award will be given to three graduate students for "excellent scholarship and creative activity" to support ongoing projects that are part of a master's degree. The Nathan O. Freedman Memorial Award will go to an outstanding graduate student with a minimum GPA of 3.5 and who has made "a significant contribution" to his/her field of study. For more information on these awards, visit http://www.csun.edu/graduatestudies/.
• CSUN is updating its Experts Directory. Faculty members wishing to revise their entry or have themselves included in the directory should contact Carmen Ramos Chandler, Director of News and Information, at carmen.chandler@csun.edu. The directory is designed to help news media find the experts they need quicly and easily. Copies of the entry form are available in the Thursday's Notes file in Martha Alzamora's office.
• Please announce to your classes that the various departmental awards for undergraduate and graduate students. You can get information on the awards in the English Department office.

2. Reminders:

• 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:

• Stephanie Satie will be performing one of her solo pieces, Coming to America – Transformations, at 2 p.m. March 24, at 2 p.m. at the Kaufman Brentwood Branch Library, 11820 San Vicente Blvd. in Los Angeles (between Barrington and Bundy). Satie said the 60-minute performance is free and will feature a questions-and-answer period afterward. She said it is “very suitable for students.” Satie recently returned from a guest-artist visit to Sonoma State University, during which she performed Coming to America at three branch libraries in the Sonoma County system.
• Joseph Thomas’s book, Poetry’s Playground: The Culture of Contemporary American Poetry, has been released as part of Wayne State University Press’s Landscapes of Childhood Series.

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

Lectures and Other Events

• Four professors from different disciplines will present “The Search for the Best Instructional Practices across the Disciplinary Divide” from 2 to 3:15 p.m. on April 10 in 439 Sierra Hall. The presentation is sponsored by the Center for Innovative and Engaged Learning Opportunities (CIELO). For reservations, contact Kelly Kroeker at extension 6536.

Jobs and Oportunities

• California State University, Dominguez Hills is seeking applicants for part-time positions teaching in its Humanities Program during 2007-2008 academic year. Applicants must have a Ph.D. For more information, contact Lorna Fitzsimmons at 310-243-3026.

Compiled by Scott Andrews, Associate Chair

Return to Top