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End-of-the-Academic-Year Edition

1.  Announcements

May 14 is a big day in the department. The last day of classes for the fraught 20-21 year, yes. But also the Awards Ceremony at 11, when we will celebrate this spring’s winners. And at 1, we will hood our graduating MA students. These ceremonies mean a lot to students in a regular year, but this year they mean so much more. Please join in the festivities. Zoom info to follow.

The “All University Ceremony” on May 15 at 5pm will officially confer degrees and celebrate honored students, including the Outstanding Graduating Senior Awardees, the University Wolfson Scholar, and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. The Platform Party will include President, Provost, Vice President for Student Affairs, Faculty President, Keynote Speaker, and A.S. President –all seated on stage / full camera view throughout the ceremony.

The College of Humanities Virtual Commencement Ceremony follows on May 23 at 1 pm. The Dean will call/announce each student’s name, provide Dean’s Remarks, celebrate notable student accomplishments, include a student speech, offer alumni greetings, and leave students with final congratulations by the President. 

Finally, beginning May 25, the university will be hosting a week of in-car Commencement Parades through May 28. Students have registered in advance for a specific time slot during which they can drive slowly through campus in their cars and will stop briefly for an in-vehicle photo in front of the University Library. During the parade, they will be cheered on by socially distanced university employees, who will be organized by the commencement team. Other viewers/spectators will not be allowed within the perimeter of the parade, due to social-distancing requirements. 

2. Opportunities

Environmental Health and Safety is offering a series of Zoom Q+A sessions for preparing to teach on campus. The schedule is available here: https://www.csun.edu/site/default/file/Fall_2021_On_Campus_Courses_QandA.pdf

Queer Aesthetics, started by an SFSU alum, is “the first interdisciplinary academic journal dedicated to equitable representations and the queering of normative structures in the arts.” The deadline for submissions to their open call for articles, essays, music, artworks, audio, video and performances is May 15. Info at www.queeraesthetics.org.

 

3. Achievements

Jade Arvizu, MA ’18 Rhetoric and Composition, has accepted a full package offer to study for a PhD in Rhetoric at the University of Texas, Austin (this program only accepts 4 students each year).

One of our Creative Writing MA students, Natalie Van Gelder, has won the Association of Retired Faculty Thesis Memorial Award.  She will be completing her thesis, “Desert Stories,” in Fall 2021 under the guidance of her mentor, Kate Haake.  
 
Joseph Galasso has contributed to the Berkeley Insight Series in Linguistics and Semiotics (Peter Lang Publishing) with his latest book, Reflections on Syntax.
 
Rick Mitchell‘s article, “Epic Cruelty: On Post-Pandemic Performance,” appears in the May 2021 issue of New Theatre Quarterly. The essay explores the intersecting crises exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic–including systemic racism, rising ethno-nationalism, and fossil-fueled climate change–while suggesting an open-ended, political theatre practice, “epic  cruelty,” for post-pandemic times. Rick also presented a Zoom reading of a couple of scenes from his play-in-progress, Greetings from Puerto Rico! (tentative title), as part of DG Footlights, an event sponsored by the Dramatists Guild and the Fountain Theatre which featured excerpts from plays written during National Playwriting Month. A link to an abstract of the article appears below:

Have a great summer break! All best –

Beth