May 2020 - maenglish@lists.qc.cuny.edu

[MAEnglish] Virtual Graduation--Congrats, Grads!
by Caroline K Hong 28 May '20

28 May '20

To all the MA students officially graduating and earning their degrees this semester (or who did this past fall or who will this coming summer), CONGRATULATIONS!!! Commencement/graduation was supposed to be today, and we wish we could be celebrating you in person. Instead we're toasting you from our homes and sending you all our love and pride and wishes for the greatest happiness and success! It's been an honor to teach and advise and learn from all of you. Despite everything, we hope you're finding ways to celebrate your amazing accomplishments. If you haven't seen it yet, Prof. Siân Silyn Roberts put together a virtual English graduation at https://www.klappergrads.com/. Please check it out, and congrats again! Best, Caroline and Bill -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY she/her/hers * Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.

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[MAEnglish] End-of-semester updates
by Caroline K Hong 21 May '20

21 May '20

Dear Graduate Students, Hope your spring semesters are winding down as smoothly as they can, given these tough circumstances. I'm making slow progress through my email inbox but still woefully behind. If you've emailed recently and it's been over a week, feel free to follow up. And as always, if you have any questions or need advising, please continue to email BOTH me and Bill (worchard(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:worchard@qc.cuny.edu>), so that whichever one of us is able to can reply first. Please read on for some important end-of-the-semester announcements and updates. Also look out for an announcement soon re: virtual grad festivities! Update on CR/NC Flexible Grading Policy for Spring 2020 Through June 25, all CUNY students can opt for CR/NC instead of letter grades in any or all of their courses. You can find info and instructions on how to choose this option here<https://www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/credit-no-credit-policy/student-informatio…>. For English MA students, I encourage you to consider this option if you receive a letter grade lower than a B, since you need to maintain a 3.0 GPA to remain in good standing in our program. If you have questions about how this might impact your financial aid or professional certification, please contact the relevant offices or advisors. Taking an INC If you're unable to complete a final course assignment and want to take an incomplete, please discuss and make arrangements with your professor. Keep in mind that an incomplete is a temporary grade and should be resolved ASAP. All INCs must be completed within 1 calendar year (so an INC in Spring 2020 must be resolved before the end of Spring 2021). Registering for Summer and Fall 2020 Classes Please register for your summer and fall classes ASAP, if you haven't already. Courses that are underenrolled will be under extra scrutiny and in danger of being canceled by the College administration. Just in case, I've attached the course descriptions again. FYI, our department has decided that all fall English courses will be online. We made this decision because, due to the pandemic, we anticipate that it still won't be safe enough for us to meet in our small, poorly ventilated classrooms or commute to campus via public transit. We also didn't want to wait till the last minute to make the call, so that we (and you) could begin to prepare. Faculty teaching online will be participating in trainings in online teaching pedagogies over the summer. Unlike this semester, when the move to distance learning was sudden and unexpected, faculty will now have the opportunity to better prepare to teach online. In CUNYfirst, course info will be updated so you can see how your courses will be taught. "Synchronous" means that the course will be taught via videoconferencing at the scheduled times. "Asynchronous" means that the course will be taught mostly at your own pace, with set deadlines, lectures posted online, and discussions in online forums. Some professors will choose to do a combination of these two things, and in the next few weeks we will post this info in the "notes" for courses in CUNYFirst. If you have questions about your specific classes, as each class may look a bit different in terms of the schedule, workload, and online platforms/apps used, I suggest reaching out to your individual professors (you can find their email addresses on our department website<http://english.qc.cuny.edu/people/>). Registering for ENGL 791 and 795 If you're planning to write your thesis essay or take an independent study in the fall, you should've already been in touch with me and/or Bill and also already asked the faculty members you'd like to work with. If you have questions or need copies of the sign-up forms, which can be submitted via email anytime between now and August 3, please let us know. Looking Ahead to 2020-2021 We don't know exactly what the academic year ahead will look like, but please know that we faculty are here for and with you, as we figure things out together. Bill will be on sabbatical next year, so in August our wonderful colleague Prof. Hillary Miller will be joining me as Assistant Director of Graduate Studies. We're really going to miss Bill but will send him off with wishes for a restorative and fruitful leave, and we're very lucky to have Hillary come on board! Please continue to stay safe and healthy, and let me and Bill (at least through August) know if you have any questions or concerns. Best, Caroline -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY she/her/hers * Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday–Friday 8am–5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.

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[MAEnglish] Congrats to Farrah Goff, winner of the 2020 Comley Prize!
by Caroline K Hong 12 May '20

12 May '20

Our heartfelt congratulations to the winner of this year's Nancy Comley Prize, Farrah Goff, for her outstanding essay, "Sincerely, Olivia Fairfield: Ideas of Power and Autonomy in the Letters of The Woman of Colour." The faculty judges had a very difficult time choosing just one winner, because of the high caliber of all the submissions. In fact, they wanted to give everyone who submitted an honorable mention! We faculty are all so blown away by the excellent work of our graduate students. While we're sad we can't honor Farrah in person this year, we're glad to celebrate her accomplishments virtually. Congrats again, Farrah! Best, Caroline and Bill -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY she/her/hers * Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.

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[MAEnglish] ENGL 791 info session today + internship
by Caroline K Hong 11 May '20

11 May '20

Hi all, A reminder that if you are planning to register for ENGL 791 and write your thesis essay this fall, we will be having a virtual info session today, Monday, May 11, at 5:30pm. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Bill (worchard(a)qc.cuny.edu) and he will send you the link to join prior to the meeting. During the session, we will go over the thesis essay process and requirements for Fall 2020, including registering for ENGL 791, writing an effective proposal, finding a faculty advisor and second reader, etc. If you're planning to take ENGL 791 in the fall but can't make this session, no worries. Please email me (caroline.hong(a)qc.cuny.edu) anyway, so I can get you all the info/resources and advise you via email.? Finally, for those who might be interested, please check out this internship opportunity from CUNY Cultural Corps<https://www1.cuny.edu/sites/culturalcorps/>. The application deadline has been extended to May 24. Best, Dr. Caroline Hong -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY she/her/hers * Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.

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[MAEnglish] Comley Prize (deadline today), ENGL 791 in Fall 2020, etc.
by Caroline K Hong 04 May '20

04 May '20

Dear MA students, A final reminder that the deadline to submit an essay for the Nancy Comley Prize is the end of the day today, Monday, May 4 (guidelines attached). Also, if you are planning to register for ENGL 791 and write your thesis essay next semester, we will be having a virtual info session next Monday, May 11, at 5:30pm. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Bill (worchard(a)qc.cuny.edu) and he will send you the link to join prior to the meeting. During the session, we will go over the thesis essay process and requirements for Fall 2020, including registering for ENGL 791, writing an effective proposal, finding a faculty advisor and second reader, etc. If you're planning to take ENGL 791 in the fall but can't make this session, no worries. Please email me (caroline.hong(a)qc.cuny.edu) anyway, so I can get you all the info/resources and advise you via email. Finally, for those of you who've been asking about the Credit/No Credit grading option for this semester, you can find more info at https://www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/credit-no-credit-policy/faq/#c-nc. FYI, they haven't yet rolled out the procedure for converting your grade via CUNYfirst, but I will be sure to update you with info and instructions once it's ready. As always, please don't hesitate to email me and Bill if you have any questions or need advising. And please continue to take care. Best, Caroline -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY she/her/hers * Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.

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