- maenglish@lists.qc.cuny.edu - QC Mailman 3 Archives

[EnglishMA] Summer Message/ Queens College English MA Program
by William Orchard 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

Dear All, I hope your summer is going well. We’re about a month away from the start of our semester, and I am writing with a few announcements, reminders, and opportunities. REMINDER: Fall Thesis Proposal Deadline: August 2 The most urgent reminder is for those who plan to write their thesis essays in the fall. The thesis proposal form, which requires approval from your thesis adviser and second reader, is due to me by August 2. If you haven’t been in contact with me about this yet or if you missed the information session in the spring, please get in touch with me so that we can go over the steps to get registered. Thanks to those of you who have already submitted your forms. They’ll be processed after the deadline. REMINDER: Course Registration If you haven’t already registered for fall classes, please do so soon. If the class that you want is closed, please contact me to be placed on the wait list for the course. Right now, all courses are open, except for English 640 (Comics and Graphic Narratives). ANNOUNCEMENT: New Assistant Director of Graduate Studies Professor Miller will be on a well-earned sabbatical next year. She has been a remarkable assistant director, providing crucial guidance to students in the program and helping to shepherd the program through an often-challenging quarantine and post-pandemic period. We will definitely miss her! We’re happy to welcome Professor Cliff Mak as the new Assistant Director if Graduate Studies. He teaches classes on Modernism and on Adaptation. Professor Mak will start in this role in the fall semester. ANNOUNCEMENT: Fall Schedule Updates English 701 (Intro to Grad Methodologies) was originally scheduled for Tuesday at 4:40 pm with Professor Drury. It is now scheduled for Wednesdays at 4:40 pm to 6: 30 pm with Professor Kevin Ferguson. The class remains fully online synchronous. Additionally, we now have a full a description for English 719 (Medieval Women Writers) with Professor Michael Sargent: In this course we will explore a number of remarkable pieces written by women that are often unread. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim in Germany wrote moral comedies in Latin in the tenth century, modeling her work on the social comedies of late classical Rome. Marie de France wrote Lais, verse narrative romances in French, probably for the court of King Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine––and fables, and a version of the Purgatory of St. Patrick. Heloise produced half of the Latin philosophical correspondence better known by reference to her lover, Peter Abelard. Hildegard of Bingen wrote the blockbuster book of theological visions, Scivias––“Know the Ways of the Lord”, and illustrated the original manuscript, and composed music, and wrote a medical treatise and a morality play. Mechtild of Magdeburg, Birgitta of Sweden and Catherine of Siena (maybe you’ve heard of that one) were famous across Europe for their prophetic visions. Marguerite Porete was burned as a heretic for teaching of a mystical union of God in which she claimed to have ceased to exist as a separate being. The Italo-French writer Christine de Pizan, a professional writer, answered male-authored books of the faults of women with The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies. And in England, Julian of Norwich wrote two versions of a theologically sophisticated set of visions, and Margery Kempe wrote the first autobiography in the English language (well, all right: she dictated it). Take and read! SAVE THE DATE: Fall 2024 Zoom Café / August 27 at 6 pm This year, we’ll hold monthly “Zoom Cafés”: informal sessions over Zoom where students can come together to socialize with each other and with faculty. We’ll have a short “program” for each meeting, but really these are just opportunities to get to know some of the folks in the program a little better. We hope you will join us for our first such session on August 27, the day before the fall semester officially starts. I’ll write closer to the date with the Zoom link for this event. OPPORTUNITY: College Ambassador Program at the Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum<https://www.themorgan.org/> is now accepting applications for current students to participate in their College Ambassador program. As an ambassador, students will promote the Morgan not only as a museum and library, but also as a place for research, education and entertainment. Students will promote and spread awareness of the Morgan on their respective campuses and social media platforms. This is a paid opportunity with a stipend available, and the duration is from September 2024 to May 2025. Responsibilities will include but are not limited to: communication of programming/event opportunities with relevant department heads at each university, the completion of surveys related to programming, attendance at scheduled museum events, brainstorming ideas to increase attendance among college students and various social media requirements. In addition, there are two on-site requirements for each college ambassador: promotion and presence at College Night in the fall semester at the Morgan Library & Museum, and one assigned College Sunday or Free Friday event for students at your institution that is tailored to a special topic of interest to take place once over the course of the academic year. This opportunity is open to undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at Columbia University/Barnard, New York University, Fordham University, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, Pace University, Sarah Lawrence, CUNY Graduate School, Baruch, Brooklyn College, City College, Guttman, Grad Center, Hunter College, Lehman College, Macaulay Honors College, and Queens College with interest in a relevant area of study or background. To apply: submit by August 23rd your LinkedIn profile (or current resume), a letter of interest and links to your social media presence to media(a)themorgan.org<mailto:media@themorgan.org>. Best, Bill

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[EnglishMA] Reminder: ENGL 791 Information Session / Graduation
by QNS qcenglmaprogram 15 Apr '24

15 Apr '24

Hello all, I’m sending along two reminders: 1. We’re holding an information session on English 791 (the thesis class) for those planning to write their theses in Fall 2024. We’ll discuss how to find an adviser and second reader, how to write your proposal, the timeline for submitting forms, and how to plan out your semester. This will take place on Wednesday, 4/17 at 6:30 pm. Please email me if you plan to attend. 2. If you are graduating this semester (or finished in the fall), make sure you check the information on the college’s commencement site: https://www.qc.cuny.edu/ce/for-graduates/. Commencement takes place on May 30. The college-wide commencement starts at 9 am that day, and the departmental graduation ceremony follows that (usually shortly after 11). If you plan to participate in the larger, college-wide ceremony, you’ll need to RSVP at the above link. If you want to order a cap and gown, the deadline for doing that is tomorrow, April 16. (You don’t need to register for the department ceremony. You can just show up. You also don’t have to wear a cap and gown for the department ceremony.) Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Hope you all have (finally!) a wonderful Spring Break! Best, Bill

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[EnglishMA] Fall 2024 Thesis Information Session + Pre-Registration Reminder
by William Orchard 05 Apr '24

05 Apr '24

Hello all, I’m writing with a quick reminder that today is the final day for pre-registration for the Fall 2024 semester. I’m also writing because we will be holding an information session for those completing their MA theses in Fall 2024 on Wednesday, April 17 at 6:30 pm. The session will be online. If you plan to attend the session, please respond to me, and I’ll reply with the Zoom link for that meeting. Best, Bill

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[EnglishMA] Reminder: Pre-Registrations runs from 4/3 to 4/5
by William Orchard 03 Apr '24

03 Apr '24

I’m resending this message from last week to remind you that pre-registration happens today through Friday. Best, Bill From: William Orchard <William.Orchard29(a)login.cuny.edu> Date: Friday, March 29, 2024 at 3:36 PM To: "maenglish(a)lists.qc.cuny.edu" <maenglish(a)lists.qc.cuny.edu> Cc: Hillary Miller <Hillary.Miller(a)qc.cuny.edu> Subject: Conference, Comley Prize, and Fall 2024 Pre-Registration Dear MA Students, First, thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s In Other Worlds Conference<https://inotherworlds.commons.gc.cuny.edu/>. Several faculty members commented on the excellent work that they heard at the day’s panels and commended the program for putting on such a good event. Special thanks to Amanda Long and Elle Schwetz who went above and beyond to help the conference come together. I also wanted to remind everyone that the deadline for the Nancy Comley Prize for best graduate student essay is Monday, April 1. Instructions on submitting are attached as a pdf file. Finally, next week, from April 3 to April 5, pre-registration for Fall 2024 occurs. Below, I’ve pasted information about pre-registration, which I have also included as a pdf file attached to this message. Descriptions for our Fall 2024 course offerings are also attached to this message. Accelerated BA/MA students who will still be undergrads in the Fall 2024 should set up short advising appointments with us before registering. If a class that you are interested in closed, please contact me or Hillary to be put on the class wait list. We are usually able to accommodate students on the wait lists before the semester starts. You’ll also find the course descriptions Summer 2024 course descriptions attached. You should be able to register for summer courses on CUNYFirst now. If you plan to take a class during the summer, please enroll soon so that the course isn’t cancelled for low enrollments. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. Best, Bill and Hillary Preregistration for English MA Courses Fall 2024 Preregistration for Fall 2024 English MA courses will take place Wednesday, April 3, 2024, through Friday, April 5, 2024. Matriculated MA, MAT, and MS Ed students in good academic standing (i.e., minimum average 3.0 GPA and no outstanding INCs) are eligible for and strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to sign up early for classes. Accelerated students who will still be undergraduates in Fall 2024 and are in good academic standing are also eligible to preregister for English MA courses. To register for graduate classes in the Fall 2024, accelerated students should schedule an appointment with one of the directors of graduate studies. The appointment can be in-person or over Zoom. Please carefully read the following preregistration instructions and FAQs, including a breakdown of program requirements for MA, MAT, MS Ed, and Accelerated students. Fall 2024 course descriptions are attached separately. Note: the majority of our graduate English courses in Fall 2024 will be meeting in person, with a few fully online courses (ENGL 636, 701, 640, and 781- 01). If you have any questions or need advising, please email the current Directors of Graduate Studies in English—Bill Orchard (william.orchard(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:william.orchard@qc.cuny.edu>) and Hillary Miller (hillary.miller(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:hillary.miller@qc.cuny.edu>). Instructions for Preregistration via Email During the Fall 2024 preregistration period of April 3 to April 5 only, please email MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu> with the following info: 1. Your full name 2. Your program (MA, MAT, MS Ed, or Accelerated) 3. Your 8-digit CUNY ID# 4. The courses you’d like to register for, with their 4- or 5-digit class codes (e.g., ENGL 636, code 25703) Students may preregister for up to 3 spring courses. Preregistration requests will be processed within 24 hours and in the order they are received. You will receive a confirmation email once you’ve been registered, asking you to log onto CUNYfirst and double-check your schedule. Preregistration FAQs Who is eligible to preregister for English MA classes? All matriculated MA, MAT, and MS Ed students are eligible to preregister for courses as long as they have an active CUNYfirst account and are in good academic standing. If your GPA has fallen below 3.0 or if you’re carrying incompletes on your record from a previous semester, you should seek advising with one of the Directors of Graduate Studies, Bill Orchard or Hillary Miller, before trying to preregister. Accelerated English BA/MA students who will still be undergraduates in Spring 2024 can also pre-register but must schedule an in-person or virtual appointment with one of the directors of graduate studies. Accelerated students who are planning to graduate with their BAs in Spring 2024 semester will not yet be able to register for fall graduate courses. Only once their BA graduation has been approved and their status in the English MA program has officially been activated on CUNYfirst can they then register for their Fall 2024 MA courses. This will likely occur in late April. Please contact the Directors of Graduate Studies with any questions or for advising. If you have any holds on your CUNYfirst account for any reason, however unwarranted, CUNYfirst will not allow you to be registered for classes. Please check your account before the start of the preregistration period and make sure that any holds have been resolved. Non-matriculated/non-degree students are not eligible to preregister and must wait to register themselves during their registration appointment period on CUNYfirst. Can I take a course with the same number twice for credit? Some courses may be repeated for credit as long as the specific course topics and texts are substantially different. This term, the classes that can be repeated for credit are: 719 and 726. ENGL 781 (Special Seminars) may also be repeated for credit, as long as the specific course topics and texts are substantially different. ENGL 636, 639, 640, 701, and 703 cannot be repeated for credit. What are my English course requirements? For MA students (30 credits): · ENGL 701 · ENGL 636 · 7 open electives (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 791 (thesis essay) For Accelerated BA/MA students (up to 9 credits): · ENGL 701 · 2 electives (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) For MAT students (9 credits): • 1 pre-1900 elective · 1 open elective (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding the creative writing workshops and craft classes, ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 781 For MS Ed students (15 credits): · ENGL 702 or ENGL 703 · 2 pre-1900 electives · 1 open elective (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding the creative writing workshops and craft classes, ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 781 What if the class that I want is full when I pre-register? You can request to be placed on a wait list. Wait listed students will be able to register for the class when a space becomes available. In past semesters, we have been able to accommodate almost all students who are on wait lists. To be placed on a wait list, contact Bill or Hillary (not the instructor). For MAT and MS Ed students, what courses fulfill the pre-1900 requirement? In Fall 2024, English 719 and 726 satisfy the pre-1900 requirement. Can I preregister for ENGL 791, the thesis course, or ENGL 795, the independent study course? English 791 and English 795 require additional advising and paperwork, so these are not courses for which you can preregister. The Directors of Graduate Studies will announce more information about how to sign up for these courses after the preregistration period has ended. Can I pre-register for summer courses? Registration for summer classes is open. You are able to register on CUNYfirst. We have attached the summer course descriptions to this message.

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[EnglishMA] Conference, Comley Prize, and Fall 2024 Pre-Registration
by William Orchard 29 Mar '24

29 Mar '24

Dear MA Students, First, thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s In Other Worlds Conference<https://inotherworlds.commons.gc.cuny.edu/>. Several faculty members commented on the excellent work that they heard at the day’s panels and commended the program for putting on such a good event. Special thanks to Amanda Long and Elle Schwetz who went above and beyond to help the conference come together. I also wanted to remind everyone that the deadline for the Nancy Comley Prize for best graduate student essay is Monday, April 1. Instructions on submitting are attached as a pdf file. Finally, next week, from April 3 to April 5, pre-registration for Fall 2024 occurs. Below, I’ve pasted information about pre-registration, which I have also included as a pdf file attached to this message. Descriptions for our Fall 2024 course offerings are also attached to this message. Accelerated BA/MA students who will still be undergrads in the Fall 2024 should set up short advising appointments with us before registering. If a class that you are interested in closed, please contact me or Hillary to be put on the class wait list. We are usually able to accommodate students on the wait lists before the semester starts. You’ll also find the course descriptions Summer 2024 course descriptions attached. You should be able to register for summer courses on CUNYFirst now. If you plan to take a class during the summer, please enroll soon so that the course isn’t cancelled for low enrollments. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. Best, Bill and Hillary Preregistration for English MA Courses Fall 2024 Preregistration for Fall 2024 English MA courses will take place Wednesday, April 3, 2024, through Friday, April 5, 2024. Matriculated MA, MAT, and MS Ed students in good academic standing (i.e., minimum average 3.0 GPA and no outstanding INCs) are eligible for and strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to sign up early for classes. Accelerated students who will still be undergraduates in Fall 2024 and are in good academic standing are also eligible to preregister for English MA courses. To register for graduate classes in the Fall 2024, accelerated students should schedule an appointment with one of the directors of graduate studies. The appointment can be in-person or over Zoom. Please carefully read the following preregistration instructions and FAQs, including a breakdown of program requirements for MA, MAT, MS Ed, and Accelerated students. Fall 2024 course descriptions are attached separately. Note: the majority of our graduate English courses in Fall 2024 will be meeting in person, with a few fully online courses (ENGL 636, 701, 640, and 781- 01). If you have any questions or need advising, please email the current Directors of Graduate Studies in English—Bill Orchard (william.orchard(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:william.orchard@qc.cuny.edu>) and Hillary Miller (hillary.miller(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:hillary.miller@qc.cuny.edu>). Instructions for Preregistration via Email During the Fall 2024 preregistration period of April 3 to April 5 only, please email MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu> with the following info: 1. Your full name 2. Your program (MA, MAT, MS Ed, or Accelerated) 3. Your 8-digit CUNY ID# 4. The courses you’d like to register for, with their 4- or 5-digit class codes (e.g., ENGL 636, code 25703) Students may preregister for up to 3 spring courses. Preregistration requests will be processed within 24 hours and in the order they are received. You will receive a confirmation email once you’ve been registered, asking you to log onto CUNYfirst and double-check your schedule. Preregistration FAQs Who is eligible to preregister for English MA classes? All matriculated MA, MAT, and MS Ed students are eligible to preregister for courses as long as they have an active CUNYfirst account and are in good academic standing. If your GPA has fallen below 3.0 or if you’re carrying incompletes on your record from a previous semester, you should seek advising with one of the Directors of Graduate Studies, Bill Orchard or Hillary Miller, before trying to preregister. Accelerated English BA/MA students who will still be undergraduates in Spring 2024 can also pre-register but must schedule an in-person or virtual appointment with one of the directors of graduate studies. Accelerated students who are planning to graduate with their BAs in Spring 2024 semester will not yet be able to register for fall graduate courses. Only once their BA graduation has been approved and their status in the English MA program has officially been activated on CUNYfirst can they then register for their Fall 2024 MA courses. This will likely occur in late April. Please contact the Directors of Graduate Studies with any questions or for advising. If you have any holds on your CUNYfirst account for any reason, however unwarranted, CUNYfirst will not allow you to be registered for classes. Please check your account before the start of the preregistration period and make sure that any holds have been resolved. Non-matriculated/non-degree students are not eligible to preregister and must wait to register themselves during their registration appointment period on CUNYfirst. Can I take a course with the same number twice for credit? Some courses may be repeated for credit as long as the specific course topics and texts are substantially different. This term, the classes that can be repeated for credit are: 719 and 726. ENGL 781 (Special Seminars) may also be repeated for credit, as long as the specific course topics and texts are substantially different. ENGL 636, 639, 640, 701, and 703 cannot be repeated for credit. What are my English course requirements? For MA students (30 credits): · ENGL 701 · ENGL 636 · 7 open electives (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 791 (thesis essay) For Accelerated BA/MA students (up to 9 credits): · ENGL 701 · 2 electives (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) For MAT students (9 credits): • 1 pre-1900 elective · 1 open elective (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding the creative writing workshops and craft classes, ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 781 For MS Ed students (15 credits): · ENGL 702 or ENGL 703 · 2 pre-1900 electives · 1 open elective (any English graduate class offered at the 600 or 700 level, excluding the creative writing workshops and craft classes, ENGL 751–763, which are reserved for MFA students) · ENGL 781 What if the class that I want is full when I pre-register? You can request to be placed on a wait list. Wait listed students will be able to register for the class when a space becomes available. In past semesters, we have been able to accommodate almost all students who are on wait lists. To be placed on a wait list, contact Bill or Hillary (not the instructor). For MAT and MS Ed students, what courses fulfill the pre-1900 requirement? In Fall 2024, English 719 and 726 satisfy the pre-1900 requirement. Can I preregister for ENGL 791, the thesis course, or ENGL 795, the independent study course? English 791 and English 795 require additional advising and paperwork, so these are not courses for which you can preregister. The Directors of Graduate Studies will announce more information about how to sign up for these courses after the preregistration period has ended. Can I pre-register for summer courses? Registration for summer classes is open. You are able to register on CUNYfirst. We have attached the summer course descriptions to this message.

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[EnglishMA] In Other Worlds Conference 3/27
by William Orchard 19 Mar '24

19 Mar '24

Hello all, I’m writing to remind you that the annual graduate student conference, In Other Worlds, will take place next week on Wednesday, 3/27. The conference will be held in the Presidential Conference Room 2, on the fifth floor of the Rosenthal Library, from 10:30 to 6 pm. We’ll have a lunch as well as an evening reception that will end just before NK Jemisin’s reading at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum in Klapper that evening. I’ve pasted the day’s program below. I have also attached the conference poster and the poster with information about Jemisin’s reading. We’ll have presenters from Queens College’s MA and MFA programs, as well as from St. Johns, Fordham, NYU, Hunter, Pace, Brooklyn College, and Western Washington University. We hope that you will be able to attend the conference for all or part of the day. Further information about the conference is also available on the conference website<https://inotherworlds.commons.gc.cuny.edu/>. We also still could use some students to help with the festivities. If you are able to assist that day, please get in touch with me. Best, Bill ________________________________________ William Orchard Associate Professor Director, MA Program Department of English Queens College, CUNY FINAL SCHEDULE IN OTHER WORLDS CONFERENCE 10:30 – 10:45 am: Welcome 10:45 – 12:00 pm Panel I : World Order and Disorder * Chair: Professor Caroline Hong * Noah Baum, “Tidalectic Intersubjectivity: Caribbean and Black Models of Oceanic Being” * McKenzie Mann-Wood, “Creation at the End of (This) World” * Amanda Long, “From Slow Death to Revolutionary Awakening: Melancholia as Dialectical Image” * Sana Younis, “Critical Resistance: Imagining Muslim Worlds in Speculative Fiction” 12:15 – 1:30 pm Panel II: Suspensions of Time and Space * Chair: Professor Omari Weekes * Brandon Borcoman, “The Swerve That Started It All” * Julie Goodale, “Taking Up Space: Extending the Document into Multiple Dimensions” * Sarina Sandwell, “Critical Fabulation as Utopian Hypothesis in Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives” * Mosammat Z. Sultana, “Otherworlding of the Sea: Custance’s Miraculous Sea Sailing in Chaucer’s The Man of Law’s Tale” 1:45 – 2:45 pm Lunch (Klapper Hall 710) 3:00 – 4:15 pm Panel III: Remaking Institutions * Chair: Professor Chamara Moore * Hayley Blair, “Captain America v. Peacemaker” * Richard Prins, “Kusadikika and Walenisi: The Purpose of Utopia in the Swahili Novel” * Sal Sayema,“Leaving Machine Politics: Demanding Bangladeshi Student Autonomy” * Elle Schwetz, “Awareness, Apparatuses, Alienation, and Aliens!: Applying Theory of Ahmed, Althusser, and Marx to Octavia Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’” 430 – 6:00 pm Panel IV: Afterlives of Empire * Chair: Professor Megan Paslawski * Lily Alvarado, “From Bushwick to Portland: Bori Girls of the Diaspora Revolutionizing Puerto Rican Narrative” * Zaira Bardos, “Marginal Worlds: Redefining “Home” Within the Filipina Body” * Kayla Baur, “Mixed Feelings: The Emotional Appeals of Zitkala-sa’s American Indian Stories” * Lilian Chines Marzo, “Mother-Daughter Dynamics Towards a ‘Broken Language’ Repaired” * Yasmin Tehrani, “Ocean Vuong’s Entanglements in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” 6:00 – 6:45 pm Closing Reception & Awards (Klapper Hall 610) 7:00 – 8:30 pm NK Jemisin Reading (Godwin-Ternbach Museum)

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[EnglishMA] 2024 Nancy Comley Prize for Best Graduate Student Essay
by William Orchard 18 Mar '24

18 Mar '24

Hello All, We’re now accepting submissions for the Nancy Comley Prize for best graduate student essay. The prize info is pasted below and attached as a pdf file. Please submit your work for consideration, whether it’s an essay you submitted for a class or final thesis paper. Submissions are due on April 1. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Best, Bill ________________________________________ William Orchard Associate Professor Director, MA Program Department of English Queens College, CUNY 2024 NANCY COMLEY PRIZE Named for the long-standing Chair of the English Department, the Nancy Comley Prize was established in 2012 to honor the best essay written by a graduate student matriculated in the Queens College English MA, MS Ed, or MAT programs. The prize is sponsored by the English Department Alumni Fund. All currently matriculated English MA, MS Ed, and MAT students, as well as master’s students who graduated in Fall 2023, are eligible. Submissions should be 10–25 pages in length, typed, double-spaced, in standard 12-point font, with 1-inch margins and page numbers. They must be carefully proofread and formatted according to current MLA style, including a Works Cited page. The deadline for submissions is Monday, April 1, 2024. All entries must be submitted via email to MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. Before submitting your entry, please take careful note of the following instructions: * • Essays must be submitted in DOC, DOCX, or PDF formats. * • The filename for your essay should read “[CUNYfirst ID number]NancyComleyPrize.” If you don’t know your 8-digit CUNYfirst ID number, please look it up before submitting your essay. * • In the body of your email, make sure to include the following information: * Your full name * Your 8-digit CUNYfirst ID number * The title of your essay • Make sure that your name does not appear anywhere in your essay, which will be anonymously read by the prize judges, who are faculty members serving on the English Department’s MA Committee. Winners will be contacted by Friday, April 19. Presentation of the award will occur at the department’s Honors Ceremony, in May. Questions about the Nancy Comley Prize should be directed to the Directors of Graduate Studies in English at MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>.

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[EnglishMA] English MA Program: March Message
by William Orchard 05 Mar '24

05 Mar '24

Dear Graduate Students, I hope your semesters are going well. I’m writing with some details about things happening in March, including the annual graduate student conference, a preview of Fall 2024 classes, and announcements about readings and other events. Graduate Student Conference The Graduate Student Conference, “In Other Worlds.” will take place on March 27, 2024, in the Presidential Conference Room 2 on the fifth floor of Rosenthal Library. The conference, which focuses on speculative literature and writing, will feature participants from Queens College as well as from other universities in the New York City area. The program will run from 10 am to 6 pm, and culminate with a reading and conversation with NK Jemisin, which will take place that evening at 7 pm in the Godwin Ternbach Museum on the fourth floor of Klapper Hall. We hope that you will be able to make it for part of the day. (If you submitted an abstract for the conference, please note that acceptance will be mailed out today and tomorrow.) We also still need volunteers to help with the conference. If you are interested in helping with planning the program, inviting faculty moderators, serving on a prize committee, or assisting on the day of the event, please contact Bill at William.Orchard(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:William.Orchard@qc.cuny.edu>. MA Open House The MA program in English will be holding a virtual open house on March 7, 2024, at 6 pm. Hillary and I will be on hand to answer questions prospective students might have about the MA program. If you know someone who is thinking about applying to the MA program for the 2024-2025 academic year, please let them know about this event. They can RSVP for it at: http://ow.ly/bqmJ50QB9v6.<http://ow.ly/bqmJ50QB9v6> MA Thesis Workshop II For those of you writing your MA theses, the second thesis writing workshop, which focuses on writing strategies and provides you an opportunity to workshop some pages, will take place on March 20 at 6:30 pm. We’ll send a reminder to thesis writers a week before, but, if you want to RSVP for it now, email MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. Fall Course Preview Pre-registration will take place sometime in March. The Registrar has yet to announce the date. Below we’ve pasted the tentative schedule to give you an early preview of the likely schedule for the fall. Please keep in mind that this still could change. A final schedule and full course descriptions will arrive a week before pre-registration starts. * ENGL 636 Studies in Literary Criticism | Jeff Cassvan | T 6:40 to 8:30 pm (online) * ENGL 701 Graduate Methodologies | Annmarie Drury | M 4:40 to 6:30 pm (online) * ENGL 639 Studies in Poetry (likely topic: Documentary Poetics) | Nicole Cooley | M 6:40-8:30 pm * ENGL 640 History and Theory of Comics and Graphic Narratives | William Orchard | T 6:40 to 8:30 pm (online) * ENGL 703 Composition Theory and Literacy Studies | Sara Alvarez | T 4:40 to 6:30 pm. * ENGL 719 Medieval Literature | Michael Sargent | Th 6:40 to 8:30 pm * ENGL 726 | Early American Literature | Sian Silyn Roberts | W 4:40 to 6:30 pm. * ENGL 781 Special Seminar (likely topic: Black Queer Studies) | Chamara Moore | M 6:40 to 8:30 (online) * ENGL 781 Special Seminar (likely topic: Latinx Literature) | Vanessa Perez-Rosario | Th 4:40 to 6:30 pm Readings/ Talks Vivian Gornick Reading: March 7 at 7 pm at the Faculty and Student Lounge, Student Union 126 Vivian Gornick is an American radical feminist critic, journalist, and memoirist. As the flyer for the event notes: “Born in the Bronx, Gornick grew up in a family of working-class immigrants who were committed Communists. Much of her writing explores the actual and metaphoric significance of being an outsider.” Gornick is currently at work on a book by CUNY’s City College of New York. She is renowned critic and as a distinct voice in the genre of memoir. She’ll be in conversation with Queens College MFA alum Catherine LaSota. March 7 at 7pm. This event will also stream on Zoom at: http://tinyurl.com/3hbvbvzs. NK Jemisin Reading: March 27 at 7 pm Godwin Ternbach Museum in Klapper Hall N.K. Jemisin is the first author to win three consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards for her Broken Earth trilogy. Her work has won the Nebula and Locus Awards, and she is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Her Great Cities duology was a New York Times bestseller. She’s been an instructor for Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops and was formerly the science fiction and fantasy book reviewer at the New York Times. Her reading with be the culminating event for the Graduate Student Conference. This event will also stream on Zoom at: http://tinyurl.com/vvrnvj8z. There’s a lot going on this month. Although classes have kicked into high gear, we hope you’ll take some time to participate in some of these activities. As always, Hillary and I are available to answer any questions or concerns you might have the program. Best, Bill

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[EnglishMA] Reminder: Graduate Student Conference
by William Orchard 28 Feb '24

28 Feb '24

Hello All, This is just a reminder that abstracts for the graduate student conference are due by Friday, March 2, 2024, at 9 pm. I’ve pasted the call for paper below (and attached it to this message as a pdf). We’d love to see more participants from Queens College at this event. If you are interested in helping plan the conference, email MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu> to let us know. We’ll start building the program next week. If you have any questions about how to submit, feel free to contact me or Hillary. Best, Bill CALL FOR PAPERS The Ninth Annual Queens College English Graduate Conference IN OTHER WORLDS Conference Dates: March 27, 2024 Submission Deadline: February 28, 2024 The Washington Post declared 2022 the “year of the multiverse.” Popularized in films like the Academy Award-nominated Everything, Everywhere, All at Once and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the concept of the multiverse invites us to think about how lives, societies, and species may have unfolded differently. The term extends far beyond these recent films and has a variety of applications and usages in literature, graphic narratives, film, gaming, cosmology, and philosophy. The 2023 English Graduate Conference at Queens College is taking the multiverse as inspiration for a theme inviting papers on the creation of new worlds. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that we can do things differently. For many, the post-pandemic return to “normal” in our universities, neighborhoods, places of work, and seats of government, has led us to question the definition of normal, to ask whether it is in fact something we want to return to, and to consider how we might rewrite a better present. While we may think of literature as removed from social change, it equips us for the work of making a more beautiful, just world. In "World-Making,” Min Hyoung Song writes, "Literature is an unmooring from time" with the "capacity to make worlds." This Call for Papers invites submissions that consider literature’s capacity to do just that: reject the normal, speculate on other possibilities, defamiliarize, remake. This could include consideration of recent works that do this, but also could include work on texts from earlier periods that were attempting to rethink the prevailing concepts that governed their time. What models of reading and writing with reparative motives inspire us to imagine what may yet be possible? “The desire of a reparative impulse…is additive and accretive,” writes Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (Paranoid Reading, Reparative Reading, 149). We aim to create a space for dialogue that is addictive and accretive. How do we create worlds that build on past attempts to do the same? How do we create spaces that are more welcoming and accommodating? How can we recover pasts that help reshape who we are in the present? We invite proposals (collaborative or individual) that creatively investigate texts that fundamentally undo some aspect of our world in order to remake it anew. The conference will end with a reading and discussion with Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer and MacArthur Grant recipient NK Jemisin, who will be visiting as part of Queens College’s “Off the Page” series. We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics and in a variety of forms. This includes (but is not limited to) essays, reflections, and scholarly discussions that explore: --re-inventing” the university --creative “remakes” --mediating grief/mourning --the pleasures and joys of creation --the pluriverse --superheroes and comics --decolonizing knowledge --relationship repair/hierarchies of character relationships --remaking labor practices --literature & ethical interventions --critical fabulation --poetry and imagination --utopian writing --doppelgangers and parallel realities Please submit proposals (250 words max.) to MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu> by Wednesday February 28, 2024. Proposals should indicate both the title and content as well as the format of your project. While we welcome academic essays, we are open to a variety of presentation formats, as we invite you to test the boundaries of form. Possibilities include the reading of an academic paper, a pedagogical reflection, a podcast, a video essay, an asynchronous presentation, a virtual exhibit, a listening party, or a book review. Submissions may also be co-authored/co-created; this could include a joint presentation or roundtable. All Queens College MA, MFA, MSEd, and MAT students are welcome to submit, as well as master’s students from other schools.

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[EnglishMA] English MA Program: February Events and Announcements
by William Orchard 09 Feb '24

09 Feb '24

Dear MA Students, We hope your semesters have started well and that you are nicely settled into the new year. We write with some announcements and reminders about things going on in the College in the coming month. CONFERENCE: In Other Worlds The English Graduate Conference is scheduled for March 27, 2024, from 10 am to 6 pm. We’re excited that the conference’s culminating event will be a reading and discussion with Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer and MacArthur (“Genius”) Grant recipient NK Jemisin<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin>, who will be visiting campus as part of the College’s “Off the Page” series. We urge you to submit an abstract to present a short paper at the conference. The conference call for papers is attached to this message. 200-word paper proposals and due by February 28 to MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. Please feel free to contact Hillary or me if you have any questions about the conference. We’re also looking for volunteers to help with some of the conference organizing, including selecting papers for the program, organizing papers into panels, and inviting faculty chairs for the day, among other things. Please fill out the following form<https://forms.gle/vSntyGY7eY4FjM8H6> if you’d like to participate. We’ll have our first planning meeting next week. APPLYING FOR GRADUATION If you plan to graduate this semester, make sure to apply for graduation by March 1 on CUNYFirst. THESIS WRITING WORKSHOPS If you are writing your MA thesis this semester, we will be holding thesis writing workshops on February 20, March 20, and April 16 at 6:30 pm. If you haven’t already RSVPed, email MAEnglish(a)qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu> to RSVP for the next one. VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE We’ll be holding a virtual Open House for prospective MA students planning to apply for the 2024-2025 school year. This will happen on March 7 at 6 pm. If you know people who are interested in applying, let us know and we can share the announcements and details with you. SUMMER REGISTRATION Summer registration is open. All of our classes are online or hybrid. If you know that you will be taking a class in the summer, please register as soon as possible so that the class doesn’t get canceled. I have attached the Summer 2024 course descriptions to this message. READING: Ava Chin in Conversation with QC President Frank Wu Ava Chin is a graduate of Queens College’s English department and current professor at the College of Staten Island. She will be on campus reading from her memoir Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming on February 21 from 12:15 to 1:30 in The Godwin-Ternbach Museum on the 4th Floor of Klapper Hall. You can also see her reading and discussion with QC President Frank Wu online that at: http://tinyurl.com/5n78r4v3 the day of the event. GRADUATE STUDENT SURVEY Christen Patalano, graduate student in the Queens College School Psychology program, is conducting a research study exploring the impact of financial stress on graduate student's mental health. He is looking for current graduate students to complete a short survey. It's anonymous and takes between 3-4 minutes. The link for the survey is: https://forms.gle/xz1veAeXSB31YBpu5 CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to the last semester’s thesis writers (with the titles of their thesis essays): * Amanda Long (“From Slow Death to Revolutionary Awakening: Melancholia as Dialectical Image”) * Gavin Singh (“The Rebis of Mary Shelley: A Gender Studies Analysis of Frankenstein) * Dawn Whiting (“Landscape and the Psychology of Memory in Willa Cather’s My Antonia”) That’s all for this month. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to get in touch with Hillary or me. If you have any news for future monthly messages, please feel free to send that to us as well. Best, Bill

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