Dear Graduate Students, Spring 2024 officially begins this Thursday, January 25. Classes meeting on Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesday will have their first meetings the following week. Please read carefully through these important beginning-of-the-semester announcements. Wishing you a wonderful spring semester! Best, Bill & Hillary, your Directors of Graduate Studies in English -- QC English MA Program Spring 2024 Announcements CALENDAR The Spring 2024 semester begins on Thursday, January 25. You can find the QC academic calendar with important dates and deadlines at https://www.cuny.edu/academics/academic-calendars/. The last day to DROP classes for a 100% tuition refund is Wednesday, January 24. The last day to ADD classes is Wednesday, January 31. Other important dates to keep in mind: * There are no classes on Monday, February 12, and Monday, February 19. * Classes follow a Monday schedule on Thursday, February 22 and Wednesday, February 28. * There are no classes during Spring Recess, Monday, April 22 to Tuesday, April 30. * The last day of classes is Wednesday, May 15, and the spring semester officially ends on May 22. SPRING 2023 ADVISING If you have any questions or need help, please email MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu<mailto:MAEnglish@qc.cuny.edu>. You can also contact us individually at: Prof. Bill Orchard, Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Email: william.orchard@qc.cuny.edu<mailto:william.orchard@qc.cuny.edu> Prof. Hillary Miller, Assistant Director of Graduate Studies Email: hillary.miller@qc.cuny.edu<mailto:hillary.miller@qc.cuny.edu> Email is the easiest and fastest way to reach us, but if you would like to request a virtual appointment, please email us with your availability and we will do our best to accommodate you. Please be sure to check your QC email regularly (or set up forwarding to your primary email), as the College and your professors may be communicating with you that way. For routine inquiries (e.g., for faculty contact info), please consult the English Department website at https://qcenglish.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ CHECK (AND DOUBLE-CHECK) YOUR SCHEDULE Before the semester begins, please take a moment to log-in to your CUNYfirst account and check that you’re registered for your courses. If for some reason your registration has been canceled by the Bursar, or if you’re registered for the wrong courses, it’s much easier to sort out any issues if they’re caught before the semester begins. The following courses are offered entirely online: English 643, 733, 742, and 781. The instructors should contact you by Thursday with information about how to attend the first class. If, by the first day of the spring semester, you haven’t yet heard from your professors about how to join and access their classes online, you can email them to ask for this information. Faculty contact info can be found on the department website at https://qcenglish.commons.gc.cuny.edu/people/#office-hours. ADDING A COURSE / REQUESTING AN OVERTALLY If you’re looking to add a spring course, there are open seats in ENGL 644 (Queer Lives in American Literature). Course descriptions are available on the English Department website. The course descriptions are also attached to this message. Please confirm current availability by checking the Schedule of Classes on CUNYfirst. If you wish to overtally into a class that is already closed, please contact us to be placed on a waiting list. Course enrollments have been a little chaotic this term, and we’ve had to cancel some classes. However, opportunities to enroll in some of the closed sections may become possible in the next two days. SUMMER COURSES Summer registration is open. You should be able to register on CUNYFirst. Course descriptions are attached to this message. CONFERENCE The English Graduate Student Conference returns this semester. We’ll use the theme “In Other Worlds” that an earlier planning committee came up with it. The conference will happen on March 27, 2024 to coincide with N.K. Jemisin’s<https://nkjemisin.com/> visit to campus. If you would like to participate in the conference planning committee, which involves reviewing submissions, inviting faculty participants, selecting awards, and helping the day of the conference, please complete the following form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3r4Z2OyYS7-WjgMtQxdpypirkbOois-mUjdRxLnAYfHVcWw/viewform?usp=sf_link>.