Dear MA Students, I hope that your semesters have started well, and that you had a pleasant holiday weekend. The big thing happening in the program right now is the Ninth Annual Graduate Student Conference. This year, the conference is themed “In Other Worlds,” focusing on multiverses, pluriverses, and unmaking and making of better worlds. The conference happens on March 29 and 30, 2023. I have attached the full call for papers to this message, and it can also be found online here<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1toBvknIFehxM_N8hSbf0ZLpIOTZIQVtHapWQRW4CUy0/edit?usp=sharing>. Abstracts for proposals are due on March 6. We hope that you’ll consider presenting work that you recently completed for a class, or work that you are planning for this semester, or a thesis that is in the process of being written. In addition to being an opportunity to add a line to your cv or resume and share your work, the conference is a real opportunity to build community with your fellow graduate students and meet others grad students from across the NYC area. We still also welcome volunteers on the planning committee. The committee will review the submissions, organize panels, invite faculty speakers, and help with the actual day of the event. If you are interested in being on the committee, fill out this form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1etK1fDaUwLibnTgcExAulgZ-PfI5eZJtSF7snBU38bc/edit>. Some other announcements: * If you are planning to graduate this semester, you must apply for graduation by March 1. You can apply on CUNYFirst. * The department is looking for Clerical Assistants to do some clerical work, help in the department office with student and faculty queries, and do other miscellaneous tasks. Ideally, the CA would be early in the program, and could work well into the next academic year. The position pays $16/ hr and you can work a maximum of 20 hours per week. If you are interested in this, please contact Bill (William.Orchard@qc.cuny.edu<mailto:William.Orchard@qc.cuny.edu>). * We have a preliminary sense of what the Fall 2023 schedule will look like. We’ll have a clearer sense of times and modalities as well as full course descriptions in the coming weeks, but the likely classes will include: * 636 / Literary Theory with Prof. Kruger * 681/ Transnational Italian American Lit with Prof. Gardaphe * 701/ Graduate Methodologies with Prof. Miller * 726/ Early American Lit. with Prof. Faherty * 733/ Asian American Lit with Prof. Chu * 735/ Climate Change Fiction with Prof. Fisk * 781/ African American Speculative Lit. with Prof. Moore * 781/ Creative Writing for English Educators with Prof. Hahn That’s all for this month! In early March, we’ll send out a message that has further details about Fall registration. Best, Bill [cid:image001.png@01D9463A.0BC30D00]