On behalf of our Colleagues, we welcome you to this spring edition of our revived English Department Newsletter. In this edition you will find updates and features on new and long-term faculty, recent publications by our colleagues, innovations in the teaching of writing, and news about our alumni. We’re proud also to introduce the History of Black Writing project and archive, which has come into the department from the University of Kansas.

 

It is our hope that this Newsletter contributes to cultivating and sustaining the supportive sense of community that has always characterized our department, and that is perhaps even more important now, as new challenges emerge that may tempt our focus away from our central commitment to studying the power and variety of the English language. You will find in these pages many expressions of these shared commitments, in and out of the classroom, and on and off campus. Achievements and successes are represented across the three core scholarly foci that make up the department: literature, creative writing, and rhetoric.

 

To borrow the awkward phrasing that US presidents often use when addressing Congress: The state of the English Department is strong. Enrollments are robust, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; we continue to welcome new faculty; and our students and colleagues continue our inspiring traditions of excellence and achievement. This Newsletter documents the dedication of our colleagues and students to the careful study of new and historical literary works, to the crafting of prose and poems, to the critique of public discourse, and to new engagements with familiar theory and exploration of leading-edge ideas.

 

Of all of the seasons we enjoy here in Bloomington, spring is one of the most beautiful. We look forward to the weather warming and the flowers blossoming.

 

Purnima Bose, Chair, and Robert Terrill, Associate Chair