Newsletter 2014-2015

A Message from the Chair

Photograph of Fraser Easton. By Fraser Easton

Greetings from English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo! I am delighted to update you on what has been happening with your English Department.

Let me start with how the last year has been another period of significant growth and change for English. We have welcomed four new faculty colleagues, all to new positions:

Bruce Dadey, an expert in business and technical communication
Ashley Kelly, a specialist in technical communication and the rhetoric of science
John Savarese, an expert in British romantic poetry and philosophy of mind
Stephanie White, a specialist in writing studies and student-centred learning More >>

Previous issues of the English newsletter

Donate to English

Make a Gift

A Message from the Undergraduate Officer

By Jay Dolmage

In 2014/2015 our English undergraduates have been involved with a series of really exciting initiatives and projects. I began my term as Undergraduate Chair this time last year, and it has been incredibly rewarding to see so many students begin their paths as English majors, see others graduate and move on to careers or graduate programs, and to help all of our students make informed choices about classes, majors, minors, and specializations.

On that note, it is worth pointing out that we have new specializations in Global Literatures and in Digital Media, and a new specialization and minor in Technical Writing. In 2015/2016, we will unveil a new 2^nd-year creative writing course, a course devoted to “Gothic Monsters,” courses on J.R.R Tolkien and Harry Potter, and a “Fiction and Film” class. More >>

A Message from SAGE, The Student Association for Graduates in English

By Elise Vist and Emma Vossen

We started off 2014 with several social gatherings, including the Orientation party (which featured tasty snacks and beer), a Thanksgiving Potluck (where people got crafty), and an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. We followed this up in the Winter semester with our Annual General Meeting, a Poetry night, and a trip to a local brewery with Wilfrid Laurier’s English/Film Studies department. We now offer funding for social and professional events held and attended by English grad students, where organizers can apply for up to $75 to host an event intended to encourage socializing and networking between English graduates. We’re currently working on offering more professional and academic workshops, including our CV-Writing workshop, which we held in two parts in April and an Area Exam QA scheduled for June 30th. More >>

Alumni Interview: Jessica Kohlsmith

Jessica Kohlsmith (AKA Jessica Kohl) is a Social Media and Internet Marketing Strategist in Miami, where she co-founded the brand “Alittlefamous.” Jessica was part of the team that executed one of the more prominent viral marketing campaigns of 2015, “the belfie,” which drew the attention of Time, CNN, and innumerable other major news outlets.

In 2013, Jessica completed her degree in Honours Rhetoric and Professional Writing. She did not have to wait long to launch her career. “I was recruited right out of university, while attending a career fair that UW hosted. Two weeks later, I was living in Miami Beach and working for an online media conglomerate managing social media profiles, viral campaigns, blogs, and other areas of digital media marketing including working with celebrities, models, athletes, big brands and the media.” More >>

Excellence in Research

Professor Randy Harris has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, for his project, entitled "Computational Rhetoric.” Chrysanne DiMarco, cross-appointed to English and based in Computer Science here at uWaterloo, is a co-principal investigator on the grant, while Ashley Kelly, who is joining our department as an Assistant Professor this July, and Michael Ullyot, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, are collaborators.

Excellence in Teaching

Professor Michael MacDonald was one of only four University of Waterloo professors to be awarded a 2015 “Distinguished Teaching Award.” Waterloo Stories published an article on Michael’s accomplishment and his views on teaching millennials.

Faculty Profile: Professor Jennifer Harris

Jennifer Harris is currently at work on a Broadview edited edition of an eighteenth-century American novel about one of Boston's great scandals. Jennifer's article "`The True History of My Brother Tom´s Dog´: A Lost Autobiographical Tale by Catharine Parr Traill" appears in the Spring 2015 issue of Studies in Canadian Literature. Another essay, on an overlooked nineteenth-century African American author, is forthcoming in Legacy. A third piece, on a nineteenth-century Black Maritime Elocutionist, received a Best Article Honorable Mention from the Canadian Historical Association's Canadian Committee on Migration, Ethnicity and Transnationalism. Harris also presented at conferences hosted by C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists and the Northeast Modern Language Association, and at the Guelph Black Heritage Society. She remains on the board of the Canadian Association for American Studies, and has joined an executive committee for C19. Otherwise, she continues to dig in archival records for ongoing research projects, when not contributing to and maintaining the English Department blog, Words in Place.

Friends of English Literature fund

Photo of Dorothy Hadfield presenting the 251a award to Claire Matlock. The Department of English is currently welcoming donations to its Friends of English Literature fund in support of student awards for excellence in the study of British, American, Canadian, and Post-Colonial literatures in English. Awards made possible by this fund this past March include the following:

The Hibbard Shakespeare Prize (awarded to Lindsay Kroes)
The Canadian Literature Prize (awarded to Quinn Silbermann)
The Award in American Literature and Culture (Alexandra Siebert)

Our goal is to raise $10,000 for this fund in support of additional essay prizes; we warmly welcome your contribution of $25, $50, $100, or more towards this goal. To donate, please go to our Make a Gift page.