A Belated but Hearty Welcome to Professor Davidson

By Amanda McGinnis

Coming back to my office after Hartman's MEG class one Tuesday morning, I rounded the corner to see a tall, stylish, brunette lady studying my office door.  Although she was young, she wasn't young enough to be a student;  nor could she be a GTA, as we graduate students could never hope to attain the poise and panache that this woman possessed.  Intrigued, I fumbled my way up to the door (instantly conscious of my unpolished Tuesday appearance) and excused myself as I put the key into the lock.

She smiled at me chummily, and asked, "Is this Amanda McGinnis's office?"  "I'm Amanda," I replied, somewhat surprised that this person could possibly be looking for scruffy-looking me.  Curiouser and curiouser!  Who could she be?  "I'm Mary Catherine Davidson," she announced.  "I got your note, and I was hoping to catch you in your office.  I always prefer talking in person to e-mail, don't you?"

Well, as a matter of fact, I do.  A week later as we sat in the Kansas sunshine outside Wescoteria, I instantly felt at ease.  This is a colleague who invites friendship and who is genuinely interested in others.  As Anne would say, a "kindred spirit."  Between leisurely sips of Earl Grey, I asked her about herself, her interests, and all the good stuff that doesn't always make its way onto a resume.

March 2002

     Inside this issue:

• Go Vote!

• Hall Candidates in
  Review

• Welcome to Prof. Davidson

• SAGE Creative Reading Series

• News from Conference-goers

• Announcements

• Dr. Doctor

A native of Canada (originally Saskatchewan), Mary Catherine defended her dissertation just this past August at the University of Toronto's Center for Medieval Studies.  While her Master's and Doctorate are both in this field, she double-majored in Latin and medieval studies as an undergraduate, following a brief stint as a nurse's aide in a psychiatric unit.  (How I love people who can't limit themselves to one field of study!)  This seems to be the appeal behind medieval studies;  she describes it as a field that combines philology, theology, language, cultural studies, paleography and more, where one can "dabble" in different areas and bring them together into various kinds of projects.  (Sounds good to me!)  Her range of interests allow her to present at linguistic conferences as well as various literary gatherings, and she has done work on Beowulf, Shakespeare . . . even Donna Summer!

Here at KU, Mary Catherine teaches a course on the history of the English language, and she also offers a 203 course on hard-boiled fiction and film noir.  A confessed film noir fanatic, she also loves Iranian cinema, and she collects nun movies to send to her mom back home.  She also admits a fondness for "cheesy jazz," but names Charlie Parker as one of her favorites (and hinted at a hidden desire to play the saxophone herself).  In addition, if you're a golfer, give Mary Catherine a call the next time you head out to the course, because she's always looking for opportunities to play, and, hey, Shawn, she might even take you up on a game of tennis.  Thoughts on Lawrence:  "I love living on Mass Street.  Everyone said it would be too loud, but it's great.  I just wish there were more jazz."  (Maybe we should plan Zach outside her window with his guitar!)

Definitely stop by and get to know Mary Catherine--she's just two doors removed from Professor Bergeron on the third floor (yeah, be sure you don't get that confused when you're looking her up).  Whether you're wanting to chat about Old Norse, the Sex Pistols, or The Maltese Falcon, she'll make you feel right at home.

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Calling All Conference Goers!

Every week in the DNB, you'll find a section dedicated to department members who have attended conferences and given presentations.  Chances are, you are either among them, or would like to be among them more regularly.  Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to meet people with similar interests in the field of English and to share your research and writing with audiences who appreciate and support the language arts.  So what are you waiting for?

Perhaps a recent call for papers caught your eye, but you're not sure if it's the perfect conference for you.  Sometimes, we fall into the conferences we attend by a stroke of good luck.  Other times, it is careful planning that gets us where we want to be in this whirlwind we call academia.

I asked some conference-goers to record their experiences at various conferences, and here is what they said:
 

Amy Cummins, President of GTAC and Ph.D. candidate: "I worked as co-chair of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers Conference (BWWC), which our department hosted in March 2001.  My fellow co-chairs were Troy Bassett and Deborah Pye, and our faculty advisor was Professor Dorice Elliot.  Through the BWWC, I learned more about expanding the literary canon and recovering the work of forgotten or neglected women writers, and this experience greatly influenced my choice of a dissertation topic concerning education and lesser-known antebellum United States women writers.  I also learned a great deal about the administrative aspects of running a conference in the scholarly community and about the intricate processes of selecting paper proposals and forming effective panels.  Through fundraising the needed money for a major international conference at KU, I gained valuable skills in successfully presenting academic events in an under-funded university that is constantly experiencing budget crises due to inadequate state funding.  Equally important, I made friends through this work, fellow graduate students and faculty members who shared my research interests and imperatives.  The experience as co-chair of the BWWC has been a highlight of my KU career thus far."

Ellen Fangman, 2nd year Ph.D. candidate: "I have been attending the annual conference of the Western Literature Association for three years now, and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my academic life.  I began my interest in Western American literature while studying at UNO under the former president of the WLA, Dr. Susan N. Maher, and she encouraged me to submit a chapter of my thesis to the conference.  She said they would welcome papers like the one I was doing on Ivan Doig, and I should definitely submit it.  So, I did, and they accepted it.  I was nervous to attend, but I was going with friends from our department, including Dr. Maher, so when it came time to present, we cheered each other on.  I enjoyed the papers and presentations I attended, and even though the field was new to me at first, I grew more acquainted with the literature of the West, and the following years I could understand the topics better.  This last October, I even got to chair a session at the conference in my hometown and was surprised at the good turnout for the session.  In addition, last June I attended the Mendocino Writer's Conference, which was a wonderful way to meet new and old writers.  There were sessions on the familiar essay, on poetry, on fiction, and opportunities to meet with agents.  Not not mention the California wine and barbecue on the beach!  Plus, it was great that the department paid for most of this trip, as funds were available."

Some helpful websites to research conferences include:

• http://awpwriter.org/wcc/a-d.htm (a directory of creative writer's conferences)

• http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ (an amazingly comprehensive list of literary conferences and calls for papers)

Also, the magazine Poets and Writers always advertises a variety of literary conferences in its bimonthly publication.  This spring, it features an issue on conferences as well.

SAGE has just been informed that we most likely do have money for travel awards this year.  So, if you have incurred (or plan to incur) any conference-related expenses this semester, please let Joanna Harader or Kirby Fields know!

Staff Writer

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Get Out There and Vote!

All Graduate Students:  Remember to Vote in the Student Body Elections on April 10 or 11!  You can vote for Student Body President, Vice-President, Graduate and Off-Campus Senators, and for or against a referendum about the Newspaper Readership Fee.  All you need to vote is your KU ID card.  Polling locations include Wescoe Beach and the Kansas Union.  Please support the Delta Force Coalition, a progressive organization working for causes such as:  fair wages for KU employees; campus democracy; supporting campus diversity; environmental sustainability; and working for minority student recruitment and retention as well as LGBT needs.  For more information, contact Graduate Senator Amy Cummins or visit:

www.ku.edu/~dforce

Please increase graduate student voter turnout by doing your civic duty!

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Find your niche . . .

in the feminist theory discussion group!

• Bi-weekly meetings
   
• Discussions of literature dealing with gender and feminist related issues (interpretive and theoretical issues, feminine/feminist ways of writing, women's literature, feminist composition pedagogies)
   
• Kick around ideas for papers, research projects, conference proposals

Everyone is welcome, including friends from other departments.  For more information, contact Crystal Gorham at cgorham@ku.edu or 864-2538.

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Hall Candidates in Review

We are eagerly awaiting a decision regarding the candidates for the Hall Distinguished Professorship of American Literature and Culture, all of whom visited in the last month.

Professor Susan K. Harris, of The Pennsylvania State University, presented "Blurred Boundaries:  Mark Twain, Gender, and 19th-Century Culture" on February 26th.  Harris is the author of 19th-Century American Women's Novels:  Interpretive Strategies (Cambridge UP, 1990) and The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain (Cambridge UP, 1996).  Her forthcoming work, Annie Adams Fields, Mary Gladstone Drew, and the Work of the Late 19th-Century Hostess (Palgrave/St. Martin's Press, 2002) will enhance her standing as a critic in the specific area of 19th-Century American women's reading and writing.

Professor Brook Thomas, who has withdrawn his candidacy, presented "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Civil Rights, Mugwumpery, and the Independent Citizen" on March 5th.  Thomas, a Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, is the author of four monographs, including Cross-Examinations of Law and Literature (Cambridge UP, 1987) and The New Historicism and Other Old-Fashioned Topics (Princeton UP, 1991).  His most recent book is American Literary Realism and the Failed Promise of Contract (University of California Press, 1997).

Professor Gillian Brown, of The University of Utah, presented "Hawthorne's American History" on March 12th.  She is the author of two books, including the ground-breaking Domestic Individualism:  Imagining Self in Nineteenth-Century America (California, 1990), which explores writings by Hawthorne, Stowe, and Melville in the context of nineteenth-century American domestic values.  Her second book is The Consent of the Governed:  The Lockean Legacy in Early American Culture (Harvard UP).  Her next book is tentatively titled The Americanization of Childhood, and it will explore the nineteenth-century emergence of an American children's literature.

The lectures were vibrant and well-attended, and we are proud to have hosted such distinguished professors on our campus.

Staff Writer

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