2005-2006 SAGE Officers & Representatives

This academic year has seen quite a few successful social events already. Nights out at Henry’s and Louise’s followed a picnic in the park. We look forward to the Halloween party—details TBA—and other events from our great events committee (Katie Egging, Alicia Sutliff, Richard Noggle, and Joe Sommers).

A possible clean up of the SAGE office is under way. We have several new computers, quite a few books to sell, old teaching materials, and a good library of DVDs that need cataloguing. We plan to let everyone know about the reorganization of the office as soon as it happens. We will also begin collecting books for the Annual Used Book Sale, which will be held in the spring—more details will be forthcoming. Please watch your calendar for upcoming events! Feel free to drop either Kristin (kabbo@ku.edu) or John (jwiehl@ku.edu) an email with any ideas you might have for improving SAGE.

John Wiehl & Kristin Bovaird-Abbo

Welcome to our new graduate students . . .

Keri Behre, a native of Wichita, comes to us from Florida State University. She hopes to be a professor in a small liberal arts college.

Samantha Bell is from Rochester, New York. She’d like to be Dave Eggers, even though he’s a real person.

Bret Billman hails from Wichita, Kansas. He has excellent night vision, plays racquetball, and would like to be happy when he grows up.

Cedric Burrows is from Memphis, Tennessee. The best movie he’s seen lately is Hustle and Flow.

Cyrus Console spent his summer helping people move. He’s good at fixing things around the house and would like to be a writer when he grows up.

Dustin Crowley worked for a publishing company over the summer. He plays the piano and loves I Heart Huckabees.

Daryl Lynn Dance is from Richmond, Virginia. She spent her summer traveling and working in underage drinking prevention.

Emily Garriott moved to Kansas from Northern California. She is exceptionally good at memorizing numbers.

Angela Glover attended the ASLE conference this summer. She hails from Omaha, Nebraska, and hopes to be a good friend when she grows up.

Jessica Jessee hopes to be a teacher and manuscript editor when she grows up. The best movie she’s seen recently is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Ted Kritikos enjoys social events involving beer. A native of Lawrence, Ted spent his summer fixing guitars and writing.

Bill Martinie was born, bred, and still lives in Overland Park. His favorite literary character is Stephen Dedalus.

Heather McNeill Moore spent the summer in Nova Scotia on her honeymoon. She’d like to be a rock star when she grows up.

Chris Nelson would like to be someone who wears a cape. Failing that (or perhaps in addition to), he’d like to be martyred for a cause bigger than himself.

Emily Robbins attended the Toni Morrison Language Matters conference this summer in Cincinnati. She enjoys quilting.

Nedra Rogers is especially good at changing diapers and writing poetry. She’d like to be Don Quixote.

Emily Sappenfield would like to be Jane Eyre, minus the homeless, wandering bit. She hails from Lawrence.

Stephanie Scurto lives in Oskaloosa. She spent the summer working at the KU law library and enjoys hiking and exploring.

Sarah Sinning loves The Island and going to movies with friends. She is from New Bern, North Carolina.

Leah Underdown moved to Kansas from Denver, Colorado. She enjoys painting and drawing.

Nathaniel Williams spent the summer teaching American lit in Missouri. He can play the guitar like Jerry Lee Lewis.

What Kind of Graduate Student Are You?

A friendly quiz compiled by your pals Sara e Jordan and Heather Bastian, former V6-ers, future outlaws

Mostly C’s: We care about you. We are here to support you. We think you may be an alcoholic. Your wicked sense of humor and the energy to invigorate your surroundings breathes life into the department, but this life may be over soon due to acute liver disease. While we debate mind-body dualism, you drown your brain in PBR and flip off Plato. While we may have wine with dinner, you enjoy whiskey with whiskey (the breakfast of true champions). Sober up, at least until you pass your comps. After that, then you throw one hell of a party.

In a motivational address at this year’s CTE Orientation, a mandatory and unpaid event for all new Graduate Teaching Assistants, the Provost alluded to a number of the benefits that the University offers its GTAs: a competitive minimum salary, health care, a guaranteed tuition waiver, etc. Yet he failed to mention the University’s resistance to the ratification of these policies in years past, as well as the ongoing struggle faced by GTAC, the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, to maintain and improve these benefits for present and future GTAs at KU. Another curious omission at the orientation, one that is perhaps more difficult to account for, was mention of the expiration, in early October, of the current GTA contract, and the negotiations for a new contract that are presently underway. GTAC representatives would have clarified this misunderstanding, but, unfortunately, they’re barred from the building during the orientation session.

The fact is that, prior to the existence of GTAC, there was no guaranteed tuition waiver, no limit to the number of hours GTAs had to work, no University contribution to a health care plan, and no grievance policy to protect GTA positions and employee rights. And up until three years ago, when the current contract was ratified, minimum salaries still sat at a meager $5,000, rather than the current $10,000, the University’s contribution to the GTA health care plan was 50, not 75, percent, and no GTA was guaranteed a yearly raise. These benefits were won by GTAs working together, not given by the University.

So, how can you get involved in GTAC or find out about the process of negotiations? Where, and to whom can you voice your job concerns and/or desires? And what happened to those guaranteed yearly raises this year? Talk to your English department representative, John Wiehl, GTAC co-president, Kyle Waugh, or head-negotiator, Katy Martin, and find out how we can improve the quality of both undergraduate education and of our working conditions. You can also visit GTAC’s webpage, www.kugtac.org, or email the organization at gtac@kugtac.org. KU works because we do, and the more we are, the more we can do.

What are you working on?

Heather Bastian, second year M.A. student, is working on an article, “The Ideology of Genre,” currently under consideration at CCC. This paper will be presented as part of a panel -- with Catherine Betz and Lesley Bartlett -- at the CCCC conference in March.

Todd Giles, second year doctoral candidate, is spending his time learning about the intersections between Modernist avant-garde poetry and Cubist papier colle and collage.

Sara Jordan, second year M.A. student, is interested in the connections between the novel and consumer culture, the work of art as commodity, and the novels of George Eliot. She is also a very funny lady.

Comments, announcements, suggestions may be sent to:
SAGE Advice editor . . . Shannon Pufahl at spufahl@ku.edu