News & Events

 

2014-2015 Highlights

 

1. Conference Presentations

 

Dr. Michael Chappell

American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association, May 2015:  "The Road from Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side to Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels.

           

Dr. Heather Levy

International Association for the Study of Irish Literature, July 2014:  "'Making Each Other's Hearts Beat Violently': Disembodying Ireland/Embodying England."

 

Renaissance Society of America, March 2015: "'Friday's Child is Loving and Giving': Hounded by Parodies of Punishment in the Tale of Nastagio degli Onesti."

           

Women and Great Hunger in Ireland, March 2015:  "'A Pair of Shoes for my Father, Sir!': Patterns of Female Resistance in New Lights, Or, Life in Galway: A Tale."

           

Dr. Ingrid Pruss

International Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed conference, June 2015: "Passers All of Us."

 

Professor Margaret Sullivan

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, January 2015: "The Play within the Play is 'the thing'"

           

Dr. Cigdem Usekes

Northeast Modern Language Association, May 2015: "August Wilson's Warrior Men"

 

2. Leadership in Professional Organizations

 

Dr. Donald Gagnon

Executive board and area chair, Northeast Popular Culture Association. Promoted to upper-level administration, Educational Testing Service/AP Reading

 

3.  Published Works:

           

Dr. Donald Gagnon

"Some Old and Then Some New Tricks." The Sondheim Review Winter 2014

           

Dr. Shouhua Qi

The Bronte Sisters in Other Wor(l)ds.  Co-editor and contributing author. Palgrave, Fall 2014.

           

4. Additional Accomplishments and Contributions

 

Dr. Michael Chappell

Chair, UPBC

Directed three Master's theses

           

Dr. Donald Gagnon

Guest lecturer, Providence College, October 2014: "The American Musical: A Drama of Democracy"

           

Guest lecturer, WCSU Library Lecture, October 2014: "Latino Like Me: The History, Challenges, and Politics"

           

Chair, Department of English

 

Co-coordinator, American Studies program

 

Co-chair, Arts and Sciences Nominations and Elections committee

 

Chaired four panels at Northeast Popular Culture Association conference, October 2014

Host/facilitator, "A Musical Theatre Masterclass with Broadway and Tony Award-winning actress Cady Huffman," WCSU, November 2014 (att. Approx. 100)

           

Sponsored #BlackLivesMatter/National Poetry Month event, April 2015 (att. Approx. 100)

           

Sponsored guest lectures by Broadway actors Arbender Robinson, Kyle Scatliffe, and Wallace Smith

 

Sponsored Dr. Reginald Wilburn from University of New Hampshire for Black History Month presentation "Preaching the Gospel of Black Revolt: Appropriating Milton in Early African American Literature" (att: approx. 80)

           

Advisor, English Honors Society

Advisor, Queers and Allies

 

Sponsored and accompanied students to CSU Undergraduate English Conference at CCSU, October 2014

 

Helped to organize annual Octoberfeast event

 

Attended university Open House, November 2014

 

Professor Margaret Sullivan

Directed a Master's thesis

           

Dr. Cigdem Usekes

Chaired a panel on James Baldwin at Northeast Modern Language Association conference, May 2015

           

Dr. Heather Levy

Organized student trip to New York City to see A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington (att: approx. 15)

           

Organized student trip to see King Lear broadcast at Ridgefield Playhouse (att: approx. 5)

Advisor, English Society

 

Sponsored Dr. Elizabeth Lambert, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, September 2015 for English faculty lecture series (att: approx. 10)

 

Helped to organize annual Octoberfeast event

 

Attended university Open House, November 2014

 

Advised student facing challenges in her English education program to consider refocusing her studies toward a related career. Student is now enrolled in a Master of Science program in Library Science at the University of Chicago.

 

Dr. Michael Chappell

Sponsored, chaired panel and accompanied students to CSU Undergraduate English Conference at CCSU, October 2014

           

Professor Margaret Sullivan

Helped to organize annual Octoberfeast event

Attended university Open House, November 2014

 

5 Students Attending/Presenting at Conferences/Faculty Mentoring Student Research:

           

2014 CSU Undergraduate English Conference, October 2014

Panel 7: Femme Fatales: "American Women as Subject and Object"

Moderator: Dr. Margaret Murray

Michele Regiano, "Real Women"

Casey-Rose Kearns, "Untrustworthy Narrators"

Christina Kinsella, "Murderous Governess"

Chelsea Rodriguez, "Hear the Women Roar"

 

Panel 10: Broken Promises; American Visions and Revisions

Moderator: Dr. Michael Chappell

Sarah Pawson, "The American Deceit"

Marc Aubin, "America's Innocent Inception"

Sean Keenan, "The Color of Death"

Kenny Ward, "The Modern Day Witch Hunt"

 

Dr. Michael Chappell, Master's thesis advisor for David Phillips on John Milton

 

Dr. Don Gagnon, Student Independent Study with Sean Keenan on Hip-Hop and the History of Spoken Word Poetry

 

Dr. Margaret Sullivan, Master's thesis advisor for Kathy Cullen on children's literature

 

 

Summer 2014

Dr. Heather Levy is presenting a paper titled "Making Each Different Heart Beat Violently: Disembodying Ireland/Embodying England in Elizabeth Bowen's Shorter Fiction� at the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature conference to be held in Lille, France from July 14-18, 2014. 

 

Spring 2014 

Dr. Don Gagnon has served in the following capacities:

--President of Northeast Popular Culture Association (2012-13).

--Area Chair of Northeast Popular Culture Association (2012--ongoing).

--Reader/Grader for Educational Testing Service for advanced placement essays (2011--ongoing).

--Advisor for WCSU's Q&A (Queers and Allies) (2005--ongoing).

--Advisor for WCSU's Sigma Tau Delta/English Honors Society (2007--ongoing). 

 

Dr. Don Gagnon will present at Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (Topic: Oscar Hammerstein), April, 2014  

 

Dr. Don Gagnon will guest lecturer at Yale University (Topic: Cultural Invisibilities), October, 2014. 

 

Fall 2013

Dr. Don Gagnon presented a paper titled "Racism in CLYBOURNE PARK" at Northeast Modern Language Association, March, 2013. 

 

Dr. Don Gagnon guest lectured at University of New Hampshire, November, 2013 (Topic: The Colored Museum). 

 

Dr. Heather Levy gave a paper "Immortal Longings": Elizabeth Bowen and Murder at the Marginalised Maintstream Conference at the University of London on September 13, 2013. 

 

December, 2012

Dr. Heather Levy will be presenting a paper at the London Women's Leadership Symposium hosted by Cambridge Club, December 8, 2012.

 

Summer 2012

Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a paper titled "Anxiety, Angst, and the Search for Hardys Chinese Tw(a)in" at the 20th International Thomas Hardy Conference, Dorchester, UK, 18-26 August 2012. 

 

Dr. Shouhua Qi's article "Translation and Transmutation: Hardy in the Post-Mao, Market-Driven China" has been published in the Hardy Review. The Thomas Hardy Association. VIV-I (Spring 2012): 47-58.

 

April 2012
Chris Bolster, an MA in English student, will be presenting a paper, "Garfield as Trickster: The Existential Implications of a World Without Garfield" at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, April 2012, Boston, MA.

Spring 2012
Dr. Shouhua Qi's new book Western Literature in China and the Translation of a Nation is released in spring 2012 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). This book traces the contours of the ways in which Western literature has been introduced and received in China from the 1840s to the present. It is an attempt to navigate and unpack the complex dynamics, or fault zones, of texts (literary and sociopolitical), contexts (Chinese and Western), intertexts (translation and creative writing), dominance (language, culture, ideology) and resistance, and of tension and convergence.

Fall 2011

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship by The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (Washington, DC) to teach at VIT University, India, 2011-2012. Dr. Govardhan received the same award to teach at Al Buraimi University, Oman, for 2010-2011, but due to exigencies at WCSU he was not able to go and teach there.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Research Methodology and Thesis Writing at the National Workshop at Loyola College, Chennai,  India, Dec 1, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Best Practices in Essay Writingat Sharad Pawar International School, Poone, India, Nov 25, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled From Research Paper to Thesis Writing at Justice Basheer Ahmed Womens University, Chennai, Nov 18, 2011

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled How to Start Research Paper and Documentation at University of Madras, Chennai, Nov 17, 2011

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled SAT Essay and How to Write Recommendation Letters at the Workshop Organized at Bangalore, India by the College   Board, NY, Nov.10-11, 2011.        

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Technical Writing, Report Writing, and Thesis Writing. at Periyar Maniammal University, Tanjore, India, Nov 3-4, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Research and Writing at Academic Staff College, University of Madras, Chennai, India, Nov 2, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Natives of America at Gateway International School, Chennai, Oct 28, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Technical Writing at Mahendra Educational Institutions, Salem, India, Oct 13, 2011.

 

Fall 2011
Jason Burgher, a graduate of the BA in English program (2009), has been accepted by Teach For America, "the national corps of outstanding college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and who become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity."

November, 2011
Dr. Ingrid Pruss presented her paper entitled "Image a Spiritual Hologram: Lady Gaga & Alexander McQueen, Royalty of a Different Fashion," at the Northeast Popular Culture Association Conference on Saturday, November 12th, 2011.

 

Summer 2011

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Growth and Development of English Language. Alpha Arts and Science College, Chennai, India, Aug 26, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Report Writing. Psychology Department, University of Madras, Chennai, India, Aug 18, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Opportunities for English Majors. Justice Basheer Ahmed Womens University, Chennai, India, July 25, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Research and Writing: Methodology and Writing for Journals at HIPC Symposium at PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India, July 23, 2011.

 

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan gave a lecture titled Thesis Writing and Documentation in Research Paper at English Department, University of Madras, Chennai, India, July 19-21, 2011

 

June 2011
Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a paper titled "Transmutation under Borrowed Lenses: The 'Success Story' of Thomas Hardy in the Post-Mao, Market-Driven China" at Hardy at Yale International Conference. June 9-12, 2011. Yale University, New Haven, CT. Sponsored by the Thomas Hardy Association.

May 2011
Dr. Ingrid Pruss attended the University of Michigan's 4T Virtual Conference: Teachers Teaching Teachers about Technology (May 22nd- May 25th 2011).

April 2011
Dr. Ingrid Pruss published a prose poem, "ad fontes," on Seam Ripper: Women on Textual & Sartorial Style, an online literary art feature/journal curated /edited by Kate Durbin and Becca Klaver. (click here to access the poem)

Dr. Ciğdem Usekes' essay "The New Desdemona: The White Liberal Woman in African American Drama" will appear in the journal Philological Review.

March 2011
Dr. Michael J. Chappell presented a paper titled "The Pleasures of Friendship and Society: Pekuah and the Arab's Seraglio in Rasselas" at the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference, Vancouver, BC, March 17-20, 2011

 

January 2011
Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a paper titled "Mightier, Double-Edged Sword: Translation of Western Texts, Nationhood, and Cultural Survival for China at the Turn of the 20th Century" at the 2011 Modern Language Association Conference, Los Angeles, CA. January 6-9, 2011.

April 2010
The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (ed. by Tara L. Masih, 2009), for which Dr. Shouhua Qi is a contributing author, has been named a finalist of ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards 2009. Winners will be announced at Book Expo America in New York in June.

 

Dr. Ciğdem Usekes has been invited to contribute her essay entitled "James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry: Two Revolutionaries, One Heart, One Mind" to a special issue of the journal Obsidian dedicated to Baldwin.

April 2010

Dr. Ciğdem Usekes will be presenting a paper tentatively entitled "Did the Sixties Make James Baldwin Too Black and Too Queer?: The Politics and the Critics of Blues for Mister Charlie and Fortune & Men's Eyes" at the 2010 NEMLA Convention in Montreal, Canada.

2009

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan published an article Error Correction Strategies for ESL Students at Indian Voices in ELT.  Viva Publications, New Delhi, India, 2009.

 

December 2009
Dr. Heather Levy will be presenting a paper on The Lost Eves of Peidra Azul: Teresa de la Parra's _Mama Blanca's Souvenirs at the MLA Convention in Philadelphia.

Fall 2009
Dr. Ciğdem Usekes published an essay on playwright Ed Bullins in the
Literary Encyclopedia.

Summer 2009
Dr. Heather Levy attended The Southampton Fiction Writers Conference in July and The Southampton Screenwriting Conference in August 2009.

Spring 2009
Dr. Michael Chappell's essay, "Death by Discourse, or the Fate of Jimmy in The Wild One," appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of the International Journal of Motorcycle Studies.

June 01-03, 2009
Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a three-day lecture/workshop on "Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing" at
China FLT Textbooks and Methodology Research Center, Shanghai International Studies University.

April 2009
Dr. Michael Chappell presented a paper, "Bring Back the '70s: Thoughts on What We Have Lost," at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, April 2009, New Orleans, LA.

April 24-28, 2009
Dr. Shouhua Qi's three-act play Twin-Sun River: An American POW in China was staged by the prestigious Shanghai Theater Academy (8 performances altogether).

March 19-21, 2009
Dr. Cigdem Usekes will be presenting a paper at the "James Baldwin: In His Time/In Our Time" Conference at Suffolk University, Boston, MA.

Dr. Maureen Maguire is working on a book tentatively titled Love Songs from Thomas Campion to Bob Dylan: How Four Centuries of Social Change Has Affected the Voice of the Troubadour.

March 2009
Dr. Cigdem Usekes' essay "'We's the Leftovers': Whiteness as Economic Power and Exploitation in August Wilson's Twentieth-Century Cycle of Plays" will be republished in the collection August Wilson edited by Harold Bloom (part of the Modern Critical Views series, forthcoming March 2009).

Fall 2008
Dr. Michael Chappell's review of The Mammoth Book of Bikers, edited by Arthur Veno, appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of the International Journal of Motorcycle Studies.

November 7-9, 2008
Dr. Cigdem Usekes presented a paper entitled "James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry: Two Revolutionaries, One Heart, One Mind" at the American Drama Conference at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn, NY (November 7-9, 2008).

Fall 2008
The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Contemporary Chinese Flash Fiction, preface and translation by Dr. Shouhua Qi, was released fall 2008 (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press).

July 26-August 2, 2008
Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a paper titled "'You deceived menot by words, but by appearances': First Impressions and Tragic Consequences in The Return of the Native, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure" at the 18th International Thomas Hardy Conference (Dorchester, UK. 26th July 2nd August 2008).

July 2, 2008
Dr. Heather Levy presented a paper "Provisional Bliss: Landscape and London in Elizabeth Bowen's To the North" on July 2, 2008 at the Literary London Conference hosted by Brunel University, Uxbridge.

June 26-28, 2008
Dr. Margaret Murray is currently organizing a conference on Edith Wharton for the Wharton Society, which is to be held at The Mount, in Lenox MA. Students are invited, and may attend all sessions.

June 2008
Dr. Heather Levy visited the New Archive for Poetry at the Mandeville Library at U.C. Davis in June 2008 to research Hannah Weiner's unpublished poetry. This work was conducted through an AAUP research grant.

March 26-27, 2008
Dr. Shouhua Qi was invited to give a lecture for the Honors Program at Harrisburg Area Community College March 26-27, 2008. The title of his lecture was "History and the Novel: The Role of Literature in Understanding the Dynamics of Power."

March 24, 2008
A stage reading of Dr. Shouhua Qi's Twin-Sun River (a screenplay about an American Korean War POW who chose to go to China at the time of armistice) was performed in the HBO Building in New York (5:30 PM- 8:00 PM, March 24, 2008). The event was sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences New York, produced by Emmy-winning Louisa Burns-Bisogno and Ellen Muir, and directed by Pam McDaniel. Earlier (6:00PM-8:00PM, March 19, 2008), Dr. Qi was invited to give a seminar lecture at the academy titled "Translating from Novel to Screenplay: Challenges and Pitfalls Merging Three Cultures (Chinese, Japanese, Western)."

February 17, 2008
Dr. Ingrid Pruss presented a paper entitled, "Miri Ben-Ari's 'Symphony of Brotherhood': Is it really about us?" at the 2008 Southwest/Texas Popular Culture/American Culture Association Conference. The paper demonstrated the use of Ben-Ari's hip-hop video as an adjunctive tool for teaching critical methods and advanced poetry, specifically the dramatic monologue.

December 27-30, 2007
Dr. Heather Levy will be presenting a paper entitled "More than 'Trash to Buy Tobacco': Sinister Badges of Womanhood, Blackness and Homosexuality in Melville's Redburn" at the 2007 Modern Language Association Convention in Chicago.

Fall 2007
Dr. Margaret Murray will be on sabbatical for the fall. The purpose of this leave is twofold: (1) to train as Associate Editor of The Edith Wharton Review and (2) to continue her research on the life of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman in order to write a critical biography, which is now in progress. The working title is For the Love of French Hats: The Life of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.

 

FALL 2007
Dr. Donald P. Gagnon serves as faculty advisor to the English Society, the English Honor Society as well as Stand Together, the organization for g/l/b/t/q students. In addition, Dr. Gagnon is co-chair of the annual Banned Books Week event this year.

 

AUGUST 4, 2007
Dr. Margaret Murray and Professor (Judy) Sullivan had a get together for students and community members for a chance to chat with like minded Potterphiles about the last book in the Potter series, Harry Postter and the Deathly Hallows. All invited, all ages.

 

JULY 2007
Western Literary Studies: Traditions, Trends, and Topics, which Dr. Shouhua Qi co-edited and contributed to, is released by People's University of China Press in Beijing.

 

JUNE 28-30, 2007
Dr. Cigdem Usekes presented her paper "In Another Country: James Baldwin and the Turkish Theatre Scene" at the James Baldwin Conference in London, England. This project was sponsored by a 2006-2007 CSU-AAUP Research Grant.

June 14-17, 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi presented a paper entitled "Imagining Hardy in the Brave New World Today" at "Hardy At Yale," an international conference organized by The Thomas Hardy Association. He is the organizer of the panel "Thomas Hardy and the Globalized World."

May 10, 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi is Western's recipient of the 2006-2007 Connecticut State University Board of Trustees Research Award. The annual award was established in 2006 to recognize an assistant or associate professor from each of the four CSU universities for his or her "research/creative work of exceptional promise" and for having demonstrated "substantive contributions, achievements and scholarly activity" in his or her field in the last five years.

May 2007
Dr. Michael J. Chappell is named to the editorial board of the International Journal of Motorcycle Studies.

April 25, 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi's paper entitled "Traditions and Trends in Western Literary Genre Studies" was published by Foreign Literature Studies (Vol 29, No. 2, April 2007, pp.31-42), Wuhan, China.

April, 2007
Dr. Margaret Murray gave a paper entitled "The Brokeback American Hero: From Salem to Wyoming" at the American Culture Association conference held in Boston, MA.

APRIL 1, 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi's short story collection entitled Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories (Long River Press, 2007) was released. Gloria Frym, an American Book Award winner, says the 14 stories in the collection "gloriously join the lineage of Chekhov" while Daniel Asa Rose, a two-time Pen Fiction Award recipient, says "[b]y turns tender and chilling, these elegant and deeply knowing tales linger in the mind."

April 2007
Dr. Michael J. Chappell presented a paper, "A Brief History of the 21st Century Motorcycle Hero," at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in Boston, MA.

March, 2007
Dr. Ingrid Pruss gave an interdisciplinary paper/performance art piece at the CSU Sensorium in New Britain, CT on the necessity of acknowledging teaching as an artistic, creative genre and a valid form of art and the impact of originality in the classroom on students' performance in the class based on group work, individual presentations and papers. Pruss used Shakespeare, advertising, postmodern art, the entertainment industry, and some of her own work to make her point.

Dr. Anam K. Govardhan co-presented a paper titled A Globalized Indian English at the Forty-first TESOL Annual International Convention, Seattle, WA, March 21-24, 2007.

 

February 8, 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi was the featured author speaker for the Writing Contest sponsored by Kennedy Middle School of Southington, CT.

January 2007
Dr. Shouhua Qi was a featured writer of a Reading and Signing event sponsored by the MFA program, Irfan Kathwari Honors House, WCSU.

Fall 2006-Spring 2007
Dr. Margaret Murray was named as Assistant Editor of the Edith Wharton Review during spring 2007. She was also named Secretary of the Edith Wharton Society during fall 2006.

December 27-30, 2006
Dr. Margaret Murray chaired a panel on Edith Wharton at the 2006 MLA Convention in Philadelphia, PA. The panel's title was "Narcissism in the Works of Edith Wharton."

 

NOVEMBER 2006
Dr. Michael J. Chappell presented a paper, "Vultures, Indians, and Colonial Expansion: Samuel Johnson and the First Great War," at the Silo, Hunt Hill Farm, New Milford, CT.

June 2006
Dr. Michael J. Chappell was interviewed in CSU Universe about his work in motorcycle studies and its application in the classroom.

April 27, 2006
Dr. Shouhua Qi was the featured speaker of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month at Norwalk Community College, CT. The title of his speech is "Bridging the Pacific: A Personal Journey from a Different Shore."

April 27, 2006
Dr. Shouhua Qi was the keynote speaker of the 2006 IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust. The title of his speech is "Impac[t]ing the World with Your Words".

April 2006
Dr. Michael J. Chappell presented a paper, "Hunter S. Thompson: A Literary Appraisal of Hell's Angels" at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in Atlanta, GA.

March 2006
Dr. Michael J. Chappell presented a paper, "Vultures, Indians, and Colonial Expansion: Samuel Johnson and the First Great War," at the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference, Montreal, QC