As we reach the end of this challenging academic year, I am deeply grateful to our department’s faculty, staff, and graduate instructors for creating community and spaces of care for students, and the ways we have supported one another as colleagues.
I am especially proud of the way that we have continued to work together to build the department. We completed a multi-year effort to revise our undergraduate major and develop new courses, and we continue to make changes to our graduate programs... Read more
In this issue of English Matters, we report the retirements of the last three founding members of the English Language and Rhetoric Track. Along with those of Juan Guerra and Sandra Silberstein, the most recent departure, the retirement of Gail Stygall, marks the end of an era.Professor Emerita Sandy Silberstein reprises Stygall’s impressive and impactful career.
Gail Stygall is a leading scholar in both the language of law and rhetoric/composition. In her 31 years... Read more
Graduate:
Graduate student E.J. Koh was interviewed by J.R. Ramakrishnan about her memoir, The Magical Language of Others, which is the winner of the 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award and has been featured on... Read more
Now that we find more time at home to read, English Matters’ mind’s eye sees thousands of alums nervously watching “read next” stacks reduced from skyscrapers to single story. We’re here to help! English professors, after all, are people who for a living tell other people which books to read. And in case it isn’t apparent (it is), we heartily enjoy doing so. So trust our recommendations below to restock your stacks with quality companions. Happy reading!
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Literature, Language, Culture: A Dialogue Series is quite likely the UW English Department’s boldest and most successful foray into new media. A video and podcast series, each episode highlights a faculty member’s research and teaching, along with resources to support viewers’ learning. Subjects covered are compelling, diverse, and important, each episode showcasing the range of questions we ask, the texts we study, the art we create... Read more
Disseminating scholarship and artistic creation to broader publics is a crucial part of the UW English Department’s mission. Usually, English Matters might forward a hyperlink or two when our students and faculty appear in local or national press. But this spring we are proud and excited to make you aware of a half-dozen articles featuring the work and perspectives of our faculty as well as graduate and undergraduate students. We thank Professors Richard Kenney, Francis McCue, and... Read more
UW English Alumni are like a box of chocolates where you can be pretty sure what you are going to get: award-winning, best-selling books. In this issue of English Matters, we celebrate some of our most recent alumni authorial achievements, and also a successful young professor winning a coveted Fulbright Scholar award. Congratulations to all, and cheers to any and all alums who choose to grace us with notable good news. Don’t be shy – we’d love to hear from you.
Serial non-fiction... Read more
Professor Sandra Silberstein retired in Spring 2019. Hers was our last in-person retirement reception before the pandemic; we look forward to returning to these. Below are excerpts from remarks delivered by English Department Chair Anis Bawarshi at that event wishing Dr. Silberstein fair skies and smooth sailing as the journey continues. The photo shows Sandy and her husband, Doug Brown, with some of her... Read more
Nancy Bou Ayash's book, Toward Translingual Realities in Composition: (Re)Working Local Language Representations and Practices, has been published by Utah State/U of Colorado Press.
Toward Translingual Realities in... Read more