Matters of Note:
- The April 1996 Lingua Franca contains two very interesting pieces. "Strange Attraction" takes up the interplay of literary theory and the theories of chaos and complexity and features the work of our own Kate Hayles (picture included). "Walking the Line" discusses the flame-out of Yale's recent graduate student strike. Under the subheading "In New Haven, grad students aren't sure if they're esteemed apprentices or exploited workers. And neither is anyone else," the article details the complex but largely hostile faculty response to the graduate student actions. Also included is the disturbing detail that last year Yale's English Department, rated the best in the country, placed only two of fifteen students in tenure-track jobs. A copy of Lingua Franca is available, with coffee, in the Zimansky Reading Room.
- The March 25th issue of The New Yorker contains a short essay on the painter Margarett Sargent. Titled "Grandmother, The Empress," this reminiscence is by Honor Moore, who will be at Iowa as Distinguished Nonfiction Visiting Writer in Spring 1997. The piece is accompanied by a Sargent painting from the exhibit of her work which just opened in Boston and celebrates the publication of Moore's memoir, The White Blackbird.
- The lead article in the March 29th Chronicle of Higher Education concerns the recent ruling by the U.S. District Court of Western Texas that University of Texas Law School's affirmative action program benefits "blacks and Mexican Americans, to the detriment of whites and non-preferred minorities. The question . . . is whether the Fourteenth Amendment permits the school to discriminate in this way. We hold that it does not." The article is called--appropriately--"A Stunning Loss for Affirmative Action." The documents on which it is based are available to Chronicle subscribers on the Internet at http://chronicle.com (enter "chronicle" as the initial login and password). The Chronicle coverage offers both the facts of the decision and pro and con opinion pieces, one arguing that "the ban on racial preferences at the U. of Texas law school brings the U.S. closer to a colorblind society" and the other that "the federal appeals court has misread the case law and misinterpreted the delicate admissions process." Since we can assume that this debate will soon touch our campus, it will be good to be prepared for it. The Chronicle is available, with coffee, in the Zimansky Reading Room.
Congratulations to Teresa Mangum who has won a Rockefeller Fellowship in Age Studies for 1997-98. During 1997-98, she will be in residence full-time at the Center for Twentieth Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, pursuing research for her book on the invention of age in Victorian England. The competition for these awards is fierce, and we congratulate her on her success.
It began simply, and silently, enough: a memorial resolution for two emeritus members of the Education School who passed away, and a moment of silence in remembrance. Then the usual fur 'n ' feathers commenced, as faculty concerns over the purpose and/or legitimacy of the Clinical Faculty policy refused to adhere to the question at hand and came from rather different corners of the field all at once. Our own Miriam Gilbert was admirable under the questioning, in reporting on the Faculty Council's deliberations regarding voting rights for Clinical Faculty, and the distribution of such persons in the department. (Directly: No voting on tenure for non-clinical faculty, but yes on ethics/fitness/judicial committee decisions where appropriate and yes for job grievances where appropriate.) Explanations of the need for precisely such positions (in Social Work, in Speech Pathology) were met with not-us-ism *and* me-too-ism. That is: some members expressed concern that certain departments ought not to need such faculty, others indicated that they had needs such faculty might fill. At least one strong voice argued against such faculty AT ALL, insisting instead that the University (& College) ought to support sufficient faculty lines to accomplish the requisite departmental missions (or, alternatively, departments ought to reconsider the feasibility of their missions). That is, some saw the CF as a way to diminish faculty standards, others as a way to let specific departments do what they do. Less fractious than the CLA Review debate, this was nevertheless wide-ranging in points of view and modes of analysis. As has been our wont this year, the FA argued right to the end of the meeting, and so will continue discussion on 10 April. But not before (1) the percentage of clinical faculty in the College was amended to 2% (from 5%) and (2) the paragraph defining the position was placed under reconsideration and revision in order to emphasize just how limited the role of clinical faculty should be. Still under debate: whether or not the departments allowed CF positions should be specified, and any department desiring such a position in the future would have to then petition the FA. Imagine *that* debate, dear readers.
Max Reports on the March 13th Faculty Assembly Meeting & Looks Toward April 10th Still to come: the discussion of the Renewable Term appointments. Which, if I can gauge sentiment at all, will not be likely to pass, largely because while some departments can make a compelling argument that CF are *needed*, RT appointments seem to be not only unnecessary but pernicious, as many of you have suggested to me in person or in the Executive Committee. Instead, what needs to happen is the CLA needs to address those positions that got assigned CF status, as well as the kinds of uses departments might want out of such a position, and figure out how to do what needs doing, rather than draft a policy which departments must bend to their particular needs. Always implicit in these discussions, but which your humble representative will raise directly on 10 April, is the issue of spousal hiring. Even more implicit is the second-tier faculty, and its historically discriminatory nature. I invite anyone who wishes to discuss these things to talk to me about them (e-mail is great), & I can show you a draft of the departmental comments I plan to convey on 10 April. More fun yet to come.
Graduate Commencement Ceremony: On May 10, 1996, the Graduate College spring commencement ceremony will again provide students receiving doctoral degrees with an opportunity to be hooded by their dissertation advisor or some other appropriate faculty member. Faculty will enter Hancher Auditorium in the Processional with their students and will join their students on the Hancher stage to hood them. If you are supervising the work of a May doctoral candidate, this new ceremony provides a way to celebrate the joint accomplishment of the doctoral dissertation and the beginning of a student's life after the PhD. For further information on procedures, e-mail Associate Dean Sandy Barkin atsandra-barkan@uiowa.edu
NEH Fellowships: NEH Fellowships provide support for six to twelve months of full-time work on projects that will make a significant contribution to thought and knowledge in the humanities. These fellowships are awarded through two programs, Fellowships for University Teachers and Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars. Tenure must cover an uninterrupted period of from six to twelve months. The earliest that Fellows may begin tenure is January 1, 1997. The maximum stipend is $300. Inquiries for the university teachers fellowship: 202/606-8466 or fellowsuniv@neh.fed.us.
The NEH (apparently) (Still) Lives & Plans to Dispense Funds Application Deadline: May 1, 1996.
NEH Summer Stipends: NEH Summer Stipends support two months of full-time work on projects that will make a significant contribution to the humanities. In most cases, faculty members of colleges and universities in the United States must be nominated by their institutions for the Summer Stipends competition, and each of these institutions may nominate two applicants. Prospective applicants who will require nomination should acquaint themselves with their institution's nomination procedures well before the October 1st application deadline. The tenure of these fellowships must cover two full and uninterrupted months and will normally be held between May 1, 1997 and September 30, 1997. The stipend is $4000. Inquiries: 202/606-8551 or stipends@neh.fed.us
Teaching with Technology: A Special Opportunity. The NEH announces a special, three-year opportunity to support Teaching with Technology projects to strengthen education in the humanities by developing and using information technologies. Electronic technologies--including digital audio, video and imagine, hypertext and hypermedia, video-conferencing, speech processing, the Internet, and WWW sites--can enable teachers to draw on newly accessible resources and to engage their students in active learning and higher-level thinking. This Special Opportunity seeks projects of national significance that will extend these benefits to a broad range of those studying humanities in schools, colleges, and universities. For more information on these grants, see the detailed brochure available from Cindy in the English office or call Gina McGee in Sponsored Programs at 335-2123.
The Council on Teaching has announced the availability of two summer fellowships to support curriculum innovation. These awards consist on one month's summer salary, modest equipment or materials support, and the support of the facilities and personnel of the Center for Teaching. All tenured and tenure-track members of the UI faculty are eligible to apply, and proposals will be evaluated for their innovativeness, the project's potential impact, and the fit between the faculty member's background and the project proposal. Applications available from Cindy in the English Office. Deadline: April 10, 1996.
THE UI TOO HAS A LITTLE MONEY
Visiting Writers: Two outstanding Asian American writers will be visiting EPB next week. David Wong Louie, author of the short story collection Pangs of Love, will read from his novel in progress, The Barbarians Are Coming, Monday April 1st, 2:00-3:30 pm in 304 EPB. Louie teaches in the English Department and at the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA and is an Iowa graduate. David Mura, poet and non-fiction writer, author of the award-winning Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei and Where the Body Meets Memory, will talk on "Race, Identity, and the New American" Tuesday, April 2, 2:00-3:30 in 304 EPB.
Fourth International Conference on the Short Story
Susan Lohafer writes, "Belatedly, conference brochures are arriving from UNI, and one will soon be posted in EPB. The show begins in Cedar Falls on June 7th-9th and continues in Iowa City June 9th-11th. If you would like further information at any time, you can access the UNI headquarters in several ways:e-mail: Short-Story@cobra.uni.edu
fax: 319/273-5807 [UNI English Department]
phone 319/273-2855 [UNI English Department]
800/782-9519 [UNI Continuing Education ~ registration]web: http://www.uni.edu/english/shrtstry.index.html
mail: Professor Maurice Lee, Conference Director
Department of English Language and Literature
The University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614The original deadline for paper proposals (March 14) clearly cannot be enforced, and anybody wanting to present a paper (maximum length: 10 pages) should simply make that interest known to Maurice Lee as soon as possible. Although discounted registration fees for students were apparently not possible, there should be opportunities to volunteer as shuttle drivers, guides, etc., in exchange for conference privileges (for this, please get in touch with Jo Ellyn Dickens, the local coordinator, at Conferences and Institutes, 249 IMU, 5-3213). Also note that, for a reduced fee, you can register for the Iowa City half of the conference only.
Department Meetings & Schedules
- Mar 27 three copies of faculty c.v.'s due to Felicia Lavallee
- April 3 Department Meeting on curriculum issues
- Apr 25 Honors Ceremony at 3:00 pm in the South Room of IMU
A Scatter of Deadlines
- Mar. 27 Proposals to design and direct the Obermann Center's Summer 1997 Faculty Research Seminar
- Apr. 5 NEH Teaching with Technology
- Apr. 10 Proposals for Summer Support for Curriculum Innovation
- May 1 NEH Fellowships Application Deadline
- Oct. 1 NEH Summer Stipends Application Deadline
Readings & Events
- Mar. 27 Robert Rehder reads from his book of poems, The Compromises Will Be Different, at Prairie Lights at 8 p.m.
- Mar 29-31 Movement & Memory: The Mastery of Displacement in South Asian Experience, 1947-97. This workshop on "Movements, Excursions, and Pilgrimages before 1947" includes a group of eight area and genre specialists (historians, language and literature faculty, anthropologists, writers, and film persons) who will present papers on the several forms of displacement that were characteristic of South Asia in the period before Independence. Coordinated with the workshop will be a public reading by Dr Shashi Tharoor and the exhibition of the feature film London Kills Me by Hanif Qureshi.
- Apr. 1 David Wong Louie reads from his novel in progress 2:00-3:30 pm in 304 EPB
- Apr. 2 David Mura will talk on "Race, Identity, and the New American" 2:00-3:30 pm in 304 EPB
- Apr. 2Marvin Bell, Jim Galvin, Jorie Graham, Don Justice, Bob Perelman, and Marilynne Robinson will read from Graham's new anthology: Earth Took of Earth: 100 Great Poems of the English Language at 8:15 pm in Shambaugh Auditorium.
- Apr. 5 Terry Tempest Williams reads her nonfiction writing at Prairie Lights Bookstore at 8 pm. Her visit is sponsored by the MFA in Nonfiction Writing Program.
- Apr. 11 Carla Harryman visits campus for a reading & a Q & A.
- Apr 17 Charles Baxter reads at 8:00 pm in Van Allen II
- Apr. 25 Barrett Watten visits campus for a reading & a Q & A.