UW-Superior World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department

Students present research at English Festival

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:56:46 +0000

Thirteen students represented UW-Superior's English Club at UW-Eau Claire's annual English Festival (http://www.uwec.edu/engfest/), which is a week-long student-run academic conference and celebration of English, on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

Nine of these students presented research papers. Here is an overview of the students' panels:

Panel 1: "Metaswickens": Literature from the Enlightenment to the Avant-Garde

Presenters: David Hammersborg, Holly Kizewski, Amy Petersilie, Jason McDowell, Jesse West

This panel opened with two considerations of Swift and his contemporaries, then offered two Marxist examinations of Dickens, and concluded with a presentation on metafiction.

Panel 2: From Corsets to Cabaret: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British Women Writers

Presenters: Hanna Paquette, Amanda Norbie, Erin Blood, Stephanie Burgraff

This session analyzed representations of class, gender, and sexuality in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry, Charlotte Brontë's Villette, and Virginia Woolf's Room of One's Own.

Students who attended but didn't present: Jasmine Baumgart, Emily Vanda, Amanda Rilley and Chelsea Rulofson.

In addition to presenting and attending panels, students participated in a creative writing workshop with YouTube sensation and spoken word poet, George Watsky.

English major to represent UW-Superior at statewide research showcase

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:37:51 +0000

UW-Superior students involved in computer science, psychology, writing, art, and transportation and logistics management will showcase their undergraduate research projects March 7 at the State Capitol in Madison.

"Posters in the Rotunda: A Celebration of Undergraduate Research," brings students and faculty from University of Wisconsin System campuses to the Capitol Rotunda to share their undergraduate research projects with elected officials, government representatives, and the public.

Among those making presentations areAmy Petersilie, an English major from Duluth. Her research poster is titled "Tale of Training: One Writing Center Reflects." Her research is an independent project based on her work as lead consultant at UW-Superior's Writing Center.

"The focus of my research is on writing consultant training best practices," she said. "In addition to looking into current trends in consultant training, I have collected data drawn from interviews with first-semester writing consultants and their written reflections. The purpose of my project is to evaluate the strengths and opportunities of our current training program and examine ways in which we might adjust our approach to better prepare new consultants for the types of situations they will encounter while working with student clients."

In addition, Petersilie is among 20 students invited to present her poster at the inaugural undergraduate research poster session at the annual convention of the Conference for College Composition and Communication to be held in March in St. Louis.

Her faculty advisor for Posters in the Rotunda is Jamie White-Farnham, assistant professor of writing.

Dr. Deborah Harrison joins WLLC faculty

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:35:56 +0000

Dr. Deborah Harrison
Assistant Professor of Reading and Language Arts

Education: Doctorate degree in elementary education in 1999 from Ball State University

Experience: Teaching at grade school and college levels.

Interesting Fact: Has been involved in several publications and presentations on student reading.

Q. What are you anticipating most about your job at UW-Superior?

A. "I received my bachelor's degree from Indiana University/Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI). My master's degree and doctorate are both from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I have 10 years of teaching experience in elementary/middle school classrooms, and two years as a library media specialist. I have taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Northern Kentucky University, Wittenberg University, and most recently at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio."

Q. What's your favorite topic to teach?

A. "I enjoy teaching reading and language arts methods. I am particularly enthusiastic about using quality children's literature to help children develop the reading skills and strategies they need to become proficient readers."

Q. What message do you have for your students?

A. "I am looking forward to developing connections with area school districts where our students are placed for field experiences. It is very rewarding to see university students utilizing the best practices they've learned in our classrooms with their students in the elementary schools. To see young children discover the joy of reading is a wonderful experience!"

Dr. Virginia Donovan presents research at educators' convention

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:37:35 +0000

Dr. Virginia R. Donovan, assistant professor of French at University of Wisconsin-Superior, attended the 84th annual convention of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) held July 6-9, 2011, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the second largest Francophone city in the world.

Donovan has taught French four years overall and for one year at UW-Superior. She presented a session titled "Travels with Tocqueville: A French Perspective of 19th-Century Quebec." She was an active participant in the gathering of more than 500 French teachers from around the United States and from several other countries.

The AATF, founded in 1927, is the largest national association of French teachers in the world with almost 10,000 members. It is organized around 73 local chapters and governed by a national Executive Council of 18 members.

The Francophone heritage of North America is undeniable. One has only to look at a map to see that heritage in place names from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to Montreal. During the convention, participants were treated to music, films, an excursion to Cirque du Soleil, and guided tours of this unique, bilingual city.

The keynote speaker at the convention was Kim Thúy, author of the novel ru that has won numerous awards and been translated into many languages. A welcome reception was co-sponsored by the Quebec Ministry of International Relations and the Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques. Remarks were also given by the French Deputy Cultural Counselor Christophe Musitelli.

The convention was filled with sessions, discussions, and animated conversations about techniques for teaching French, promoting the study of French, and many sessions devoted to our convention theme of French in North America.

AATF members were treated to special events such as a dictée as well as a number of guest sessions by speakers from France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. Those who wished were able to participate in a pre-convention excursion to the Eastern Townships and post-convention excursions to a sugar shack and to Quebec City.

Dr. Virginia Donovan receives first Bell Fellowship

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:48:08 +0000

Dr.Virginia Donovan, an assistant professor in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, has been named the first recipient of the James Ford Bell Research Fellowship by the University of Minnesota's James Bell Ford Library.

Donovan's research centers on French and French colonial history during the period 1661-1830. Her recent work on the Quebec corsair Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville led to the project she will be pursuing at the Bell Library, a literary comparison of d'Iberville's writing with the Bell's French corsair archive.

Donovan intends to make available a textual analysis and translation of selected French corsair manuscripts for use by other scholars as part of her project.