2024-2025 Annual Awards

Program for the 2024-2025 Annual Awards Celebration

Earlier this evening we gathered at the Alumni Center and online to celebrate the success of students and faculty.

As we have since 2023, we exchanged the sit-down banquet from the pre-COVID days for a less formal reception which allowed for more conversation — and an earlier evening.

We’re grateful to all of the faculty, students, families, and donors celebrating with us, either at the Alumni Center or online.

We’ll have photos of our award presentations in the next week or so (with thanks in advance to Tommy Theis, who is assisting David Mayes). For now, we offer below some virtual recognition to complement the applause and cheers of faculty, students, family, and friends offered face-to-face or in the Zoom chat.

(Information about the student awards below is available from our department’s web site.)

Brink Memorial Essay Award: The Clark M. Brink Memorial Essay Award is given for student essays exhibiting “the highest degree of originality of composition and excellence in handling a topic treating or exemplifying the values of humanistic studies.”

• Lillianna Lamagna (first place): “Interaction Between Body, Language, and Acts of Service in Li-Young Lee’s and Ocean Vuong’s ‘The Gift'”: “Faculty praised Lillianna’s fine comparison of two related poems that probe the core of love between child and parent, exploring the different ways this feeling is given a concrete shape in two very different interactions. The essay uses a logical progression of thought to consistently advance the thesis while relying on strong textual evidence through careful close reading. The essay shows an impressive exploration of the idea of language in the two poems from several sophisticated perspectives.” (Tom Sarmiento, for the selection committee)
• Gracie Jo Stanton (second place): “A Price to Pay for Freedom”: “Faculty praised Gracie Jo’s astute analysis of the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi—an important, complex text—weaving in a number of pertinent critical sources, along with a thoughtful interpretation of visual cues. The essay conveys the ways in which the graphic comic medium serves to disarm readers and make them receptive to the unique, challenging experiences faced by the resilient protagonist who sacrificed what she values to gain physical freedom.” (Tom Sarmiento, for the selection committee)

Chappell Award: Mara Aberle, Emily Haines, and Rylan Jackson

Conover Award: Mary Adeyemo

• “As the graduate award with the longest history in our department, the Conover recognizes superior academic performance, fine teaching, and real distinction as a graduate student.” (Cameron Leader-Picone, for the selection committee)

Davis Award: Eve Wilson

• “Earle Davis is one of the most famous members in the history of the K-State English Department. He was a longtime Head of the Department, the author of several books, and an excellent scholar of Victorian literature. This scholarship honors his memory and his example.” (Cameron Leader-Picone, for the selection committee)
  

Edwards Scholarship: Ciel Trojnar, Mary Adeyemo

English Department Undergraduate Scholarship: Harrison Jones, Khloe Kuckelman, Lillianna Lamagna, Marika Peterson, Emma Stacy

Glenn Scholarship: Miracle Okpala

Grindell Award: [N/A for AY2024-2025]

Hallam Walker Davis Award: Jo Benson

Johanning Scholarship: Miracle Okpala

• “Each year, we present this scholarship in honor of Jerome Johanning, who was a graduate teaching assistant in our department from 1983-1985. To reflect Jerome’s love of teaching and writing, the scholarship is awarded to an outstanding graduate teaching assistant in English, and we want to thank Gloria and Mariya for their continued support. The best way to describe this GTA is to say that she’s a smiling powerhouse: she holds students to high standards while maintaining a friendly, supportive, and encouraging outlook.”  (Abby Knoblauch, for the selection committee)

Most Promising GTA Award: Griffin Fergerson

• “The Most Promising GTA Scholarship is awarded to an incoming GTA whose application reflects an interest in and aptitude for pedagogical thinking. This year’s very deserving scholarship recipient was Griffin Fergerson.”

Most Promising Undergraduate Student Award: Isabelle Greenemeyer

Expository Writing Exemplary Teaching Award: Ian Lutz (term instructor) and Zoey Dutcher (GTA)

• Ian Lutz: “Not only did this instructor take on the challenge of teaching a brand new curriculum with little notice or training, but he reflected an impressive level of pedagogical innovation and success.” (Abby Knoblauch, for the selection committee)
• Zoey Dutcher: “The most common description of this person as an instructor is ‘really cares about her students,’ and if you’ve talked with her about teaching at all, you know that that’s true.” (Abby Knoblauch, for the selection committee)

The Jonathan Holden Distinguished Poetry Prize: Zoey Dutcher

Lamb Scholarship: [N/A for AY2024-2025]

Lukens Scholarship: Mark Hooper, Anna Will

Bonnie A. Nelson Scholarship: Allison Meerian

Popkins Scholarship: Rawdha Al Mansoori, Hoora Ghanbari, Faezeh Rostami, Nava Eghdami

Brewster Rogerson Scholarship: Jaidyn Koehler, Susan Martinez

Seaton Awards: Maranda Haile

Undergraduate Leadership & Service Award: Grace Odgers

Undergraduate Excellence in English Award: Riley Brokeshoulder

Writing Center Excellence Award: Riley Dandurand

• “The Writing Center staff is honored to present the Writing Center Excellence Award, which recognizes overall excellence in Writing Center work, to Riley Dandurand for her remarkable work tutoring student writers, supporting her colleagues, and filling leadership roles. Riley acted as the 2024 summer supervisor and as the written feedback coordinator for the 2024-2025 school year. Nominators expressed what a good example Riley is for new tutors and how deserving she is of recognition for her leadership in the Center. Riley‘s role as a mentor was the highlight of all of her nominations. One colleague expressed, ‘Riley made my experience in the Writing Center amazing by helping me “learn the ropes.” Another added she ‘deserves the award for all her help […] and willingness to answer Center-related questions if us new folks have any!’ Nominators also noted Riley‘s strong tutoring skills: ‘She has this ability to form personal connections and really get to know the people she tutors while still providing them with the knowledge they need to be a better writer.’ Congratulations, Riley!” (Stacia Gray, for the selection committee)

Children’s Literature Graduate Essay Award: Molly Andrade, “Reading Gutters as Thresholds: The Heart of Juana Martinez-Neal’s Picturebook Alma and How She Got Her Name”

• “This original piece of writing addresses how an award-winning picture book, in the words of one committee member, ‘makes use of material aspects of the book in enhancing the visibility of the protagonist’s discovery of self through her processing of her many names. The essay … draws from an impressive array of scholarship while developing its original analysis, and its analysis is characterized by attentive, detailed, and compelling detail.'” (Phil Nel, for the selection committee)

Composition & Rhetoric Research Essay Award: Mary Adeyemo, “‘Stay Out of My Way!’- Rhetorical Agency and Multimodality in Niyi Akinmolayan’s Covid-19 Awareness Animation Video.”

• “The Composition/Rhetoric Research Award promotes strong research and writing by undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of literacy, teaching, writing studies, rhetoric, and technical communication. This research essay shows Mary’s interest in applying rhetorical concepts, such as agency, to social movements and controversies. According to one reviewer, Mary’s essay ‘shows the author’s potential to contribute to scholarly conversations in the field, and offers a fascinating multimodal analysis of how children were used as rhetorical agents who influenced public behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.'” (Phillip Marzluf, for the selection committee)

Cultural Studies Essay Awards: Undergraduate: Lillianna Lamagna; Graduate: Riley Dandurand

• “Lillianna Lamagna’s impressive, fascinating essay, ‘”You’re just making up sounds!” Radical Creative Possibilities Through Translanguaging in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022),’ brings together social, cultural, and linguistic analyses of the film Everything Everywhere All at Once. Through a series of sociolinguistic examples, Lamagna illustrates how casting a multilingual, Asian American, immigrant woman as the hero, the film underscores the power of nontraditional protagonist representations in contemporary media. As one committee member said, ‘This smart, compelling read of the film expanded my understanding of the film’s nuances and brilliance.'” (Cydney Alexis, for the selection committee)
• “Riley Dandurand’s  ‘A Steppingstone into the Manosphere: A Thematic Analysis of The #LiterallyMe Community on TikTok’ is a smart, methodologically impressive qualitative research analysis of contemporary online meme culture and its potential to shape contemporary normative masculinities. The essay’s notable research into the Literally Me community offers a sympathetic reading of potentially troubling rhetoric in order to underscore how young men’s mental health is an underexplored area. The committee found the conclusion, with its discussion of the author’s initial hypothesis vs findings, refreshing and notes the substantial, careful work the author contributed to this novel and timely research project.” (Cydney Alexis, for the selection committee)

Expository Writing Program Essay Award:

• AJ Scantlin (first place), “Racial Discrimination in AI and Machine Learning Algorithms” (informative report, written in Adena Weiser’s ENGL 100 class): “In this well-researched report, AJ Scantlin draws attention to the racial bias inherent in generative AI programs and the ways that such bias can lead to increased discriminatory hiring practices.” (Abby Knoblauch, for the selection committee)
• Lauren Seybold (second place), “Billie Eilish and Modern Female Fame” (visual analysis memo, written in Maranda Haile’s ENGL 100 class): “Seybold explores the design features of Eilish’s 2019 Variety cover show the nuanced ways the image asks viewers to reimagine what a successful woman can look like.” (Abby Knoblauch for the selection committee)

Gordon Parks Essay Award: [N/A for AY2024-2025]

Graduate Creative Writing Award: Fiction: Zoey Dutcher, “Dear Jane” (first place); Mike McCoy, “A Startling Likeness” (second place)

• “Dear Jane”: “This story blew me away and left my skin prickling! What a feat to paint such vivid characters using only first-person epistolary documents, and what a fantastic example of form augmenting substance. Through the surprise of the alternating sections, the danger builds palpably, Jane’s captor closing in on her in both physical and psychic space—and the reader’s experience mirrors hers. That the story is set half a century ago makes it all the more chilling that present-day victims meet frustrations and roadblocks identical to Jane’s. The period details are thoughtful and well-chosen, and successfully amplify the plot points. I also very much enjoyed that even though the story resolves its central mystery (in a way), certain open questions remain, making it a story that begs for an immediate reread.” (External judge’s comments)
• “A Startling Likeness”: “I loved this socially conscious story, which tackles head-on its social-justice topics. This is a vivid, place-soaked story—while I haven’t visited New Orleans in over a decade, every sentence puts me in mind of its particular character. In Verne, we get a thoughtful and capable protagonist; in Ray, we witness firsthand the devastating impacts of racial profiling and judicial corruption; and in Lester Lavergne we see how double standards work to protect some and oppress others. I also really enjoyed learning about the Identi-Kit, if only through this indictment of its limitations!” (External judge’s comments)

Graduate Creative Writing Award: Non-Fiction: Maranda Haile, “Nearly There Almost-Death Care”

• “I admired ‘Nearly There Almost-Death Care’ for its depth. The essay speaks into, and then upends, expected tropes related to grief, capturing not only the emotional turmoil of an unexpected medical crisis, but also the grief of preparing for an impending loss and the grief of mourning a person who is still alive, but not the same. The delicacy with which the essay honors these different kinds of grief was commendable, as was the precise, direct writing.” (External judge’s comments)

Graduate Creative Writing Award: Poetry: Zoey Dutcher, “An Affair with Death in Six Parts” (first place); Miracle Okpala, “If You Turn Thirty Unmarried” (second place)

• “An Affair with Death in Six Parts”: “What impressed me the most about this poem is its ambition in weaving a personal story with a story from Greek mythology. The poet wisely looks neither too wholly exterior to the self, nor too deeply inward. The extended metaphor of the speaker’s heart as Persephone’s pomegranate works well not only the first time it’s used but every time, deepening in significance as knowledge of the speaker’s node ablation procedure unfolds. A beautifully structured poem that spirals with repetition. Both intelligent and (no pun intended) heart-rending.”  (External judge’s comments)
• “If You Turn Thirty Unmarried”: “This poem engaged me from the start with the gorgeous imagery in the opening metaphor. And the poet continues to make excellent use of metaphor, especially the submarine, which, when it recurs at the end, packs a punch for a powerful resolution. While, as a poet in her 50s, my personal inclination was to rail against the argument that in your thirties, you are ‘discarded, dumped, destroyed,’ I realize this is actually a poem about resiliency, strength, and claiming a new kind of freedom in being ‘unseen.’ Relatable, energizing.” (External judge’s comments)
• A Note of Praise for Kayla Burns, “moon journal”: “I want to send a note of praise for ‘moon journal,’ which I enjoyed so much for its ability to so deftly recreate on the page the vacillating of a speaker searching for meaning and purpose. The questions and rhythmic repetitions (especially in the final line!) are working well. The voice is engaging, and so is the scaffolding of the moon imagery on which the poem’s structure is built.” (External judge’s comments)

Graduate Critical Essay Award: Cosette O’Brien, “‘Those Hard and Cruel Lines’: Lady Audley as an Art Object in Lady Audley’s Secret” (first place); Ciel Tronjar, “Gender and Christianity in Beowulf and ‘Judith’” (honorable mention)

•  “Cosette O’Brien’s essay on the different registers of the male gaze in Lady Audley’s Secret offers a fresh take on that hoary conceit by describing the different epistemologies of the scientific gaze vs. the artistic. Resisting superfluous content, the essay moves quickly into the scientific and patriarchal perspectives on gender. The writer summarizes the scholarly conversation and immediately engages it. The discussion is sophisticated, interesting, and well researched.” (Shirley Tung, for the selection committee)
• “Ciel Trojnar’s argument that Beowulf and Judith are thematically and structurally parallel is convincing and powerful. They adeptly employ the scholarship to present a nuanced reading of both poems that provides a particularly effective and surprising account of gender fluidity in texts that would not seem, at first, to lend themselves to that. This is an impressive piece of analysis.” (Shirley Tung, for the selection committee)

Professional Writing Award: Carson Schroeder, “A Proposal to Improve Warehouse Inventory Management” (first place, written for Phillip Marzluf’s class); Caroline Sandstrom, “A Proposal to Better Support Kansas State Students” (second place, written for Phillip Marzluf’s class).

Technical and Scientific Writing Awards: Josh Woodsmall, “Selecting a Stopping Mechanism for the 2024 Kansas State University Chem-E-Car Team: A Recommendation Report” (first place, written for Han Yu’s class); Allison Kirby, who wrote “Improving the Utility of Women’s Restrooms for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering” (second place, written for Krista Danielson’s class).

Touchstone Creative Writing Awards: Fiction: Dawson Veitch, “Trash”

Touchstone Creative Writing Awards: Poetry: Lillianna Lamagna, “Letter to Ma”

Graduate Student Service Award: Gabriell Padua

• “This year’s winner is known for his wide-ranging contributions in service to the department: as a volunteer for department-sponsored events and outreach; as a ready assistant for moving boxes, furniture, and books; as a leader among the graduate students, particularly for two of our student organizations, SAGE and SOCS; and an active, consistently constructive presence throughout the department. Our thanks and congratulations to Gabe Padua!” (Karin Westman, for the faculty)

SAGE Graduate Faculty Award for Distinguished Teaching: Dan Hoyt

• “This year’s recipient of the SAGE Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award for Teaching has been described by their students as having a teaching style that is ‘precise, specific, honest, compassionate, and equitable.’ They go above and beyond the role of the professor, making sure that students are supported both inside and outside of the classroom. I personally have had delightful encounters with them, as this professor makes a point to check in on graduate students, walking around the basement greeting even those that they do not teach. This year’s recipient is Dr. Dan Hoyt. Many of his students praised his teaching and dedication to his student’s education, but a quote from Aimee Lamoureux says it best: ‘Dan creates an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and asking for help. I’ve never once been made to feel dumb or like an inconvenience when talking to Dan. Despite his own busy schedule, he always responds and finds time to set up a meeting if students need to talk. He is kind, patient, supportive, and encouraging… Dan truly goes out of his way for his students, and has added so much to my time at K-State.’ Congratulations, Dr. Hoyt!” (Sierra Knipe, for the selection committee)

SAGE Graduate Faculty Award for Distinguished Service: Karin Westman

• “This year’s recipient is known for their wide-ranging contributions in service to the English Department. Despite the busy nature of being a professor, this professor makes times to oversee student organizations, technology communication and support, and ECS building management, to name a FEW of the many things they are a part of. One nominator noted that they ‘[have] been pivotal in helping me feel at home at K-State. She’s a thoughtful listener and consistently goes out of her way to ensure her students are in good physical and mental health. She is a mother, true and true.’ If you can’t already tell, this year’s SAGE Service Award goes to Dr. Karin Westman. Many of us, including myself, have interacted with Dr. Westman in her multiple roles, most recognizably as Department Head of English, but her care, compassion, and dependability in her numerous service commitments is what sets Dr. Westman apart. In working with Dr. Westman in ChALC she often reminds me that service work is always an opportunity to grow and learn, and she embodies this message. We are excited to present the SAGE Graduate Faculty Award for Distinguished Service to Dr. Karin Westman!” (Elizabeth Elliott, for the selection committee)

Excellence Award for Term Instructor: Allison Kuehne

English Dept Award: Excellence in Advising: N/A for 2023-2024

English Dept Award: Excellence in Teaching: Michele Janette.

Donnelly Faculty Award: [TBA]

Our thanks to the faculty who assisted with selecting our awards, to our main office staff who helped assemble the certificates, and to the faculty and graduate students who contributed recognition for the award winners — and to all of the students and their families and friends who can celebrate their success!

— Karin Westman, Department Head