Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department’s recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards.
We’re happy to recognize the recent successes in research, scholarship, and creative activity outlined below.
Want to catch up on past successes or to find future announcements? Visit our archive of monthly newsletters Reading Matters as well as related blog posts.
Have news to report? Email us at english@ksu.edu.
— Karin Westman, Department Head
Publications
Traci Brimhall, “What My Body Knows” (essay). Southern Indiana Review, vol. 32, no. 2. Fall 2025, pp. 106-7.
“Bonfire of the Vanities,” “He Says, She Says,” and “Moirai” (poems). Southword, issue 49, 2025, pp. 19-21.
Anne Phillips, review of Beyond Nancy Drew: U.S. Girls’ Series Fiction in the Twentieth Century, edited by LuElla D’Amico and Emily Hamilton-Honey (2024). Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 1, Spring 2025, pp. 146-149.
Presentations
Traci Brimhall, Kansas Day Celebration. Newton Public Library. Newton, KS. 31 Jan. 2026.
“Late Shift: Dream Walks.” Guggenheim Museum. New York, NY. 18 Dec. 2025
Kansas Organization of Victim Assistance. Kansas City, KS. 5 Dec. 2025
Gregory Eiselein, “Life After Full: Rethinking Identity and Purpose” (a faculty mentoring session). Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference. Philadelphia, PA. 6 Nov. 2025.
Mary Kohn, “One Hundred Years of Language Change in Kansas.” Eudora Historical Society. Eudora, KS. 15 Jan. 2026.
Anuja Madan, “Tribal Ecologies and Ecofeminism in Indian Children’s Picture Books about the Environment” (keynote). Department of English, NJMS Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal, India. Virtual Presentation. 16 Jan 2026.
Philip Nel, “Children’s Literature as Public Humanities” (moderator and organizer). Modern Language Association Conference. Toronto, Canada. 10 Jan. 2026.
Karin Westman, “Know Your Budget: A Glossary of Key Terms for Financial Literacy.” Modern Language Association Conference. Toronto, Canada. 8 Jan 2026.
Announcements
Jordan Dombrowski (MA ’24) has received the Kansas Horizons Award for Excellence in First Year Teaching for her work at Shawnee Mission East High School, Shawnee Mission, KS in USD 512.
Christina Hauck, Emeritus Associate Professor, has published “All the Little Children” (poem) in Nixes Mate (issue 36-37, Summer-Fall 2025) and “To William Brewster with One Foot on the Plank” (poem) in Collateral (2025). Her manuscript, An Angel and Other Apparitions, was a finalist for the 2025 Gunpowder Press Barry Spacks Poetry Prize.
Shirley Tung was inducted as a new member of the Manhattan chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in December.
K-State English 