During the past weeks, we celebrated the contributions of Alison Wheatley and Marcella Reekie, two of our faculty members who are retiring this May and this August, respectively, after more than 30 years of service to Kansas State. Our first celebration took place during our final department faculty meeting of the year and on … Continue reading Our Thanks to Alison Wheatley and Marcella Reekie
Julie Hensley (MA '99) When I drove west from the Shenandoah Valley to Manhattan, Kansas for the first time, I remember stopping to pump gas on the West Virginia Turnpike at the base of a mountain that felt so much larger and more dramatic than the misty blue ones I had left behind. Just across … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Julie Hensley
Francesca Royster (BA '88) For the past six years, I’ve been working on a book on Black Country Music performers and fans. I stumbled on the topic chatting with my father about his time as a session musician in Nashville in the 1970’s. (Dad — Philip Royster — taught in English and Ethnic Studies at … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Francesca Royster
Kristin Brighton (BA '97, MA '99) Those who called Manhattan, Kansas, home while they attended Kansas State University might be interested in checking out the new HBO dramedy Somebody Somewhere, starring and executive produced by Bridget Everett, the notoriously over-the-top cabaret singer and comedian who grew up here. As both a K-State English grad and … Continue reading Manhattan Setting for HBO’s Somebody Somewhere
Anita Mihelic (MA '07, right) with Edgar Mihelic (MA '21, left), December 2021 in the English Department Main Office. If you would have told me in 2005 that 15+ years later I would be working at a construction data and software company, I probably would have backed away slowly and found the nearest exit. And … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Anita Mihelic
Location: English Department Twitter feed, 6 April 2015. Object: Poster for the 2nd Annual Rock & Roll Reading at #AWP15. Observations: 1) Since 2014, the English Department -- at the suggestion of Professor Dan Hoyt -- has been hosting an off-site reading in conjunction with the annual AWP Conference. 2) In the months leading up … Continue reading Found Object: 2nd Annual Rock and Roll Reading Poster, 2015
Jill Clingan (MA '03) “Stories matter. Teaching Language Arts is important because we make sense of our world through story—both by reading the stories of others and narrating our own.” I said these words to a group of enthusiastic teachers in Brazil in 2018 where I was helping lead an educational conference with my Mizzou … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Jill Clingan
Cover for Karma Animalia (Social Justice Anthologies, 2022) by Ania Payne Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department's recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards. As we begin a third year living with COVID-19, we continue to direct energies towards teaching our courses and to supporting others during the … Continue reading Winter 2021-2022 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
Location: English Department Alumni Facebook Group, posted by Aimee Teslaw (MA '00). Object: Textbook supplements for university required writing courses ENGL 100 and ENGL 200, c. 1999. Observations: 1) Aimee: "Went through some drawers. Found some relics of the late ‘90s." 2) We love seeing traces of earlier K-State English experiences! 3) These spiral-bound supplements … Continue reading Found Object: Expository Writing Materials, c. 1999
Maggie Borders (MA '12, front row, second from the right) appears with K-State participants for the MKN McNair Heartland Research Conference (September 24-26, 2021, Kansas City, MO). Also included in the photo: Cheryl Rauh (MA '11) and English majors Bailey Britton (BA '22) and Thai Lopez (BA '22). "Better done than perfect." I don’t remember … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Maggie Borders
K-State English 