Undergrad Student Spotlight: Riley Dandurand

Program cover for the 2023 Midwest Writing Center Association Conference This year’s Midwest Writing Center Association conference theme was “Gateways Reimagined: Transforming Perspectives in the Writing Center.” With such a broad topic it was interesting to see the different ways that people “reimagined” the writing center as a gateway. For instance, some presenters imagined the … Continue reading Undergrad Student Spotlight: Riley Dandurand

February 2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Cover image for Issue 108 of Quarterly West (2023), where Traci Brimhall's poem "Will & Testament" appears 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 … Continue reading February 2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Undergrad Student Spotlight: Zach Zoeller

M.M. Carrigan reads at the 10th Annual Rock and Roll Reading at AWP in Seattle, WA (8 March 2023) I was almost late to the 10th Annual Rock and Roll Reading, which, if you know anything about rock and roll readings, would’ve been about the most punk thing I could’ve pulled. I’d been on a … Continue reading Undergrad Student Spotlight: Zach Zoeller

Faculty Spotlight: Abby Knoblauch

Abby Knoblauch celebrates the publication of her 2022 co-edited collection. (Photo credit: Lisa Tatonetti) “If there were 100 essays on this table, no names, I’d know which one was yours. You always sound like you.” This is such a clear memory for me. As a first year Ph.D. student, I didn’t know if my professor … Continue reading Faculty Spotlight: Abby Knoblauch

Grad Student Spotlight: Ben Trickey

I’m a big fan of fiction that dares to take the perspectives of young people seriously. My favorite childhood reads didn’t ask their protagonists to wait until they were older for their adventures to begin. Characters like Lyra Belacqua (from Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series) or Jared Grace (from Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi’s The Spiderwick Chronicles books) … Continue reading Grad Student Spotlight: Ben Trickey

Location, Location, Location: On the Trail of The Learning Tree

Visiting the Gordon Parks Museum in Fort Scott: Undergraduate research assistant Natassja Norwood (BA '25), Museum Director Kirk Sharp, Stephen Antwi (MA '24), and Ademola Adefolano (MA '24) (25 Feb 2023) We spent last Saturday afternoon hunting down a barn. Not just any barn. This was the barn where Gordon Parks shot a pivotal scene … Continue reading Location, Location, Location: On the Trail of The Learning Tree

Early Local Indigenous Cultures and Histories: English Students visit Flint Hills Discovery Center

Students from ENGL 640 “Going Native: Literatures from Turtle Island” during our visit of the Flint Hills Discovery Center on 28 January 2023 (from left to right in back: Tucker Newsome, Kaleb Roberts, Erica Martin, Kyla Barry, Cassidy Hartig, Achilles Seastrom; from left to right in front: Cecilia Pick, Evan Saltare, Merissa Christensen, Mayci Armstrong, … Continue reading Early Local Indigenous Cultures and Histories: English Students visit Flint Hills Discovery Center

Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Schroll

Elizabeth (Symm) Schroll (MA '13) When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I play with words. My official title at the human-scale publishing company where I work is copy editor, but I’ve had authors refer to me as a fairy godmother, a wizard, a savant. The thing is, … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Schroll

AFTLS and Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet

Faculty and graduate student presenters bask in a K-State purple glow of success following their lightning talks (11 Feb 2023) On Saturday, February 11, in McCain Auditorium's Kirmser Hall, faculty and graduate students shared a series of lightning talks, "Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet," in advance of the performance of Shakespeare's play that same … Continue reading AFTLS and Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet

Faculty Spotlight: Han Yu

Cover for Han Yu's Mind Thief: The Story of Alzheimer's (Columbia University Press, 2021) In the winter of 1901, Auguste Deter stumbled through the door of Frankfurt’s Institution for the Mentally Ill and Epileptics—known among the locals as the Castle of the Insane. Auguste had no idea where she was or, really, who she was. … Continue reading Faculty Spotlight: Han Yu