Peonies in bloom, Manhattan, KS (May 2023) Final grades for Spring 2023 are submitted, it's quiet on campus, and the peonies are in full bloom. It's time for summer -- and a well-earned break after a busy academic year. We hope the change of seasons brings everyone some time to rest, relax, and recharge. As … Continue reading Spring into Summer
"The Frog Prince" by Scott Gustafson (2003, 2023) Did you know that fairy tales are teaching our youth the dangers of premarital sex? The Wolf that stalks Little Red Riding Hood is trying to deflower her, Beauty spends her story taming the Beast’s masculine sexual aggression. Animalistic tendencies are painted in a purely violent manner, … Continue reading You Need to Snog a Lot of Frogs to Find a Tolerable Prince
Several English Department faculty, graduate students, and alumni presented at the Popular Culture/American Culture Association Conference in San Antonio, TX, 5-8 April 2023. 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 … Continue reading April 2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
Michele Janette's ENGL 680 "Asian American Literature" class (May 2023) You know how it is: you have these great conversations, read these fabulous books, discover these new ideas, and write this great paper, and only your professor sees it before it vanishes into last year's folder on your laptop, or into the inaccessible corners of … Continue reading From Gendered Blood to Magical Silver: Student Symposium on Asian American Lit
On May 13, 2023, Traci Brimhall, Professor of English and Poet Laureate of Kansas, provided the commencement address for the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University. Below is the text of her speech. Many thanks to Traci for allowing us to share it here. (You can view her presentation through the university’s … Continue reading Ask Yourself the Best Questions
Postcard of a roadside sign for the Indian Burial Pit near Salina, Kansas, c. 1950-1960. Courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society's Kansas Memory online archive. As the academic year comes to a close, today we share the final piece of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English” … Continue reading Rebury, Repatriate, Reclaim: Rhetoric of the “Salina Burial Pit”
Location: Social media.Object: Project Titles, graduating M.A. students.Observations: 1) Each spring, for many years, we have displayed the M.A. Project and Thesis titles of our graduating M.A. students at our annual spring Awards Banquet. 2) This year, even as we've resumed an in-person awards celebration, we're continuing our new (Covid-inspired) tradition: with the help of … Continue reading Found Object: 2023 M.A. Projects
Irises in bloom in Manhattan, KS ~ early evening, April 2023 Our annual awards celebration was back in person for the first time since 2019, now that the height of the COVID pandemic has passed and we could gather with greater safety. Rather than the sit-down banquet from the pre-COVID days, we opted for a … Continue reading 2022-2023 Annual Awards
Steven Tolson (MA '10) In 2022, I was invited to speak on an alumni panel to current K-State English students and faculty. What follows is an adapted version of that discussion. How did I end up in Kansas? My partner and I applied to Master's programs all over the country, and K-State gave us the … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Steven Tolson
Screenshot of the Comp/Rhet virtual reunion (21 April 2023) One of the benefits of not having a Ph.D. program is we’re able to focus on our M.A. students, getting to know them well as scholars and as people. The downside, of course, is that after two years, they move on to other opportunities. Many of … Continue reading Comp/Rhet Virtual Reunion
K-State English 