Secular Nightmares: Mental Health and the Absence of God in Parker Finn’s Smile

Promotional image for Parker Finn's 2022 film Smile Today we share the third of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors an academic paper and its scholarly intervention of 10-12 pages for a general-interest audience. … Continue reading Secular Nightmares: Mental Health and the Absence of God in Parker Finn’s Smile

Alumni Spotlight: Lisa Sisley

Lisa Sisley (BA '92) Congratulations to Lisa Sisley (BA '92) on her retirement this month from New Boston Creative Group! As the New Boston team announced last month, "Nearly 17 years ago, Lisa Sisley helped found New Boston Creative Group LLC with Kristin Brighton and Susan Religa. Since then, Lisa has served our community, helped … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Lisa Sisley

Can YA Fiction Predict the Future? Political Mimicry in Kiera Cass’s The Selection Series

Original illustration by author Kiera Cass of her characters America and Maxon from Happily Ever After: Companion to the Selection Series (2015) Today we share the second of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors … Continue reading Can YA Fiction Predict the Future? Political Mimicry in Kiera Cass’s The Selection Series

Learning, Unlearning, and the Freedom to Read

On December 10, 2022, University Distinguished Professor Phil Nel provided the commencement address for the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University. Below is the text of his speech. Many thanks to Phil for allowing us to share it here. (You can view his presentation through the university’s archived video at 16:00.) Good … Continue reading Learning, Unlearning, and the Freedom to Read

Signs, Signs, Everywhere…The Hidden Depth of Japanese Signs in Spirited Away

From Spirited Away (2002) In ENGL 801 "Graduate Studies in English," a required course for incoming M.A. students, we have always asked our graduate students to develop an original contribution to a current scholarly conversation about a literary or cultural text. Starting in 2020, we added a final writing assignment: we asked our graduate students … Continue reading Signs, Signs, Everywhere…The Hidden Depth of Japanese Signs in Spirited Away

November 2022 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Cover image for The SAGE Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies (SAGE, 2022), where Tom Sarmiento has published under the letter M “Midwest, Filipina/x/o Americans in the.”  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, … Continue reading November 2022 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

From the Archive: A Master’s Project … in Stitch Gifs

Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 300+ posts.  While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. So, we're highlighting periodically some of the posts that have garnered a lot of views or that address topics of continuing … Continue reading From the Archive: A Master’s Project … in Stitch Gifs

Alumni Spotlight: Dene Dryden

Why I Stuck with English When Journalism Became My Calling When I started my K-State experience in 2016, I was excited to see what career path I would eventually end up on while earning my English degree. I made the decision to study English well before I applied to attend K-State, and I had to … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Dene Dryden

From the Archive: Some Advice on Applying to MFA Programs

Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 300+ posts.  While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. So, we're highlighting periodically some of the posts that have garnered a lot of views or that address topics of continuing … Continue reading From the Archive: Some Advice on Applying to MFA Programs