Student News
Graduate Student Accomplishments
Marc Schumann attended the Western States Rhetoric and Literary Conference, sponsored by Montana State University, Oct. 24. He presented a paper entitled "Reflecting on 'The Greenbaum Incident'; Using Conflict Productively in Race-Based Class Discussion".
On Nov. 1st, Kris Kellejian presented the paper “Graduate Student Writers: Issues of Access and Support,” at the International Writing Centers Association Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. In July, Kris presented the paper “The Student Writer-Subordinate/Authority Conundrum in Writing Center Support for Theses and Dissertations,” with Lisa Johnson-Shull at the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in 
Denver, Colorado.
Andrea Campbell's anthology, New Directions in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism, will be released in December 2008 from Cambridge Scholars Press. The book explores literature of the U.S. as well as parts of Africa using an ecofeminist/environmental justice theory lens.
Chris Ritter and Jim Haendiges will give presentations on their dissertations at the 2009 Conference on College Composition and Communication. Their presentations, respectively entitled "Working in the Metaverse and the Academy: Composing a Game Studies Dissertation Online" and "Multiple Texts/Voices in Conversation: Designing a Multi-Textual Dissertation," will describe their experiences composing digital dissertations. Their panel will be chaired by Cynthia Selfe.
Chelsey Waters will present "Let's Go Exploring: How Multimodal Composition Opens the Door to Responsible Sourcework" at a CCCCs panel in San Francisco, March 2009. The panel is about non-traditional students in the composition classroom.
Lisa Sikkink will be part of a group presenting a poster at the WSU Academic showcase on rare book conservation.
Donna Evans presented Turned Inside(r)-Out(sider): Finding Middle Ground in a Rural-Urban Rift at the March 13-15, 2008, conference of the Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery (SISSI) in Colorado Springs, CO. The theme for this year's interdisciplinary conference is The Image of the Outsider in Literature, Media, and Society.
Andrew McCarthy was awarded a bursary to attend the 9th International Milton Symposium in London in July.
Rosemary Briseño, English-Ph.D. May 2008, received one of two Blackburn Postdoctoral Fellowships for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Blackburn is awarded to students in the Department of English or American Studies program who have demonstrated promise in literary studies, as evidenced by the quality of the doctoral dissertation, for outstanding achievement in teaching, as well as for overall academic performance. In addition, Rosemary has also been recruited to teach for Washington State University's Upward Bound program, which was instituted in 1964. The program serves academically talented and motivated, but low-income high school students who are the first generation in their families to pursue a college education.
At the April 8-10, 2008, Pacific Northwest American Studies Association conference in Walla Walla, several members of the WSU English Department presented papers: Jessica Schubert McCarthy, "Borne Back Into the Past: Nostalgia in The Great Gatsby and Bread Givers"; Jessica Edwards, "Impulse, City, Reality, Really? Frank Norris's McTeague"; Han Quek, "Ancient Beauties in Modern China: Shu-Chiung's Three English Novels on Ancient Chinese Beauties"; Gwen Sullivan, "Collecting Stories: Trauma Theory in Robinson's Housekeeping."
Michelle Fankhauser presented her paper, “’A Means of Mutual Interpretation’: Revolutionary Rhetoric in Margaret Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century” at the Fourteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women in Minneapolis on Friday, June 13.
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Meet the "First-Years"
Jared Colton
Hometown: Sandy, UT
Program/Area of Study: M.A. Rhetoric & Composition
Primary field of Interest: Contemporary Rhetoric, Rhetorics of Normalcy, Rhetorics of Racism
Education: BA, English lit, Utah Valley University
Favorite book: The Idiot by Dostoevsky
What do you do for fun?: Play with my two beautiful daughters and spend time with my wife, Ashley.
What were you doing last year?: Getting my BA, working at UVU’s writing center, and stressing out about grad school applications.
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: I love nerding it up. Oh, and I’d like to make a career of teaching English.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: Only listen to the advice of graduate students in the summer.
Pearce Durst
Hometown: Quincy, Illinois
Program/Area of Study: Rhetoric and Composition
Primary field of Interest: My work threads together the pedagogical utility of diverse technologies, situating the potential for nonviolence as rhetorical theory, and building a bridge between literature and rhetoric through narratological studies.
Education: Bachelor of Arts (BA) in literature. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 2002-2006
Master of Arts (MA) in literature. Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 2006-2008
Favorite books: Ulysses James Joyce, City of God Gil Cuadros
What do you do for fun?: Reading, writing, biking, cooking, films, and drinking tea to an eclectic mixture of music.
What were you doing last year?: Living and working in the Hampton Roads in Southeastern Virginia while studying literature and rhetorical theory.
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: Teaching at the university level and researching are my central desires.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: Prioritize. Think about what's important and why. Stay focused.
Seth Huebner
Hometown: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Program/area of study: M.A. in literature
Primary fields of interest: Cultural Theory, Modernism, Philosophy
Education: B.S. 2003, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
Favorite book: Sybille Bedford's biography of Aldous Huxley
What I do for fun: I enjoy quiet moments, running, and thinking
Last year I was in a cabin in northern Wisconsin studying for the GRE and reading about psychoanalysis.
I came to graduate school to research Noam Chomsky, Marxism and Aldous Huxley, and to seek a new political vision for the progressive Left.
My advice to undergraduate English majors is that they should follow their hearts more and their heads less.
In 2005, I got an essay published in the journal Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology and the Arts. The title of the essay was "Virginia Woolf: O Thy Splendid Identity!"
Amber LaPiana
Hometown: Matawan NJ / Boston MA
Program/Area of Study: American Literature by women writers up to 1850ish
Primary field of Interest: Gender Studies
Education: MA University of Massachusetts Boston / BFA Emerson College
Favorite book: Kafka on the Shore, Murakami (for right now, anyway)
What do you do for fun?: Eat out.
What were you doing last year?: Teaching as an adjunct and tending bar.
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: Because I think social change can start in the classroom.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: Make sure you fulfill the criteria your instructor has given you for assignments. Seriously. And go to office hours.
Alex Parrish
Hometown: Prior Lake, Minnesota (brrr!)
Program/Area of Study: PhD, Rhetoric and Composition
Primary fields of Interest: History of Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Belief, Rhetorics of Religion and Science
Education: Hon. BFA Creative and Professional Writing, with a second major in History, Bemidji State University; MA Interdisciplinary Studies, York University
Favorite book: The Tao of Pooh
What do you do for fun?: Hockey, video games, getting lost in the woods, shooting innocent birds (to eat), falling out of any watercraft I set foot in.
What were you doing last year?: Helping Sisyphus roll rocks up hills, a.k.a. writing an MA thesis in Toronto.
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: I love having fun with ideas. I love a good-natured argument. I love it when my students join in the fun, and I can see it in their faces that they finally get why this stuff excites me. I honestly can't imagine anything else being so fulfilling.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: I would encourage everyone to remember that, while we do important work, we are also getting paid to engage in intellectual play. Allow your enthusiasm and joy to be contagious, and you will have plenty of friends to pick you up when you fall. Above all, remember what Epictetus said: "If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who don't ask them.
Sheri Rhysdam
Hometown: Elgin, Oregon
Program/Area of Study: Rhetoric and Composition
Primary field of Interest: pedagogy and rhetorics of oppression in class, gender, and race
Education: BA-Eastern Oregon University and MA-Western Washington University
Favorite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
What do you do for fun?: cook, visit family, travel, and garden
What were you doing last year?: teaching writing at Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: I liked teaching so much that I decided to get a PhD so I could do it full time.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: Do what you enjoy.
Daniel Schafer
Hometown: Camas, WA
Program/Area of Study: MA Rhetoric and Composition
Primary field of Interest: Rhetoric, sexism, and racism in sports. Also the concept of "geeks and nerds," basically asking the question why there is prejudice against academic success.
Education: BA in Rhetoric and Composition from WSU
Favorite book: Once a Runner
What do you do for fun?: I play basketball, run, watch too many movies, and try to read for fun when my brain can handle it. Also, I like exploring Moscow, there's a lot more to do over there than you'd think!
What were you doing last year?: Going to school!
Why did you decide to come to graduate school?: To learn more stuff about rhetoric.
Advice for undergraduate English majors: Try as best you can to stay on top of your work, but remember to have fun everyone once in a while!