On behalf of all of the Mercy College MA in English Literature faculty: welcome, everyone in our graduate English community, to the 2022-23 academic year. Courses are now underway and hopefully each of you are already finding your classroom experiences to be interesting, challenging, and meaningful. The world seems finally to be turning the corner on covid, enough at least that for the first time in three years faculty and students here at Dobbs Ferry were able to begin the semester all on campus, all unmasked, and all without chairs spread out for social distancing. It has been absolutely remarkable to witness and experience. And already, practically in time with the start of the academic year, the hot and humid northeastern summer is suddenly hinting at autumn; with just the slightest cooler breeze now carrying off of the Hudson and over the campus; and with the uniform deep-forest green of the surrounding trees just slightly starting to gesture toward the browns and yellows and reds soon to come. Let us all in the graduate community venture forward, together, into the autumn and the academic year, into our explorations and studies into the vast regions of literature and story, word and culture. Here’s to the 2022-23 academic year ahead!

Below in this post you will find some program news, along with information about support and resources available to all of our graduate students.

UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENT WITH DR SAX, THURSDAY 9/15

This Thursday, September 15, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm (eastern), Dr. Boria Sax (Senior Lecturer, English) will be the speaker in the first installment of the the 2022-2023 Mercy College Research Salon Series. Dr. Sax will deliver a talk about his recent book Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds. Dr. Sax is one of the world’s leading scholars of animals in literature and culture, and he occasionally teaches his Animals in Literature course in the MA program (most recently in summer 2022). We encourage our graduate community to attend this event, whether on campus or on zoom. If you’re near Dobbs Ferry this Thursday you can attend in the college’s Charter Room which is in Verazzano Hall. Anyone interested in attending on zoom, please write to cloots@mercy.edu to receive the zoom link.  If you plan to attend in either capacity please complete the rsvp form linked here.

STUDENT+ALUMNI FEEDBACK; AND ZOOM MEETUP WITH AN EXTERNAL REVIEWER ASSESSING OUR PROGRAM

As shared recently in another post on this blog, the MA program is undergoing its five-year self-study. Part of that process involves us gathering student and alumni feedback to learn about what seems to be working, and what needs improving, in the MA program. If you haven’t already done so please offer your own feedback by completing the survey linked here. Another part of this process involves an external reviewer (usually a program director from an MA or PhD program at a different college) reviewing and assessing our MA program. Usually the external reviewer will want to meet with students and alumni to hear whatever you have to say about the MA program and your experiences in it. So if you’re interested in being a part of a zoom meeting with that external reviewer sometime in September or October (tbd), please write to cloots@mercy.edu letting me know.

PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ENGL 599 MASTER’S THESIS ASSESSMENT RUBRIC

In recent years I’ve taken to sharing here in the annual welcome the assessment rubric that we apply to the ENGL 599 thesis papers, because the criteria in the rubric correspond to the program’s recently-updated “learning outcomes,” which are the big-picture things we hope you are developing throughout your time the program. The learning outcomes and criteria on the rubric are also just the basic things all English literature students should be working to address and improve in all of their scholarly papers, not just their final thesis paper. So I encourage everyone to download and look over the 599 rubric to see the sorts of things that we look for and measure through it. The rubric and the outcomes and our 599 assessment practices are, if you’re curious, requirements for our college’s accreditation.

STUDENT RESOURCES & SUPPORT

Each active graduate student has what’s called a PACT advisor, which is basically your staff advisor and the point-person for assisting you with issues that arise or general questions you might have. The PACT advisor for every graduate English student is currently Griffin Shiland at gshiland@mercy.edu. Also know that as the Program Director I am the faculty advisor to every graduate English student, so you can always contact me at cloots@mercy.edu. I am here to help, always.

Student Support Services is the general office/portal where you can find info about many of the things that students normally need info about. Note that practically all of Mercy College’s support services have some online variation, and so are available for our distance learning students.

The College’s Office of Accessibility is the place to contact if you need to discuss or register any accommodations.

We also have an office of Counseling Services for those in need.

The Center for Academic Excellence and Innovation (CAEI) provides tutoring (including online tutoring) and other such assistance for those who want some help with their writing and researching. Occasionally a professor might recommend that you seek additional help with your writing, and the CAEI is the place you can get it, whether on campus or online.

Mercy has extensive online library resources. JSTOR Language & Literature, MLA International Bibliography, and Academic Search Premier are the main databases in the field of literary research, though there are many other databases available online through the library. Additionally, Mercy College has digitized versions of many scholarly books. To search the ebook selection use the advanced search option for the library catalog and under “format” select “EBook.” Then search away and check-out/download any useful books you find. For general research help and an overview of basic research methods, you might find useful this online guide that librarian Miranda Montez created specifically for the MA English program. And don’t hesitate to make use of interlibrary loan to secure any materials (such as academic journal articles, etc.) that you need but which Mercy might not have on hand. Librarians can secure materials using interlibrary loan and send scanned PDFs to students at a distance, within fair use and copyright allowance.

On this post here you’ll find important information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. It’s critically important that students recognize that there is a time-limit past which incompletes cannot be fixed, after which all credit and tuition for the incomplete course is lost.

For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application form you must complete in order to actually graduate.

STUDENT ID CARDS

Grad English students can and should secure student ID cards. They can get you discounts at various stores, and they can get you access to most college and university libraries in your area, in order to do research. Students near a Mercy campus can stop in and get your ID card made in Person, if you like. Any student can secure an ID card through the mail by following these instructions:

Using your @mercy.edu email account, send a photo of your face along with your full first name, last name, and college ID number (your eight-digit CWID number) to Amanda McKenzie at: amckenzie9@mercy.edu. Full photo guidelines are:

• Submit a color photo of just your face taken in last 6 months
• Have someone else take your photo – no selfies
• Submit a high-resolution photo that is not blurry, grainy, or pixilated
• Use a clear and unedited image of your face; do not use filters such as those commonly used on social media
• Face the camera directly with full face in view
• Have a neutral facial expression or a natural smile, with both eyes open
• Use a plain white or off-white background

Let Amanda know in your email that you are a distance-learning graduate student in the MA English Lit program and that you would like a student ID card. She will explain anything else that you need to know about how to secure your card.

SPRING 2023 COURSE OFFERINGS

This info was shared earlier on this blog, and no changes have happened since that post, so this repeats that earlier info for those who may have missed it: Registration for the spring semester will open relatively soon, likely in October at the current pace of things. There isn’t a date yet set for when it will open, but I always post the registration-opening date here on the blog as soon as I learn it. For this and other reasons, grad students should check the blog regularly throughout their time in the program. Registering promptly, first thing in the morning on the day that registration opens, is the only way to ensure you get a seat in your preferred courses. Some courses fill up quickly, sometimes even within just a few hours. We’re running seven different courses in spring 2023. They are:

• ENGL 505 Transformations of the Epic (Dr. Sax)
• ENGL 515 Latino Literature (Dr. Reissig-Vasile)
• ENGL 521 Themes & Genres of Medieval Lit (Dr. Fritz)
• ENGL 525 Victorian Age in Literature (Dr. Dugan)
• ENGL 540 Philosophy of Literature (Dr. Fisher)
• ENGL 544 Cyberpunk & Technoculture (Dr. Loots)
• ENGL 560 Black Theatre, Art, and Power in the Digital Age (Dr. Morales)

We as well have two courses penciled in so far for summer 2023:

• ENGL 540 Fairy Tales (Dr. Sax)
• ENGL 560 Murder, Mystery, & Suspense (Dr. Dugan)

Each course will have 15 seats available. Descriptions for these spring courses will be provided in a blog post in the near future.

Okay, that’s it for the welcome post! Thank you, active grad students and faculty, for all of your work and effort, for your energies and insights; and thank you alumni for all that you brought to the program when you were active in it. As always, if anyone has any questions about anything, please let me know at cloots@mercy.edu. Once again, welcome, everyone, to the 2022-23 academic year here in the Mercy College MA in English Lit program. Onward we go, together.

Peril, strangely encountered, strangely endured,
marks us;
we know each other
by secret symbols,
though, remote, speechless,
we pass each other on the pavement,
at the turn of the stair;
though no word pass between us
there is subtle appraisement….
we know our Name,
we nameless initiates,
born of one mother,
companions
of the flame.

– from The Walls Do Not Fall (1944), by H.D. 

We begin again, together. It has been a rough eighteen months as we’ve endured the pandemic and its related crises; and as we know, it’s not over yet. But we begin again as a graduate community, students new and continuing, faculty and alumni alike, woven always as we are through our love of language, literature, words, artistic creation; and woven now too through this weird condition of having endured these strange days, this peril, together. It has become clear over the past year, from the unprecedented amount of applications we’ve fielded for the MA program, that there are many whose hope to join with others of like mind and explore together the further realms of literature and language has been galvanized by the global crisis. On behalf of all of the program’s faculty I want to welcome all of our incoming students to the beginning of your graduate studies at Mercy College; as much as I want to welcome back all of our continuing students to your ongoing scholarly and creative explorations.

Last year at this time I asked in the annual welcome-letter that students look out for each other in the classroom, help each other, be supportive and kind to each other. Our graduate students tend to be like that anyway, at any time, but in the middle of the pandemic as we were, it seemed like something worth asking: that we go out of our way to make our graduate classroom experience antidotal to the suffering of the pandemic. All indications are that the graduate community rose to the occasion; and the good will of the classrooms culminated in a marvelous spring symposium that was unprecedented both for its online format, as much as for its turnout and participation. Starting this fall, in a continuation of this effort of collegiality, we’re implementing a peer-mentor project which will associate incoming or newer students with students further along in their studies. The call for volunteers for this has garnered strong feedback already. In a few weeks, after it seems we’ve gotten the names of everyone interested in being a peer-mentor, we’ll be contacting newer students with the names and contact info of a few volunteer-mentors to whom those newer students can turn for advice or with questions.

Below in this post you will find news about some of our students, alumni, and faculty; followed by information about spring 2022 course offerings; followed by information about support and resources available to our graduate students. Please read onward to get caught up on what’s happening in your graduate English Literature program. And here’s to the 2021-22 school year!

STUDENT AND FACULTY NEWS/ACHIEVEMENTS

Program students and alumni have been busy pursuing further degrees, creative and scholarly publication, and more. I’d like to share some of those pursuits here now at the start of the 2021-22 academic year in hopes it will inspire others in our graduate community, and give us all a sense of some of the possibilities. The following is by no means comprehensive and represents only the things I know about from occasional correspondence with alumni, or have heard about from other professors through their correspondence with alumni, but:

Seth Hahnke is entering the PhD English program at the University of Wisconsin this fall. Alissa Greenwood is finishing up the MLA program at Johns Hopkins University. David Hatami is ABD (an acronym that in doctoral studies means the person is in the final stage, and has completed “all but dissertation”) in the Doctor of Education program at Nova Southeastern University. Cristen Fitzpatrick is an ABD Doctoral Fellow finishing up the PhD in Composition and Rhetoric program at St. Johns University, where she teaches writing and composition, and has kept busy presenting scholarship on Beat-generation women writers, feminist zines, and more. Cornelius Fortune is in the PhD in American Culture Studies program at Bowling Green State University, and like many on this list (and many other alumni I am sure) has been busy teaching (composition, poetry, drama, cultural studies, film studies) and continuing a highly-active presentation and publishing schedule, with recent publications in over half-a-dozen journals or anthologies. Kevin Kenney translated his MA degree into a full-time high school teaching position, where he begins this fall teaching composition, literature, and creative writing. Sheri Murphy’s book In the Service of the King was recently published by Austin Macauley press. Theresa Hamman’s book Humming the Thing was recently published by Finishing Line Press.

A number of active and former MA students have achieved publication in the 2021 edition of the Mercy College literary journal, Red Hyacinth. The edition features poetry, fiction, and drama by alumni such as Gloria Buckley, Cornelius Fortune, Stasey Gray, Kristen Lohner Vasquez; as well as by active MA student Melissa Lizotte. This fall there will be another call-for-submissions for the 2022 edition of the journal. All of us in the program strongly encourage creative writers in our graduate community to send in work for consideration (an announcement will be posted here on the blog when the call-for-submissions begins). And I also encourage everyone to keep in touch with me over the years and to let me know of your activities and achievements (cloots@mercy.edu).

The program was able to provide online undergraduate teaching opportunities this fall to alumni Alyssa Fried, Stefan Cruet, Kristen Robinson, David Hatami, Kristen Lohner Vasquez, and Kiara Duncan; and Carol Mitchell continues to teach composition and literature courses regularly at our Dobbs Ferry campus. We were able to fund four online Teaching Assistant positions this fall which went to Chazia Weste, Karen Gellender, Nancy Moore, and Anna Voronko. TA opportunities will again be available in the spring and the call for applications will be posted on the blog soon.

MA program faculty are always busy with their own research, writing, and other projects. To mention just a few things: Dr. Boria Sax’s latest book, Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds is being published by the University of Chicago Press and will be available starting this December. Dr. Sean Dugan is working on a project exploring how “middle-brow” literature, so often shunned by literary traditionalism and elitism, can be a valuable means for learning about society, history, injustice, and more. Dr. Jessica Ward’s article “Avarice, Idolatry, and Fornication: The Connection Between Genius’s Discussion About Religion and Virginity in Book 5 of John Gower’s Confessio amantis” was recently published in Studies in Philology; and her study “The Coveting of ‘Muche’ Instead of ‘Mesure’: Lady Mede and Nede in the C-Text of Piers Plowman” will be published as a chapter in the forthcoming New Directions in Medieval Mystical and Devotional Literature. Dr. Laura Proszak’s article “Products of U.S. Performance: A Material Rhetorical Education at North Bennet Street Industrial School, 1890-1910” was recently published in Rhetoric Society Quarterly; and more of her work will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming Teaching through the Archives: Text, Collaboration, and Activism.

SPRING 2022 COURSE OFFERINGS

Registration for the spring semester will open relatively soon, likely before the end of September at the current pace of things. There isn’t a date yet set for when it will open, but I always post the registration-opening date here on the blog as soon as I learn it. For this and other reasons, grad students should check the blog regularly throughout their time in the program. Registering promptly, first thing in the morning on the day that registration opens, is the only way to ensure you get a seat in your preferred courses. Some courses fill up quickly, sometimes even within just several hours. We’re running nine different courses in spring 2022. They are:

• 510 Theory and Practice of Expository Writing
• 514 Borges & Cortázar – Argentine Literature
• 515 Graphic Novel
• 522 Humanism in Renaissance Texts
• 523 Tragedy
• 524 Reason & Imagination
• 540 Shakespeare: Family Dynamics and Reputation
• 543 The American Renaissance
• 560 Cultural Impact of Black Lives Matter

Each course will have 15 seats available. Descriptions for these spring courses will be provided in a blog post in the near future.

STUDENT RESOURCES & SUPPORT

Each of you has what’s called a PACT advisor. The PACT advisor for every graduate English student is currently Erika Tremblay at etremblay@mercy.edu. Also know that as the Program Director I am the faculty advisor to every graduate English student, so you can always contact me at cloots@mercy.edu. I am here to help, always.

Student Support Services is the general office/portal where you can find info about many of the things that students normally need info about.

The College’s Office of Accessibility is the place to contact if you need to discuss or register any accommodations.

We also have an office of Counseling Services for those in need.

The Center for Academic Excellence and Innovation (CAEI) provides tutoring (including online tutoring) and other such assistance for those who want help with their writing and researching. Occasionally a professor might recommend that you seek additional help with your writing, and the CAEI is the place you can get it.

Mercy has extensive online library resources. JSTOR Language & Literature, MLA International Bibliography, and Academic Search Premier are the main databases in the field of literary research, though there are many other databases available online through the library. Additionally, Mercy College has digitized versions of many scholarly books. To search the ebook selection use the advanced search option for the library catalog and under “format” select “EBook.” Then search away and check-out/download any useful books you find.

On this post here you’ll find critical information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. It’s critically important that students recognize that there is a time-limit past which incompletes cannot be fixed, after which all credit and tuition for the incomplete course is lost.

For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate.

And as always, if anyone has any questions about anything, please let me know at cloots@mercy.edu.

Once again, welcome to the 2021-22 academic school year. Here’s to beginning again. Onward we go, together….

Welcome, graduate students in the MA English Literature Program, to the 2020-21 academic year. Hopefully by now you have settled into your courses, have secured your books, and are already finding yourselves exploring interesting paths alongside your peers and professors in each of your courses. In any normal semester I would wish mostly for your graduate studies to provide you with keen and interesting challenges into which to focus your mental and creative energies. This September, though, I hope as well that your studies bring some sense of health, balance, and of supportive community to your lives.

Strange Days Indeed.

When the pandemic erupted in the States back in March and April, our MA program was among the few in the world that experienced no technical disruption due to us already being fully actualized in cyberspace (or in the metaverse for you Neal Stephenson fans). As academic programs around the world scrambled to shift online, we were already all there together deep in our collective studies. But being academically positioned to weather the tempest proved cold comfort to those here experiencing havoc in your lives, I know; I know because I heard your stories. Some here were deemed essential workers and so had to carry on armored in PPE and the slim hope that the PPE would actually matter. Some here fell ill or were suddenly caring for others who fell ill. Some here lost jobs. Some here even lost homes. And still, you were expected to keep reading, thinking, writing, conversing, and striving with your graduate work. As much as you could, if you were in the MA program at the time, we know you did.

Five months later, our science has made some headway and we are somewhat better informed and equipped to weather the COVID storm. But still, so much remains in jeopardy, so much remains unknown, and I know that many here in our MA program are still at risk and suffering in so many ways. Uncertainty can be healthy in many situations, but too much of it can leave us unbalanced and feeling like we’re perpetually reeling. And so again: I hope you are each finding that this return to your studies (whether after years or just a few summer weeks) is providing you with some succor from the pandemic in the world at large, as much as from whatever other struggles you might be experiencing as a result of the pandemic (or as a result of anything else).

We can make it be so for each other, this semester, and all throughout this academic year. We can make it so by watching out for each other in the classrooms; by being encouraging, responsive, supportive, and kind to each other (even if/when questioning the ideas or positions of each other). Each one of us has been through a lot this summer. So let us be good to each other here. Banded together as we are here by our love of literature, writing, story, idea, critical inquiry, and perhaps above all else by our sensitivity to and belief in the power of words, let us remember that all of these works and words we study in the grad program hum with the power to reveal, illuminate, inspire, preserve, even heal. Keep attentive, and attuned, to the possibilities.

On A Practical Note

The School of Liberal Arts “annual theme” this academic year is: Resilience. The theme is meant to conceptually unify the school and all of its various programs and students so that, even when working in our distinct classrooms, we might all feel ourselves a part of something bigger (a part of the School of Liberal Arts). Students might find the theme useful when, for example, coming up with term paper topics. The SLA will be holding virtual events throughout the year on the theme, starting with one being run by our own Dr. Boria Sax this October 6th from 1:30-2:30pm eastern: “The Resilience of Story.” Everyone is welcome. You can access the zoom event, on the appropriate day and time, by clicking here. The passcode is 501424, and the meeting ID for those who run zoom through the app is 834 874 3230. Please let me know if you plan to attend at cloots@mercy.edu. (If any of this event info changes I will update everyone who has responded to me.)

In recent years I’ve taken to sharing here in the annual welcome the assessment rubric we apply to the ENGL 599 thesis papers because the criteria in the rubric correspond to the program’s five “program outcomes,” which are the big-picture things we hope you are developing throughout your time the program. The criteria are also just the basic things all literature students should be working to address and improve in all of their scholarly papers, not just their final thesis paper. So I encourage everyone to download and look over the 599 rubric to see the sorts of things we look for and measure through it. The rubric and the outcomes and our 599 assessment practices are, if you’re curious, requirements for our college’s accreditation.

I also want to provide you with links to some of the resources available to graduate students here at Mercy College, as well as program info that everyone should keep in mind:

• First, each of you have what’s called a PACT advisor. The PACT advisor for every graduate English student is currently Erika Tremblay at etremblay@mercy.edu. Also know that as the Program Director I am the faculty advisor to every graduate English student, so you can always contact me at cloots@mercy.edu.
• Enrollment Services is the general office/portal where you can find info about many of the things that students normally need info about.
• The College’s Office of Accessibility is the place to contact if you need to discuss or register any accommodations.
• We also have an office of Counseling Services for those in need.
• The Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) provides tutoring and other such assistance. The CAE provides assistance to our online students as much as to our on-campus students, so don’t hesitate to contact the center when working on papers for your MA courses. Sometimes your professor might even require that you contact the CAE to get help with your writing.
• Mercy has extensive online library resources. All of you have already been or soon will be using these to some degree, as each course (except for Creative Writing) requires some form of research paper. JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, and MLA are the main databases for literary research, though there are others you’ll find in there. Additionally, Mercy has digitized versions of many scholarly books. To search the ebook selection use the advanced search option for the library catalog and under “format” select “EBook.” Then search away and check-out/download any useful books you find.
• On this post here you’ll find critical information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive.
• For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate.
• For those hoping to enter the college teaching job market check out this post here where I introduce a variety of resources and information on that topic. If you’re going to be applying to anything in any academic field you’ll need to have your curriculum vitae (CV) polished up and also need to know the difference between a CV and a resume. I talk about that here.

Finally, note that registration for the spring semester will be coming around sooner than you might expect. There isn’t a date yet set for when it will begin, but it will probably happen sometime in mid to late October. I always post the registration-opening dates on the blog as soon as I learn them. Registering promptly, first thing in the morning on the day that registration opens, is the only way to ensure you get a seat in your preferred courses. Some courses fill up quickly, sometimes even within just a few hours, and once they’re filled that’s usually it. We sometimes open an extra seat or two later but only if all of the other courses are getting near full. The spring schedule currently looks like this:

• 507 Narrative Strategies in the Novel (Dr. Fritz)
• 515 Fairy Tales (Dr. Sax)
• 540 Irish Literature (Dr. Dugan)
• 543 American Renaissance OR 560 Hemingway/Modern Cryptography (Dr. Loots)
• 546 Working Women in the USA 1865 to Present (Dr. Gogol)
• 5XX sixth course TBD

Okay! Off we go together into the fall semester and into the 2020-21 academic year. I wish you well in your studies, and in all things.

Welcome, graduate students new and returning, to the 2019-20 academic year. By now you’ve each hopefully checked into your fall courses and have begun your studies and explorations and conversations. Before I say anything else, anything practical about the new year ahead, I want to commend each of you in the graduate English program for your courage to pursue graduate literary studies. And I do think it takes a type of courage to be here. As many of you know from first-hand experience, being an English graduate student isn’t always easy in our world today, not just because of the cost of education but because of the current cultural tone. I mean have you ever had to explain yourself to your family or friends who could not fathom why you would invest in graduate literary studies? Some of you have, I know from conversations. But we can understand why others might doubt, can’t we? In an era and American culture that increasingly seeks to find ways to measure the economical value of this or that, and that is increasingly skeptical of pursuits or qualities that elude easy measurement or precise monetary valuation, the fruits of advanced literary studies might seem too subtle for many to appreciate or even detect. The irony of that should not be lost on us whose field of literary studies in part teaches us to feel-for and value the subtle, as much as to critically deconstruct and investigate what anyone might even mean by value (or measurement) in the first place.

But each of you here reading this, each of you now embarking on your fall-semester explorations into literature ancient to recent: you surely feel the value of it. In some unique and personal way you feel the power of words, writing, language; feel something of the mystery and immeasurable forces amid which we all dwell, to which the great literature of all humankind tends in its infinitely diverse ways. There is a value to our graduate literary pursuits, and some of the value is actually readily perceivable (e.g. the college teaching positions for which the MA qualifies you, or the PhD programs to which you can apply after earning your MA degree) but the greater value might be more subtle. And so I commend each of you in the MA program for your adventurer’s spirit and your courage to embark on such a journey as this, at such a time as this, in pursuit of what might often seem like subtle and mysterious things.

Okay now for the more practical stuff!

As you proceed into your fall-time studies you might keep in mind the School of Liberal Arts (SLA) theme for the 2019-20 school year, VOICE, and use that theme (whatever you interpret it to mean) as something to which you tend with your research and writings, your term papers, perhaps even a presentation at our 2020 Graduate English Symposium in May. Or not! But as I’ve said in the past in regards to the annual theme: if you’re looking for a way to increase the sense of connectivity across your courses, the feeling of being a part of a larger academic community, then writing toward the theme in the knowledge that others across the program are doing the same might help. The annual SLA theme is something started by Dr. Tamara Jhashi, who was our dean for the past five years but who just this summer moved across the Hudson to become the provost at another institution (a big step up the administrative ladder for her; a big loss for us as she was a stalwart proponent of English and literary studies, and of our MA program in particular). This year we have an interim dean, a faculty member from our Music Technology program, Steve Ward, holding down the fort while a national search is conducted this year for the next proper dean of the SLA.

Although the school year has just begin it is never too early to bring up the assessment criteria we use internally in the MA program when evaluating the final ENGL 599 thesis papers, which each of you will eventually write during your final semester in the program. These criteria are only systematically applied to the 599 thesis paper but they can still be useful for all of you to know and keep it in mind when writing any paper for any class: because as you can see in the assessment rubric we use, the criteria correspond to the program’s five “program outcomes,” which are the big-picture things we hope you are learning throughout your time the program. The criteria are also just the basic things all literature students should be working to address and improve in all of their scholarly papers, not just their final thesis paper. So I encourage everyone to download and look over the 599 rubric to see the sorts of things we look for and measure through it. The rubric and the outcomes and our 599 assessment practices are, if you’re curious, requirements for our college’s accreditation.

Before signing off let me provide you with links to some of the resources available to graduate students here at Mercy College. This information repeats information found elsewhere on this blog but some of you might find it helpful to have it repeated here all at once. Okay this blog post here contains a rundown of resources and contact-info that Mercy College provides for its students, whether on-campus or online. On this post here you’ll find critical information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate. For those hoping to enter the college teaching job market check out this post here where I introduce a variety of resources and information on that topic. If you’re going to be applying to anything in any academic field you’ll need to have your curriculum vitae (CV) polished up and also need to know the difference between a CV and a resume. I talk about that here.

Finally, remember that although you can get advising from Student Services, I serve as faculty advisor to every student in the MA program. I am here to help and to answer any questions at cloots@mercy.edu. 

Have a great school year and fall semester, everyone. Check this blog regularly for program news and info. In good time I will be putting up a post sharing recent student and faculty achievements (and please, anyone with anything to share in that regard, let me know at cloots@mercy.edu). In just several weeks I will be putting up the course schedule for spring, so be sure to check that out in order to start planning your spring semester. Once I know the registration-opening date for spring I will post that here too (and the only way to ensure you get your first-selection of courses each semester is to pay attention to the registration-opening dates, and to register promptly once registration opens. Some classes fill up quickly, within hours of registration opening, so be aware). Onward we go. Cheers, all.

 

Welcome, graduate students new and returning, to the 2018-19 academic year. Today, 9/5, we begin again. One of the great things about being involved in education in any way, as student or professor or anything else really, is that we get to experience these punctuated moments of significance in the cycle of the annual calendar, in the cycle of our lives. Here at the start of the academic year the Dobbs Ferry campus, where I sit and write this post, is packed and buzzing. Hallways are dense with students and faculty and administrators on the go as much as with the din of classroom discussions. Down by the river, athletes practice their various sports for the fall season. Out from the dorms spill laughing and hollering students. The library is already a riot of activity and the cafeterias are packed. Parking lots are full. These halls are alive again, and so too today are the virtual halls of our online coursework. I hope you all are ready for a new semester, a new academic year, and are as eager to get into your studies as I and your other MA professors are to start exploring together the literary pathways ahead.

As you go out into your classes this year you might keep in mind the School of Liberal Arts (SLA) theme for 2018-19: transformations. The SLA theme is something that our Dean, Dr. Tamara Jhashi, began several years ago, is selected anew each year by a faculty vote, and is meant to provide a unifying beacon shining across all the many different SLA programs and departments. It provides us a light to which, if you’re interested in the idea and/or in feeling a part of the SLA academic community, you might turn in your studies, paper topics, discussions, etc. It’s nothing formal, and you don’t have to give it another thought if it’s not interesting to you. But if you’re looking for a way to increase the feeling of being a part of an academic community, of being a part of something larger, then you might consider how your studies in any of your classes might engage or involve the theme of transformations. When it comes time for the spring symposium here on the Dobbs Ferry campus, those of you who are able to participate might find the theme of transformations a useful one when developing possible symposium papers. Perhaps!

Another thing you might keep in mind as you go about your studies, and particularly later in the semester as you gear up for writing your various term papers, is the assessment criteria we use internally in the program when evaluating the final ENGL 599 thesis papers which each of you will eventually write during your final semester in the program (and some of you reading this are about to start writing your 599 thesis papers right now). Even though these criteria are only applied to the 599 paper, and even though they are just used internally and are something we need to track as part of our college’s accreditation requirements, they can still be useful for all of you to know and keep it in mind when writing any paper for any class: because as you’ll see in the assessment rubric we use the criteria correspond to the program’s five learning outcomes, which are the big-picture things we hope you are learning throughout your time the program; and because the criteria are just the basic sorts of things all literature students should be working to address, improve, even perfect in all of their scholarly papers. So each of you should take the time to download the 599 rubric and just read over it to learn the sorts of things we look for and measure through it.

Okay that’s it for the main points I wanted to touch on here at the start of the new academic year. Before signing off let me provide you with links to some of the resources available to graduate students here at Mercy College. This information repeats information found elsewhere on this blog but some of you might find it helpful to have it repeated here all at once. Okay this blog post here contains a rundown of resources and contact-info that Mercy College provides for its students, whether on-campus or online. On this post here you’ll find critical information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate. For those hoping to enter the college teaching job market check out this post here where I introduce a variety of resources and information on that topic. If you’re going to be applying to anything in any academic field you’ll need to have your curriculum vitae (CV) polished up and also need to know the difference between a CV and a resume. I talk about that here.

Finally, remember that although you can get advising from Student Services, I serve as faculty advisor to every student in the MA program. I am here to help and to answer any questions at cloots@mercy.edu. Okay that’s it! Have a great school year and fall semester, everyone. Check back here regularly for program news and info. I’ll be putting up a post soon sharing some news on recent faculty publications and other scholarly activity, as well as a post announcing the spring registration-opening date. So make this blog a periodic stop this semester and all during your time in the MA program. Final note: if any current students or alumni have any news about scholarly activity, publications (scholarly or creative), jobs or doctoral-programs, please share this with me. Cheers, all.

 

 

Welcome, all you MA students both new and returning, to the 2017-18 school year of Mercy College’s Master of Arts in English Literature program. At the end of this letter I’m going to share some helpful program information/links. Before that though I want to encourage each of you, even challenge each of you to consider and pursue as best as you can the following four points over the course of this new school year.

I. Find Your Thing

Consider: what is your primary literary interest? What is the author, or type of literature, or era, or genre, or theoretical focus, or any other thing that you love to read, study and explore more than any other? Of course you each likely have many literary interests and loves, many different authors and works that come to mind. And naturally you might have a different answer depending on the day or semester. That’s all healthy, and the MA program encourages you to get prepared in and excited about a diverse range of writings, from traditional to eclectic. You should get a solid footing across as wide a range of writings as possible during your time in the MA program. But if you had to focus in on one area or author, on one thing that is your thing above all else, what would it be? Even if you’re just starting out the program and graduate studies you might still consider this in terms of: what was the literature that inspired you to pursue MA studies? Or: if you could design and teach one course on any topic, what would that topic be?

Why might you want to reflect on this now? Here are two of many reasons:

When you get to the final course in the program, ENGL 599, you’ll basically be asked to do this very thing—to select your favorite topic of focus and then to design a thesis and customized reading list around it. In many respects the 599 course is a custom course that you design and execute with the help of your mentor. If you start thinking now about what your thing is you should have an easy and fun time later when it comes to deciding upon a focus for your final 599 course.

Also: by becoming more conscious of your deeper interests and literary affections throughout your progress in the MA program, you can start personalizing your coursework—all of your coursework—in ways that can make any course more relevant to your personal interests. So for example you might find yourself taking Medieval Lit. in order to fulfill one of your Literature Group 1 requirements, and might (hopefully) find meaningful the study of the medieval texts and ideas. But maybe your thing is psychological approaches to literature, or British modernism, or gender studies, or Toni Morrison, etc. If so you can integrate any such pursuit into your medieval studies by (a) designing a paper topic that blends your particular interest with any course’s content, and (b) privately augmenting your required readings with other readings that cross between the course’s focus and your interests.  (More on that in a second).

You don’t have to take my advice here—perhaps you prefer to remain a bit more nebulous in your approach to education, and to absorb the curriculum as it comes to you rather than actively engage it and turn it as you like. That’s entirely up to you. I would understand that approach, as different approaches have different qualities. But I encourage you to at least reflect on this point here at the start of the new year: What is your thing?

II. Read Beyond the Syllabus

Your reading loads will vary, sometimes significantly, from class to class and from unit to unit. That’s just part of graduate literary study and is something each of you must balance and navigate in your own way, in your own time. But no matter your reading load you should consider your courses’ syllabuses as starting points. You don’t have to go deeper into and research further everything you encounter. Some semesters you might not read anything other than the specific syllabus texts and whatever sources you find for your term papers. Some semesters you’ll be so swamped with responsibilities that reading beyond the syllabus would be absurd (we only have so much time in the day, the week). That’s fair and understandable.

But when you do discover a reading or author that turns on the lights, well go off the syllabus and go research related primary and secondary sources. Don’t wait for your professors to tell you to go exploring off-syllabus. We hope that something we’re doing in class is sending off sparks which might ignite your further interests throughout the semester.

Remember that one thing the MA program seeks to do is develop you into a professional-level literary researcher and scholar. Going off-syllabus and exploring further the things that interest you is one sign that you are developing as we hope you will.

III. Upload an Avatar

Okay basic technical thing here but this is important. An avatar is an image that will appear alongside each post you make in every Blackboard class you’re taking. An avatar allows you to provide some small but meaningful visual representation of yourself which complements your written words, and it provides all of your fellow students with a recurring visual icon by which to get to know you better throughout the semester. Avatars are an essential part of any online community or learning environment and you should all have one. Click here for instructions for how to upload an avatar into Blackboard. There should be no avatar-less accounts in any online classroom.

IV. Make Friends

Distance learning, for all its strengths and advantages, has the potential (ironic) disadvantage of leaving some students feeling disconnected. Not every student feels this, and not every student cares. Some students actually prefer that they can orbit in and out of the virtual setting, meet their minimum commitments and do their work, and then get back to whatever is the rest of their life. That’s fine. Other students though value, yearn for, even need the connectivity and development that can happen, week in and week out, in the discussions. For those students here are a few suggestions for making sure you get the level of engagement you want  in discussions.

First, make the first move by responding to someone else’s post. That is, reply to other conversations rather than waiting for others to join in on a conversation you may have started. And don’t hesitate to join in on any conversation that seem to be “in progress” no matter how many others have already posted there. Those are the best conversations to join in as those are the closest the virtual room comes to matching the dynamic banter of a physical seminar session. I’m still waiting eagerly to see the single discussion thread in which every student participates. The bottom line here is to be proactive about talking to other people rather than waiting for someone to talk to you.

Also, get into the unit discussions early and come back at least a few times throughout the unit to develop and carry on discussions. If you’re looking to develop connections well don’t wait until the last few hours of a unit to sign in and make your posts. For one thing posts that appear at the very end of a unit will probably not get many or any responses due to the timing. For another thing, students look to see who shows up and when they do in order to figure out who’s looking to talk and converse and who’s just doing the basic requirements. Again, there is nothing wrong with just doing the basic requirements. For many students that is the great advantage of distance learning, that it gives you much more power and control over the timing of your weekly course responsibilities. But if you’re looking to talk, to discuss—to make a few colleagues or even friends—well signal this by jumping in earlier in the units and increasing your presence in the discussions.

Finally, and this gets at the situation from the other side: be friendly. Keep an eye out for those in the room who aren’t getting much feedback or response. Reply to them! Even if whatever they’re talking about isn’t something you’re interested in talking about, find something to say about their post which might carry the conversation forward a little. It can make a world of difference if someone gets even a little acknowledgement, just a little response, that lets them know that they’re not invisible. You all probably know how deflating it can be if you make a post and no one responds. Because you know that feeling, be on the lookout so that no one else has to experience it.

Okay that’s it for the four main points for this letter.

Before signing off let me link you to resources of which every MA student should be aware. This information repeats information found elsewhere on this blog. Okay this blog post here contains a rundown of resources and contact-info that Mercy College provides for its students, whether on-campus or online. On this post here you’ll find critical information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate. For those hoping to enter the college teaching job market check out this post here where I introduce a variety of resources and information on that topic. If you’re going to be applying to anything in any academic field you’ll need to have your curriculum vitae (CV) polished up and also need to know the difference between a CV and a resume. I talk about that here.

Finally, remember that although you can get advising from Student Services, I serve as faculty advisor to every student in the MA program. I am here to help and to answer any questions at cloots@mercy.edu. Okay that’s it! Have a great school year and fall semester, everyone. The spring schedule and registration date/time will be posted here on the blog before the end of this month so as always, check back here periodically to stay up on the latest.

Best, -CL.

9/5/2017

Welcome, everyone, to the 2016 – 2017 school year. I’ve broken this letter down into three parts. The first part touches upon something of what it means to be an MA literature student in the world today, and is meant to encourage you as you head off into the new school year. The second part introduces you to a special theme that we’re hoping to emphasize across all of our liberal arts programs here at Mercy College this year. The third part contains a review of some helpful resources and other practical points about graduate study to keep in mind this and every semester that you’re with us.

I.

I want to begin the year by commending all of you graduate literature students for having the conviction to pursue your goals inasmuch as they include earning the Master of Arts degree. I’ve written of this before, but it’s worth repeating that being a student of literature, which is to say a student of the humanities, which in an overarching sense is to say a student of the liberal arts, is not always an easy thing to be in our world today. Your passion and pursuits are perhaps not always understood or appreciated by those around you, sometimes not even by those closest to you. Our society has a habit of casually marginalizing the importance of the arts as a meaningful pursuit, field of study, or career. English, like most of the liberal arts, is a discipline that in our increasingly data-based and so “pragmatically-geared” society has become a soft target for those who think only in terms of practical outcomes.

We might easily provide a pragmatic rebuttal to such concerns:

• the MA degree qualifies you to hold a full-time English professorship at the community college level, and those are pretty great teaching positions if you’re looking for a stable college-level position that tends to pay well and usually comes with solid benefits;
• it allows you to adjunct at four-year colleges which depending on your long-term goals either (a) gives you invaluable teaching experience for when you apply to full-time positions, or (b) can be a satisfying side-job complementing another career or position one might hold elsewhere (some adjunct professors do adjunct work not as a career but as a way to enrich their lives, while earning some money in the process); or (c) can itself be a career, if you can establish yourself enough across multiple institutions that they offer you courses each year—this path though works best if you have a working partner or spouse with whom you pool your income;
• if your goal is to try for a full-time senior college professorship, the MA degree may be and has for some of our students been the stepping stone to a PhD program;
• the MA English degree is traditionally a degree held by those in fields such as publishing, editing, journalism, technical-writing, copy-writing, content-writing for media or other outlets, etc.;
• finally, in a business sense, an MA can be a degree that complements another degree, such as one in management, and so “rounds out” an applicant in the eyes of those hiring for such positions.

But here’s the rub, the thing that I believe many and perhaps most MA literature students feel: the pragmatic, though it matters, is the lesser point. The greater point is that we love literature, we love words. That is where this begins. Life is just better when you’re in the flow of literature, when you’re engaging the words written by humanity’s great poets and thinkers and authors from across the centuries, across millennia—when you’re engaging them alongside others.

And so though we can respond fittingly to questions about practicality and pragmatism, let us more recognize how the impetus to enroll in graduate literary study is fueled by some wonderfully strange and relatively rare element burning in the deep core of your being. If you are here, on some level it is because you’ve felt the mystery, the power, the imperative coursing up through the literature of the past; and you want to stay close to it; you want to be a part of it. To be a graduate literary student is to be in good company with what Emerson would call “the like minded,” which bespeaks not reductionism or homogenization of difference but rather simply a shared appreciation for the wonder of the written word, and a desire to explore and explicate humanity’s writings and wisdoms alongside others who feel similarly.

II.

As some of you know, our school of liberal arts (which is one school out of five here that together constitute the greater Mercy College) welcomed a new Dean at the start of last year, Dr. Tamara Jhashi. If you’re curious to attach a visual to the name you can see her pictured here in the blog post for our spring 2016 graduate English symposium. Dr. Jhashi is a stalwart defender of the liberal arts and of the importance of the liberal arts in our lives. One thing that she has brought to our school is the idea of an annual school “theme,” not as something to which any individual or class must necessarily adhere, but rather as an inspirational idea around which some of us—if inspired to do so—might rally and to which we might together tend.

The theme this year is borders. This theme of borders was arrived at holistically through feedback among the faculty and a faculty vote, all which was organized through a committee that Dean Jhashi created.

I don’t have to tell you English grad students that whatever that word borders signifies or inspires is entirely up to each of us to define and pursue in our own way. It’s meant to be a broad and general theme, something that sparks ideas and doesn’t curtail or force them into any particular frame.

So why am I telling you this? Well for one it’s because as students in the MA program, which is housed in the school of liberal arts, you are of course students of the liberal arts. So this is your theme to pursue, if you wish and in whatever way you wish, as much as it is mine and the other faculty here and all of the students in all of the liberal arts courses running here at Mercy College, undergrad or graduate. Perhaps you can use this theme to help you focus in on a research topic for whatever class you’re in this semester. For example in my Search for Identity Course I’m going to encourage (but of course not require) students to keep the theme in mind when designing a research topic this semester.

For another thing, our Writing/Image/Text (W.I.T.) 2017 Graduate English Symposium will be on the theme of borders. Now that doesn’t mean that, if you were to come and be a part of the W.I.T symposium in the spring, that you would have to write a paper that tends to that theme—I already know that some of you are working on papers for the symposium and if that’s the case, keep on with whatever you’re doing. But we’re going to encourage you all to find some way to make your papers relate to the theme of borders. And if you’re planning on attending the W.I.T. symposium well the easiest thing to do would be to write some paper for a class over this or the next semester somehow involving the theme of borders, and then to just show up and share that paper with us at the symposium. I’ll be talking more about the symposium here on the blog in early 2017.

III.

Finally, let me collect here links to information and resources that you should all be aware of. This blog post linked here contains a rundown of resources and contact-info that Mercy College provides for its students, whether on-campus or online. This support ranges from basic student services, to mental counseling, to registering accessibility accommodations, to getting online writing and research tutoring, to our online research facilities. On this post linked here you’ll find information about the incomplete “I” grade which some of you might occasionally receive. As I explain in that post, it’s critically important that any incomplete be remedied within one year of earning it; otherwise you lose the potential course-credits and lose the money you paid for the course. For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the application you must complete in order to graduate. For those hoping to enter the college teaching job market check out this post here where I introduce a variety of resources and information on that topic. If you’re going to be applying to anything in any academic field you’ll need to have your curriculum vitae (CV) polished up and also need to know the difference between a CV and a resume. I talk about that here. Finally let me link you here to a post about the waitlist feature that you may encounter when you try to register for a course with no empty seats.

Although you should all have contact with advisors in the Student Services department, I serve as faculty advisor to every student in the MA program. Just keep that in mind if you have any questions or issues with anything in the program. If you’re having issues in any particular course you should always first communicate with and work to resolve any issues with the professor of that course. But again, I am here for each and every one of you as your faculty advisor, so feel free to contact me at any time at cloots@mercy.edu if you have any questions or have something you’d like to discuss. Okay that’s it! Have a great semester, everyone,

-CL, 9/9/2016

Welcome, all you graduate literature students, to the 2015-16 school year here at Mercy College. This is your program director, Christopher Loots, writing to wish you all well here as we embark on another year of adventuring in the fields/folds of literature and critical inquiry. At the start of this school year I’d like to continue a theme from my letter last year by encouraging you all to dwell upon, and if inspired act upon, ways in which you might reach out to one another beyond the classroom so to build up the student community, your personal/professional connections, and even peer mentor-mentee relationships. Let me talk a bit more about that last one there, and what I mean by peer mentor-mentee relationships.

Some of you have been in the program for a few years and are nearing completion of your degree. For those that are, you likely by this point know better than you did at the start how to navigate the different professors’ classrooms, know what this or that professor expects or doesn’t expect, etc. You’ve hopefully developed some tactics and techniques for (re)focusing your energies when working on readings and papers, as much as for de-stressing when you feel caught up and overwhelmed by the balance of graduate study and life. You’ve probably got some sort of routine or ritual figured out to keep yourself on track (more or less) throughout the semesters, to keep you in the groove of each class’s expectations and requirements. You’re hopefully well comfortable now in basic technical things like where you go to do online research, which academic database is the best, etc.

Well these are all things which you may not have been as sure about or familiar with when you began here. And so I encourage those of you who’ve been in the program a semester or two to keep an eye out in your classrooms for people new to the program. This is often something that comes out clearly in introductions each semester. Whether there in the introduction thread, or in an email through Blackboard, just say hello and let the person know you’re available to help as necessary. Or perhaps exchange information and get in touch outside of the Blackboard portal. Be friendly and helpful.

Now, true, not everyone needs that, or wants that. But to a new student coming into the program, a simple “hello” and “let me know if you’d like to chat, or need help figuring out the class/program” can mean a lot, both in terms of the kindness and community it shows and because he or she might really be sitting there wishing there were someone to talk to about this. Of course I am here for all of you to contact with any issues or questions (cloots@mercy.edu), but this is where the “peer” part comes into play. Developing a rapport with a fellow graduate student or students can often feel a lot more casual, friendly, and fun than developing a rapport with a professor (though that, too, is a healthy thing to be doing during your time in the program, particularly as you get closer to your 599 Thesis Tutorial).

Keep in mind too that you don’t have to think of this as simply “mentor-mentee” and it doesn’t just have to be between longer-standing and new students. It’s a great idea for ALL of you to reach out here and there and develop a web of communication and community with one or some of your graduate student peers. Even people who are in their last semester can use help and encouragement from time to time. Connect beyond the classroom, is what I’m encouraging you all to do this year, and in the years to come. You all have the common bond of being explorers in the world of words, language, literature; of being adventurers of the mind and the heart and the psyche. Really, MA students are a select group, and are often misunderstood by those in the world around them. Look to your metaphoric left and right: you are among the like-minded, in the best and healthiest sense of the term. Make the most of this time in each others’ company.

As we move off now into our semester studies, let me reiterate though that you should all be well aware that as the program director I’m here to help you. So in addition to seeking out and developing some connections between your program-mates, again don’t hesitate to contact me (cloots@mercy.edu) if you’re in need of some assistance or advice. Make sure too to check out the post below this one detailing the support structure here at Mercy College. I wish you all the best as you venture forward into the school year, and as always I applaud you for keeping strong your love of literature in a world that too often marginalizes the power and significance of such. Bravo, all you graduate literature students. -CL

Welcome, everyone, to the 2014-15 school year of the Mercy College Master of Arts in English Literature program. I hope all of you have had a fine summer and are returning (or coming for the first time) to our virtual campus full of curiosity and energy.

For some of you this online learning environment might be a new thing. Even for some of you who have been with us for a time, the online learning environment presents its own set of challenges. I hope you’ll keep an eye out for one another in your virtual classrooms, for anyone who seems to be struggling with the technical (or other) aspects of virtual learning, and that you won’t hesitate to reach out to one another to say hello and see if you might be of some help. Of course there are a number of technical support features available (look in the left-hand menu of your Blackboard sections for helpful links). And you should feel free to contact your professors with specific issues and questions. But even just a note to another student through the Blackboard email feature can sometimes make the difference between a student feeling like they’re on a virtual island, and feeling like they’re connecting to the course and to the student community.

One thing I’d like us to work on increasing this year is the feeling of an online student community. And toward that end the faculty are working on some initiatives behind the scenes (still trying get approval for an informal, non-Blackboard real-time chat room for all MA students). In the meantime I encourage each of you to try and build your own student-to-student connections in the class and outside of it. Trade email addresses, trade phone numbers if you’re comfortable doing that; create informal study groups on your own, through your own email or skype exchanges.

Of course all of you should know that as the Program Head I am here for you. And each of you can write to me at any time if you have any questions, issues, worries, or comments concerning your experience or progress in the program. Additionally, although each of you has an academic advisor, I can also assist each of you in understanding program requirements and course selection. I’m happy to hear from you, and happy to talk or (much more easily) trade emails. I work with the advising department to try and make sure each one of you is taken care of and is on track for the degree. Just think of me as your personal faculty advisor.

Let’s talk about some program news:

As those who read this blog know, we’ve been working behind the scenes here on a slightly evolved program structure that will give you more freedom and choice when it comes to determining how you will earn your degree. That was approved by the College this past spring and I’ve received word that the Registrar is updating our program information in her system right now, and that the new structure will take effect in Spring 2015. How will that effect you and your progress toward the degree? Either not at all, or only positively. The changes only expand the options students have for meeting degree requirements.

So for example all students in the current/old structure are required to complete ENGL 510, Theory and Practice of Expository Writing. That’s a fine class, and we’ll still continue to offer it. But it’s always bothered some of us here that there are no alternatives to it. It can provide invaluable preparation for students who aspire to teach composition and expository writing, but that doesn’t describe the ambitions of every student in our program. Some of you are creative writers and are here primarily to hone and inspire your craft. Some of you are really here just for literary study, and might not want to devote one of your ten required courses to a class more associated with a Composition and Rhetoric pursuit. We know for a fact that many of you agree, based on the surveys and polls I sent around last year (I sent survey links to all of the student email addresses on file with Mercy). And so in Spring 2015, rather than being required to take 510, you will have a choice of courses to take to complete what we’re calling your “Writing and Literary Forms” requirement. You may take 510 to meet that requirement, or you may elect to take Advanced Creative Writing instead; or to take any one of the literary forms courses we offer (on the epic, poetic, essay, narrative, and dramatic forms). All of the upcoming changes will be just like this: expansion of choices. No one will lose anything. All completed or in-progress work will count toward your degree as it has.

Throughout this school year I will post updates and other information about these changes on this blog, as they are implemented. Once we have the final word from the Registrar I will finalize the draft of the Student Handbook currently available on the left-hand side of this blog, and will replace that draft with an official Student Handbook that will detail every little thing you might want to know about all of this. And as we roll out the new structure, you can and should of course contact me personally at any time with any questions you have about any of it. I will make sure you’re taken care of, and that your progress to your degree will be clear.

Upcoming course offerings:

Within the next week I will be posting here the Spring 2015 course offerings. There will be seven courses total. In addition to some program standards, we’ll be running a selection of eclectic courses which I hope you’ll find interesting. As a quick preview: Professor Sax will be running a Magic in Literature course. Professors Sax is one of the world’s foremost scholars on animals in literature, and on esoteric, hermetic, and mythological literatures. Dr. Kilpatrick, who over the past year has presented and attended conferences from Istanbul to England on topics involving the philosophy of sport, will be leading a special running of the course Sport Literature. Professor Dugan will be running a new course focusing just on the writings of Henry James and D. H. Lawrence. And Professor Emeritus Donald Morales will do our program a great boon when he returns to teach a course on the subject and literature of Afropolitanism, on which he has been presenting this year at conferences in Ghana, England, and Finland. Check here soon for a complete list of Spring 2015 courses, and for more details about what each one of these courses will cover. I’ll also share with you the day and time that spring registration opens.

As you proceed into your classes this school year, I want each of you to recognize and be proud of the fact that you are an adventurer, are an explorer. It takes a certain courage and an adventurous spirit to pursue a graduate degree in the arts. As with adventurers from ages past, it’s likely that some of you have people in your life who don’t quite understand or appreciate your pursuit. It’s often difficult to explain to someone else just why literature and the study of it is so important to you; why your pursuit does matter, deeply. There are some practical ends that the M.A. can lead to: with it you can apply to full-time professorships at junior colleges and other teaching opportunities; it can look good on a resume when applying to traditional English-based careers like editing, publishing, and various writing positions. But aside from all of that, and very often before all of that, I think the first burst which propels someone into graduate literary study is a pure love of literature, of words, of writing, and of thinking. You don’t have to explain your love of these things here among the virtual halls and your fellow students and faculty. You are among friends. You have only to get into the joyous work of reading, thinking, discussing, and exploring these things together with one another. Have a great year everyone,

Christopher Loots
Program Head, Master of Arts in English Literature
cloots@mercy.edu