Dear Alumni and Friends,
In the academic calendar, summer is a time of transitions. Students posing on the Oval for graduation photos give way to first-year students clutching scarlet orientation folders, while faculty celebrating retirement prepare their offices for new colleagues. In the Department of English, three faculty members have retired and received emeritus status: Kay Halasek, Stuart Lishan, and Roxann Wheeler. Together, they have given an amazing 95 years of dedicated service to the department and university. At the same time, we are welcoming two new colleagues, Corinne Sugino and Charles Athanasopoulos, who will be jointly appointed in the Center for Ethnic Studies and the Department of African American and African Studies respectively.
This summer also marks a transition in the chair’s office: on July 1, Elizabeth Hewitt will begin a four- year term as chair. A recipient of this year’s President and Provost’s Distinguished Service Award and a 2022 recipient of the Ratner Award for Distinguished Teaching, Beth has served as the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies since 2021. She is strongly committed to student and faculty success and to the continuing importance of English studies at Ohio State and nationally. I am thrilled that she will be the department’s next chair and congratulate her on her appointment.
My term as chair has itself been marked by transition. It began in January 2021, during the pandemic. Since then, the department has developed new general education courses, streamlined the major, and increased our use of digital instructional tools. Transition has also spurred creativity and innovation, which you will learn about in this issue’s features. Through our professional writing minor, we have expanded opportunities for internships, such as the one described in this issue’s spotlight of Audrey Smith, who graduated with her BA this spring. We also continue to support creative writing for students at all levels, from high school (via the Young Writers Workshop, returning to Denney Hall in a few short weeks) to graduate studies. In this issue, you will learn about MFA student Andrew Romriell, who received a prestigious 2023-2024 Presidential Fellowship, and read the winning entries in an undergraduate poetry contest to celebrate Ohio’s total solar eclipse. With support from the College of Arts and Sciences, our faculty have also launched new research initiatives, such as Christa Teston’s work in the new Reader Experience lab and Amrita Dhar and Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́’s multimodal project, Shakespeare in the “Post”Colonies, both of which are also highlighted below.
I am proud of what we have accomplished and excited about what lies ahead, and — as always — I thank you for your continued support.
Susan Williams
Professor and Chair
P.S. Looking for podcasts to enjoy over the summer? Check out two of our departmentally produced favorites: the Project Narrative podcast brings in experts from around the world to examine how a wide range of stories work, and Shakespeare in the “Post”Colonies‘ interviews with authors, artists, and researchers are available as a podcast feed in addition to their web presence. Happy listening!
