News from Baker Hall 117
>>>	We are proud to present a short video that introduces our department: our goals, aspirations, and values as an academic community. To watch, please click on the still image from the film to the right. We hope you enjoy it!
>>>	Our mission statement: Language is at the heart of our humanity. It informs who we are, what we do, and what we want our lives to be about. To that end, the Department of English Language and Literature offers a community of scholars and writers who study literature, the teaching of English, the teaching of English as a second language (TESOL), creative writing, professional writing, and film studies. These programs facilitate learning that immerses all members of the department community in transactions with language. This focus cultivates a deeper understanding of ourselves and others, fosters a critical and creative engagement with language and literature, and allows teachers, scholars, writers, and professionals to emerge as individuals capable of contending with the complexities of our world. We would welcome responses or feedback via e-mail.
>>>	The English department has a Facebook! Click on the following links to access our Facebook sites. English Language and Literature, U of Northern Iowa University of Northern Iowa Professional Writing Program UNI Creative Writers - Past, Present, & Future English at UNI Magazine See you there!
>>>	In response to many requests for a department newsletter, we proudly announce the first issue of English at UNI, our new online magazine for everyone interested in what we're up to here in "English at UNI"! Click here to download your own PDF copy. Enjoy! Congratulations and many thanks to the staff of English at UNI, led by student Deidre Cave (managing editor) and Professor Adrienne Lamberti (faculty advisor). They would welcome your feedback at <EnglishAtUNI@uni.edu>. For more background on the magazine, click here.
>>>	Professor Jeremy Schraffenberger's first book, St. Joe's Passion, recently appeared from Etruscan Press. Charles Martin says, "J. D. Schraffenberger's first collection is an often dazzling projection of masks over and under other masks, voices parodying other voices, or interrupting them, or guiding them into unanticipated channels, as though these poems were randomly selected in a still-evolving script. It isn't easy to say exactly what it all adds up to, but the adventurous reader should find the journey never less than engaging. The other kind need not apply." Click here for St. Joe's Passion on Facebook.
>>>	HiddenSpring Books recently published Finding Purpose in Narnia: A Journey with Prince Caspian by Professor Gina Burkart. Congratulations, Gina, on your second book. Professor Burkart's first book, A Parent's Guide to Harry Potter (Intervarsity Press, 2005), garnered considerable international attention.
>>>	Professor Adrienne Lamberti recently published her first book, Talking the Talk: Revolution in Agricultural Communication (Nova Science Publishers). This publication is the result of a study of an Iowa State Extension program, the Beginning Farmer Center, and the publications the Center produced over a two-year span. Talking the Talk fuses ethnographic research in professional communication with narratives by members of agrarian communities throughout Iowa. Click here for Talking the Talk on Facebook.
>>>	Professor Vince Gotera's third poetry collection, Fighting Kite, was recently published by Pecan Grove Press in San Antonio, Texas. This collection is Vince's second book with Pecan Grove Press; the first was Dragonfly, also a book of poems. Annie Finch says, "The skillfully interwoven lines in Vince Gotera's Fighting Kite — tightly gripping couplets, wryly sprawling sestinas, eerie terza rima — stay ever alert to the echoes and dashes of language. Subtle in musc and vivid in imagery, these poems spin honest tales that spell out hard and important truths of the pain and pride between father and son." Click here for Fighting Kite on Facebook.
>>>	Professor Jeffrey S. Copeland, head of the English Department, recently published Inman's War: A Soldier's Story of Life in a Colored Battalion in WWII (Paragon House). In the Introduction to the book, Dick Gregory calls Inman's War a "magnificent slice of [American] history." Noted author Sally Walker says, "Jeffrey Copeland discovered hidden treasure when he found a suitcase full of letters written during WWII. Inman's War, which is based on those letters, is a wonderful read, filled with laughter, tears, anger, love, and friendship."
>>>	Professor Grant Tracey's book Playing Mac: A Novella in Two Acts And Other Scenes recently appeared from Pocol Press in Virginia. This collection of fiction, Tracey's second, joins his previous collection, Parallel Lines and the Hockey Universe, also from Pocol Press. Robert McBrearty praises Playing Mac: "Stan Traicheff steps onto the stage, a flawed but well-meaning, memorable, and engaging character who has the courage to turn away from the dead end life awaiting him. Grant Tracey is a compelling, honest, and compassionate writer."
>>>	We are happy to announce the publication of Notes from the Flyover, a Festschrift in honor of Professor Barbara Lounsberry, who recently retired. The book, published by the North American Review Press, anthologizes creative nonfiction, fiction, literary criticism, and poetry by Lounsberry's former students and colleagues, including Salma Akbar, John Bresland, Grace Ann and Theodore Hovet, Nancy Price, Alice Swensen, Gay Talese, and others. Notes from the Flyover is edited by English professors Grant Tracey and Scott Cawelti as well as Ron Sandvik, Managing Editor of the North American Review. The book may be purchased for $13.95 at local bookstores as well as directly from the North American Review: by e-mail at <nar@uni.edu> or by phone at (319) 273-6455.
>>>	The Iowa Writing Project — a summer program for teachers — is alive and well at the University of Northern Iowa. For further information, please consult our Iowa Writing Project website. We look forward to your joining us this summer!
>>>	Students: want to learn about finding a job and career? Check out UNI Career Services' webpage titled Job Search Guides for Educators.
>>>	Applying for graduate school? For some helpful advice, look at Professor Vince Gotera's online articles on this subject: How to Get Great Recommendations How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose The Grad School Letter Arrives ... Now What? Are there other topics you would like addressed in similar articles? Click here to let Professor Gotera know. Thanks!

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Department of English Language and Literature
117 Baker Hall
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls IA 50614-0502
Telephone: (319) 273-2821
Fax: (319) 273-5807
E-mail: english@sunny.uni.edu
Last Updated: 09-Nov-2009