September 11, 2002

Dear Friends,

It has been quite difficult for me to begin to write this letter this year, simply because I have been thinking and thinking about how to begin. The usual "Welcome back" and "Welcome again to new students," opening a letter at a moment when each of us, in some way, cannot help but reflect on this time last year would not, could not, do. We have all recomposed ourselves, recovered, and in so doing, I've found, in talking with so many of you over the last months and most recently, that there are common features to our renewed selves: an eagerness to share descriptions of experience and perceptions, a spontaneity and ease in relations, a shift in perspective to doing and saying what really matters, as though we have all come to know precisely where we are in a fully realized present. We are engaging one another and our work with palpable joy and excitement in all its aspects-the classroom, meetings, reading, thinking, writing-, and this in spite of the continuing stresses of everyday life and serious political and economic concerns. In connection with saying what really matters, I've observed, at first most dramatically in myself, but in others as well, an economy with words, economy in Thoreau's sense, the product of giving careful attention to those we choose, abandoning those we were used to using, and taking the time to find the right word, the precise phrase to say and write what we think and feel. These changes are a form of grace, in all its aspects, the result of a kind of present-day fortunate fall. As inhabitants of what Emerson described as "this new yet unapproachable America," we seem to have begun to be able to see ourselves, both individually and collectively, at least somewhat, as others see us. As I was composing this last sentence, I realized that I had never thought I would find myself voicing a sermon, and yet.

To begin, then, a most heartfelt "Welcome back." While the budget news here at the Center, CUNY-, city, state, and nation-wide is bleak and we all will experience the effects to some degree, here in the Program we have many reasons to celebrate our good fortune. First, we have, as she has already come to be called, "The Amazing Marilyn." We welcome Marilyn Weber as our new Assistant Program Officer with abundant thanks already for all she has done in taking over the extremely demanding duties of her office and, with remarkable skill, having things running brilliantly. Her management capabilities are matched by the gentleness and generosity of her spirit. It is truly a privilege to have Marilyn with us, and, in respect of this, I want to offer a word of caution since, out of her generosity, she will not refuse any request and will more than fulfill expectations. Knowing this and knowing, too, that as one of the consequences of the restricted budgetary situation, the hours of college assistants have been reduced, so that we will not have Zoraida working as many hours a week as in the past, please be measured in what you ask of Marilyn. In this connection, I want to take this opportunity to remind you, particularly because it is so easy to come to rely on the APO as the Source of Sources, the one who can answer any and every question about the Program and everyone in it, that I am completely confident that the answer/s to any and every question you might have about how to do what you need to do in order to do x can be found in Professor Scott Westrem's Guide to the Ph.D. Program in English. The Guide is always available on-line at our website and hard copies are periodically printed. I ask, then, that all faculty members and students consult the Guide before asking Marilyn. If, on the odd chance that after using the masterful table of contents and/or cross-referenced index, you have been unable to find the answer to your question, then ask Marilyn or me. To continue my plea, but in another area, please be measured as well in the use of supplies. In the past if we have exceeded our postage or paper allowance, for example, but still had funds in other expense categories, we have been able to appeal to the Provost's Office to shift the difference, as it were. But we simply cannot exceed our budget allocation in any category this year, because there is nothing extra in any category. There have been cut-backs across the board throughout the system.

By now all of you participating in seminars have met and have been delighted in beginning to get to know the students who have joined us. We welcome forty-two new colleagues, within one or two the same number we have admitted in the past several years. The amazingly hard work of the Admissions Committee-Professors Rachel Brownstein, Martin Elsky, Wayne Koestenbaum, Steven Kruger, George Otte, Robert Reid-Pharr, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Donald Stone, and student members, Zach Davis and Kate Moss-,under the tireless leadership of Professor Scott Westrem, is to be particularly recognized this year. Once again we succeeded, on the basis of the excellence, experience, and variety offered within our community-in course offerings, reputation of faculty and students, teaching and administrative possibilities, mentoring, lectures, conferences-, in attracting the very best of the best applicants from across the country and abroad. And once again, we were successful in recruiting, through the effort and organization mobilized by the Admissions Committee and, under the superb direction of Professor Anne Humpherys, the Recruitment Committee and the participants in the Recruitment Day event, the best who have joined us, in spite of the meager financial aid we are able to offer. I must add that this vigorous interest in our Program-the number of applicants broke all records-during a time of crisis for the city was especially gratifying. Last fall there was a moment when we feared there might be but only a handful of applicants. And yet.

On the job front, too, in a market that reflects the economic situation nationwide, we have done better than we could have expected. Professor Scott Westrem's extraordinary attention to preparing job applicants and in following through on all details concerning interviews, both before and after, has once again rewarded us. Our successful candidates this year are Steven Torres, Assistant Professor (FT/TT) at Utica College; Linda Sumption, Assistant Professor, a one-year appointment at New Jersey City University (with the possibility of renewal and tenure track); Robert Dowling, Assistant Professor at the Coast Guard Academy, contract extended for another year; Stephanie Oppenheim, Assistant Professor (FT/TT) at Borough of Manhattan Community College; Mark McBeth, Assistant Professor (FT/TT), John Jay College; Duncan Dobbelman, Post-Doctoral Appointment, CUNY Honors Program (at Brooklyn College); and Tim McCormack, one-year appointment (with possibility of renewal) at NYU, General Studies Program. I should note as well that one applicant not listed above turned down two offers for a full-time, tenure track position, while another turned down one. In addition, yet another is on a campus visit at Hebrew University as I write. For these successes, I want to thank Scott Westrem and the other members of the Placement Committee--Professor Gerhard Joseph, Co-chair, Jamie Cleland, Mikhail Gershovich, James King, Ian Maloney, and Professors Jane Marcus, Nancy K. Miller, Jon Christian Suggs-and the other members of the faculty who participated in mock interviews, wrote letters, and made phone calls.

Another kind of success is abundantly represented by the students who were awarded dissertation Fellowships, Writing Fellowships, Technology Fellowships, and dissertation prizes this last spring:

Graduate Center Awards/Fellowships:

• Jennifer Brown, Dissertation Year Fellowship, "A Critical Edition and Commentary on MS Douce 114" (Director: Prof. Michael Sargent)
• Christopher Iannini, Milton Brown Dissertation Fellowship, "Fatal Revolutions: U.S. Natural Histories of the Greater Caribbean, 1714-1852" (Director: Prof. William Kelly)

• Deborah Lutz, Jewish Foundation for Women Dissertation Fellowship, "The Dangerous Lover and the Erotic Unknown" (Director: Prof. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick)

• Mark Noonan, Helaine Newstead Dissertation Fellowship, "Reading The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine: American Literature and Culture, 1870-1893 (Director: Prof. Marc Dolan)

• Amy Leal, Center for the Humanities Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, "Negative Capabilities: Keatsean Thresholds from Tennyson to Dreyer" (Director: Prof. Morris Dickstein)

• Elizabeth Toohey, Women's Studies Conviction Project Fellowship, "Contemporary American Women Writers and the Idea of God" (Director: Prof. Nancy K. Miller)

• Center for Place, Culture & Politics Fellowships, "Imperialism" Seminar: Jamie Bianco, Ira Dworkin, Christopher Iannini, Cara Murray

• Richard Perez, Two-Year Humana Fellowship

English Program Dissertation Awards/Fellowships:

• Sharon Lattig, The Alumni and Faculty Dissertation Year Award, "Lyric Experience: Science and Genre in the Poetry of Wallace Stevens" (Director: Prof. Joan Richardson)

• Gregory Erickson, The Millennium Dissertation Year Award, "Reading in the Dark: Modernism and the Absence of God" (Director: Prof. Mary Ann Caws)

• Harry Heuser, The Grace Calder Dissertation Year Award, "Etherized Victorians: Narrative Drama and the American Radio Play, 1929-1954" (Director: Prof. David Richter)

• Josh Gosciak, Morton Cohen Travel Award, "Empire, Diaspora, and Claude McKay: The Making of a Public Intellectual" (Director: Prof. Jane Marcus)

• Michaelangelo Tata, Morton Cohen Travel Award, "Andy Warhol: PoMo Pimp, Pop Tart, Meta-Star" (Director: Prof. Wayne Koestenbaum)

• Robert Kaplan, Lynn Kadison Award for Service, "Intimate Geographies: Male Homotextual Space in the Novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, and Herman Melville" (Director: Prof. Joan Richardson)

• Maggie Nelson, Lynn Kadison Award for Service, "Women, The New York School, and Other True Abstractions" (Director: Prof. Wayne Koestenbaum)

English Program Dissertation Prizes:

• Robert Upchurch, The Alumni and Doctoral Faculty Prize for the Most Distinguished Dissertation of the Year, "The Hagiography of Chaste Marriage in Aelfric's 'Lives of Saints'" (Director: Prof. Gordon Whatley)

• Erin Henriksen, The Robert Adams Day Prize for Interdisciplinary Work, "Sacred Authorship: Scriptural Models for Early Modern Books" (Director: Prof. Barbara Bowen)

• Sara Claire Raymond, The Adrienne Auslander Munich Prize for the Best Dissertation involving Women's Writing, "The Trope of the Posthumous Voice in Women's Writing" (Director: Prof. Meena Alexander)

• Mitchell Meltzer, The Irving Howe Prize for Work in Politics and Literature, "Between Them and the Sky: The Constitutionality of Classic American Literature" (Director: Prof. Angus Fletcher)

• Cathy Fagan, The David Gordon Prize for Work in 20th-century Studies, "'The Excitement of an Afternoon Call': Reframing the Regional and the Modern" (Director: Prof. Marc Dolan)

• Victoria Alexander, The Alfred Kazin Prize for Work in American Literature and Critcism, "Narrative Telos" (Director: Prof. Joan Richardson)

New Writing Fellows:

• Geoffrey Jacques
• Jennifer Lemberg
• Jamie Bianco
• Shaun Carey
• Frank Gaughan
• Crystal Benedicks

The success of our colleagues in these competitions is a clear indication of the health and professionalism of the members of our constituency in their ongoing work and in addressing topics recognized as contributing to the intellectual life of our time.

And, in spite of no longer having additional support from the CUNY Faculty Development Program to aid in sponsoring lectures for our Friday Forum Series (if successful in their applications, as we have been for the past three years, individual Programs are entitled only to three years of funding), we have been able nonetheless, in many cases through agreements of co-sponsorship with other Programs, Area Groups, and/or Centers, to assemble a stunning list of speakers, as you will have noted from the calendar recently posted to you. I want to call your attention particularly to the Celebration of the Renaissance Society of America at CUNY event on October 11th and to the NEASECS Conference: The Enlightenment and the Idea of Modernity on October 18th, which promises to be a most festive occasion, complete with music and singing as well. I want to take this opportunity as well to reflect back a bit and remark on the success of the magnificently organized and managed the Student Conference in Spring, and also to thank Alina Gharabegian and all who made the farewell to Linda Sherwin event elegantly perfect.

As to more practical matters, I am pleased to report that not only did all of our seminars fill, but that more than one cup runneth over, and while this is, of course, another indication of the vitality of the Program, there is also a matter of concern with seminar size. I should note that unusually this fall we are offering three fewer seminars as a result of the combination of Graduate Center faculty leaves and the fact that faculty who might have been invited to teach in their stead have been needed at their own campuses, another aspect of the current CUNY budget situation. In addition, and unforeseen by Professor Humpherys, who arranges scheduling, and myself, is that many more students than usual this term have chosen not to teach and so have registered for an additional seminar. We also had a record number of students registering from other programs and others who wanted to register as non-matriculants, many of whom could not be accommodated. Again, I must tell you, since I spoke with the greater number of students registering during advisement both during the registration periods last spring and before the beginning of this term, that these choices reflect responses to the richness of the seminars being offered. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "But I don't want to miss taking x, y and z." So, while I know participating in a larger seminar has its frustrations and makes greater demands on all, there is at the same time reason for pleasure for all concerned in sharing additional possibilities of perception. Be assured, too, that Professor Humpherys and I, with the help of the Executive and Curriculum Committees and the Area Groups, will make every effort, short of bringing in a clairvoyant with a crystal ball, to ensure that in the future seminar size is kept optimal.

I am also pleased to report that the Comprehensive Examination administered this August has been commended by many of the forty-two students who sat for it as being an instrument reflecting extraordinary attention in its preparation. I want to thank the members of the Examinations Committee-, and particularly its new chair, Professor Catherine McKenna, for the careful overseeing that produced the thoughtful, detailed questions and selections of poetry for discussion. I want to extend special thanks as well to the readers of the examination, who, at the very demanding beginning of the new academic year, have given their time to evaluating and commenting on the essays making up the exam. This assignment is immensely important to the life of the Program. The feedback from both those taking and those grading the examinations contributes greatly to our knowing what we have done, what we are doing, and what we should be doing. I want to add a note of apology to the readers for having promised them no more than ten examinations and giving them fourteen or fifteen. In the transition from Linda Sherwin to Marilyn Weber, there had to be at least one slip: while thirty students had signed up before the summer for the exam, the forty-two indicated above showed up. All I can say, again, is "I'm sorry," and reiterate my promise to each of the readers of at least a form of due and relaxing reward at the bar or café of your choice.

And last but not least, we at very long last can look forward to soothing hours in our still-to-be-named and still not completely furnished study! The workmen completed the final installation of the structure this last Friday. We will also be acquiring lamp or two to provide warmer light, a rug or two, and a poster or two or three to replace our temporary hangings. After completing the finishing touches, we will celebrate with a "naming occasion," install a plaque, maybe even open a bottle or two of champagne, and have a party. We are enormously grateful to our donor, a graduate of the Program, for realizing how much students truly needed a study, a smaller, quieter space to which they could withdraw, within the larger institutional plan of the lounge.

In closing, I wish you all, especially today, some time quietly withdrawn to feel and to think

Warmly,

Joan

Joan Richardson
Executive Officer, English

PhD Program in English
The Graduate Center City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 7407 New York, NY 10016-4309
telephone: 212-817-8315 fax: 212-817-1518
email: english@gc.cuny.edu