29 January 2001

Dear Friends,

Welcome back once more, and a special welcome back to the Deputy Executive Officers, Professors Anne Humpherys and Scott Westrem. I wish you all a happy and productive year and offer, as well, in the face of the unsettling political scene, a sentence from Emerson that has comforted me, "People wish to be settled, but only insofar as they are unsettled is there any hope for them." Disappointment and disorder prompt us to focus on the new orders we devise in hope.

Let me begin, then, on a note of hope with news from the MLA convention. Each year we are more mightily represented, with many more students as well as faculty members giving papers and/or chairing panels, and an increasing number of job seekers interviewing-fifteen this year-,several with multiple interviews. Of these, there have been two offers already made and accepted, one a full-time tenure-track position at Rutgers, the other a one-year replacement line at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. In addition, as of this writing five candidates have been called back for second interviews, all upcoming. For those of you who did not see Linda Sherwin's listing of those presenting papers, here's the line-up (not in any particular order): Gloria Fisk, "The Cruelty of Form in The Unconsoled;" Greg Erickson, two papers, "Henry James and the Sacred" and "Music and Gender in 20th Century French Literature;" Jennifer Bernstein, "Repunctuating Jonathan Edwards;" Lopa Basu, a paper presented at the South Asian Literary Association conference, held at the same time as the MLA convention this year in Washington; Norman Kelvin, "The View from Here: How the Nineteenth-Century Looks to the Twenty-First;" Speed Hill, a paper at the RETS Forum; Leo Parascandola, moderating a panel; Pia Mukherji, "Modernist Migrations;" Jon-Christian Suggs, "Remapping Boundaries;" Erin Henriksen, "More on the Omissa: Bibliographic and Literary Readings of Omission and Supplement in Samson Agonistes;" Gerhard Joseph, "Interest and Disinterest: Then and Now;" David Yaffe, "Ralph Ellison's Jazz-Shaped Vision;" David Richter, "Pluralism at the Millenium;" Molly Vaux, "The Golden Bowl and the New York Edition." If I have missed anyone, please forgive me, let me know and I'll send out an addendum. I would like to note, as well, that Ann Wallace attended as a Delegate Assembly member and that Leo Parascondola and Greg Bezkorovainy serve as members of the Graduate Student Caucus.

I am going to interrupt my report for a moment and take this opportunity to thank, for their most energetic efforts, the Placement Officers, Professors Marc Dolan, Gerhard Joseph, and Wayne Koestenbaum, the rest of the Placement Committee, and all the faculty members who have contributed time sitting on mock interviews and/or contacting colleagues. It is clear to me that our strong showing at the MLA is directly tied to the work of the Placement Officers and Committee. I would like to take this opportunity, as well, to extend special thanks to Marc Dolan for his bristling efficiency in service above and beyond the call of duty during his term as Acting Executive Officer. I want to thank Wayne Koestenbaum specially, too, for introducing "Art Walks" into his extremely useful and popular workshops.

And now, back to the news. In addition to the item above about our impressive turn-out at MLA, I would like to share with you a few significant informational items that came out of the Meeting for Chairs of Ph.D.-Granting Institutions. There was a lengthy discussion concerning size of programs. It was noted that there is a correlation between being among those programs granting the greater number of degrees and being among the top-rated 25 institutions nationally, and that degree-holders from these institutions had markedly better chances of competing in the national market rather than being limited to a niche market. Many institutions which had reduced their number of admits in the past few years are currently increasing their size once more, for various reasons, among them the desire of attracting a greater number of applicants with a wider range of offerings since at many institutions the applicant pools were down from what had been their average number for the last several years by about 1/2 in the last and current rounds of applications. There was also a great deal of discussion about the difficulty of defining our discipline currently and how that ambiguity negatively complicates progress-to-degree in terms of determining a "marketable" dissertation topic. In connection with these some of these issues and with other matters related to the actualities of the profession, I am attaching to the hard-copy version of this newsletter, which will be distributed to your mailboxes, xeroxes of charts mapping numbers and trends nationally over the last several years that were distributed at this Meeting of Chairs. I hope you will find this information useful.

In our continuing efforts to have our students optimally prepared when they become active job seekers, the Program will again offer panel discussions and practical workshops under the heading, Getting Real: Professional Issues and Concerns. The first such occasion this term will focus on transforming term papers into potentially publishable essays. Xeroxes of "before" and "after" samples from students in the Program who have had essays that began as term papers published will be available before this session. Dates and times of this and other sessions will be announced shortly. In connection with having essays published, I would like to remind all of you to keep Linda, Matt Gold, and me apprized of your successes, whether publications, lectures, readings, papers presented, for posting on the website bulletin board. As I've noted to you before, our website is now the most used source from which potential applicants to the Program and others learn about us, and there is no better advertisement than our publications, activities, noted honors and awards. Most currently, I am pleased to announce that one of our newly appointed faculty members, Professor Joshua Wilner, has been honored by having his recently published book, Feeding on Infinity: Readings in the Romantic Rhetoric of Internalization, awarded the 2000 John Pierre Barricelli Book Prize for the year's most significant work in Romanticism studies; the award was made by the American Conference on Romanticism. I am pleased to announce as well that Maggie Nelson has been invited to teach a course in poetry this spring at Wesleyan. This spring will also see the publication of her first volume of her poetry, Sliver. Following last year's success, she will also once more organize the Student Poetry Reading which will close this year's Friday Forum Plus events and lead-off Revels on May 18th.

On the way to that event, we are again fortunate to have quite a spectacular line-up of events. The season will begin on February 2nd with a talk co-sponsored by Women's Studies given by Fedwa Malti-Douglas, "Romancing the Presidency." Then on February 9th, together with the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program, we shall co-sponsor a Roundtable Discussion, "The Renaissance in Trans-Atlantic Perspective," featuring Martin Burke, Martin Elsky, David Kazanjian, Eloise Quinones Keber, and Francesca Sautman. February 16th will bring us Michael Wood from Princeton, and February 23rd, Ken Warren from the University of Chicago. On March 2nd, Robert Reid-Pharr from Johns Hopkins will give a lecture entitled, "Once You Go Black: Performance, Seduction and Black Identity," and on March 9th Mary Baine Campbell from Brandeis will speak on "Wonder and Science: Imagining Worlds in Early Modern Europe." On March 16th we shall have our annual Recruitment Day; please mark this date specially on your calendars as it is your presence and participation that give prospective students the best sense of what our Program is all about. In the week following, I am delighted that we will be welcoming Dame Gillian Beer for a two-day visit. On Thursday, March 22nd, she will give a lecture entitled "Honor Thy Father and Mother: How To Do Both," and on Friday, March 23rd, a second lecture, "Alice's Body: Evolutionary Anxiety." Her visit, as well, is made possible by the CUNY Faculty Development Program. Next comes this year's Student Conference, "Reading the Lines," on March 30th. And on April 6th, just before spring break, Michael Moon will give a talk entitled, "Juvenilia by Adults." On the first Friday after our return, April 20th, Robert Richardson will give a lecture on William James, the subject of his current biographical interest. On April 27th, the occasion of our annual Shakespeare event, Angus Fletcher will give a memorial lecture in honor of William Elton. The annual Victorian Conference on May 4,th "The Great Exhibition and Its Legacies," promises to be especially exciting this year. And on May 11th, we shall host Jacqueline Najuma Stewart from the University of Chicago, the last of the speakers sponsored with the help of the CUNY Faculty Development Program; her subject will focus on African-Americans and film. I want to extend many thanks to all of you who suggested and helped make it possible for us to have such a stunning array of speakers for this and last term. We are, indeed, blessed with riches. Details of these and other upcoming events will be given on the Friday Form Plus calendar which will be distributed as e-mail, hard-copy, and on the website next week.

Enriching our offerings even more, I am happy to announce that Geoffrey Hartman will be returning this year for a more extended stay as Scholar-in-Residence for three sessions April 4th, 18th, and 25th. His subject of address will be "The Theology of the Poets," and the poets he will consider, most probably, are Christopher Smart, Hopkins or Shelley, and Dickinson. The extraordinary success of his residence with us last year naturally prompted the invitation to Professor Hartman to return, a reality enabled both last year and this year by the efforts of Morris Dickstein through the auspices of The Center for the Humanities and the generosity of Joanna and Daniel Rose. We are immensely grateful. And another return performance will be offered by Angus Fletcher; his mini-seminar on Wordsworth and Clare will be held on April 17th, 19th, 24th and 26th. April will certainly not be the cruellest month for us.

I would also like to announce that Professor Michael Adams of the Library will be visiting us on Friday, March 2nd at 2:00 to instruct all of those interested on accessing data bases and other research materials now available through the library from our desktops. He will also introduce us to JSTORE, an on-line journal bank. If there are particular items you would like him to discuss, please let me know sometime before.

As you all know, the Curriculum Committee has been hard at work over the last term clarifying and re-describing the Second Examination. I am delighted to report that the committee's efforts have produced a well-defined and rigorous instrument that is at the same time flexible enough to accommodate the diverse needs of students. The Executive Committee at the end of last term voted unanimously to accept this revised version of the examination which will begin to be administered in Fall 2001. Students preparing to take the examination beginning in Fall 2001 should prepare following the new rubric; students preparing to take the examination this spring may choose to follow either the new or old rubric, but should make it clear to the Chair of the Examination Committee and indicate on the "Orals Contract" which set of rules is being followed. A copy of the new Second Examination description and Guidelines for Preparation is attached the hard-copy version of the newsletter you will find in your mailboxes. After considerable discussion both in Curriculum Committee and in Executive Committee, it was decided that the First Examination would remain in its current form for the next three year period. I want particularly to thank Professor Nancy Miller and the rest of the committee for their hard work and good humor.

I am delighted to report that the anonymous donor, who last year gave the Program $15,000 toward the reconfiguration of our lounge space, has supplemented this gift with an additional $10,000. As we await the installation of the bulletin boards on the backs of the locker and mailbox structures, we shall begin consulting with a designer. For those of you who have not yet picked up the artwork for your offices, this is a reminder that there is a stack of yet-unclaimed pieces in the xerox room. If you do not find there something of yours that was taken from your office in the Grace Building, the likelihood is that it is in the still unclaimed pieces in Ray Ring's office; give him a call at 7394 and go up and have a look.

Before closing, I would like to report briefly on Registration and Admissions. We will be running 24 courses this term, including the intersession 795 and Prof. Fletcher's mini-seminar, but not including the Dissertation Workshop. Four courses were canceled; of these, two will run on an Independent Study basis. It should be noted in this connection that in the case of two of these courses, there were areas of seeming overlap and in another an instructor's choice for a traditionally poor-drawing time slot. With the exception of two or three courses, numbers are fairly well distributed; the expectation is that the drop-add period will adjust these exceptions. As for Admissions, we have hit an all-time record of applications received by the financial aid deadline of January 15th: 155 applications from a richly diverse group. The Admissions Committee, always overtaxed, will have an especially demanding charge this year, and I thank them in advance for their investment of time, attention, and good humor. Because, as you know, we cannot compete in terms of financial aid with other top-ranked institutions, I remind you of how important your participation is on Recruitment Day and throughout the Admissions process. Your availability in person, on the phone, through e-mail, and in inviting prospective students to sit-in on seminars and join us in group meetings and on Friday afternoons comprise our strongest bid. You've all been most generous in these ways in the past, and I thank you again for that and for what's ahead. Last year's turn-out on Recruitment Day was especially effective, and moving.

In connection with our meager financial resources, I want to remind you, too, of the upcoming Phonathon and ask you to contribute as much time as you can. The dates have not yet been set, but I shall let you know as soon as I do. The great good news this year is that the Program will be able to keep all the funds it raises rather than just half; this could mean as much as a $15-20,000 infusion into our fellowship funds. So even if you've been shy in the past about becoming a tele-marketer for a day, please try it out this year because it will make a considerable difference if you do. I'll be available for both coaching and coaxing. Also in connection with financial aid, I would like to take this opportunity to remind those of you who are able, or who may know others who are, that contributions to existing fellowship accounts can be made at anytime. The Program Fund-Raising Committee, chaired by Prof. Wittreich, will be meeting regularly this term, beginning with a luncheon on February 23rd, and will provide details of efforts in this area as well as details concerning the different fellowship accounts. Contributions can be made through Prof. Wittreich, Linda Sherwin, or myself.

One more thing, before closing. I would like to advertise our accomplishments in the English showcase. Would you please bring in a dust jacket or copy of your most recent publication so that we can begin to display such in rotation. The case is locked, so there is no danger of losing your second-to-last copy of X. Items not currently on display will be kept safely until displayed or returned. And, too, remember to update your profile on the website; contact Matt Gold or me if you have question about how to do this.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support, your help in the running and strengthening of the Program, for the spirit of it that you've created. I have found the exercise of this office to be the most human and humanizing of experiences, and I am honored and grateful to have been asked to serve the next term.

As always, warmly,

Joan
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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