Dear Colleagues,

Well, here we are, better late than never! After being all packed up with nowhere to go for a month, the Program was moved to the new campus over the weekend of August 6th. I am delighted to report that while work has continued around us, the transition has been smooth. With the exception of whatever was hanging on our walls, office contents have arrived, though not everything has been unpacked as not all bookshelves have been installed. The one-week postponement of the beginning of the term has indeed allowed the various workers to transform a construction site into a building well on the way to its graceful finish, and the "skittering mice," as described in The New York Times, have all but disappeared. A visit to the library will give you a splendid indication of how our new home will feel once all work is completed. Until then, there will of course be inconveniences and rough spots, but with a little patience and good humor, and a listing of local bars (forthcoming), we should all manage quite well.

The other important event of the summer was the implementation of the Writing Fellows Program. This Program, developed by Bill Kelly while he was Executive Officer and funded By Vice Chancellor Mirrer, will ultimately support 100 doctoral students, 85 of whom are currently in place. I am delighted to report that 32 of these 85 students are members of our Program. Writing Fellows will spend 15 hours per week during the academic year at one of the CUNY colleges, helping that college develop its Writing Across the Curriculum Program. Fellows will receive a $22,000 annual stipend; their work will be supported by faculty mentors charged with advancing their professional development. The Program was designed as a win-win proposition: doctoral students gain reasonable support, time to finish their dissertations, and valuable experience; the colleges acquire the services of talented writers committed to integrated writing instruction. Congratulations to our Writing Fellows and good luck in your new positions!

I am also delighted to tell you that our Program has been awarded a CUNY Faculty Development Grant to sponsor a series of interdisciplinary seminars over the course of the coming academic year. The proposal submitted, entitled English Studies in the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Approaches, describes a series of six seminars featuring prominent figures whose work has changed the way the discipline of English is understood and practiced by weaving together approaches used in various areas, including Law, Philosophy, Anthropology, Science and Theater. Each of these events will bring together three or four speakers, a speaker and respondents, or panelists, one an individual noted in the field from outside CUNY, the others from campuses within the system. Our Friday Forum series will be greatly enriched by the inclusion of these seminars, designed as they are to extend collegiality across disciplines and across campuses; and, our "Program Events" budget is also enriched by a $6300 grant award. The first of these seminars is scheduled for September 24 when Ross Posnock will give a talk on "Cosmopolitanism"; Jack Diggins (History, Graduate Center) and Frank Kirkland (Philosophy, Hunter and Graduate Center) will be respondents. Later events planned for this series include an inquiry, "In Our Time: 20th-Century Reflections"; a law and literature panel; an anthropology and literature panel; and a major Shakespeare occasion featuring Andrei Serban. As I plan to apply for another Faculty Development Award for the next academic year, I welcome your suggestions for future themes/approaches. Other events scheduled for this term appear on the Friday Forum Plus calendar.

And now to the remaining news items concerning our Program:

The Incoming Class: Although we will not know precisely how many new students (including non-matriculants and consortial registrants) are entering the Program until September 10th, when registration ends, I expect the '99-'00 class will be about the same size as last year. Again, the number of new entering students is approximately the same we have welcomed in the past few years, and is in conformity with the target figure established by the Executive Committee last spring. The distribution of students entering with M.A.s, about half, is also the same as in the previous few years. Increasingly, applicants to the Program reflect greater diversity and are drawn from across the country and various parts of the world. This broadened response to and interest in our Program reflect the widening network of those who are familiar with it, our graduates and colleagues at other institutions who have participated in one way or another with events we have sponsored, and the many who have gotten to know about us from our website, as all of us on the Admissions Committee had repeated occasion to remark. I want to thank once again those who worked so very hard on this committee whose task, while no less demanding, was immensely facilitated by Scott Westrem's brilliant charting and tracking of every bit of necessary information. I also want to thank again all of you who participated in the Recruitment Day effort, which was particularly successful this year. Wayne Koestenbaum's excitement in describing what the Ph.D. makes possible, in addition to teaching, I know made many of us wish we were just beginning graduate study again. I'm grateful to him for the enthusiasm he brought to the occasion and for opening doors. (For all interested in these other ways of being, Wayne will be running a workshop during the spring term; details will be announced.) Thanks, too, for all the time so many of you put in making telephone calls, taking prospective students out for coffee, describing courses, where and how to find places to live. The ESA once more did far more than I could think of asking.

Faculty: For those of you who might not yet know, I am delighted to tell you of the appointment of two new faculty members to our Program: Professors Marc Dolan and Blanford Parker. Professor Dolan of John Jay College is an Americanist specializing in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Especially since the ascension of Bill Kelly to his new office, the need for another Americanist has been pressing. Professor Dolan's intellectual energy and responsiveness to students make him a most welcome addition to our faculty. Professor Parker of The College of Staten Island is a specialist in the eighteenth century, an area where we have also been sorely in need. As abundantly evidenced in the response to his faculty lecture last spring, Professor Parker elicits complexly exciting questions of the texts and histories he scrutinizes. We are most fortunate to have him in our company.

On the other side, we are diminished this year by the disappearance from our immediate midst of Professors Speed Hill and Angus Fletcher. While both will occasionally be with us for scheduled and non-scheduled events, their retirements deprive us of their regular contributions to our community. Beyond the major work in his areas of expertise, Speed Hill has consistently given his time and attention greatly and easily to various committees, to preparing and reading examinations, participating in mock interviews, mentoring. Angus Fletcher's seemingly natural ability to allegorize multiplied our perceptions of any subject to which he gave his attention, whether in seminars, committee meetings, or elevators.

Placement: In what continues to be, as you know, a very tight market, our Program has once again done amazingly well, placing 11of our graduates in full-time tenure-track positions: David Borkowski at Ohlone College (Fremont, California); Jonathan Burton at West Virginia State University; Michael Denbo at Bronx Community College; Christopher Fanning at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario); Granville Ganter at St. John's University; George Guida at New York City Technical College; Christine Hutchins at Eastern Carolina State University; Robert Ku at Hunter College; Nora Nachumi at Indiana State University; John Rocco at SUNY Maritime College; Christina Sassi-Lehner at Bronx Community College. In addition, there are 5 one-year full-time appointments and/or renewals: Matthew Goldie at Vassar College; Robin Hackett in Women's Studies at Vassar; Mary-Jo Haronian at Lehigh University; Daniel Mozes at Lehman College; and David Wolf at Queens College. It should be mentioned as well that James Werner, who defended his dissertation on August 31st, has been placed as a speech writer in the office of the Chancellor; he also continues to teach part-time at Queens College. Our statistics for the year keep our placement rate at about 78%, which continues to be considerably above the national norm as published by the MLA (38% for 1996-97). Scott Westrem, with the help of the Placement Committee, has done an exemplary job of preparing students for the market. He will continue in his capacity as director of Placement this fall; Professor Gerhard Joseph will co-direct. Remember that the Job Forum is scheduled for Friday, October 8th, 4-6; it will be preceded from 2-4 by a poetry reading given by Jacqueline Osherow (Dead Men's Praise; With a Moon in Transit) , who will be introduced by Wayne Koestenbaum.

All students preparing to go on the market this fall should contact Scott Westrem as soon as possible after the beginning of the term and be certain to attend the Job Forum on October 8th.

Financial Aid: While we have been most fortunate for the coming academic year in being able to offer greater financial aid because of additional Gilleece Fellowships, the one-time PSC-CUNY tuition remission awards, and the Writing Fellows Program, there has not, in fiscal fact, been a budget increase in financial aid resources. Program efforts through the Student Fund Raising Committee at raising additional money for student support is making a difference, however, with new gifts of $7500 from friends and graduates of the Program being designated for continuing endowments. There is also a new Graduate Center Fellowship, the Capelloni Dissertation Fellowship, the first one of which was awarded to Mark Kelley for the work he will be doing under the direction of Professor Joseph Wittreich on his dissertation, "Mourning and Memorial: Milton's Euripidean Poetics of Lament."

For the current year, as for the last years before, we have spread financial aid as broadly as possible, making fewer large grants but providing more tuition assistance; we have been able to offer 75 students some form of program support. An additional 29 have received Federal Work Study grants. Anne Humpherys and Scott Westrem are to be thanked for their meticulous and compassionate attention in this area, and Anne Humpherys, again, for her continuing hard work in placing students in teaching positions on the various campuses as part of the Internship Program and/or as Graduate Teaching Fellows. The Program is especially grateful, as well, to Provost Kelly and to Matt Schoengood in the Office of Student Services for making it possible for us to offer four Gilleece Fellowships this year. This is indeed an honor for our Program and we are most happy to welcome Charlotte Deaver, John Langan, Anne Townsend, and Christopher Voigt as our new Gilleece Fellows.

Committee Assignments: A copy of the committee roster we have put together is included with this newsletter. Last year's memberships managed their business most vigorously and effectively; the smooth running of the Program and its responsiveness to needs and issues as they arise are wholly attributable to the intelligent and imaginative collegiality all of you who serve in these central capacities. You are invaluable. There have been some changes/additions made in assignments; these adjustments derive from conversations with committee chairs and the ESA elections. I hope that you find these appointments congenial.

Coordinator of Student Progress: Professor Richard McCoy has agreed to serve again in this office. His manner and management last year made students feel properly urged while protected. I am very pleased that he will continue in this role. Students not in compliance with the Registrar's requirements for continuing in the Program should confer with Professor McCoy and with their advisors/mentors to work out a reasonable progress schedule.

Comprehensive Examinations: "Come hell or high water" translated itself from figurative to literal meaning for students taking this examination last week. Because we did not want to move up the date on which the exam would be administered after the announcement that the Graduate Center was to postpone its opening by a week, with the help of Professor Joshua Wilner we were able to keep the originally scheduled date by having students sit for the exam at The City College. Thereby hangs a tale: The floodgates of heaven opened that day, as I'm sure you remember. To all of you who made it to the City campus one way or another, it was rather "hell and high water." The examination had to be canceled for that day and be rescheduled for the next, when 43 of the 54 students slated for the exam sat for it. I can't tell you how impressive you were in your good humor and ease. What spirit! The 10 remaining students will take it before next week's end. Melissa Dunn, who fell and broke her shoulder trying to get to the exam on the day of the flood, is to be particularly applauded for having maintained her sense of humor even when in terrible pain-joking that at least she had not injured her writing hand--and for her determination to take the examination this week in spite of the difficulty and continuing, if intermittent, pain of getting around. The Program is in debt to all of you taking the exam this fall under these strained conditions. Thank you.

Of Special Note:

~ I want to take this opportunity to remark on the success of the 1998 Student Conference: Witnessing Pain and Terror. Ann Wallace and Vincent Bissonette did a stunningly professional job of organizing and running the papers and panels. The attention to detail was exceptional, even to the name tags. The standard now established by the student conferences of the last two years will, I trust, stimulate an equally successful event for 2000.

~ Another major Program occasion that deserves express recognition was the Eighteenth Century Conference which could not have been the grand event it was without the creative and material gifts of Joyce Grossman, one of our most devoted and accomplished alumnae. She was both inspiration and engine, and we continue to be immensely grateful to her, to her husband and his firm, and to the Provost's office, as well, for contributing to this conference.

~ For those of you who may not yet know, I am happy to tell you that Prof. Alisa Solomon has been appointed the new head of CLAGS. The Program will celebrate her elevation with a Friday Forum lecture in her honor during the spring term.

~ I am very pleased to announce that during the spring term as well we will be joined by Geoffrey Hartman, who will be giving a lecture co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, and will also spend two weeks with us as Scholar-in-Residence. He will give two open seminars for faculty and students and make himself available to individual students who would like to consult him about their work.

~ Two other events to look forward to in Spring are the CUNY Forum 2000, currently scheduled for April 7th, featuring a keynote dialogue between Gayatri Spivak and John Brenkman, and a Student Poetry Reading, to be co-ordinated by Anne Humpherys and Maggie Nelson, date to be announced.

~ And, as noted earlier, during the spring term Wayne Koestenbaum will conduct a Workshop on Complementing Careers, while David Greetham this fall will conduct a Workshop on Publications & Conference Preparation; dates for both of these offerings will be announced.

Friday Forums: I am enclosing a copy of the Friday Forum Plus schedule for the fall term. We are getting off to a somewhat delayed start, in terms of lectures, because of the holiday calendar (September 10th is the eve of Rosh Hashanah, and the 17th the Friday before the Yom Kippur holiday when the Graduate Center closes on the following Monday). Please note, however, that there will be on September 17th beginning at 4:00 p.m. a gathering of all who can make it around tasty things to eat and drink to give us a chance to talk about our summers, the beginning of the term, our new home, the mice capades. There are many exciting events coming up, including our second Alumni/ae Lecture on October 29 when Professor Sean McCann of Wesleyan University will deliver a lecture entitled, intriguingly, "Achieving the Disembodied." I've mentioned above some of the other highlights of the term, although not yet Gertrude Stein in a New Space, an extended occasion slated for November 12 and co-sponsored with the Program in French and the Peyre Institute, which will include lectures by several Stein scholars both inside and outside CUNY, and a video and discusssion of it by Steven Watson. I have not included on the schedule the regular meetings of the Victorian, Americanist, 18th Century, and CLAGS and QUNY groups, where, as you know, papers/lectures are presented as well. Information about these occasions will be posted on the bulletin board, on our website (http://web.gsuc.cuny.edu/english/home.html) , and via email. Any changes in the final Friday Forum Plus schedule will also be so broadcast. As has been our custom, there will be wine and goodies following each event.

Reminders:

~ Please notify Linda Sherwin of any changes in any of the forms of your address (U.S. mail, email, academic office). New students should open an email account as soon as possible and let Linda know when it is in place.

~ Any faculty member planning to go on leave should let Linda know as soon as possible.

~ The open-door policy continues. Please drop in any time during the term with whatever questions, observations, and/or issues come up.

~ I am enclosing as well a list of Faculty Mentors. Because of the move and major equipment failures and/or other problems, Linda was not able to send out the letters to faculty members and students indicating this year's assignments. The most expedient thing then is to inform you this way, ask that faculty members contact and set up meetings with their mentees as soon as possible after the beginning of the term. Linda has phone numbers for new students and new office phone and email addresses for faculty. Thank you for your understanding and help in ensuring that these relationships are established. As in the past, we have tried to match areas of interest.

Finally, thank you once more for giving your attention to this long letter, and thank you especially for your support over this last year. I look forward to the coming year, and am eager to see and talk with all of you about your summer .

Warmly,

Joan Richardson
Executive Officer

PhD Program in English
The Graduate Center City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 4409 New York, NY 10016-4309
telephone: 212-817-8315 fax: 212-817-1518
email: english@gc.cuny.edu