The Department of English offers courses for undergraduate students and graduate studies with a program in creative writing and the English Language and Linguistics Program.
The MFA in Creative Writing, inaugurated just six years ago, is ranked 6th in the nation.
Emily Auerbach, professor of English and the director of the Odyssey Project, recently received the Leadership in Social Justice Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Student Personnel Association at the group’s annual awards ceremony. The Odyssey Project offers a free six-credit humanities class each year to 30 students who have faced overwhelming obstacles to higher [...]
Professors, instructors and advisers enlighten, challenge and inspire us. They can shape our opinions, push our work to new heights and spark an interest to learn more about a topic or discipline. In the 2011-12 academic year, the College of Letters & Science asked graduating seniors to nominate faculty or staff members who impacted their [...]
Two graduates of the College of Letters & Science were named Librarians of the Year by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries earlier this month. Susan Barribeau (BA’77, English; MA’91, Library and Information Studies), English language humanities librarian at Memorial Library, received the Librarian of the Year award given to a librarian who has worked more [...]
“Visualizing English Print” uses Mellon Foundation funding to advance our understanding of literature and data visualization There are hundreds of millions of books in the world, a collection so stupendously large that even the most well-read among us can’t hope to make a dent. This means our ability to make connections and spot trends across [...]
“The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of English professor David Zimmerman’s favorite novels. In advance of the May 10 release of Baz Luhrmann’s new film, Zimmerman shares insights about the book and its characters, as well as the song (see below) he plays to his students about the beautiful illusions of the [...]
Caroline Levine is a scholar of Victorian literature — one who’s spent plenty of hours poring over the words of Charles Dickens, George Eliot and the Brontë sisters. Yet one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor’s newest publications is an essay on the popular television series Mad Men, an edgy drama centered on a Madison [...]
Any Wisconsinite worth his or her weight in cheese curds knows how to navigate through our state’s collection of tongue-twisting place names. Waukesha? No problem. Allouez? Please. Nanaweyah Ominihekan? Well, maybe there are a few that cause even native Wisconsinites to stumble. That’s where Pronounce Wisconsin comes in. The State Cartographer’s Office launched the online [...]
The Institute for Research in the Humanities has announced its 2013-17 Senior Fellows. They are: Leslie Bow (English and Asian American Studies), Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity Senior Fellow Tomislav Longinović (Slavic Languages and Literature), Senior Fellow Steven Nadler (Philosophy), Senior Fellow Ron Radano (Music), Senior Fellow Louise Young (History), Senior Fellow The Institute offers up [...]
Several graduate programs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters & Science are ranked among the nation’s best in the 2014 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.” “We’re proud of all of our graduate programs and particularly pleased that once again many have been rated so highly,” says Provost Paul [...]
Ben Relles (BA’97, Journalism) is taking his University of Wisconsin-Madison education viral. The founder of one of YouTube’s most viewed channels, “Barely Political,” Relles is transforming the world of online video and digital media. As head of programming strategy at YouTube, Relles instills his Wisconsin values as a leader and innovator, all while helping others bring [...]
Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus March 20-21 to speak to Wisconsin high school students. Roy will offer the keynote presentation for the Great World Texts Student Conference, sponsored by the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, and will spend the day interacting with students who have read her Booker [...]
Five outstanding faculty members in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters & Science have been named winners of this year’s Kellett Mid-Career Awards. The Kellett award, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, recognizes outstanding mid-career faculty members who are five to 20 years past the first promotion to a tenured position. Each winner, chosen [...]
The Institute for Research in the Humanities has announced its Resident Fellows and Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity Fellows for 2013-14. The Resident Fellows are: Nan Enstad (History), fall semester; Jordan Zweck (English), fall semester; Karen Britland (English), spring semester; Lauren Kroiz (Art History), spring semester; Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen (History), spring semester; and Ellen Sapega (Spanish and [...]
In forging connections with China, UW-Madison has created an international model for the university. The Innovation Office in Shanghai has opened up new opportunities for students, faculty and leaders in business and government. From the Shanghai Seminar Series to a UW account on Sino Weibo, and from technology transfer to official state visits, Wisconsin and China are closer than [...]
On its 10th anniversary, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Odyssey Project has much to celebrate. Journeys from homelessness to graduate school, or incarceration to meaningful employment, are two of more than 250 success stories. For some students, the best outcome is the empowerment of finding their own voice. The Odyssey Project is the subject of a new episode [...]
A scholar of “medieval media studies” and a historian of modern Europe have each won a 2012-13 First Book Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for the Humanities. The annual award, funded by a short-term humanities grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, convenes an academic “dream team” of reviewers to help junior humanities faculty whip their first [...]
Emily Auerbach, Professor of English and the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Odyssey Project, is one of nine semi-finalists in the Local Lady Godiva program. The Odyssey Project offers a free six-credit humanities class each year to 30 students who have faced overwhelming obstacles to higher education such as homelessness or addiction. Participants receive [...]
Donald Zillman (BS’66, History, JD’69), Richard Hoffman (BA’65, History), Richard Hays (BS’66, Political Science), and Stuart Grover (BA’66, MA’67, Ph.D.’71, History) made up the 1965 University of Wisconsin-Madison College Bowl team that competed at the national level. They won five straight matches on their way to retiring as undefeated champions! For their great achievement the four, along with [...]
The cover of Rob Nixon‘s new book features black smoke, drifting across a dreary cityscape. The title, “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor,” hints at grim topics within: radiation contamination, toxic drift, the destruction of ecosystems and communities to make way for dams or mines. But the book, which has just won the 2012 American [...]
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor by Rob Nixon, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of English and Environmental Studies, has been named a 2012 American Book Award winner. Presented by the Before Columbus Foundation, the American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. The award winners [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Odyssey Project, which provides people facing economic barriers with a chance to start college, marks its 10th anniversary tonight in a celebration at the Chazen Museum of Art from 5-7 p.m. In this introductory humanities course, students gain a voice and a sense of empowerment through lively discussions of literature, history, philosophy, [...]
Kate Vieira joins the English department from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She completed her master’s and doctoral degrees at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is delighted to return as a faculty member. Vieira studies the social history of literacy and migration. She is currently working on an ethnography of two U.S. migrant groups and their [...]
The College of Letters & Science has more than 800 faculty, a group that includes brilliant researchers, noteworthy authors, and inspiring teachers. This year, the College welcomes more than 50 new faculty members. From Classics to Chemistry and from English to Economics, departments across L&S recruited emerging experts who bring impressive breadth and depth of [...]
The Humanities Hackathon aimed to explore emerging computational techniques for analyzing works of art, literature and music.
Financial support from scholarships enables students like Amanda Detry, a senior from Green Bay majoring in English and history, to explore the many opportunities the UW has to offer. Amanda found her niche in the College of Letters and Science Honors Program and Writing Fellows programs. Both experiences gave her a sense of place at [...]
The Dictionary of American Regional English, a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will hold a mini-conference to celebrate the publication of its fifth volume. Guest speakers will include Simon Winchester, author of “The Professor and the Madman,” “The Meaning of Everything,” “Krakatoa” and “The Man Who Loved China,” among many other books; Michael Adams, [...]
UW-Madison treasure and Grammy-nominated musician Ben Sidran is preparing to raise the curtain on his new book and he’s doing it the best way musicians know how: by hitting the stage! As part of his Sifting and Winnowing Tour, Sidran is stopping at Memorial Union on May 3rd. Although this show is already sold out, [...]
Professor Rob Nixon (English) was awarded two prizes this week for his book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. The International Studies Association chose Slow Violence as the winner of the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for 2011. The prize goes to the best book in international environmental studies, a book that makes an “original [...]
Doug Bradley: The Man from DARE (The Huffington Post) Former director of communications for the University of Wisconsin System, Doug Bradley reminisces about the late Professor Fred Cassidy, who was the force behind the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), which recently published its fifth and final volume. Read more…
The College of Letters & Science is proud to announce that eight L&S faculty members received 2012 Romnes Fellowships. The Romnes awards recognize exceptional faculty members who have earned tenure within the last four years. Selected by a Graduate School committee, winners receive an unrestricted $50,000 award for research, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research [...]
The College of Letters & Science is proud to announce that to the seven L&S professors received 2012 Kellett Mid-Career Awards. The Kellett award, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), recognizes outstanding mid-career faculty members who are five to 20 years past the first promotion to a tenured position. Each winner, chosen by [...]
A to Zydeco: Saving the Diversity of American English (The White House) The Office of Engagement in the White House features the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) in its blog for being “the longest continuously-funded project of the National Endowment for the Humanities.” DARE recently published its fifth and final volume. Read more…
Exploring Bruce Springsteen’s America (Huffington Post) Professor Craig Werner blogs about his Bruce Springsteen class, which as part of a First Year Interest Group (FIG) which enrolls a small group of freshman in the same cluster of related courses. Read more…
UW-Madison lexicographer Luanne von Schneidemesser, Senior Editor (Distinguished Scientist) on the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), is currently president of the American Dialect Society, which held its annual meeting in January in Portland, OR. DARE is a nationally-known project which has been headquartered at UW-Madison since it started under the editorship of Professor Frederic [...]
What is a Maine-born doctor to do when a patient in Pennsylvania complains, “I’ve been riftin’ and I’ve got jags in my leaders?” Consult the Dictionary of American Regional English to learn that the patient has been belching and experiencing sharp pains in his neck. After nearly five decades of work at the University of [...]
University of Wisconsin–Madison senior Alexis Brown is one of an elite group of American students to be awarded a 2012 Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most coveted honors in the world of higher education. Brown is an English and history double major from Algonquin, Ill. She applied for a Rhodes Scholarship to complete a master of studies in English language and literature. Her work, in the classroom and the community, demonstrates how narrative “helps us to think about the social, the ethical, and the existential,” according to her application materials.
Congratulations to the 10 UW-Madison Letters & Science alumni for their recognition at the 63rd Primetime Emmys! In total, Letters & Science alums were nominated for12 Emmys.
Rob Nixon, Rachel Carson Professor of English, recently published a new book that was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Three outstanding undergraduate scholars received 2010-11 Dean’s Prizes. These students represent the best of their graduating class and are considered the most accomplished among the 4,000 Letters and Science senior class members for the 2010-2011 academic year. To be considered for this prize one must have a minimum grade point average of 3.90; be a [...]
Theodore “Ted” Cohen (’60 BS, ’61 MS, ’66 PhD L&S) authored five novels that share his life experiences—facts wrapped in fiction—that many Badgers will recognize.
Eleven outstanding faculty members from UW-Madison have been named winners of this year’s Kellett Mid-Career Awards — with six L&S faculty members winning the award.
New UW project helps teachers become better writers (The Cap Times) The two most common remarks made by those seeking help at UW-Madison’s Writing Center are “I’m a bad writer” and “I hate to write.”
Where will a liberal arts education take you? For these 26 Letters & Science alumni, a liberal arts took them on a path to Pulitzer Prizes. A total of 26 alumni have won the prestigious award.
Richard Young, a professor of English and co-chair of the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquistion, was the featured guest on Joy Cardin’s show on Wisconsin Public Radio (Nov. 12, 2010). Young explains the benefits of bilingualism: Listen to the Program or Download the MP3
Jane Austen’s Well-Known Style Owed Much to Her Editor, Scholar Argues (Chronicle of Higher Education) Was Jane Austen at heart an experimental writer rather than a polished stylist?
Ellen Samuels, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and English, has won the prestigious 2011 Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship for her essay, “Examining Millie and Christine McKoy: Where Enslavement and Enfreakment Meet.” The award, presented by the University of Chicago Press, recognizes excellence and innovation in the work of emerging feminist [...]
Twelve L&S instructors recently received DoIT Engage Awards to explore Digital Media Assignments (DMA) in their classes. These instructors will work closely with consulting staff and campus librarians to plan innovative multimedia assignments, from short documentaries and digital stories, to scientific tutorials and digital research proposals. L&S Learning Support Services (LSS) has been working with [...]
Anne McClintock, Simone de Beauvoir Professor of English and Women’s Studies, recently published three essays (reportage and photographs) on the Gulf Oil Crisis. Behind the media blockade in the Gulf (Truthout, Aug. 4, 2010) The Gul Oil Crisis is not over: Slow Violence and the BP Coverups (CounterPunch, Aug. 23-24, 2010) We are all BP [...]
The L&S Honors Program recently held a reception to honor several faculty members as Distinguished Honors Faculty nominated by students and staff for their contribution to teaching Honors courses and supervising honors students in research and scholarship.
The College of Letters & Science scored a grand slam for a second year with a sweep of the 74th Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Each year, the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards honors faculty for teaching excellence.
Mukoma Wa Ngugi, a dissertator in the English Department, was recently a featured guest on the BBC World Service – The Strandhosted by British writer Harriett Gilbert.
Alyssa Severn, a master’s candidate in the English Department in the area of Applied English Linguistics, is the winner of a 2010 Presidential Honorary Membership in the American Dialect Society.
Doug Moe’s recent column in the Wisconsin State Journal featured the legendary Professor Fred Cassidy, founder of the Dictionary of American Regional English.
Six Letters & Science Honors students have received $2,000 Trewartha Senior Thesis grants.
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative will host a book launch on November 14th for Nairobi Heat a debut novel by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, a Ph’D candidate in the English Department. The book launch is Saturday, November 14, 2-4 pm with more details available here.
Professor Richard Young (Department of English and Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition) gave the plenary address…
The University of Wisconsin-Madison MFA Creative Writing Program has been ranked 6th out of 144 MFA programs by Poets and Writers magazine…
Penguin Books, SA has published a debut novel “Nairobi Heat” by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, a dissertator in the English Department.
