Recent News
Faculty-Student Grant Award 2014-15 Goes to Catherine Waitinas
Sep 1, 2014
Due to the generosity of the CLA’s Circle of Giving donors, Catherine Waitinas received 2014-15 grant funding, including compensation, travel funding, and student funding, for her Walt Whitman Archive Pedagogy Initiative. The Whitman Archive is the premier digital literary archive worldwide. Catherine is working with the archive’s co-founder and co-editor, Dr. Ken Price of the University of Nebraska, to increase the archive’s visibility and use in classrooms nationally and internationally.
Cal Poly Named Top College for Return on Investment
Aug 24, 2014
Cal Poly Named Top College for Return on Investment for English, Humanities Majors
Affordable Colleges Online has ranked Cal Poly the fifth best college in the nation for return on investment (ROI) for their English and humanities programs during the 2013 ROI polls. This year, in 2014, Cal Poly is ranked seventh.
Faculty Monthly Kudos, August 2014
Aug 12, 2014
Please join me in congratulating David Kann, who has had an amazing month in poetry:
Faculty Monthly Kudos, July 2014
Jul 7, 2014
Please join me in congratulating David Kann, whose poetry manuscript Of the Farm has made it to the final round of review in Blast Furnace's First Annual Poetry Chapbook Competition, along with 16 other manuscripts.
Grad Student Named Teacher of the Year
Jun 17, 2014
Congratulations to English grad student Nathan Shields for his accomplishment, named Lucia Mar Unified School District's Teacher of the Year!
Read The Tribune's story here.
Sarah Lamont Receives Award at Commencement
Jun 16, 2014
Our graduate program continued its own tradition of bestowing awards for outstanding achievement in the program. Sarah Lamont received one of the two awards given this year. Congratulations Sarah.
Kirsten Kensinger Receives CLA Awards at June Commencement
Jun 16, 2014
The department was pleased to name Kirsten (Kiki) Kensinger as our CLA Outstanding Graduate Student. Kiki’s excellent performance in the graduate program earned her this award, and she recognized Writing Director Brenda Helmbrecht as her faculty mentor. Following graduation, Kiki is planning to apply for doctoral programs in literature.
Eli Williams Named CLA Outstanding Senior, 2014
Jun 16, 2014
Each spring, the College of Liberal Arts recognizes an Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Graduate Student in each program. This year’s students were recognized at a ceremony hosted by the college on Friday, June 13, and again at our department commencement ceremony the following day. Each student recognized a faculty mentor in the department and was invited to say a few words.
What is Being an English Major All About?
Jun 16, 2014
Senior Kathleen Grigsby (B.A., English, 2014) worked all year on a video project to showcase our program. For her senior project Kathleen interviewed 18 students and two alumni, providing us with over two hours of video footage. She then used the skills she acquired in the media arts and technology minor to create a fabulous video featuring students’ perceptions of the English program, their fellow students, and our faculty. In this video you will see why I refer to our department as “the best kept secret at Cal Poly”: students eloquently capture the heart of our program as they discuss the skills they acquire, the close-knit community they join, and the relationships they form with faculty. We invite you to watch our video and share it on your social media sites.
Faculty Monthly Kudos, June 2014
Jun 2, 2014
Please join me in congratulating our colleagues on the following accomplishments: