The Weekly: Undergraduate News
...Coming to your inbox Mondays
Issue #4for the week of 9/14/2020
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From the Director of Studies: |
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Welcome to week three, everyone. I hope we are all finding a rhythm in the semester's work. It was good to see juniors and seniors last Thursday, and for anyone who missed the meeting and wants a rundown on the year's administralia (or who wants to know what Gertrude Stein likes for breakfast), recordings are available here.
A particular recommendation for the coming week: Valeria Luiselli's talk, "Migration Stories in the American Border Crisis," sponsored by the Program in Latin American Studies. Luiselli is an exceptionally versatile writer, with stories, plays, essays, and novels to her credit; her recent Lost Children Archive is terrific. The event also gives me occasion to call out two seminars for next semester, Prof. Monica Huerta's "Latinx Autobiography" and Prof. Christina León's "Latinx Literary Worlds." The department's offerings in Latinx literatures are expanding in exciting directions. Bear them in mind as spring courses come into view, later in the term.
An afterword this week from Rebecca Rainof; see below. And stay safe, and keep reading.
Director of Undergraduate Studies
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Other Sources of Assistance: |
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Outreach Coordinator
Outreach Calendar
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Undergraduate Administrator
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September 2020
September 23
12:00 p.m.| Zoom
Registration Required
Intersections Working Group presents Joshua Bennett
Event details listed below
October 2020
October 5-9
Midterm Examination Week
October 10 - 13
Fall Recess - No Classes
October 14
6:00 a.m. | TigerHub
Undergraduate Selection of P/D/F Option begins
October 14
12:30 p.m. | Zoom TBA
UG Graduate School Admissions Workshop
October 21
12:00 p.m. | Zoom TBA
Intersections Working Group presents: Lindsay Reckson
Event details TBA
October 22
7:30 p.m. | Zoom TBA
Common Works Lecture: Justin Torres, We the Animals
November 2020
November 3
11:59 p.m.
Undergraduate Deadline to Select P/D/F Option
November 24
Final Day of Regularly Schedule Classes
November 25 - 27
Thanksgiving Recess
November 26 - 27
University Holiday
Administrative Offices Closed
November 30
Reading Period Begins
December 2020
December 8
Reading Period Ends
Dean's Date: Deadline for Student Submission of Written Work
December 9 - 15
Fall Term Final Examinations
December 12
Deadline for Submission of Take-Home Exercises
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Additional Dates for Juniors: |
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November 17
JP Topic Sheet DUE to Junior Seminar Faculty (ENG 300)
December 2
7:30 a.m.
Junior Spring Term Course Selection Begins
January 15
Deadline for Submitting Junior Independent Work
Please see the below information regarding O.U.R.'s funding cycles and the Departmental resources for research funding support.
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Additional Dates for Seniors: |
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September 20
O.U.R. Deadline for Fall Funding Application
S.A.F.E.
October 1
12:00 p.m.
Senior Topic Sheet DUE to UA and Dropbox.
October 9
O.U.R. Fall Funding Decisions Posted
S.A.F.E.
November 16
O.U.R. Winter Funding Application Opens
S.A.F.E.
November 24
Senior's 20-page minimum thesis chapter DUE to advisors and Dropbox
(link TBA)
December 1
7:30 a.m.
Senior Spring Term Course Selection Begins
April 13, 2021
Senior Thesis DUE
Please see the below information regarding O.U.R.'s funding cycles and the Departmental resources for research funding support.
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LINK TO DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UG WEBSITE
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RESEARCH FUNDING INFORMATION: |
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Department of English's Sources of Support and Departmental Fellowships |
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The Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research
The Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research supports work toward the thesis for seniors in the English Department. Students should apply through SAFE, and choose the Maren Grant among their funding sources.
Please apply to all funding sources for which you are eligible.
Applications to the Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research may be made in any of the three OUR funding cycles:
- for thesis research in the summer before senior year;
- in the fall of senior year;
- or in the winter before the thesis is due.
Awards are typically between $200 and $1200.
Deadlines are early: be sure you consult OUR and plan ahead.
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The Maren-Annan Grant for Departmental Research
The Maren-Annan Grant for Departmental Research supports student research for the Junior Paper and, under special circumstances, for other work for juniors or seniors within the context of a course in the English Department (excluding the senior thesis).
Applications should be made through SAFE, by choosing “Undergraduate Independent Projects” under “ACTIVITY.”
Please apply to all funds for which you are eligible along with the Maren Grant.
Allowable expenses correspond to those listed for senior thesis research on the OUR website.
Applications may be made at any time, but we recommend submission at least four weeks before any planned travel.
Awards are typically between $200 and $1200.
Consultation with your JP advisor or the instructor for your class is essential.
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Fall Semester O.U.R. 2020 Funding Cycle:
O.U.R.'s Application Opened: Friday, August 28
O.U.R.'s Application Closes: Sunday, Sept. 20
O.U.R.'s Award posted: Friday, October 9
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Winter Break/ January Winter Semester O.U.R. Funding Cycle:
O.U.R.'s Application Opens: Monday, November 16, 2020
O.U.R.'s Application Closes: Sunday, December 6, 2020
O.U.R.'s Award posted: Friday, January 8, 2021
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Summer O.U.R. Funding Cycle:
O.U.R.'s Application Opens: Friday, February 19, 2021
O.U.R.'s Application Closes: Sunday, March 21, 2021
O.U.R.'s Award posted: Friday, April 16, 2021
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Your application for all funding must be made through S.A.F.E.
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Students applying to the OUR senior thesis research funding program are required to apply for all departmental and programmatic funds for which they are eligible in one single application.
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You will be able to save your application in SAFE and go back to it, but you must complete and submit the application by the earliest deadline of all the funding sources to which you are applying; no changes will be accepted once applications are submitted and locked, except for the selection of additional funding opportunities when eligible.
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Student Activity Funding Engine (S.A.F.E.)
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Interested in connecting virtually socially with other English Concentrators?
*That frosty mug of goodness is an image of a vanilla and ginger ale float...
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Check Out the Lit Review and Podcasts
Below!
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NEW CALENDAR AVAILABLE:
Access Princeton's
Virtual Activities Calendar
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"Migration Stories in the American Border Crisis"
Tuesday, September 15 at 5:00 pm via Zoom.
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“A Queer, Queer Race: Origins for Japanese/American Literature”
Monday, September 21 12:00 p.m.
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On Monday, Sept. 21 at noon, AMS is hosting Andrew Way Leong, assistant professor of English at UC Berkeley, for a workshop on sections of his monograph in progress, “A Queer, Queer Race: Origins for Japanese/American Literature,” which provides a genealogy for Japanese and English-language literary texts written by persons of Japanese descent who sojourned or resided in the United States between 1885 and 1924: https://ams.princeton.edu/events/ams-workshops/andrew-leong
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Daniel Mendelsohn and Michael Wood in Conversation
Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate
Tuesday, September 22nd @ 6PM
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We invite you to a conversation between best-selling memoirist and critic Daniel Mendelsohn and the acclaimed critic Michael Wood about Mendelsohn’s new book, in which he explores the mysterious links between the randomness of the lives we lead and the artfulness of the stories we tell.
Three Rings weaves together the stories of three exiled writers who turned to the classics of the past to create masterpieces of their own—works that pondered the nature of narrative itself...more
This event is presented in partnership with the Princeton Public Library and Princeton University’s Humanities Council.
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Intersections Working Group presents:
Joshua Bennett
September 23, 2020
12:00 p.m.
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Intersections Working Group presents a discussion of "Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man" (Harvard, 2020) with author Joshua Bennett, Mellon Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.
The first 20 people to register below for the event will be reimbursed for a copy of the book (Digital or Hardcover) available on Amazon.com or at Harvard University Press (links at bottom of page)
If you are interested in attending the workshop and being reimbursed for a copy of the book, please register using the following link:
Joshua Bennett's Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man is available at:
or
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That's Why We Become Witches: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Katherine Mansfield
September 25, 2020 10:00 - 11:00 p.m. EST*
*This event is held in Wellington, New Zealand on September 26, 2020 at 14:00 - 15:00; the date and time have been adjusted to reflect Princeton, NJ EST time.
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Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) and Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) were modernist women writers who had lasting impacts on women’s writing as it exists today. Both Mansfield and Warner have been compared and contrasted with Virginia Woolf extensively, but rarely, if ever, have Mansfield and Warner been put into conversation directly with each other.
Join us online for this talk by recent Princeton University graduate Tessa Smith which explores Townsend Warner and Mansfield as speaking to different stories of queer women writers and the ways their legacies, in public and private writing, have been shaped.
There is no cost to attend the talk, just register below and we'll send a link out 24 hours in advance.
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SAVE THE DATE:
Thursday 7:30 p.m.
October 22, 2020
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A reading and Q&A
with
JUSTIN TORRES
author of
We the Animals
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Organizing Stories--
Call for Undergraduate Employment
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The Organizing Stories project is looking for undergraduates with an interest in activism and racial justice movements to serve as research assistants during this academic year.
“Organizing Stories,” a student-driven project coordinated by Professors Autumn Womack and Monica Huerta that will investigate the long history of anti-racist activism, racial justice organizing, and coalition-building as it relates to questions of narrative, storytelling, and humanistic study more broadly.
Two positions are available:
- Public Health Research Assistant
- Social Media Ambassador& Research Assistant
We are seeking student applicants who have a passion for both racial justice movements and public health activism.
This is a paid position that will average 5-10 hours a week. Interested applicants should send a 300-word statement of interest and a current resume to Michael Harrington [mjh6@princeton.edu] via email by September 18th at 5pm.
If you would like further information, please reach out to Michael Harrington.
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Ever wanted to know what your professors have been working on when they're not teaching your classes?
Visit the Humanities Council's Faculty Bookshelf! Browse by author or discipline to explore the University's cutting-edge humanities scholarship. (Check out our Department's Faculty Author Q&A: CLaudia Johnson on "30 Great Myths about Jane Austen" here!)
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80-minute, Discipline-Specific Appointments: From formulating a plan for semester- and year-long projects to conducting research and drafting and revising, our trained Graduate Fellows are available as students tackle the challenges of independent work! Make an appointment now: https://writingcenter.princeton.edu/s/80MIN
The Virtual Writing Lab (Sunday-Thursday 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET): Having a hard time getting motivated working on your JP or Thesis? Looking for a sense of community? Don’t go it alone! Join our Zoom-based virtual lab to write with peers, consult Fellows as needed, and tackle your short and long-term writing goals! Join here any time we’re open.
Writing Partnerships: Pair up with an experienced Graduate Fellow for a standing weekly appointment to structure the JP or thesis writing process and avoid a pile-up of writing at the end of the semester. If you’re interested in setting up a partnership, write to Dr. Creedon (greedon@princeton.edu).
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Online access to millions of books from PUL's print collection resumes through HathiTrust emergency access service
In response to the needs of an increased number of students and faculty researching, teaching, and learning remotely this fall, Princeton University Library is pleased to announce the resumption of the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) effective August 31. Through this service, millions of books from our print collection will be accessible online. Full article.
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Princeton University Library to launch Study-Browse Service on August 10
Princeton University Library (PUL) will launch a new service, the PUL Study-Browse Service, beginning Aug. 10 with a pilot at Firestone Library. Through an online reservation system, Princeton University students and faculty with an active PUID will be able to book a seat in a designated Library location for a specified period of time. The Library remains closed to the public and other patrons. The start date of the Study-Browse Service at branch libraries and Special Collections will be determined within the coming days. Access to Special Collections is not available at this time. More information.
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Afterword:
This week's contribution is
From Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights,
Chapter 14 “Joy is Such a Human Madness” (2019)
Chosen by Rebecca Rainof
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“Among the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard anyone say came from my student Bethany, talking about her pedagogical aspirations or ethos, how she wanted to be as a teacher, and what she wanted her classrooms to be: “What if we joined our wildernesses together?” Sit with that for a minute. That the body, the life, might carry a wilderness, an unexplored territory, and that yours and mine might somewhere, somehow, meet. Might, even, join.
And what if the wilderness—perhaps the densest wild in there—thickets, bogs, swamps, uncrossable ravines and rivers (have I made the metaphor clear?)—is our sorrow? Or, to use [Zadie] Smith’s term, the ‘intolerable.’
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Is sorrow the true wild?
And if it is—and if we join them—your wild to mine—what’s that?
For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation.
What if we joined our sorrows, I’m saying.
I’m saying: What if that is joy?”
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Photo Credit: FERENC CEGLEDI/ISTOCK VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Suggestions, events, additions, or questions: contact The Department of English's Undergraduate Administrator, Kelly Lake kalake@princeton.edu
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Department of English
22 McCosh Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
(609) 258-4061
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