The Weekly: Undergraduate News
...Coming to your inbox Mondays
Issue #19 for the week of 1/18/2020
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From the Director of Studies |
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Greetings on Martin Luther King Day, important every year, this year more than ever—there is a program at the Arts Council of Princeton today, a good occasion to gather with your neighbors in the greater Princeton community, and this evening there will be a discussion of systemic racism at Princeton hosted by the Fields Center, To Be Known and Heard. Both will make for opportunities to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy at a moment of fragile opportunity in the United States.
This week is also the beginning of Wintersession—the new experiment of a winter term is under way, amidst all of our other improvisations; I encourage you to have a look at the opportunities on offer there, including some offerings by members of the English Department faculty. Nor is the English Department itself idle. On Wednesday at 3 PM, we’ll have a discussion of Jane Austen’s Emma with all-star graduate students and dedicated Austenians Yan Che and Jeewon Yoo. In addition to the intrinsic delights of talking about Austen on a winter afternoon, Emma is among the Common Works for the exam in spring 2022, and the workshop is part of the long run-up to that culminating exercise. You can still register here, and please do come along; the far-seeing student, the armchair novel reader, and the literary sybarite are equally welcome (who knows but they are the same person).
Looking ahead, Wednesday the 27th will see the beginning of the Black Writers Workshop, a community of black writers who will be reading and workshopping one another’s creative writing over the course of the semester. (You’ll have received an email and more details will follow next week.) And before that, on Monday the 25th, a socially distanced social hour for concentrators and prospective concentrators, featuring an unlimited supply of virtual snacks and of actual good cheer. You can register here. And finally—a bracing afterword from Professor Zahid Chaudhary, on the other side (as Alison Stewart says) of the news.
Director of Undergraduate Studies
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Undergraduate Administrator
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ACADEMIC DATES & DEADLINES |
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2021
January 2021
January 18
*University Observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday: Staff and Library holiday, Offices closed.
*Undergraduate Add/ Drop Period Begins
*Virtual Wintersession Begins
January 20
Emma, Jane Austen. Read. Meet. Discuss. A Common Works Event.
via Zoom 3:00 p.m. EST
January 25
Socially Distant Social Hour. An Outreach Event
via Zoom 2:00 p.m. EST
January 27
Black Writers Workshop: Welcome & Informational Session 2021
via Zoom 4:00 p.m. EST
February 2021
February 1
Spring 2021 Classes Begin
February 12
Deadline to Add/Drop Classes without fee
February 12
Art to Heart Workshop with Saturnia
via Zoom TBA
March 2021
March 3
The Next Chapter: Alumni Panel
via Zoom 4:30 p.m. EST
March 8 - 12
Spring Midterm Period
March 13-16
Spring Recess
March 17
*Classes Resume
*Undergraduate Selection of P/D/F begins
March 18
King Lear. Read. Meet. Discuss. A Common Works Event
via Zoom TBA
March 25
A.B. Concentration Declaration Period Begins
April 2021
April 1
Akira Kurosawa's Ran. View. Meet Discuss. A Common Works Event
via Zoom TBA
April 6
*Deadline to Drop Spring Term Courses
*Deadline to Select P/D/F Option
April 13
*Declaration Day
*Junior Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
*Junior Independent Work Due
*Senior Thesis Due
April 14
Sophomore Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
April 15
First-Year Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
April 27
Spring 2021 Term Courses End
April 28
Reading Period Begins
May 2021
May 5
*Reading Period Ends
*Dean's Date
May 8 - 14
Spring 2021 Final Exams
May 25
Commencement
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Additional Dates for Juniors: |
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Additional Dates for Seniors:
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2021
January 15, 2021
Deadline for Submitting 10-pages of Junior Independent Work or final JP prospectus DUE
February 19, 2021
First full JP draft due to advisor
April 13, 2021
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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2021
March 8, 2021
Deadline for submission of non-thesis materials for department prizes
April 13, 2021
Senior Thesis DUE
May 6-7, 2021
Senior Departmental/
Comprehensive Exams
Please see the below information regarding O.U.R.'s funding cycles and the Departmental resources for research funding support.
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Calling all English Concentrators: Thesis Writers and Junior Papers
English Writing Room
Sundays Spring 2021
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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Calling all thesis writers!
And all writers of junior papers! (And that adds up to everybody in the major.)
Beginning this Sunday, January 17, 2021-- the department will host a weekly Writing Room, afternoons from 1:30 to 5:30p.m.
Our Writing Room is a virtual place to work in the company of your classmates, where you can set achievable goals, cheer each other on, and hold each other accountable.
The structure is simple. There are two two-hour sessions, from 1:30 to 3:30 and 3:30 to 5:30. Show up at 1:30 to check in with your fellow scribblers, explain what you hope to accomplish, and then get to it; a little before 3:30, check in again and compare notes on progress, struggles, unexpected intellectual events, etc. Over the two writing hours in-between, there will be encouraging short breaks to recover momentum for the next stint. The process repeats at 3:30. Come for the first session, or the second, or both!
Ace graduate students Jessica Terekhov and Ryan Zaluzec will be on hand to keep the trains running and to offer encouragement and counsel. Writing is a solitary business by nature, but it can make all the difference to know that you are not alone in that solitude—and that your fellow English majors are pulling for you, and you for them. Our hope is that over the semester the Writing Room becomes a place where the Great Work of the thesis (or the JP) becomes a week-by-week, manageable, even companionable task. The zoom address is below.
O join us!
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Book Discussion:
Emma, Jane Austen.
Read. Meet. Discuss.
A Common Works Event
Wednesday, January 13 at 3:00 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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Join our wonderful graduate students Jeewon Yoo and Yan Che to chat about Jane Austen's Emma, one of our ten Common Works for 2022.
Read on your own and then meet to chat.
Concentrators will find the zoom link in the Canvas Common Works Group under the "Zoom" tab. All others, Zoom link will be provided after registration.
Both sessions should be a spirited and fun time, offer you the opportunity to connect in meaningful ways around this text, and an open and enjoyable way to start the year together.
Please join us!
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Calling All ENG Current & Prospective Concentrators
Socially Distant Social Hour 2021
Monday, January 25, 2021
2:00 p.m. EST
Zoom
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English Concentrators & prospective concentrators join us for a socially distant social hour!
Test your ENG Jeopardy Knowledge! Princeton Lit & McCosh Trivia!
Socialize with fellow ENG concentrators!
Register Here:
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Black Writers Workshop
Welcome and Information Session 2021
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. EST
Zoom
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Join a Community of Black writers as we read and workshop one another's creative writing.
All forms of writing are welcome!
No prior writing experience necessary!
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J.K. Rowling and the Dangers of TERF Rhetoric
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
2 PM EST ON ZOOM
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Join the Women*s Center, the LGBT Center, and GSS for our first Feminist Friday. We will be discussing the dangers of TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) rhetoric to the continuing advocacy for womxn's rights, the physical danger to Trans* folks—especially Women of Color, and how we can be better advocates.
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Intersections Working Group: Book Talk
Decolonizing Diasporas:
Radical Mappings of Afro-Atlantic Literature
by Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 12:00 p.m. EST
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The first 20 Princeton affiliates to register for the event below will be reimbursed for a copy of the book (Digital or Paperback) available on Amazon.com or at Northwestern University Press (links at bottom of page)
Book reimbursements can only be provided to University affiliates but the event is open to the public and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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The Next Chapter: Alumni Panel
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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King Lear
by William Shakespeare.
Read. Meet. Discuss.
A Common Works Event
Thursday, March 18, 2021 TBD
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Join graduate moderators, Lisa Kraege and Moeko Fujii to discuss this Shakespearean classic and Common Works text. Open to current concentrators and prospective concentrators, and Class of 2022 concentrators are strongly encouraged to attend.
Registration and time TBA
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Intersections Working Group presents
The Smell of Risk:
Environmental Disparities and Olfactory Aesthetics by Hsuan L. Hsu
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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The first 20 Princeton affiliates to register for the event will be reimbursed for a copy of the book (Digital or Paperback) available on Amazon.com or at NY University Press (links at bottom of page)
Book reimbursements can only be provided to University affiliates but the event is open to the public and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Akira Kurosawa's film,
Ran
View. Meet. Discuss.
A Common Works Event
Thursday, March 18, 2021 TBD
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Join graduate moderators, Lisa Kraege and Moeko Fujii to discuss this Shakespearean classic and Common Works text.
Open to current concentrators and prospective concentrators, and Class of 2022 concentrators are strongly encouraged to attend.
Registration and time TBA
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Here and There: Issue 3: Food |
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RESEARCH FUNDING INFORMATION |
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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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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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Princeton Arts Alumni presents...
The January Virtual Variety Show
Thursday, January 21 @ 8 PM
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Join us for a live stream variety show of art videos created by members of the Princeton University Arts Community. After the 45-min-or-less show, we'll gather for a Q&A with the artists and hangout with the audience in Zoom. More details on our website here.
Admission is free and open to the public, though a suggested donation of $10 will go towards supporting the ongoing mission of the Princeton Arts Alumni.
Contributing to individual artists will be made possible during the show.
RSVP required to attend.
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Submission Opportunity
Tortoise
Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:59 p.m. EST
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Tortoise is an annual journal published through the Writing Center that showcases exceptional student writing and accompanies that writing with explanatory comments in which the authors and editors reflect on the writing and research process.
We are currently soliciting submissions for our next issue, which will be published at the end of the academic year. Our Final submission deadline, Thursday, January 21st 2021 at 11:59pm ET. Further submission information is available on the above poster or here.
We publish writing from all disciplines and at all levels, from Writing Seminar papers in literature to graduate student abstracts in linguistics.
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Wintersession 2021 will be a fully virtual experience and will run from January 18–31, 2021.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, staff and faculty can participate as teachers, learners or both.
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Summer 2021:
Princeton's Department of Classics
Intensive: Ancient African Language of Gəˁəz (classical Ethiopic)
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This summer, Princeton’s Department of Classics will be offering an intensive class for Princeton undergraduates and graduate students in the ancient African language of Gəˁəz (classical Ethiopic). It will be taught by Prof. Hamza Zafer, who has taught this course to great acclaim at the University of Washington.
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University Center for Human Values offers events of interest: |
To access the events that the University Center of Human Values presents please use this:
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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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This week's contribution is graciously provided by
from “The Russian Revolution”
Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)
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“We have never been idol worshippers of formal democracy.” All that that really means is: We have always distinguished the social kernel from the political form of bourgeois democracy; we have always revealed the hard kernel of social inequality and lack of freedom hidden under the sweet shell of formal equality and freedom—not in order to reject the latter but to spur the working class into not being satisfied with the shell, but rather, by conquering political power, to create a socialist democracy to replace bourgeois democracy—not to eliminate democracy altogether.” |
Photo Credit: Rosa Luxemburg speaks outside a congress of the the Second International in 1907. https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/15/rosa-luxemburgs-revolutionary-socialism
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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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