ENGL 6006 Research Presentations

The English Department community is cordially invited to:

The presentation of the research proposals developed by students enrolled in ENGL 6006: Research Methods. Presenters include: Emily Aguiló, Francheska Cruz, Sharon Díaz, Nora Falvey, Tia Gilson, Robert Haithcock, Geovanna Méndez, Wilfredo Mercado, Yolanda Padilla, Rafael Parrilla, Jeannette Pérez, Jo.Alexis Robles, Gabriel Romaguera, and Yalitza Santos.

WHEN? Monday, December 15 @ 5:30 p.m.

WHERE? Chardón 318

Refreshments will be served!

Film Night / Noche de Cine

Cultural Studies in Narrative and Cinema

Humanidades 4995

Miércoles, 4:30-7:20 pm

Dra. Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio

download flyer

Introducing Dr. Maisha Tulivu Fisher!

The keynote speaker for the 1st annual English conference for UPRM graduate and undergraduate students of English, Dr. Maisha Tulivu Fisher, will afford conference participants the opportunity to engage with a contemporary, published scholar in the field of language and literacy studies in English. Dr. Fisher is a faculty member at Emory University, was recently a recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Teaching and Teaching Education Division’s 2008 Early Career Research Award, and has published a number of articles on spoken word poetry and its promising possibilities for classroom teaching. These include, most recently, Black Literate Lives: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (2008), published by Routledge, “Catching Butterflies” (2008) in the journal English Education, and “Every City has Soldiers’: The Role of Intergenerational Relationships in Participatory Literacy Communities” (2007) in the journal Research in the Teaching of English. Please feel free to link to and review any of these articles, including the February 2008 Emory Report article “Harnessing the Power of Poetry”, by Elizabeth Elkins, on Dr. Fisher and Joe Ubiles’ work with the Power Writers, aka The Rebel Poets.  Order forms for purchasing Dr. Fisher’s Black Literate Lives at a discounted price from Routledge will be available in the English Department office for those who may be interested in incorporating it as a course text or in recommending it to their students.

Collaborative Publication

Afro-Puerto Rican Testimonies update!

We are happy to announce the recent publication of our article “Testimonios Afropuertorriqueños: Using Oral Testimonies to (Re)Write Race in Contemporary Puerto Rico” in the latest issue of Sargasso, a peer-reviewed journal of literature, language, and culture edited at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras. The essay is co-authored by English Department faculty member Jocelyn A. Géliga Vargas, MAEE candidate Irmaris Rosas Nazario and community collaborator Tania Delgado Hernández. This issue of Sargasso (2007-2008, I) is dedicated to the examination of “alternative identities” as these are represented in contemporary Caribbean literature, art and oral testimonies. For more information or to order a copy visit:

http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pubs/sargasso-currentissues.htm

Rebel Poets are coming your way! Feb. 21, 2009, 1st Annual Student Conference

To commence and close the conference, the Department has invited a State-based scholar, Dr. Maisha Tulivu Fisher (of Emory University), a retired public school teacher, Joe Ubiles (of New York City), and a dynamic group of four young performance poets, representing The Rebel Poets, a spoken word collective with whom Fisher and Ubiles have worked over the past several years. Dr. Fisher and Mr. Ubiles’ keynote lecture will focus on the significance of language and literacy in the lives of marginalized, urban, public school youth and the trajectory of the Rebel Poets, from their early years as struggling students in a neglected, under-resourced Bronx high school, to their gradual emergence as powerful writers and spoken word performers who have dynamically and unapologetically presented their critical and witty reflections to audiences across New York and the wider United States, as well as in international forums.

Call for Proposals, 1st Annual Student Conference

Just a reminder — the deadline for student proposals, UG and MAEE, for our new Dept. conference, English as a Field of Change and Flow, is Nov. 30th. We hope that you will encourage your students to submit their proposals.

Here’s the link to the official conference blog: http://blogs.uprm.edu/englishconference/

Questions? Contact Judy caseymayaguez@hotmail.com or Mary marysefranek@hotmail.com

Department Faculty & Students Present @ Harvard, UMass, etc.

“Afro-Puerto Rican Testimonies” tours Boston!

MAEE candidates Irmaris Rosas and Fabiola Barrera, faculty member Jocelyn A. Géliga Vargas, and community leaders Alfredo González and Carlos Delgado recently traveled to Boston to present our ongoing research, Afro-Puerto Rican Testimonies: An Oral History Project in Western Puerto Rico. We were invited by a diverse group of scholars, community activists and educators.

Our first speaking engagement was coordinated by the Latino Heritage Month Committee of the Massachusetts General Hospital and took place on October 14. The following day we offered a more extensive and intensive presentation in the W.E.B. Du Bois Fellows’ Colloquia, organized by the Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. On October 16, we were invited by the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts-Boston to offer a formal presentation to students, scholars and community leaders and to lead a “conversatorio” or discussion with Latin@ high school students and their mentors. Finally, on October 17, we concluded our tour with an engaging and festive presentation at La Hora del Café, a monthly community forum devoted to the dissemination of Latin@ art, culture and education initiatives.

Earlier in October, we presented our project at the 8^th Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference in San Juan, PR. Last June Afro-Puerto Rican Testimonies traveled to Cuba to present our work at the Nuevos Talleres Internacionales de Estudios Regionales y Locales, held at the Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas in Santa Clara.

L³ Society’s October 2008 Newletter

The second edition of the L³ Society’s October 2008 Newletter, entitled The L³anguage Connection is hot off the presses! This newsletter, created by and for students is focused on the study of language, literature, and linguistics. The L³ Society’s editors in chief are Adriana I. Caraballo and Angel Matos Caro.

The link to the newsletter may be found below.
Once again, congratulations to our students for their success with the monthly newsletter!

 The L³anguage Connection, October 2008, Volume 1.2 

MAEE Comprehensive Examination

The Graduate Committee of the English Department wishes to announce that the policy and guidelines pertaining to the Comprehensive Examination degree completion option (”Option III”) have been modified. The revised policy updates the version included in the MAEE Graduate Student Handbook (August 2008 and prior editions) and will go into immediate effect. The document has been sent via e-mail to all faculty and graduate students, and can also be obtained here:

Comp Exam Policy & Guidelines Rev Oct 08

If you have any questions about the changes please contact the GC Coordinator ( jgeliga at uprm.edu) or any other member of the Committee.