Information for students submitting thesis proposals

Beginning the first semester of the 2010-2011 academic year, when students submit the signed cover page of their approved thesis proposals to the Office of Graduate Studies they will also need to submit the form titled “FORMULARIO PARA SOMETER PROPUESTA DE DISERTACIÓN, TESIS O PROYECTO,” which must be signed by the student, all committee members and the department director. Please note that the OGS will also require all students whose research involves human subjects to submit their IRB release or approval form.

Here’s a link to the form:  http://grad.uprm.edu/oeg/RecursosDocumentos/PDF/propuestaform.pdf

Invitation to Karrieann Soto Vega’s Defense

English Department faculty and students are cordially invited to attend Karrieann Soto Vega’s oral defense of her M.A. thesis, Rocking and Reading: Exploring Multimodal Media Literacy in an ESL College Classroom, on Wednesday, August 11th, at 2:30 p.m. in Chardón 318. Come support Karrieann as she engages us in a profound discussion and reflection on her thesis-based research during her trajectory as an M.A.E.E. candidate! Faculty, to share a .pdf version of this invitation with your students, please click here. 

Institutos de fortalecimiento de Inglés y Matemáticas

Atención estudiantes de nuevo ingreso:

Favor acceder el siguiente documento para información detallada acerca del Instituto de fortalecimiento de Matemáticas e Inglés.

Payday for the TAs!

During the student paro, the GTAs of the Department of English met with Betsy, Gayle, and Kevin at Town Center to eat, chat, exchange paperwork, and receive their paychecks.

English Department at 1st Conference of Qualitative Researchers in Puerto Rico

Graduate students Lisa Ortiz Guzmán and Yolanda Padilla Lebrón and faculty member Jocelyn A. Géliga Vargas recently precented their ongoing research projects at the Primer Encuentro de Investigadores Cualitativos de Puerto Rico (First Conference of Qualitative Researchers in Puerto Rico) held at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras from April 15-17, 2010.

Padilla Lebrón and Ortiz Guzmán participated in an action research panel coordinated by Drs. Rima Brusi and Walter Díaz (Department of Social Sciences, UPRM) titled Inequidad educativa y estratificación social en la educación superior en Puerto Rico (Educational Inequality and Social Stratification in Higher Education in Puerto Rico), which was held on Thursday, April 15. Padilla Lebrón’s presentation was titled Investigación acción participativa: la escritura como agente de cambio social (Participatory Action Research: Writing as an Agent of Social Change). Ortiz Guzmán’s presentation was titled Defining English Expectations through Action Research at UPRM.

On Friday, April 16 Géliga Vargas and other members of the Afro-Puerto Rican Testimonies Research Colective (Inés Canabal, Luis Daniel Cruz, Tania Delgado, Alfredo González, Brunilda Rosa and Rosa I. Rosa) delivered a presentation titled Investigar para transformar: testimonios de una investigación colaborativa sobre historia oral afropuertorriqueña (Research as Transformation: Testimonies from a Collaborative Afro-Puerto Rican Oral History Project).

The First Conference of Qualitative Researchers in Puerto Rico was organized by the Unión Puertorriqueña de Investigadores Cualitativos and the Department of Graduate Studies of the Faculty of Education at UPR-Río Piedras.

Lisa Ortiz Guzmán & Yolanda Padilla Lebrón at the Conference

Congrats to English Major Laira Rosario

We ALL know Laira because she has been a reliable and diligent student assistant in our departmental office for over a year. SOME of us are also familiar with her excellent performance as a student in our English and/or Film Certificate courses. But perhaps only a FEW of us know that this multifaceted English major is also making inroads into professional photography.

Congratulations to Laira, whose original photographic work was featured in the March 4, 2010 edition of the national newspaper El Vocero (pp. 31-34).

You can access the digital reproduction of the newspaper’s publication at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153464&id=198815961304

Review: Hollywood in the Holyland by Nick Haydock

Please see below review by D. Hoffman of Nick Haydock’s most recent book, Hollywood in the Holyland: Essays on Film Depictions of the Crusades and Christian-Muslim Classes (2009).

http://www.uprm.edu/english/blogfiles/English/Hollywood%20in%20the%20Holy%20Land_%20Arthuriana%20Review.pdf

Join the Relevo por la Vida Walkathon April 24 & 25

The Relevo por la Vida Walkathon of the American Cancer Society will begin on Saturday, April 24 @ 2:00 pm and will continue until Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ noon.

The English Department will join forces with the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at the Pista Sintética of UPRM and the theme is “Imagine a world with more birthdays. Let’s make this a reality.”

Please show your support for this worthy cause by participating in the American Cancer Society walkathon. If you are interested in walking, please remember to purchase a Relevo por la Vida t-shirt.

The sign-up sheets for walking and for the purchase items (see list below) are on the counter in front of Daly’s desk. You have until Wednesday, April 21, 2010 @ 1:30 pm to do so.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

SALE ITEMS
T-Shirts Adult $10, Children $8
Polos Adult $20, Children $18
Caps $10
Candle Dedications $5 each
Wrist Bands $2 each
Raffle Tickets $2 each

Western TESOL Success!

Collage by Ivette Delgado

The 33rd Annual Western PR TESOL conference was held Saturday, April 10, 2010 at IAU Aguadilla campus.

Join us in congratulating our Graduate Students who participated in the session on Perspective and Research Regarding Language, Identity and Education. MAEE presenters were Ivette Delgado, Richard Diaz, Marylian Rivera, Nataly Rodriguez, Efrain Troche, Edward Contreras, Fiorelys Mendoza, Jessica Reyes, Kimberly Santiago, and Luzbella Paredes. MAEE students, Giselle Muñoz, Claudia Herbas, Lisa Ortiz, and Alexandra Túbens also attended the conference.

A big “Thank You” to Kevin Carroll for inspiring these young adults. Board member Mabel Ortiz also presented. The plenary speaker this year was Leo Flores. In attendance were Dr. Darnyd Ortiz, Rosita Rivera, and past president Roberto López.

English Department SHINES at International Science Education Conference

Three members of our department recently participated in the Science Education in the 21st Century: Advantages, Pitfalls and Future Trends international symposium held at Colorado State University-Fort Collins from March 12-13, 2010.

Dr. Rosita Rivera delivered a keynote address titled “Science Content, Language, Strategy and Technology Learning in a University-Level ESL Classroom.”

MAEE student and Graduate Teaching Assistant Kimberly Santiago presented her research titled “English for Academic and Career Success in Agricultural Science: A Needs-based Curriculum” in an invited poster session.

Dr. Shannon Bischoff was a member of the organizing committee of the symposium, which was sponsored by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

Congratulations to our colleagues and thank you for representing us in this interdisciplinary and international forum.