Program News
September 2024
September 2024On Saturday, September 28th, Dr. Hanrahan and Dr. Nixon accompanied a group of Shepherd English majors to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival in Rockville, Maryland. The students were especially excited about meeting this year’s honoree, Jesmyn Ward, who is a two-time National Book Award winner and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. Ward has published four novels and a memoir, and she edited a collection of essays and poems by contemporary writers. Dr. Nixon included Ward’s novel Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017) in his English 313 course this semester, and the students connected with that text with enthusiasm and appreciation. The group also visited F. Scott Fitzgerald’s grave and had dinner at Dr. Nixon’s home that evening.
The first gathering of Stammtisch, the German language and culture conversation group, will be on Wednesday, September 11th. It will be at Alma Bea’s here in Shepherdstown and will start at 5:00 p.m. There will be a special guest that day, Dr. Klaus Vollert, a professor at Shepherd’s German partner university (Fachhochschule Mittweida). Stammtisch is open to all faculty, staff, students, and community members, and people with all levels of German proficiency—from beginners to native speakers—are welcome to take part. For more information, contact Dr. Rachel Krantz (rritterb@shepherd.edu).
July 2024
The Rude Mechanicals Medieval and Renaissance Players will perform plays by two Shepherd University alumni—When the Bolt of Cupid Fell by Olyvia Thompson and The Poet and the Muse by LaShawn Taylor. Both plays will be performed on Sunday, July 7th, at 7:30 p.m.; Monday, July 8th, at 7:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, July 9th, at 7:30 p.m. The running time is about 8o minutes. All performances are in Reynolds Hall and are free for everyone. For more information, contact Dr. Betty Ellzey (bellzey@shepherd.edu).
April 2024
Three Shepherd University English majors have had their work accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed academic journal LURe. LURe (Literary Undergraduate Research in English) has been published by the Department of English and Philosophy at the University of West Georgia since 2010 and receives submissions from around the globe. Taylor Beam of Jane Lew, West Virginia, wrote her essay entitled “There is no witch: Wieland and The Blair Witch Project” for Dr. Timothy K. Nixon’s course in American literature up until 1900. Lee DiFante of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, wrote their essay entitled “Queer Reproduction in ‘Morella,’ ‘Ligeia,’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher'” for Dr. Heidi Hanrahan’s senior seminar on Edgar Allan Poe. And Logan King of Paw Paw, West Virginia, wrote his essay entitled “The Duplicity of Time in the Latin American Literary Tradition: A Comparison of Borgesian and Márquezian Time” in Dr. Nixon’s senior seminar on twentieth-century Latin American literature. While the three students wrote outstanding essays initially, they all had to engage in careful revision processes for their work to meet the rigorous standards of the editorial team at LURe. Their work will be included in the upcoming volume 14 of the journal. Congratulations to these young scholars! We’re very proud of you.
The English program is proud to announce the English Capstone presentations for the 2023–2024 academic year. On Friday, April 12th, the first set of presentations will take place in the Jefferson Room of White Hall (room 104). The event will begin at 3:10 p.m. with an awards ceremony. Following that, the presentations will include
- Erika Huff (Creative Writing) — “Food with Friends”
- Emily Kelly (Creative Writing) — “Everything Happens for a Reason”
- Thomas McCulloch (Literature) — “The Absurdity of Albee and Pinter”
- Kat Brady (Creative Writing) — “The Church of the Childhood Home and the Gospel of Motherhood”
- Paul Karth (Creative Writing) — “Tail of a Giant”
- Kayla Allnutt (Literature) — “Wealth Dynamics: The Evolution of Biblical Perspectives”
- Justin Gamble (Creative Writing) — “The Game of Soul”
- Carter Warhurst (Creative Writing) — “The Jade Dragon Society”
On Monday, April 15th, the second set of presentations will be held in the Byrd Center Auditorium. They will start at 3:10 p.m. and will include
- Matthew Parkinson (Creative Writing) — “Tales of the Modern Monster Hunter”
- Clara Monson (Literature) — “Becoming Children, Parents, and Lovable Characters: Comparing Relationship Dynamics in Anne of Green Gables and Uncle Tom’s Cabin“
- Lauren Moore (Literature) — “Double-Consciousness in The Hate U Give“
- Mark Cuthrell (Creative Writing) — “Continue On”
- Jackson Sharpe (Creative Writing) — “The Coup”
- Logan King (Literature) — “The Duplicity of Time in the Latin American Literary Tradition: A Comparison of Borgesian and Márquezian Time”
- Meghan Hinebaugh (Literature) — “A Woman’s Greatest Pain: Punishment as a New Means of Worthiness”
- Charlotte Puttock (Literature) — “Correlations between Authority, Violence, and Mysticism and Male Hysteria in Selected Shakespearian Tragedies”
The presentations are free and open to the public. Please come and support our English Capstone students!
On Monday, April 1st, Drs. Berenschot, Krantz, and McClelland inducted twelve new members into Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. Shepherd’s chapter, Psi Lambda, is pleased to welcome its new members: Kayli Barton, Lucy Blue, Laura Filip, Brenna Fitzgerald, Amy Hernandez, Gabriela Izquierdo, Skylar McAllister, Andrea Navarrate, Stephanie Poe, Paige Rice, Dalia Rodríguez, and Mekenna Southern. Twelve new members is the biggest induction ceremony Sigma Delta Pi has held in quite some time. ¡Felicidades!
Two English majors, Clara Monson and Taylor Beam, have been invited to present their scholarly work at the upcoming Sigma Tau Delta Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. This event is the centennial convention of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and will take place April 3rd through the 6th. Clara will be presenting a paper titled “Defining Femininity in the Victorian Era,” and it was originally written for Dr. Heidi Hanrahan’s ENGL 341: Victorian Literature class. Taylor will be presenting a paper titled “Aristotle and Dante: Cheesy Queer Romance of Today,” which she wrote for Dr. Hanrahan’s ENGL 307: Young Adult Literature class. We’re very proud of these two young scholars!
March 2024
The Rude Mechanicals Medieval and Renaissance Players will perform Aristophanes’ bawdy ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata March 29th through April 7th at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Wednesday, and Thursday and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. All performances will be in Reynolds Hall. Admission is free for Shepherd University students, faculty, and staff; $5 for the general public; and $2 for other students. Audience members must be 18 or older.
February 2024
The next meeting of Shepherd University’s Stammtisch will be on Tuesday, February 13th, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Alma Bea’s here in Shepherdstown. Stammtisch is a gathering of folks interested in German as a language and the cultures of the German-speaking people. The gatherings are free and open to faculty, students, staff, and community members. All are welcome—native speakers to beginners. It’s a very low-stress environment for people to get together, practice their German, learn a little bit, and grow their social circle. For more information, contact Dr. Rachel Krantz (rritterb@shepherd.edu).
January 2024
The next meeting of Shepherd University’s Stammtisch will be on Thursday, January 18th, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. at The Blue Moon Café here in Shepherdstown. Stammtisch is a gathering of folks interested in German as a language and the cultures of the German-speaking people. The gatherings are free and open to faculty, students, staff, and community members. All are welcome—native speakers to beginners. It’s a very low-stress environment for people to get together, practice their German, learn a little bit, and grow their social circle. For more information, contact Dr. Rachel Krantz (rritterb@shepherd.edu).
The Rude Mechanicals Medieval and Renaissance Players will hold auditions for the bawdy, ancient Greek, anti-war comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes on Wednesday, January 10th, and Thursday, January 11th, from 8:00 until 10:30 p.m., in Reynolds Hall. There are multiple roles, large and small, for all genders and levels of experience. Tech crew, artists of all kinds, dancers, musicians, and choreographers are also needed. Shepherd University students in the cast and crew earn 3 academic credits. A diverse cast and crew is highly desirable. Community members 18 and older are welcome to audition. For more information, contact Dr. Betty Ellzey (bellzey@shepherd.edu).