News - Footnotes - UWG English Department

The English Department Welcomes New Faculty

We in the Department of English have recently had the good fortune of adding some outstanding new faculty members to the roster. Please join us in welcoming them to their new home at the University of West Georgia.

Amy Sandefur received her B.A. in English from LaGrange College and her M.A. in English from West Georgia. She then obtained her Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University. She says that the faculty and students have made her happy during her time here. She explains, "I find a sense of camaraderie among the faculty . . . and have found the students to be enjoyable." She also likes that the English faculty are "student-centered."

After serving two years in Germany, Todd Rudy attended Kennesaw State on the GI Bill where he earned a B.S. in Secondary English Education. In addition to the Army, his most life-changing moments have been a summer poetry workshop in Northern Ireland and a two-week solo camping tour of the Four Corners region of the U.S. (after seeing the surviving Beats in Boulder). He reflects on his experience saying, "There's nothing like coffee in the canyons." Before coming to West Georgia he taught creative writing and composition at Cornell where he earned a M.F.A. "After four years in cold New York," he says, "that I've returned home to the South is apparent to me in the warm and cordial atmosphere of the West Georgia English Department."

Angela Insenga began her academic pursuit at West Georgia, where she received her B.A. She went on to obtain her M.A. at Clemson University. "'Coming home' to Carrollton," she says, "and teaching where I was taught is a privilege. That feeling of full-circle overwhelms me when I meet up with old friends or sit on the same bench and read." She goes on to say, "The campus changed, but the people haven't. And we are all the better for it, I think." She is currently working on her Ph.D. at Auburn.

Jessica VanSlooten, originally from Holland, Michigan, obtained her B.A. at Alma College and a M.A. at Michigan State University. She moved to the South in 1997 to attend Auburn University where she earned her Ph.D. and served as an assistant poetry editor at the Southern Humanities Review. She also played fiddle in an old-time string band. While she misses the seasons and especially the snow of Michigan, she's enjoyed her time in the "sunny South." She some day hopes to own a bakery and be a published romance novelist in addition to her academic career. She is currently working on several essays that consider the romance genre in contemporary fiction and popular culture "as a way to merge my academic and personal interests," she explains.

After earning a B.A. in English literature, John Sturgis obtained his M.A. from West Georgia, where he was awarded the Willie Maude Thompson Scholarship. He and his wife Bobbi enjoy antique furniture hunting, their house at the lake, their season tickets to UGA football games (which they have had since the late '70s), and picking up and going anywhere they want "as long as," he asserts, "Anita the Tech fan will come over and look after Cosmo and Dooley--the cats who run the property." He also plays the guitar and has a collection of vintage instruments or reissues. Sturgis explains, "Music has been a special part of my life and I share it with almost anybody I can find that wants to play." After a "short-lived retirement," Sturgis accepted a teaching position at West Georgia. He reveals, "Jane Hill lured me--no, she seduced me--out of an extremely comfortable retirement. . . . 'How hard can it be?' I recall her saying to the unsuspecting and naive early-retiree. . . . I am having the time of my life."

Tom Dvorske came to West Georgia from the creative writing program at Oklahoma State University, where he earned his Ph.D. The author of one chapbook of poems, his manuscript was a finalist for the University of Utah Press's Agha Shahid Ali poetry prize. "West Georgia," he says, "is possibly the prettiest campus I have ever seen, but I did come from Oklahoma after all."

Gregory Fraser earned a M.F.A in poetry at Columbia University, where he won the David Austen Best Manuscript Award, judged by former poet laureate Stanley Kunitz. He completed his Ph.D. in English and creative writing at the University of Houston, where he was awarded the Donald Barthelme Prize and the James Michener Award for Poetry. A two-time finalist for the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, as well as a finalist for the National Poetry Series, his first book of poems, Strange Pietà, was published in April 2003. Along with his commitment to helping students become accomplished creative writers, Fraser has a range of theoretical interests, especially in the fields of environmental and disability studies, with "a much deeper and more personal relationship" to his studies in disability theory. His brother Jonathan was born in 1970 with spina bifida, a congenital condition that resulted in severe physical and mental handicaps. Fraser suggests that a "personal imperative" to write poems about Jonathan eventually led him to interdisciplinary research in "disability theory." Fraser is "absolutely thrilled" with the opportunity to teach a senior seminar in the spring entitled "Extraordinary Bodies: Disability in Literature," which will investigate representations of bodies that don't fit established categories in various British and American texts.

Chad Davidson, a Southern California native, earned his M.A. from the University of North Texas and his Ph.D. from Binghamton University in New York. He is a recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for translation work in Italy, a Thayer Fellowship in the Arts from New York State, a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and two Pushcart nominations. His first book of poems, Consolation Miracle, was selected by Rodney Jones as the 2002 winner of the Crab Orchard Prize. His poetic concentration is mostly in 20th-century American and British poetry, especially the meditative traditions followed by Bishop, Hass, and others. "I enjoy the rigor of the meditative poets, those who are deeply immersed in the precariousness of language," Davidson says. "They have the ability to show how language fails us, and how that failure is essential to beauty." In addition to teaching, Davidson is acting as the faculty advisor to the Eclectic, West Georgia's literature and arts magazine, and is working with Greg Fraser and the rest of the department to bring a new Creative Writing Minor to the students. "I have found that the students here are willing to dig deep . . . and seem hungry for poetry." He goes on to say, "We are committed to building a creative writing presence here at West Georgia, a presence that will enrich the scholarly side of the department as much as it will offer students more venues to articulate themselves through creative writing. Great things are afoot!"

- -Susan R. Rooks

	Spring 2004 Edition Volume 5, Number 1 Visit the UWG English Department Website Visit UWG BanWeb to Check Course Availability

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The English Department Welcomes New Faculty We in the Department of English have recently had the good fortune of adding some outstanding new faculty members to the roster. Please join us in welcoming them to their new home at the University of West Georgia. Amy Sandefur received her B.A. in English from LaGrange College and her M.A. in English from West Georgia. She then obtained her Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University. She says that the faculty and students have made her happy during her time here. She explains, "I find a sense of camaraderie among the faculty . . . and have found the students to be enjoyable." She also likes that the English faculty are "student-centered." After serving two years in Germany, Todd Rudy attended Kennesaw State on the GI Bill where he earned a B.S. in Secondary English Education. In addition to the Army, his most life-changing moments have been a summer poetry workshop in Northern Ireland and a two-week solo camping tour of the Four Corners region of the U.S. (after seeing the surviving Beats in Boulder). He reflects on his experience saying, "There's nothing like coffee in the canyons." Before coming to West Georgia he taught creative writing and composition at Cornell where he earned a M.F.A. "After four years in cold New York," he says, "that I've returned home to the South is apparent to me in the warm and cordial atmosphere of the West Georgia English Department." Angela Insenga began her academic pursuit at West Georgia, where she received her B.A. She went on to obtain her M.A. at Clemson University. "'Coming home' to Carrollton," she says, "and teaching where I was taught is a privilege. That feeling of full-circle overwhelms me when I meet up with old friends or sit on the same bench and read." She goes on to say, "The campus changed, but the people haven't. And we are all the better for it, I think." She is currently working on her Ph.D. at Auburn. Jessica VanSlooten, originally from Holland, Michigan, obtained her B.A. at Alma College and a M.A. at Michigan State University. She moved to the South in 1997 to attend Auburn University where she earned her Ph.D. and served as an assistant poetry editor at the Southern Humanities Review. She also played fiddle in an old-time string band. While she misses the seasons and especially the snow of Michigan, she's enjoyed her time in the "sunny South." She some day hopes to own a bakery and be a published romance novelist in addition to her academic career. She is currently working on several essays that consider the romance genre in contemporary fiction and popular culture "as a way to merge my academic and personal interests," she explains. After earning a B.A. in English literature, John Sturgis obtained his M.A. from West Georgia, where he was awarded the Willie Maude Thompson Scholarship. He and his wife Bobbi enjoy antique furniture hunting, their house at the lake, their season tickets to UGA football games (which they have had since the late '70s), and picking up and going anywhere they want "as long as," he asserts, "Anita the Tech fan will come over and look after Cosmo and Dooley--the cats who run the property." He also plays the guitar and has a collection of vintage instruments or reissues. Sturgis explains, "Music has been a special part of my life and I share it with almost anybody I can find that wants to play." After a "short-lived retirement," Sturgis accepted a teaching position at West Georgia. He reveals, "Jane Hill lured me--no, she seduced me--out of an extremely comfortable retirement. . . . 'How hard can it be?' I recall her saying to the unsuspecting and naive early-retiree. . . . I am having the time of my life." Tom Dvorske came to West Georgia from the creative writing program at Oklahoma State University, where he earned his Ph.D. The author of one chapbook of poems, his manuscript was a finalist for the University of Utah Press's Agha Shahid Ali poetry prize. "West Georgia," he says, "is possibly the prettiest campus I have ever seen, but I did come from Oklahoma after all." Gregory Fraser earned a M.F.A in poetry at Columbia University, where he won the David Austen Best Manuscript Award, judged by former poet laureate Stanley Kunitz. He completed his Ph.D. in English and creative writing at the University of Houston, where he was awarded the Donald Barthelme Prize and the James Michener Award for Poetry. A two-time finalist for the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, as well as a finalist for the National Poetry Series, his first book of poems, Strange Pietà, was published in April 2003. Along with his commitment to helping students become accomplished creative writers, Fraser has a range of theoretical interests, especially in the fields of environmental and disability studies, with "a much deeper and more personal relationship" to his studies in disability theory. His brother Jonathan was born in 1970 with spina bifida, a congenital condition that resulted in severe physical and mental handicaps. Fraser suggests that a "personal imperative" to write poems about Jonathan eventually led him to interdisciplinary research in "disability theory." Fraser is "absolutely thrilled" with the opportunity to teach a senior seminar in the spring entitled "Extraordinary Bodies: Disability in Literature," which will investigate representations of bodies that don't fit established categories in various British and American texts. Chad Davidson, a Southern California native, earned his M.A. from the University of North Texas and his Ph.D. from Binghamton University in New York. He is a recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for translation work in Italy, a Thayer Fellowship in the Arts from New York State, a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and two Pushcart nominations. His first book of poems, Consolation Miracle, was selected by Rodney Jones as the 2002 winner of the Crab Orchard Prize. His poetic concentration is mostly in 20th-century American and British poetry, especially the meditative traditions followed by Bishop, Hass, and others. "I enjoy the rigor of the meditative poets, those who are deeply immersed in the precariousness of language," Davidson says. "They have the ability to show how language fails us, and how that failure is essential to beauty." In addition to teaching, Davidson is acting as the faculty advisor to the Eclectic, West Georgia's literature and arts magazine, and is working with Greg Fraser and the rest of the department to bring a new Creative Writing Minor to the students. "I have found that the students here are willing to dig deep . . . and seem hungry for poetry." He goes on to say, "We are committed to building a creative writing presence here at West Georgia, a presence that will enrich the scholarly side of the department as much as it will offer students more venues to articulate themselves through creative writing. Great things are afoot!" - -Susan R. Rooks
Contact the Webmaster at tarmand@westga.edu with questions/comments about this site. Last updated April 17, 2004