Department of English

The faculty, staff, and students welcome you to the USF English department. We offer broad study in literature, rhetoric and composition, and creative writing on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with classes taught by our distinguished faculty. The links to the left will navigate you through this site.

Please take a moment to visit our new Department Calendar at the bottom of the page!

Department Highlights

Meakin Receives National Recognition

Assistant Proefssor Heather Meakin has been selected as an NEH Summer Scholar from a national applicant pool to attend one of 20 seminars and institutes supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Endowment is a federal agency that, each summer, supports these enrichment opportunities at colleges, universities, and cultural institutions, so that faculty can work in collaboration and study with experts in humanities disciplines.

Meakin will participate in a seminar entitled "Tudor Books and Readers: 1485-1603." The 5-week program will convene in Antwerp, Belgium; and in London and Oxford, England, and will be co-directed by John N. King, Distinguished University Professor of English Emeritus, The Ohio State University, and Mark Rankin, Assistant Professor of English, James Madison University. Information about this program may be found at its Web page, http://www.jmu.edu/english/Tudor_Books_and_Readers/.

The approximately 419 NEH Summer Scholars who participate in these programs of study will teach over 73,000 American students the following year.

Gould Wins Outstanding Research Achievement Award

English Department professor Marty Gould has won the University's Outstanding Research Achievement Award for 2012, sponsored by the Office of Research & Innovation. According to Dr. Karen Holbrook, Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation & Global Affairs, the award "recognizes faculty who have received truly exceptional recognition of their research with preeminent awards, grants, or publications in top journals." Gould received the award in recognition of his first book, Nineteenth-Century Theatre and the Imperial Encounter (Routledge, 2011). This award comes on the heels of two other major awards: a USF Proposal Enhancement Grant he won through the Division of Sponsored Research to support research for his new book project, Dickens, Adapted--a study of nineteenth-century dramatizations of Dickens's novels, and an NEH grant to direct a Summer Seminar for High School Teachers (Great Adaptations: Teaching Dickens through Literary and Cinematic Adaptations) in July 2011. We congratulate him on these impressive achievements!

K. Bryant Wins First Place in CLA Creative Writing Contest

Bryant with faculty sponsor Dr. Gary Lemons

Doctoral Candidate Kendra Bryant won first place in the poetry category of the College Language Association's Creative Writing Contest. Bryant is an advanced doctoral student in the English Department's Rhetoric and Composition track, currently completing her dissertation on contemplative pedagogy. Of her first-place win, Bryant says, “Winning the CLA Creative Writing Contest feels validating. Being awarded for my writing skills during the time at which I am writing a dissertation was the energy I needed to push forward. I am grateful." We are grateful to have you in our program, Kendra!

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and the USF Department of English in conjunction with the USF Humanities Institute has a slew of activities going on throughout the month to celebrate this time-honored written form. A schedule of events is viewable on the Humanities Institute website as well as on our Department Calendar of events (below). We hope you'll attend as many of the events as possible!

Department Staff Members Win USF Outstanding Staff Award

Nancy Morriss, Undergraduate Program Specialist, and Sarah Wray, Undergraduate Advisor, have both won the university's prestigious Outstanding Staff Award. From the HR website: "Each year, the University of South Florida’s Outstanding Staff Awards Program recognizes a number of exceptional employees who demonstrate a commitment to the pursuit of excellence and a level of performance that exceeds the values and standards of the university." We are honored to have these two outstanding staff members recognized for their excellent service to the department. Congratulations!

Donnelly Contributes to Huffington Post

Congratulations to Prof. Dianne Donnelly for her contribution to the Huffington Post article, "Creative Writing Can Be Taught: Creative Writing Professors Answer More Important Questions."

Fundraising Challenge!

We are grateful to Stacy Parker DeRaps, USF alumna and former creative writing student, who has donated $2100 from The Brian G. DeRaps Memorial Foundation in memory of her husband. $100 of her donation is to be used now; the remaining $2000 will be placed in a USF Foundation account, where it will be used in years to come to help fund our Florida-themed literary magazine, Saw Palm. Stacy challenges anyone interested in supporting great writing in Florida to add to this donation. Any amount helps and will be greatly appreciated!