1.Roxanne Mountford / Bill Endres
1215 PattersonOfficeTower
Lexington, KY, USA, 40506-0027
Newsletter, 17March2008
Dear Colleagues:
Welcome back! I trust that Spring Break was relaxing and that you are ready for the rest of the semester. Let’s get straight to the news.
1.Roxanne Mountford / Bill Endres
As you know, both Roxanne Mountford and Bill Endres have accepted our offers, and will be joining us in the fall. Bill will come in as a new assistant professor, and Roxanne as a tenured associate professor.
We are required to do an expedited tenure and promotion review for Roxanne. Her research materials are now with external reviewers; two of five letters have already arrived (external letters are due Friday 18 April). Tenured professors, please begin reviewing Roxanne’s dossier (in Lucy’s office) and writing your own evaluative letter; all tenured faculty must write a letter. Remember that tenure and promotion letters must be detailed and substantial, and they must state clearly whether you support, donot support, or abstainon the recommendation for tenure and promotion. I will need your letters by Wednesday 23 April.
2.Rosemarie McGerr
Rosemarie McGerr has declined our offer. Thanks to everyone for participating in discussions on McGerr’s candidacy.
3.Hiring Priorities
The results of the faculty vote on hiring priorities are:
- Cancelled searches
- British Long 19th Century (vote = 1.3636)
- Renaissance (1.6364)
- New Searches
- American 1875–1925 (1.9000)
- British Transnational / Transatlantic or Colonial / Postcolonial (2.0476)
I have submitted these requests to the Dean. Please see the hiring proposal document.
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4.Presidential Fellowship
Please congratulate Katherine Osborne on winning a Presidential Fellowship for academic year 2008–2009. This is a prestigious and highly competitive Graduate School award open to all programs across UK. Congratulations!
5.Faculty Meeting Wednesday
The faculty meeting on Wednesday 19 March (2PM, 319 POT) is for tenured faculty only. The purpose of the meeting is Pearl James’ second year review; please read her dossier in Lucy’s office before the meeting.
6.Awards Day
Please mark your calendars for Awards Day, which will be Wednesday, 23 April, 2PM, in the Lexmark Room in the Main Building (reception to follow). Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Vance will be the Keynote Speaker.
Also, please respond promptly to request for nominations for student and teacher awards.
7.Roy Foster Lecture
Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford, will deliver a lecture on “The Strange Death of Romantic Ireland,” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, in the Niles Gallery of the University of Kentucky Fine Arts Library. The lecture, sponsored by the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, the Department of English and the Department of History, is free and open to the public. An open reception will follow the presentation. Please see Jonathan Allison for further details.
8.Dana Nelson Lecture
Plan to attend Professor Dana Nelson’s Social Theory lecture, “Democracy *Presidentialism* War” (Friday, 31 March, 2PM, West End Room, 18th floor Patterson Office Tower). There will also be a reception at the Commonwealth House of the Gaines Center following.
9.EGSO Conference
The Fifth Annual English Graduate Student Organization Conference will be Friday, 28 March 2008, on the 18th Floor, Patterson Office Tower. Please plan to attend. For more information, see or talk with Andrew Battista.
10.August Wilson Conference
The August Wilson Second Half of the Cycle Conference will be 11–12 April. Plenary speakers include Harry Elam, Donald Pease, and Yolanda Pierce. For more information, see Alan Nadel.
11.Ronald Dathorne
I have just learned that Ronald Dathorne, who was a professor in the Department from 1987 to 2006, died in December. Born in Guyana, Dathorne taught in Nigeria and Sierra Leonebefore taking academic positions at Yale, Howard, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. Dathorne was founding editor of the Journal of Caribbean Studies.
That’s all for now. Please write or stop by with questions.
Tom Clayton
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