Weekly Round-Up

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Important Dates

Deadline to drop a full-semester course without a “W”: Friday, Oct. 17
Registration Time Tickets are available to view: Monday, Oct. 20
POT B (second 8 weeks) courses begin: Monday, Oct. 20
Advising Office Open House with LAS Career Services: Wed., Oct. 22
Deadline to add a POT B course to schedule: Friday, Oct. 24
Priority registration begins: Monday, Nov. 3

Resource of the Week

There are multiple ways to connect with the Counseling Center. Call 217-333-3704 to make a same-day appointment. You can call at any time, but more options will be available earlier in the day. You can also schedule an in-person appointment via the website up to three days in advance, or email an embedded counselor to set up an appointment.

The Counseling Center has clinicians available during business hours for same-day urgent meetings without an appointment. If possible, call 217-333-3704 to let them know you’re on your way. Same-day urgent meetings are brief (15-30 minute) one-time meetings for students feeling overwhelming distress.

Please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room if you need immediate assistance.

If you need to talk to someone after hours, please call the Rosecrance Crisis Line at 217-359-4141 to speak with a local mental health clinician.

For more information, please visit the Counseling Center Website.

Career Counseling for Transfer Students

Next week is National Transfer Student Week, and the Career Center will be holding a new event specifically for transfer students on Tuesday, October 21^st. They will discuss ways transfer students can plug into campus resources, gain experience, and convey their transfer student experience in job applications and interviews.  Further details can be found in Handshake: Career Development for Transfer Students: Navigating Your Personal Career Path | Handshake.

Check out Transfer Students | The Career Center | UIUC for tips on transfer students can make the most of their time at U of I as they develop professionally and apply to jobs and internships.

Open House with LAS Career Services Visitor!

Our next open house is coming up on Monday, October 22, 8:30-10am. We will also be hosting Kirstin Wilcox from LAS Career Services, so stop by to meet her and find out more about how you can get help you with your internship and career goals! Or, just hang out as usual. As always, we will have snacks, coffee and tea, and assorted games and puzzles.

Student Internship Available

Survey Data Analysis and Report Writing
Part-time Internship (10-15 hours per week) $15 per hour

Review duties and qualifications and apply here. Do it as soon as possible if you’re interested; the application window will remain open until they hire but they will begin reviewing applications as early as next week.

Job Description:
We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Student Intern to assist with analyzing and crafting summaries from survey data. This position requires a student who can effectively distill and communicate insights derived from qualitative and quantitative data. The ideal candidate has strong written communication skills, has an ability to synthesize information for a quick and accurate understanding of survey topics, and is comfortable working in an office environment. This is a fully on-site position.

NB We were asked to promote this opportunity to students in our department so they are definitely interested in humanities types for this position!

How to Enroll in an English Honors Seminar

If you would like to sign up for an English honors course in the spring, please email Nancy at nrahn@illinois.edu (include your full name and UIN) and tell her which seminar you hope to take this spring, including the title/topic and the CRN.  You’ll find descriptions of the courses and the CRN in Course Explorer.  Please allow one week to get a response. Once Nancy has given you permission to take the course, you must still go into the registration system and add it to your schedule.  Nancy cannot actually enroll you in the class; she is simply giving you the override that will allow you to enroll yourself! 

For more details about the honors program check our English department website: https://english.illinois.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/honors-research/honors-research. 

If you would like to take two seminars at the same time, then you may, but you must receive approval for the first before you can request a second.  If you are approaching graduation and need a particular seminar in order to complete the honors program, please get your request in right away!  Permission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Meet Your Imposter Monster

Learn about Careers in Human Resources and Industrial Relations

Boren Scholarships

Freshmen through Seniors who are U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old, and want to study language and culture in a non-Western country vital to U.S. interests are eligible to apply. (For complete information on Boren Awards preferred language and countries, click here.) 

The Boren Scholarship seeks applicants who have a solid academic record, plan to pursue intensive language study abroad, have the potential to succeed in their proposed study abroad experience, and have clear plans for how they will use the target language in their future academic and professional endeavors. 

Boren Scholars MUST commit to working in the federal government for at least 1 year after graduation.

Deadline 
The required campus deadline is January 15, 2026 at 12:00pm (noon).

Application Preparation
If you are interested in applying, please attend our informational sessions:   

IN-PERSON Boren Scholarship Information Session
Thursday, October 23th, 2025, 3:30-4:30 pm
514 Illini Union Bookstore Building, Floor 5

ONLINE Boren Scholarship Information Session
Friday, October 24th, 2025, 9:00-10:10 am
Register in advance for this Zoom session.

IN-PERSON Boren Scholarship Workshop
Friday, October 24th, 2025, 3:00-4:00 pm
514 Illini Union Bookstore Building, Floor 5

For more information, contact the scholarships office at topscholars@illinois.edu or visit our website at www.topscholars.illinois.edu 

TEC in the Hub

Staff from the Technology Entrepreneurship Center will be in the LAS Lisnek Hub on Thursday, October 23, 11:30am – 1pm, to talk to LAS students ovewr lunch about the opportunities available to them through TEC, including various pathways for getting experience, including opportunities to get involved in student startups through SocialFuse/Cozad competition, workshops, and course offerings. All majors are welcome to get involved with TEC!

Need a 1-hour POTB course? Check These Out!

Are you looking to engage in meaningful conversations, deepen your understanding of diverse perspectives, and contribute to a more inclusive campus community? Diversity & Social Justice Education (DSJE) invites you to enroll in EPSY 203 dialogue courses.

These courses provide a unique opportunity to explore critical topics related to diversity, equity, and social justice in a supportive and interactive environment. Through facilitated discussions, you’ll gain valuable insights, develop essential intergroup & intercultural dialogue skills, and build connections with peers from various backgrounds.

AWP Intro Journals Project – Collecting Submissions!

Coping with Communication Apprehension

Registration Form: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/1408633323
Thursday, October 23, 3:30-4:30pm (Main Lib #106)

Roughly three out of every four people face some degree of anxiety when speaking in front of others. Tremors, butterflies in the stomach, and “blacking out” are common, but that does not make them any less uncomfortable. In this workshop, learn strategies and mindsets to help cope with these experiences and more related to speech and presentation apprehension. Pre-registration required using the link above.

An Evening with Ayelet Tsabari

Ayelet Tsabari’s new novel, Songs for the Brokenhearted, has won a slew of awards including the National Jewish Book Award. The novel fills a huge gap in that it traces the story of the history of Yemeni Israelis through a fictional family. The text tackles questions of race, nation, and belonging (or not belonging) and could not be more timely. A 2019 interview with Tsabari was published in Ninth Letter; you can find out more about the novel (and hear a clip from the audio book) here and here.

Kevin T. Early Memorial Scholarship

Submissions are open for the 2025-2026 Kevin T. Early Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship is made possible from an endowment by William and Donna Early in memory of their son, a poet, Kevin T. Early. It awards a $2000 scholarship (applied to the student account) to a student with freshman standing at UIUC for the 2025-2026 school year.  

For consideration, students must submit 5 poems via email to jdudek4@illinois.edu. The complete submission should not exceed 5 pages (so 1 poem to a page). Submissions should be attached to the email as .docx (Word) files.

The subject line of the email should read: “EARLY PRIZE SUBMISSION: Last name.”

The body of the email should include the student’s name, address, phone number, e-mail, UIN, and the titles of the poems. The name should not appear on the entry file itself.

The deadline for application is Thursday, October 30, 2025. If you have any questions, please email jdudek4@illinois.edu.

WRC Book Club

Friday, October 31   |   4:00pm
Women’s resources Center 
616 E. Green St Suite 213

Join the staff of the Women’s Resources Center as we discuss Hungerstone by Kat Dunn. During our conversation, we will discuss select chapters and themes from the text that explore relationships, the legacy of the romantic horror genre, and homoeroticism. 

Can’t read the whole book before we meet? No problem! Join us anyway! Limited copies of the book are available on a first come, first serve basis by request. 

Register at go.illinois.edu/Hungerstone

Critical Language Scholarship

Are you interested in learning a less-commonly taught language? Do you want to participate in a fully-funded intensive language program abroad? If so, apply for a Critical Language Scholarship!

Eligibility:
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals, at least 18 years of age, and enrolled in a degree-granting program at the undergraduate or graduate level. The Critical Language Scholarship, provided by the U.S. Department of State, is a fully-funded, intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for undergraduate and graduate students.  A list of eligible languages is available here. CLS institutes are 8 to 10 weeks in length, are held over the summer, and cover one academic year of university-level language coursework. CLS Institutes include cultural programming, local language partners, and in-country excursions. Participants receive academic credit at their U.S. institutions.  

Deadline:
The national deadline will be in mid-November – exact date TBD in the upcoming weeks.

Application Preparation:
If you are interested in applying, please attend our informational session:   

ONLINE Critical Language Scholarship Information Session
Friday, October 17, 2025, 9:00-10:00 am
Register in advance for this Zoom session

For more information, contact the scholarships office at topscholars@illinois.edu or visit our website at www.topscholars.illinois.edu 

Creative Writing Courses Added to the “Cheat Sheet”

Attention creative writing majors! You can now find courses offered each semester that satisfy your Writing & Literature and Difference & Diaspora requirements on the Major Requirements Cheat Sheet we update each semester. We hope that this will prove to be helpful when finding courses to complete these major requirements! The updated cheat sheet for Spring 2026 and live and ready for you to consult.

Don’t Forget These!

Media Ecology PhD Cohort at the University of Colorado Boulder

CU Boulder English is embarking on a new kind of PhD that is collaborative, experimental, and that affords students a chance to work closely with each other and with faculty. They are introducing a “Media Ecology” lab and team-taught courses where PhD students work with faculty and one another to map, theorize, and develop dissertation specialties via intensive mentoring, reading, and co-writing and -publishing in the lab. They offer competitive funding packages, along with excellent teaching and networking opportunities. Students will work with established academics and professionals in the fields of their interest.

What are “media ecologies”? If “ecology” refers to the relationships between humans and the more-than-human, mediaecology takes its cue from manuscripts, archives, as well as printed and digital environments to consider how text technologies and material infrastructures shape readers and their worlds. Conversely, readers perceive the material world through the lens of media. In addition to asking traditional questions in literary scholarship like “What does the text mean?” we theorize texts as occupying an ecological niche, suggesting that both medial form and its content occupy a symbiotic and competitive relationship with other texts. Like capital itself, text is always in motion and always innovating. The field of cultural production shifts, morphs, combines, and mutates. The university is seeking students interested in both environmental and media studies. They encourage those working in any literary period, with interests anywhere from medieval manuscripts to AI.

If you are interested in this topic and in pursuing a PhD in English, you are encouraged to apply! You can find information about applying here.

Library Research Consultations

Fall 2025 First Gen Series

Scholarship Opportunity

The LAS Get Experience Scholarship is designed to support students with financial need in hands-on learning experiences that enhance and complement their academic coursework (such as unpaid and underpaid internships). Click the link above to find out more.

How to Connect with LAS Career Services

• Mondays- 1-3 pm 105 Greg Hall (short chats)
• Tuesdays- 10-3 pm LAS Hub (Lincoln Hall) with peer mentors
• Wednesdays- 10-3 pm LAS Hub (Lincoln Hall) with peer mentors
• Thursdays- 10-3 pm LAS Hub (Lincoln Hall) with peer mentors
• Thursdays- 1-3 pm 105 Greg Hall (short chats)
• Handshake Appointments (in-person or virtual) are 30 minutes during available staff times. We have an energetic team to help you. Reach out to connect. Having trouble? Reach out to us at las-careerservices@illinois.edu. 

Montage – Call for Submissions!

Montage publishes art and literary work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Submissions are now open! For more information and to submit your work, please visit: https://www.montageartsjournal.com/submit

Sharing News

As a reminder, if you have an award, a publication, or some other triumph to report please send news to engl-news@illinois.edu so the social media interns can celebrate you and your accomplishment. Also, if you are a member of a student group affiliated with the English department and you would like an upcoming event posted on our undergraduate calendar (now available at the bottom of the advising page) please send that info to the same address. Thanks!

Boost Your Speaking Skills

We offer a friendly, low-stakes space for students from any major or discipline to practice and work on oral communication with a peer-consultant, including using visual aids such as powerpoint and research posters. Our main location is in the Armory, with satellite hours in the Main Library, Grainger Library, ACES/Funk Library, and the LAS Hub. We also offer synchronous online appointments. 

Free Little Library

WRC Fall Hours