Follow the department on social media!

Welcome back everyone! We hope you enjoyed the break and that the semester has begun well for you. As a reminder, if you need to meet with an advisor please call the office (217-333-4346) to schedule that appointment. If you are required to check in (you will have received an email to that effect) remember that we want to hear from you before Feb 3 (which is the add deadline).

A Diary of an Invasion: In Conversation with Oksana Maksymchuk

January 24 at 5:30 pm
Lucy Ellis Lounge (LCLB 1080)

This event is a reading and conversation with Oksana Maksymchuk, award-winning bilingual Ukrainian American poet, scholar, and translator.

Her debut English-language poetry collection Still City: Diary of an Invasion (Pittsburgh University Press/Carcanet) offers an immersive chronicle of war during the months leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The book was featured as Best Recent Poetry by The Guardian and named a Best Summer Book of 2024 by The Financial Times. The collection draws on a wide range of sources, including social media posts, news reports, witness accounts, recorded oral histories, photographs, drone video footage, intercepted communication, official documents, and songs. Maksymchuk’s poems document and reflect on the experiences of civilians in real time while also creating a multivocal celebration of the resilience of community and family in the face of catastrophe.

Visit her at https://oksanamaksymchuk.com

A reception will follow the reading. All are welcome!

Secondary Education Minor Application (deadline Feb 1)

If you are a sophomore English major planning to minor in Secondary Education for the purpose of getting a high school teaching license, please take a look at the admissions site of you haven’t already. Note that the deadline is FEB 1 and there are a number of things you will have to do in advance, including getting Anna or Keshia to sign off on a verification form, so this is not something you can do at the last minute).

As a reminder, if you are a first-semester student then you do NOT have to apply yet. This application is for students who anticipate that they will be here for five more semesters (if you are admitted during this winter application period then you will start the licensure sequence in Spring 2026 and you will be expected to graduate at the end of Spring 2027).

Voyager Scholarship

The Voyager Scholarship (Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service) is awarded to students focused on public service careers. A career in public service includes a range of occupations in government, non-profits or the private sector, from community organizing to social work and from entrepreneurship to the arts—all committed to solving our biggest challenges together. It provides up to $80,000 toward your education ($25,000/yr of financial aid for junior and senior year, $10,000 for a summer experience, and $2,000 annually for 10 years for travel). 

Deadline 
The priority campus deadline is February 27, 2025, at 12:00pm (noon). 
The final submittal deadline is in March 2025 (exact date TBA). 

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

IN-PERSON Voyager Scholarship Information Session
Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 3:30-4:30 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 

Gilman Scholarship Information Sessions & Workshop

Are you a Pell grant recipient who wants to study abroad or do an international internship? If so, the Gilman Scholarship is for you!

Eligibility
Freshmen through Seniors who are U.S. citizens or nationals, Pell grant recipients, in good academic standing, and will be participating in a credit-bearing study abroad program or international internship are eligible to apply. 

The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship provides enrolled students, who are Pell grant recipients, up to $5,000 for either study abroad or an internship abroad. If you plan to study a language critical to U.S. national security while abroad, you can apply for an additional $3,000. If you plan to conduct STEM-related research while studying abroad, you can apply for an additional $1,000.   

Get tips about applying from recent Illinois Gilman Scholars.

The national deadline is March 6, 2025.

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

IN-PERSON Gilman Scholarship Information Session
Thursday, January 30, 2025, 3:30-4:30 pm
514 Illini Union Bookstore Building, Floor 5

ONLINE Gilman Scholarship Information Session
Friday, January 31, 2025, 9:00-10:100 am
Register in advance for this Zoom session.

IN-PERSON Gilman Scholarship Workshop
Friday, January 31, 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 

Join Student Alumni Ambassadors (Deadline Jan 31)

LAS Career Events

• Career Lab: How to Talk to Strangers, February 4, 3- 5 pm in 105 Greg. Our first Career Lab will help prepare you for the many contexts that require talking to strangers. Get tips, advice, and opportunities to practice in a low-stakes and friendly social setting.
• Arts & Culture Virtual Employer Panel, February 13 at noon-1:30 (virtual). Come to gain invaluable insights and guidance directly from accomplished industry leaders. You hear firsthand about diverse career paths within the arts and culture sector, discover key trends shaping the industry, and receive practical advice on how to kickstart and navigate a creative journey. Plus, employers will share available opportunities, providing students with a direct link to potential career paths and openings in the vibrant world of arts and culture.
• Career Lab: Internships. February 18 at 12:30-2:30 in 105 Greg. Prepare to find and apply for summer internships at this interactive workshop. Get help clarifying your search, finding opportunities that fit your interests, and preparing effective application materials. Learn how the Illini Career and Internship Fair (Feb. 27!) can help you find opportunities and get your resume reviewed. Bring your laptop! We will provide a light lunch for those who attend. Register in Handshake. 

Community-Academic Scholars

The Community-Academic Scholars (CAS) program is a 10-week summer research experience that empowers undergraduates in all majors to address critical issues in the local community. Scholars work with an Illinois researcher and a community organization on a research project designed to directly benefit the community members served by the partner organization. Review the project descriptions and the scholar’s role within each project to find projects that best match your strengths and background. Apply by Feb. 6. 

Freshman Poetry Scholarship (deadline Feb 7)

Submissions are being accepted for the 2024-2025 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 $2000 to a student with freshman standing at UIUC for the 2024-2025 school year. The deadline for application is Friday, February 7, 2025. 

For consideration, students must submit 5 poems via email to John Dudek at 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.

If you have any questions, please email jdudek4@illinois.edu.

Preview of Spring 2025 Creative Writing Events

We’ll advertise these individually as they approach (with location info) but now would be a great time to get them all in your calendar.

Book Release Reading by David Wright Faladé and Chris Kempf
Thursday, February 6, 2025 | 6:00

Carr Visiting Author series: Illinois Alumni reading
Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 4:30

Kaplan Family Writer in Residence: Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 4:30

Carr Visiting Author Series: Dante Micheaux
Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 4:30

Poetry Reading by Janice Harrington and Angie Estes
Thursday, April 17, 2025 | 6:00

Yard Show: Black Life, Prairies, and Place Making In the Midwest.
Reading and performance featuring Janice N. Harrington and Chip McNeill
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | 4:30

MFA Public Reading
Saturday, May 3, 2025 | 1:00

Casting Call

Casting call for UIUC’s contributions to the medieval York Cycle at the University of Toronto on June 7th. Open to students, faculty, and staff. NO PRIOR ACTING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.

Auditions will be Friday, January 31 & Saturday, February 1 from 3:00-6:00 pm at 1101 S. Wright Street (lower level of Canterbury House, the Episcopal Church Foundation at UIUC): producer & director Carol Symes (Director of the Program in Medieval Studies) will hold auditions for UIUC’s medieval acting troupe: members of our campus community who will rehearse and perform two of the 48 pageants that make up the Corpus Christi Cycle performed annually in the English city of York from the 13^th to the 16^th centuries — staging Christian history from Creation to the Last Judgment over the course of one long summer day, beginning at dawn and ending at midnight. To learn more, click here.  To sign up for an audition slot, click here.

Those chosen to perform will rehearse over the course of the Spring semester and will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Toronto from June 5-9, 2025. Rehearsals will be held weekly on Friday and/or Saturday afternoons throughout the semester. All performers will need a valid passport and must be eligible for travel to Canada. 

Illinois Business Consulting (deadline Jan 24)

Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is still accepting applications for the Spring 2025 semester, but not for much longer! The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. (CST) on Friday, Jan 24.

IBC isn’t just for business students or those interested in a career in consulting. It’s an excellent opportunity to build leadership, time management, critical thinking, and teamwork skills, among others, and we encourage students of all majors to apply!

To learn more about and apply for IBC, students can visit https://linktr.ee/illinoisbusinessconsulting.

Calling all First-Gen Students!

Submit to Montage (deadline Feb 14)

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Research Workshops

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) announces its Spring 2025 workshop calendar. We are offering a variety of workshops to support you regardless of where you are in your research journey. Information for each workshop, including how you can register, can be found on our website . For all workshops, participation is by advanced registration only; there are a limited number of spots available for each workshop, so please sign up as soon as possible. Workshops will be added throughout the term based on demand.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The URS is the signature event of Undergraduate Research Week (April 20 – 26), which brings together students, faculty, and staff from all disciplines on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as the public, to learn more about undergraduate research and its potential to change the world. Throughout the day, students will present their oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and interactive exhibits to members of the campus and local community.

• When: Thursday, April 24, 2025
• Where: Illini Union (A, B, C, South Lounge, and the 2nd Floor)
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

Visit the URS webpage for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are currently being accepted. The deadline for applying to the URS is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm and no late submissions will be accepted. Please note, your presentation is not expected to be complete by the application deadline. On the application, you will only be asked to provide a tentative title that can be revised until March 19 and an abstract which will be used internally by OUR to create and organize thematic sessions. Your abstract will not be published or viewed by anyone other than OUR.

ATLAS Internships Still Available for SP25!

Tuesday @7 Workshops with the Counseling Center

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.

Follow the department on social media!

Undergrad Hourly Position: Viral Content Data Labeling

Hiring Professor: Tess McNulty, English
Position Type: Hourly, Research Assistant
Total Hours: anywhere from 10-40 hours total, with possibility of continued work
Timeline: Ideally we would complete this work over winter break, and this could be exclusively a winter break position; it could however, either begin in, or extend into spring term; hours could be organized at no more than 6 per week, if necessary.
Rate: 20$/hr for undergraduate student

Ideal Candidate: Undergraduate Student in English, Literature, or the Arts and humanities, or with a proven track record of success in humanities courses.

I am seeking one research assistant to help me label viral content—primarily from Facebook—by genre. During the first phase of this work, we will likely take about 10-20 hours each, labelling 1-2 datasets; we will label the data separately and then meet, periodically, to discuss our choices, and reach agreements, as per a predefined procedure. If that works out, we could then proceed to a next phase of work that will involve more hours (up to 40), and then, potentially, still further, if mutually desired.

A working knowledge of genre, and ability to identify genres of cultural expression based on a provided description is key, so an English, literature, or arts or humanities student, with a proven track record of success in these academic areas, would be a good fit. Ideally, we would complete this first 10-40 hours of work promptly— over winter break, if possible, but also, potentially, in early spring term. Schedule can be flexible based in individual needs. This is also an opportunity to learn about, and gain experience in, research methods concerning digital/social media content.

If interested, please contact me at tessm@illinois.edu to discuss.

Reading Day and Beyond

Stop by the English advising office (Room 200) any day between December 12 and 18 for a chat, a snack, or a crack at the jigsaw puzzle. Drop-in hours are 9:30 to 4 daily.

Check out this course!

From the gas that powers our car to the plastics that make our world, our lives are soaked in oil. Our literature is, too. In this course, we will explore literature through the lens of energy. What do we learn about literature when we read for energy? And how might literature and other humanities methodologies help us contribute new ideas to vital contemporary conversations about energy, climate change, and environmental justice? In this course, we will examine texts that reflect on the politics, aesthetics, economics, and historical significance of energy—from whale oil to oil to wind, solar, and speculative energy sources. We will encounter a variety of texts in this course: novels, newspaper articles, political polemics, historical narratives, and narrative and documentary films. We will not privilege nonfiction over fiction or classic literature over last week’s newspaper articles: rather, we will approach all sources critically, as texts subject to fine-grained literary analysis.

Secondary Education Minor Application

If you are a sophomore English major planning to minor in Secondary Education for the purpose of getting a high school teaching license, please take a look at the admissions site and start preparing (you have until February 1 to submit your application but there are a number of things you will have to do in advance, including getting Anna or Keshia to sign off on a verification form, so this is not something you can do at the last minute).

As a reminder, if you are a first-semester student then you do NOT have to apply yet. This application is for students who anticipate that they will be here for five more semesters (if you are admitted during this winter application period then you will start the licensure sequence in Spring 2026 and you will be expected to graduate at the end of Spring 2027).

Important Scholarship Information

This is just a reminder that the dates for applying to the English department’s scholarship competition are earlier than usual this year. 

****Stage One of the English scholarship application process is due Tuesday, January 21, 2025. 

Once our office has verified that information and notified you to move forward, Stage Two will be due Monday, February 24, 2025. For the Stage One form, overviews of the process, and information about who is eligible, lease see here: https://english.illinois.edu/academics/scholarships-prizes-awards/awards-scholarships. 

The Undergraduate Office held a meeting about the application process in November. If you were unable to attend but are interested (or just have a question) please don’t hesitate to email the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Catharine Gray: cathgray@iinois.edu.

Spring Registration Advising

The English Advising Office is still helping with spring registration! If you want help with registration and haven’t met with an advisor yet, please call the office. We do not schedule via email.

To help you prepare, we have the SP25 “cheat sheet” available on the Planning Coursework page (you will need an Illinois Box account to view the document). This tells you which courses will fall into which categories within the various majors/concentrations (period categories, topical clusters, etc.) in the spring.

As a reminder, if you want to take an English honors seminar (ENGL 396) you must email Nancy Rahn at nrahn@illinois.edu to request permission. Please be sure to include your name and UIN, and the CRN and topic of the course you want to take. Once Nancy contacts you to let you know you have permission to take the course you will be able to add it to your spring schedule. Act now, before the classes fill up, particularly if you are getting close to graduation!

Don’t Forget These!

Call for Presenters

Reminder! Submit to Montage

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Register for the Cozad New Venture Challenge by Feb. 2!

Click the image above for more information!

UK Summer Fulbright Scholarship Info Session

ONLINE UK Summer Fulbright Scholarship Information Session
Friday, January 10th, 2025, 3:30-4:30 pm
Register in advance for this Zoom session.

Study-Abroad Program in Athens, Greece – Spring & Summer 2025

Greek Studies on Site is a center for the study of Greek literature, philosophy, and culture, located in Athens, Greece.

We offer three-week summer programs, as well as a spring semester program of studies organized in collaboration with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

FOR COMPLETE SYLLABI AND FURTHER DETAILS, please visit: https://www.greekstudiesonsite.com

Courses of Interest in SP25

Check these out!

ENGL 221: Speculative Futures
This course introduces students to several important conversations arising from the expansive genre of speculative fiction. In this course students will explore some of the most profound, disturbing, and downright bizarre imaginings of the future that human beings have generated. Climate change, ageing, fascist regimes, reproductive rights, technological failures, scientific advancements, and apocalypse are just a few of the possible topics for this class. Course materials will be drawn from literary works, contemporary and historical scientific developments, and cultural theory to explore how and why speculative futures are linked to specific cultural contexts, technologies, and social schemes.

ENGL 247: The British Novel
Novels are experimental spaces for dramatizing the problem of freedom in a chaotic modern world. If we could act with complete freedom, would we like the results, or end up isolated and self-centered? Since the Magna Carta, Britain has defined itself as a free society—but it’s also a small set of islands where it’s not always easy for people to run away from their choices. The British novel of the last three centuries dramatizes the clash between individual desire and community responsibility by using wit and satire to create a limited space of social freedom, and the marriage plot to fetishize a single moment of free choice in a materially determined world. We will learn some historical background that explains the distinctiveness of British traditions from Regency romance to punk rock, but also respond to the novels’ characters as they explore their moral choices and unsettle the hierarchies that constrain them. Our texts will include Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, E. M. Forster’s Howards End, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The URS is the signature event of Undergraduate Research Week (April 20 – 26), which brings together students, faculty, and staff from all disciplines on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as the public, to learn more about undergraduate research and its potential to change the world. Throughout the day, students will present their oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and interactive exhibits to members of the campus and local community.

• When: Thursday, April 24, 2025
• Where: Illini Union (A, B, C, South Lounge, and the 2nd Floor)
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

What Can Be Presented? 

• Undergraduate students can present any research project or experience they are a part of, including both in-progress and completed projects or creative works. 
• We welcome students to present their research posters, talks, performances, exhibits, and demonstrations. This includes, but is not limited to, art displays, musical and visual performances, architectural exhibits, inventions, and technology demonstrations).
• Students can present individually or in groups. Groups only need to submit one application to present.
• Students can give multiple presentations throughout the day.

Visit the URS webpage for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are currently being accepted. The deadline for applying to the URS is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm and no late submissions will be accepted. Please note, your presentation is not expected to be complete by the application deadline. On the application, you will only be asked to provide a tentative title that can be revised until March 19 and an abstract which will be used internally by OUR to create and organize thematic sessions. Your abstract will not be published or viewed by anyone other than OUR.

New First Gen Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Spring 2025

The First-Gen Scholars Research Program (FSRP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers first-generation college students eligible for federal work-study the opportunity to participate in meaningful and high-impact research. The FSRP allows students to explore the culture and process of research and gain hands-on experience while building on their existing abilities within a supportive community of scholars. Accepted applicants will be matched with one of our experienced faculty mentors – many of whom were First Generation college students. Full details along with faculty profiles can be found online at: https://undergradresearch.illinois.edu/programs/first-gen-scholars-research.html

ATLAS Internships–Application portal for SP25 OPEN NOW!

Need Help With Research?

Peer Mentors are in the Hub!

With the return of the Peer Mentors in the Hub, here are a few reasons to head to the Hub in Lincoln Hall (Tues, Weds, Thurs from 10- 3):

• building a resume from scratch or a quick look before a career fair
• connecting to research around campus
• learning how to gain some other experience to gain insights about your skills and preferences for future jobs
• finding that RSO or other group that are around to join
• Career Services has special drop-in times on Tues, Weds (10-noon)

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.

Follow the department on social media!

Reading Day Treats and Puzzles on Us!

Secondary Education Minor Application

If you are a sophomore English major planning to minor in Secondary Education for the purpose of getting a high school teaching license, please take a look at the admissions site and start preparing (you have until February 1 to submit your application but there are a number of things you will have to do in advance, including getting Anna or Keshia to sign off on a verification form, so this is not something you can do at the last minute).

As a reminder, if you are a first-semester student then you do NOT have to apply yet. This application is for students who anticipate that they will be here for five more semesters (if you are admitted during this winter application period then you will start the licensure sequence in Spring 2026 and you will be expected to graduate at the end of Spring 2027).

Important Scholarship Information

This is just a reminder that the dates for applying to the English department’s scholarship competition are earlier than usual this year. 

****Stage One of the English scholarship application process is due Tuesday, January 21, 2025. 

Once our office has verified that information and notified you to move forward, Stage Two will be due Monday, February 24, 2025. For the Stage One form, overviews of the process, and information about who is eligible, lease see here: https://english.illinois.edu/academics/scholarships-prizes-awards/awards-scholarships. 

The Undergraduate Office held a meeting about the application process in November. If you were unable to attend but are interested (or just have a question) please don’t hesitate to email the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Catharine Gray: cathgray@iinois.edu.

Spring Registration Advising

The English Advising Office is still helping with spring registration! If you want help with registration and haven’t met with an advisor yet, please call the office. We do not schedule via email.

To help you prepare, we have the SP25 “cheat sheet” available on the Planning Coursework page (you will need an Illinois Box account to view the document). This tells you which courses will fall into which categories within the various majors/concentrations (period categories, topical clusters, etc.) in the spring.

As a reminder, if you want to take an English honors seminar (ENGL 396) you must email Nancy Rahn at nrahn@illinois.edu to request permission. Please be sure to include your name and UIN, and the CRN and topic of the course you want to take. Once Nancy contacts you to let you know you have permission to take the course you will be able to add it to your spring schedule. Act now, before the classes fill up, particularly if you are getting close to graduation!

CW 406 Poetry Reading

Reading Day Activity

Call for Presenters

Reminder! Submit to Montage

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Register for the Cozad New Venture Challenge by Feb. 2!

Click the image above for more information!

UK Summer Fulbright Scholarship Info Session

ONLINE UK Summer Fulbright Scholarship Information Session
Friday, January 10th, 2025, 3:30-4:30 pm
Register in advance for this Zoom session.

Study-Abroad Program in Athens, Greece – Spring & Summer 2025

Greek Studies on Site is a center for the study of Greek literature, philosophy, and culture, located in Athens, Greece.

We offer three-week summer programs, as well as a spring semester program of studies organized in collaboration with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

FOR COMPLETE SYLLABI AND FURTHER DETAILS, please visit: https://www.greekstudiesonsite.com

Courses of Interest in SP25

Check these out!

ENGL 221: Speculative Futures
This course introduces students to several important conversations arising from the expansive genre of speculative fiction. In this course students will explore some of the most profound, disturbing, and downright bizarre imaginings of the future that human beings have generated. Climate change, ageing, fascist regimes, reproductive rights, technological failures, scientific advancements, and apocalypse are just a few of the possible topics for this class. Course materials will be drawn from literary works, contemporary and historical scientific developments, and cultural theory to explore how and why speculative futures are linked to specific cultural contexts, technologies, and social schemes.

ENGL 247: The British Novel
Novels are experimental spaces for dramatizing the problem of freedom in a chaotic modern world. If we could act with complete freedom, would we like the results, or end up isolated and self-centered? Since the Magna Carta, Britain has defined itself as a free society—but it’s also a small set of islands where it’s not always easy for people to run away from their choices. The British novel of the last three centuries dramatizes the clash between individual desire and community responsibility by using wit and satire to create a limited space of social freedom, and the marriage plot to fetishize a single moment of free choice in a materially determined world. We will learn some historical background that explains the distinctiveness of British traditions from Regency romance to punk rock, but also respond to the novels’ characters as they explore their moral choices and unsettle the hierarchies that constrain them. Our texts will include Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, E. M. Forster’s Howards End, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.

ENGL 476: Topics in Lit & the Environment (TOPIC: Energy Lit)
From the gas that powers our car to the plastics that make our world, our lives are soaked in oil. Our literature is, too. In this course, we will explore literature through the lens of energy. What do we learn about literature when we read for energy? And how might literature and other humanities methodologies help us contribute new ideas to vital contemporary conversations about energy, climate change, and environmental justice? In this course, we will examine texts that reflect on the politics, aesthetics, economics, and historical significance of energy—from whale oil to oil to wind, solar, and speculative energy sources. We will encounter a variety of texts in this course: novels, newspaper articles, political polemics, historical narratives, and narrative and documentary films. We will not privilege nonfiction over fiction or classic literature over last week’s newspaper articles: rather, we will approach all sources critically, as texts subject to fine-grained literary analysis.

Don’t Forget These!

University of Minnesota PhD Program Info

Greetings from the English Department of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities:

U of M offers six years of funding through a combination of teaching and fellowships for all PhD candidates. For the academic year 2025-2026, we look forward to admitting a cohort of five students, and would be especially delighted to admit an applicant interested in studying pre-1800 Anglophone literatures. For more information on our program, including faculty specialties, past course offerings, and how our professors contribute to the field, please visit our website and feel free to reach out to me if you or your students have any questions.

The University of Minnesota also offers many cross-disciplinary opportunities for students and faculty, such as the Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Premodern Studies, The Institute on the Environment, and The Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality. Our libraries are home to archival holdings such as the Givens Collection, James Ford Bell Library, and the Upper Midwest Literary Archives. The Twin Cities is a vibrant, urban setting with rich literary and cultural scenes, including a variety of independent presses, world renown theaters, and music organizations.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The URS is the signature event of Undergraduate Research Week (April 20 – 26), which brings together students, faculty, and staff from all disciplines on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as the public, to learn more about undergraduate research and its potential to change the world. Throughout the day, students will present their oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and interactive exhibits to members of the campus and local community.

• When: Thursday, April 24, 2025
• Where: Illini Union (A, B, C, South Lounge, and the 2nd Floor)
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

What Can Be Presented? 

• Undergraduate students can present any research project or experience they are a part of, including both in-progress and completed projects or creative works. 
• We welcome students to present their research posters, talks, performances, exhibits, and demonstrations. This includes, but is not limited to, art displays, musical and visual performances, architectural exhibits, inventions, and technology demonstrations).
• Students can present individually or in groups. Groups only need to submit one application to present.
• Students can give multiple presentations throughout the day.

Visit the URS webpage for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are currently being accepted. The deadline for applying to the URS is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm and no late submissions will be accepted. Please note, your presentation is not expected to be complete by the application deadline. On the application, you will only be asked to provide a tentative title that can be revised until March 19 and an abstract which will be used internally by OUR to create and organize thematic sessions. Your abstract will not be published or viewed by anyone other than OUR.

I-Connect

New First Gen Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Spring 2025

The First-Gen Scholars Research Program (FSRP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers first-generation college students eligible for federal work-study the opportunity to participate in meaningful and high-impact research. The FSRP allows students to explore the culture and process of research and gain hands-on experience while building on their existing abilities within a supportive community of scholars. Accepted applicants will be matched with one of our experienced faculty mentors – many of whom were First Generation college students. Full details along with faculty profiles can be found online at: https://undergradresearch.illinois.edu/programs/first-gen-scholars-research.html

ATLAS Internships–Application portal for SP25 OPEN NOW!

Need Help With Research?

Peer Mentors are in the Hub!

With the return of the Peer Mentors in the Hub, here are a few reasons to head to the Hub in Lincoln Hall (Tues, Weds, Thurs from 10- 3):

• building a resume from scratch or a quick look before a career fair
• connecting to research around campus
• learning how to gain some other experience to gain insights about your skills and preferences for future jobs
• finding that RSO or other group that are around to join
• Career Services has special drop-in times on Tues, Weds (10-noon)

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.

Follow the department on social media!

Registration Advising

If you want help with registration and haven’t met with an advisor yet, please call the office (we are now scheduling for the week of December 2). We do not schedule via email.

To help you prepare, we have the SP25 “cheat sheet” available on the Planning Coursework page (you will need an Illinois Box account to view the document). This tells you which courses will fall into which categories within the various majors/concentrations (period categories, topical clusters, etc.) in the spring.

As a reminder, if you want to take an English honors seminar (ENGL 396) you must email Nancy Rahn at nrahn@illinois.edu to request permission. Please be sure to include your name and UIN, and the CRN and topic of the course you want to take. Once Nancy contacts you to let you know you have permission to take the course you will be able to add it to your spring schedule. Act now, before the classes fill up, particularly if you are getting close to graduation!

Social Issues Theater–Open to all!

CW 406 Poetry Reading

Reading Day Activity

Call for Presenters

Reminder! Submit to Montage

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Courses of Interest in SP25

Check these out!

ENGL 221: Speculative Futures
This course introduces students to several important conversations arising from the expansive genre of speculative fiction. In this course students will explore some of the most profound, disturbing, and downright bizarre imaginings of the future that human beings have generated. Climate change, ageing, fascist regimes, reproductive rights, technological failures, scientific advancements, and apocalypse are just a few of the possible topics for this class. Course materials will be drawn from literary works, contemporary and historical scientific developments, and cultural theory to explore how and why speculative futures are linked to specific cultural contexts, technologies, and social schemes.

ENGL 247: The British Novel
Novels are experimental spaces for dramatizing the problem of freedom in a chaotic modern world. If we could act with complete freedom, would we like the results, or end up isolated and self-centered? Since the Magna Carta, Britain has defined itself as a free society—but it’s also a small set of islands where it’s not always easy for people to run away from their choices. The British novel of the last three centuries dramatizes the clash between individual desire and community responsibility by using wit and satire to create a limited space of social freedom, and the marriage plot to fetishize a single moment of free choice in a materially determined world. We will learn some historical background that explains the distinctiveness of British traditions from Regency romance to punk rock, but also respond to the novels’ characters as they explore their moral choices and unsettle the hierarchies that constrain them. Our texts will include Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, E. M. Forster’s Howards End, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.

ENGL 253 (Topics in Lit & New Media)–Old and New Media: Gutenberg to Google
What does it mean to study literature at the start of the 21C? Are print and its major aesthetic forms archaic or simply mutating? What’s at stake in the shift from analog to digital forms of representation? What was “a reader”—and what will reading be in twenty or a hundred years? To get at these questions, we will work with a few conventional literary forms (like poems and novels) but we will also look at photographs, watch films, play (a few) video games, use apps, and navigate webpages. The medium will thus be the message for us throughout. Our focus will start and end with print, but in between we will survey a wide range of transitions between different kinds of old and new media. Some questions these objects might lead us to ask include: what aesthetic problems seem to have emerged when old media (like print, photography, cinema, and perhaps television) were still fairly new? What aesthetic forms and affects did this old media tend to generate and why? How are the debates that were once generated by old media reflected in our contemporary experience of “new” digital media? Does the newest new media (“our” new media)—websites, video games, apps—create the conditions for a new kind of art, and what aesthetic experiments have these new media produced (Twitter poetry? TikToks? Flarf?)? Our goal will be threefold: to identify, describe, and theorize a robust array of 15C-21C aesthetic experiences from within the material contexts that produce them.

Don’t Forget These!

University of Minnesota PhD Program Info

Greetings from the English Department of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities:

U of M offers six years of funding through a combination of teaching and fellowships for all PhD candidates. For the academic year 2025-2026, we look forward to admitting a cohort of five students, and would be especially delighted to admit an applicant interested in studying pre-1800 Anglophone literatures. For more information on our program, including faculty specialties, past course offerings, and how our professors contribute to the field, please visit our website and feel free to reach out to me if you or your students have any questions.

The University of Minnesota also offers many cross-disciplinary opportunities for students and faculty, such as the Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Premodern Studies, The Institute on the Environment, and The Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality. Our libraries are home to archival holdings such as the Givens Collection, James Ford Bell Library, and the Upper Midwest Literary Archives. The Twin Cities is a vibrant, urban setting with rich literary and cultural scenes, including a variety of independent presses, world renown theaters, and music organizations.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The URS is the signature event of Undergraduate Research Week (April 20 – 26), which brings together students, faculty, and staff from all disciplines on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as the public, to learn more about undergraduate research and its potential to change the world. Throughout the day, students will present their oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and interactive exhibits to members of the campus and local community.

• When: Thursday, April 24, 2025
• Where: Illini Union (A, B, C, South Lounge, and the 2nd Floor)
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

What Can Be Presented? 

• Undergraduate students can present any research project or experience they are a part of, including both in-progress and completed projects or creative works. 
• We welcome students to present their research posters, talks, performances, exhibits, and demonstrations. This includes, but is not limited to, art displays, musical and visual performances, architectural exhibits, inventions, and technology demonstrations).
• Students can present individually or in groups. Groups only need to submit one application to present.
• Students can give multiple presentations throughout the day.

Visit the URS webpage for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are currently being accepted. The deadline for applying to the URS is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm and no late submissions will be accepted. Please note, your presentation is not expected to be complete by the application deadline. On the application, you will only be asked to provide a tentative title that can be revised until March 19 and an abstract which will be used internally by OUR to create and organize thematic sessions. Your abstract will not be published or viewed by anyone other than OUR.

I-Connect

New First Gen Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Spring 2025

The First-Gen Scholars Research Program (FSRP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers first-generation college students eligible for federal work-study the opportunity to participate in meaningful and high-impact research. The FSRP allows students to explore the culture and process of research and gain hands-on experience while building on their existing abilities within a supportive community of scholars. Accepted applicants will be matched with one of our experienced faculty mentors – many of whom were First Generation college students. Full details along with faculty profiles can be found online at: https://undergradresearch.illinois.edu/programs/first-gen-scholars-research.html

ATLAS Internships–Application portal for SP25 OPEN NOW!

Need Help With Research?

Peer Mentors are in the Hub!

With the return of the Peer Mentors in the Hub, here are a few reasons to head to the Hub in Lincoln Hall (Tues, Weds, Thurs from 10- 3):

• building a resume from scratch or a quick look before a career fair
• connecting to research around campus
• learning how to gain some other experience to gain insights about your skills and preferences for future jobs
• finding that RSO or other group that are around to join
• Career Services has special drop-in times on Tues, Weds (10-noon)

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.