Crip/Queer Studies in the GW English Graduate Program

Read More

GW English Alums on the Move: Laura Greenfield at Hampshire College

Dr. Laura Greenfield
GW English PhD '07

Laura Greenfield (GW English PhD 2007) is founder and executive director of Women's Voices Worldwide, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting social justice around the globe by educating women and girls to be powerful speakers in all areas of personal, academic, professional, and civic life.  Since 2013, she has been a visiting associate professor of Education and Communication at Hampshire College.  She was recently featured on Hampshire College's "Faculty Friday" spotlight.  Read the entire post here.  Here are some highlights:

"Currently, Dr. Greenfield is the Director of the Transformative Speaking Program, a new initiative launched in 2013 which provides resources to students to develop as powerful speakers (public speaking, group discussion, interpersonal communication) and resources to faculty for support in bringing speaking instruction into their courses. The program is in the second year of its pilot phase, and Dr. Greenfield’s primary work thus far has been to hire, educate, and oversee a group of Hampshire students who are providing peer speaking mentoring to students.

Dr. Greenfield first came to Hampshire when representatives of the college contacted her with requests to provide speaking workshops and classes. 'Over the years I had the opportunity to learn from students, faculty, and staff about their interests in greater speaking resources. I fell in love with the school and the people here—the support for individuality, creativity, and innovation coupled with a commitment to justice in action resonates deeply with my philosophy of education. In response, I created a proposal for a pilot speaking program, and the rest is history!'"

Read More

Next Open Space Open Mic Student Reading: TOMORROW at 7:30 PM

Read More

Judith Plotz Receives Children's Literature Association Award

Professor Plotz's Award Plaque

Professor Emerita Judith Plotz

UPDATE: Professor Emerita Judith Plotz has now received the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award, at a ceremony on June 20, 2015.  She received a plaque that included images from Rudyard Kipling's own illustrations to Just So Stories, a text which she has edited.

The occasion was particularly memorable as one of Professor Plotz's earliest GW graduate students, Richard Flynn, now a major children's literature scholar, made the presentation.  Professor Flynn is the author of Randall Jarrell and the Lost World of Childhood, which was published in 1992 and was named an Outstanding Academic Book by Choice magazine.  The book's first form was as a dissertation directed by Professor Plotz.

Professor Plotz's sons John and David Plotz, moreover, surprised our award-winner by creating an annual Children's Literature Association Award for Developing Scholars in her name.  The board, as well as Professor Plotz's sons, kept the announcement secret until the moment of the award presentation.  Understandably, Prof. Plotz was delighted with the surprise!

ORIGINAL POST:
At the June 2015 meeting of the Children's Literature Association, GW English Professor Emerita will be awarded the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award for Outstanding Achievement in the field.  The award recognizes significant contributions in scholarship and/or service to the field of children's literature.  Professor Plotz is well-known in a wide variety of scholarly fields, including British Romanticism, colonial and postcolonial literatures, and children's literature.  She is the author of Romanticism and the Vocation of Childhood (Palgrave, 2001) and numerous other scholarly articles and projects.

The Anne Devereaux Jordan Award is considered annually and given as merited; it is the highest honor in the Children's Literature Association.  Congratulations, Professor Plotz!

Read More