NEWS FROM THE 2003 SPRING HONORS LUNCHEON

English Club Sponsors Book Sale

The English Club sponsored a book sale April 15-16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of Goodwyn Hall. The nearly $300 in proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase children's books for Brantwood Children's Shelter in Montgomery. The Club also held a series of well-attended readings of poetry and fiction throughout the year.


MLA Students Present Academic Papers at National Conferences

Two students in the Master of Liberal Arts program presented scholarly papers at a number of academic conferences this year. Angela Fuhrman spoke at the Southern Writers’ Conference, at the Southern Writing Graduate Conference at University of Mississippi in July 2002, at the PCAS (Popular Culture Association in the South) Conference in Oct. 2002, and at the College English Association Conference in April 2003. Erin Gambino also presented a paper at the PCAS Conference.


AUM Students' Work Highlighted in Retrospective Survey

Scholarly work by a number of past and present AUM students is highlighted in a major retrospective survey recently published in English Literary Renaissance, the flagship journal of its field. The survey, titled "Recent Studies in Ben Jonson," was prepared by Professor Douglas A. Brooks of Texas A&M University and covers the most significant books and articles published in the past decade. Jonson, a contemporary and colleague of Shakespeare, is considered one of the most important writers of his era.

Students whose work is cited in Brooks' survey are Kimberly Barron, Lynn Bryan, John Burdett, Clint Darby, Deborah Hill, Katie Magaw, Kurt Niland, Karen Pirnie, Neil Probst and Jonathan Wright. Inclusion in the ELR survey shows the kind of lasting contribution their work has made to the study of a significant author.

Barron is completing the master of liberal arts at AUM. Bryan, Burdett and Darby are graduates of the AUM School of Education. Magaw graduated with the bachelor of arts in English and is currently finishing the master of liberal arts, while Probst graduated with the bachelor of arts in English and recently completed a master's degree in education. Hill and Niland each received the bachelor of arts in English from AUM, and Pirnie and Wright completed the master of liberal arts and since have gone on to doctoral studies.


AUM Students' Scholarly Work Available Online

Scholarly work by more than 120 AUM students is now freely available online around the world to any visitor of www.ebrary.com, a major Internet electronic library database. The entire contents of Close Readings: Analyses of Short Fiction from Multiple Perspectives by Students of Auburn University Montgomery, a book originally published in both hard and soft cover in 2001, are now available through the database. This allows anyone to read and search for any keyword in 20,000 books and other authoritative documents from more than 150 leading academic, trade and professional publishers, according to the ebrary Web site.

Any student or scholar who wishes to view this growing body of documents online may do so for free, although anyone wishing to download or copy from the site must register to do so. The ebrary site is similar to several others, including www.netlibrary.com and www.questia.com, that allow anyone with access to the Internet to search for information in thousands of online documents, including many published books and monographs.

Past or present AUM students whose work appears in Close Readings are Jennifer Adger, Jeff Alexander, Amanda Allen, Debbie Altman, Patricia Angley, Ashley Ashworth, Melissa Baker, Kimberly Barron, Benjamin Beard, Janis Blaesing, Krissy Blankenship, Kathleen Bohen, Shon Boling, Curtis Bowden, Nataliya Bowden, Lee Bridges, Spencer Brothers, Jennifer Brown, Sonja Brown, Tanya Brummett, Roger Burdette, Shameka Carroll, Melanie Clark, Ree Ann Clark, Andrea Cook , Melissa Crane, Timothy D. Crowley, Todd Davis, Shannon Dean, Foster Dixon, Paul Duke, Kathleen B Durrer, Heather Edwards, John Elder, Jeremy Fore, Timothy Francisco, Matt Gilmore, Ashley Gordon, Jacques Grant, Shelly Green, William Greene, Kenneth W. Griffin, Alan Griffith, Kyla Gunter, Drayton Hamilton, Barbara Hartin, Phyllis Hedrick, Charlotte Henderson, Sonjanika Henderson, Deborah Hill, Michael Hitch, Kerrie Hopper, Laketa Huddleston, Connie James, Jamey Johnson, Scott Johnson, Willie Mae Johnson, Steven Jones, Connie James, John Kelley, Angelisa LaVan, Barrett Lee, Monica Felicia Lee, Anje Lister, Marty Mace, Katie Magaw, Mia Manning, Kathy Mayfield, John McGaughey, Regina Moates, Christy Myers, Kevin Nutt, Kurt R. Niland, Pat Norman, Ann O'Clair, Mike Odom, Margo Paraska, Edward Pate, Karen Worley Pirnie, Eleanor Planer, Lane Powell, Michael Probst, Neil Probst, Will Quincy, Stephanie Reed, Terri Richburg, Denean Rivera, Melissa Roth, Marie Robinson, Peggy Russell, Lorelei Jackson Sanders, Jay Sansom, Debbie Seale, Julie D. Sellers, Tawanda Shaw, Brian Shefrin, Claire Skowronski, Durand Smitherman, Charles Solomon, Angela Soulé, Patrick Steele, Frances Stewart, Mark Stewart, Randy C. Stone, Teresa Stone, Tammy Taite, Ondra Thomas-Krouse, Eric Thomason, Barbrietta Turner, Peter Walden, Gwendolyn Warde, Kristi Widner, Claudia Wilsch, Jonathan Wright and Carolyn Young.


More Than 50 AUM Students Contribute to New Book

More than 50 past or present Auburn University Montgomery students' work is published in a new book titled A Companion to Brian Friel.

Friel, an important Irish author, is well regarded both by audiences and by critics, at home as well as abroad. The Irish Times recently conducted an Internet poll asking respondents to name their favorite Irish plays of the past 100 years. Three of Friel's plays appeared in the list of top 10 dramas; no other author had more than one play in the top 10.

The new book, which examines the range of Friel's lengthy career, includes essays written or co-written by noted scholars as well as by a number of students affiliated with AUM. Contributors associated with AUM include Eric Atkins, Deborah Hill and Donna Smith, recent graduates from the Department of English and Philosophy; Joseph Csicsila, a graduate of the Master of Liberal Arts program and currently a professor at Eastern Michigan University; and Karen Pirnie, an MLA graduate who is now an adjunct professor in the Department of English and Philosophy.

The book also includes a lengthy chapter regarding "Ebb Tide," one of Friel's short stories. Past or present AUM students who contributed to the chapter include Jennifer Adger, Amanda Allen, Melissa Baker, Kim Barron, Ben Beard, Janis Blaesing, Krissy Blankenship, Kathleen Bohen, Shon Boling, Nataliya Bowden, Spencer Brothers, Tanya Brumett, Melanie Clark, Andrea Cook, Todd Davis, Paul Duke, Heather Edwards, Jeremy Fore, Alan Griffith, William Greene, Kyla Gunter, Drayton Hamilton, Barbara Hartin, Deborah Hill, Michael Hitch, Kerrie Hopper, Connie James, Jamey Johnson, Willie Mae Johnson, Barrett Lee, Monica Lee, Anje Lister, Marty Mace, Mia Manning, John McGaughey, Regina Moates, Ann O'Clair, Mike Odom, Margo Paraska, Edward Pate, Eleanor Planer, Lane Powell, Neil Probst, Will Quincy, Terri Richburg, Peggy Russell, Jay Samson, Lorelei Sanders, Debbie Seale, Tawanda Shaw, Brian Shefrin, Charles Solomon, Pat Steele, Mark Stewart, Teresa Stone, Eric Thomason, Barbrietta Turner, and Peter Walden.

Money from an external grant allowed the Department of English and Philosophy to purchase 100 extra copies of the book for distribution to contributors and to local public and school libraries.