From the Chair
Campus Blackout
On Feb. 17, 2012, a campus-
wide power outage took
place and the hallways of the
Humanities building were left
dark and eerie. Irina Simon of
the English Department was
brave enough to check out the
rest of the building outside of
HUM 289. Power was restored
after about 45 minutes.
Spring 2012 Newsletter
SFSU English Department
Department News.......................1-2
Sta and Faculty.........................3-6
Students......................................7-8
Alumni.......................................9-10
Memoriam....................................11
SFSU English Department
Humanities 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
facebook.com/sfsuenglish
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Photo: Kelsey Avers
We end the academic year with some words of congratulation. Larry Hanley, associate professor in the Literature pro-
gram, has been elected chair of the Academic Senate. This is a full-time position for one year: the department’s loss will be
the academic community’s gain. Larry has a deep background in academic governance and academic freedom from his
years as editor of Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors. We also felicitate Sarita Can-
non, of the Literature program, on her tenure and promotion to associate professor and Nelson Gra, of the Composition
program, on his promotion to associate professor.
Kudos to several members of the faculty on their scholarly work. Lynn Wardley, assistant professor in the Literature pro-
gram, was a featured speaker this spring at Rutgers University, where she presented her recent work on American litera-
ture and the life sciences. The research of three members of the department will be supported by grants this coming year:
assistant professor Gitanjali Shahani of the Literature program and associate professors Maricel Santos and David Olsher,
both of the TESOL program. Professor Troi Carleton (Linguistics) has completed her collaborative work of documenting
and preserving the endangered dialect of Zapotec spoken in Teotitlán del Valle, in Oaxaca (there is a fuller description of
Troi’s project in this newsletter).
We are delighted to welcome Ron Martinez as assistant professor in the TESOL program. A San Francisco native, Ron
has a master’s from Oxford and a doctorate from the University of Nottingham. We also congratulate Ron on his appoint-
ment to the editorial board of TESOL Quarterly, the leading journal in the eld. (For more about Ron, see the article in this
newsletter.)
In the coming year we will be hosting two visiting scholars, Dr. Marnie Holborow from Dublin, Ireland, and Dr. Bihimini Somananda, from Sri Lanka; both will be
aliated with the TESOL program. The Composition program is beginning to plan for a local conference. And, Samuel Otter, professor of English at UC Berkeley
and a noted scholar on nineteenth-century American literature and on the works of Herman Melville, will be delivering a guest lecture in the fall, title and time
TBA.
Let me also take a moment to say farewell to some members of the department. Dr. Erica Fretwell, a lecturer in Literature, has taken a visiting assistant profes-
sorship at the College of Wooster. Javier Jimenez, who taught The American Reniassance this past semester, is moving to a position as assistant professor. Javier
has his master’s in literature from our department and is completing a doctorate in Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley. He was also the subject of an unusual
article, on the job search, in the Chronicle of Higher Education; see http://chronicle.com/article/Facing-Fears-About-Fitting-In/130346/ . Dr. Steve Schessler, also a
lecturer in literature, has taken a tenure-line position at a local community college. We wish them all the best in their new jobs. Mary Winegarden, Michael Frisbie,
and Elizabeth Spinner, lecturers in Composition, have retired, and we wish them well in the next stage of their lives. We also bid farewell to Prof. Helen Gillotte-
Tropp (see the article about Helen in this newsletter).
Prof. Elise Wormuth is FERPing and stepping down from her position as Director of the University Writing Program. I thank Elise for her excellent work as Director,
and I am delighted to announce that Prof. Sugie Goen-Salter has taken on this important position. Prof. Mary Soliday, Director of Writing in the Disciplines, is to be
congratulated on her work with many departments in developing their junior-level writing courses. In the coming year, almost all majors in the University will be
able to complete the junior-level writing requirement with a course in their major.
You have no doubt heard that the coming academic year is going to be another year of underfunding and budgetary uncertainty. Despite these challenges, we
continue to mount an excellent program for our students. In these circumstances, the department is especially grateful to all of our donors. Your contributions
allow us to enrich our programs for the benet of our students and to support to our faculty.
- Beverly Voloshin
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 2
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
On Tuesday, March 6, the English De-
partment at SF State co-sponsored the
Word for Word performance of “Sorry
Fugu,” a story by T.C. Boyle about food and
passion. Word for Word Performing Arts
Company is the professional San Fran-
cisco theater ensemble whose mission is
to turn great literature into great theater.
Word for Word has previously performed
at SFSU with “More Stories by Tobias Wol,”
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, “Two on
a Party” by Tennessee Williams, and “The Is-
landers” by Andrew Sean Greer. James War-
ren Boyd helped organize a festive dinner
for graduate students and faculty before
the performance, and over 200 students in
English classes attended the performance
in McKenna Theatre, along with students
from Theatre Arts and Creative Writing.
Department News
On March 1, 2012, SFSU’s Met-
ro Academy received national
recognition for its leadership.
Metro seeks to close the college
completion gap between low-
income, rst-generation, and
under-represented students and
their more auent peers, by ad-
mitting them in cohorts, oering
academic support and counsel-
ing, and assigning them to co-
horted classes.
A number of English faculty
have participated in the Metro
program: Elise Wormuth, Paul
Rueckhaus, Dana Lomax, Geor-
gia Gero, James Warren Boyd
and others have taught Metro
students in 104/105, 114 and
214, and have found them to be
lively and interesting students.
They continue to support the
Metro program and its inclusive,
student-centered methods of
teaching. Beverly Voloshin has
supported the project as chair of
the Department of English.
MA TESOL
Event!
This research forum explored challenges and opportunities encountered in teacher-in-
quiry and classroom-oriented research in language education. M.A. TESOL faculty provid-
ed a brief overview of research terms and practices, and then students, faculty, and recent
graduates shared research tips from their experiences. Finally, breakout groups provided more opportuni-
ties to participants to discuss experiences, challenges, and questions. This forum was particularly helpful for
current M.A. TESOL students preparing for their Capstone Projects, but teacher-researchers at every level of
experience were welcome to join and share questions and insights.
Jessica Morrow and James Warren Boyd pose in
front of the Sorry Fugu yer
The SFSU M.A. TESOL Student Association organized:
TESOL Talk: Classroom Research Forum
Friday, May 18 - HUM 587
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 3
The Graduate Literature Association has published the twenty-fourth volume
of Interpretations. This year’s volume includes essays by Zebulah Baldwin, Luke
Church, David Cosca, Magda Panunzio, Paizha Stootho and Leora Turko. It is
for sale in the department oce for $5.00 (back volumes are also availbale for
$4.00). The GLA also held a spring conference, Explications, showcasing the
works of graduate students.
Student News
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
A special issue on the CATESOL Journal on Graduate Student Professional
Development features several MA TESOL students (alumni and current):
• Christina Lorimer (spring 2011) guest-edited the special issue and co-authored an “Reimag-
ining TESOL Professionalism: The Graduate Student Perspective” with Julia Schulte (Spring 2012).
• Heidi Fridriksson (spring 2011), “Professional Development as Academic Apprenticeship: Moving From
Outsider to Voice of Authority.”
• Corrie McCluskey (current student), “Professional Development to Work With Low-Educated Adult ESL
Learners: Searching Beyond the Program.”
• Elizabeth Wadell, Kathryn Frei, and Sherri Martin (spring 2011), “Professional Development Through In-
quiry: Addressing Sexual Identity in TESOL.”
Sta Updates and Faculty News
As you walk in and out of the English Department oces, please take a moment to
welcome some of the new sta members that have joined our fabulous team!
New English Tutoring Center manager Jessica Morrow is cur-
rently getting ready to graduate with a degree in TESOL that she
will use to teach at Ohlone College in the fall, as well as in the
Program in Composition for Multilingual Students at SFSU. Of
her job in the ETC, Jessica says, “it is the most amazing thing to
experience students learning new reading and writing strategies
and seeing the improvements they make over the semester.”
Kelsey Avers is a graduate of the SFSU Journalism De-
partment and is the new web coordinator in the English
Department. She worked in the ETC as a student assistant
in 2009, and is very happy to be back in the department.
New Faces
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 4
JENNIFER ARIN’s book of po-
etry, Ways We Hold, has been
published by Dos Madres Press,
and her poem “Cycles” appeared
this spring in ROAR, a journal of
poetry and art. Two other poems,
“Squash” and “Self-Defense,” were
accepted by One Thousand Poets
for Change; the poem “Force of
Nature” is included in the recently
published anthology A Bird Black
as the Sun; and her essay “The
Rhythms of Flamenco” was pub-
lished last fall in Serving House
Journal. Also, an interview with
her appeared in the February 14
issue of the San Francisco Exam-
iner, for documents she translated from French to English about
Hergé, the creator of the Tintin comic-strip series, for an ocial
website accompanying the release of the Spielberg/Jackson movie,
The Adventures of Tintin.
LAWRENCE HANLEY has been appointed to the Editorial Board
of the journal, WorkingUSA. His essay, “What the Bee Is to the Hive:
Digital Syndicalism in Education,” rst presented at the the III En-
cuentro International Workers’ Economy in Mexico City in June
2011, is now available online for reading and commentary (http://
scritti.lfhanley.net/archives/6).
Professor Hanley was also recently ordained as a minister in the
American Fellowship Church and ociated at his rst wedding in
Southern Pines, NC (see photo above).
MARY ANN KOORY, Ph.D. and lecturer in English, will lead a cre-
ative writing course in poetry this Fall that marks a unique collabora-
tion between U.C. Berkeley Extension and the San Francisco Center
for the Book. “Forms of Poetry on the Page” will be held in a Berkeley
classroom, where students will explore traditional forms of poetry,
many introduced in printed books and broadsides in Early Modern
Europe, and at the printing studio at the Center for the Book, where
students will print their 21st century poems as broadsides. It’s an ex-
citing intersection of Early Modern literary history and contemporary
interest in the art of printing. In January, Koory led an experimental
class called “The King Lear Project” for a rogue group of creative writ-
ers, academics and performers who spent 8 weeks learning about
Early Modern culture by reading, performing and writing about one
play: Shakespeare’s King Lear.
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Since 2004, TROI CARLETON, Linguistics professor in the English Department, has been working with the community of Teotitlán del Valle
in Oaxaca, Mexico to document and preserve the endangered dialect of Zapotec spoken in this small Mexican community. Under her direc-
tion, the Teotitlán del Valle Community Language Archive Project has recorded and transcribed dozens of texts in Zapotec with Spanish trans-
lations for the Oral History Archive, and produced a fully-accessible, on-line Zapotec-Spanish-English dictionary. The Oral History Archive is
the one of largest collections, if the not the largest collection, of transcribed and translated texts of an indigenous language in the region. In
addition to compiling a corpus of language materials for the community, the project has emphasized training both SFSU students as well as
community members in documentary linguistics and participatory action research design. Over the
years, Dr. Carleton has trained over two-dozen community members and over three-dozen SFSU stu-
dents. Many of the SFSU students have gone on to pursue the study of endangered languages at the
doctoral level. From February-June 2013, the Teotitlán del Valle Community Language Archive Project
will be a featured exhibition at the Centro Académico y Cultural San Pablo in Oaxaca as an example of
community-centered language preservation research in the region.
“Aurora and her 8-year-old daughter,
Sarah, working with Youness and
Katherine. They are working in the
outdoor kitchen where Aurora makes
atole. The text they are working on is
about the rituals and practices of child-
birth. Aurora and her family have been
working with us since the beginning
of the project in 2004. Her father was
our rst consultant. Then her husband
was a consultant, and nally three
years ago she became one. Sarah has
grown up with us in her home.”
“This photo was taken the last day of the
2011 eld season. Aurora’s sister-in-law,
Norma, makes aprons. Every year at the
end of the eld trip we have an apron party.
Norma brings them over to Aurora’s house
and those of us interested purchase them.
Regardless, we all try all of them on and this
picture was taken after we had all found our
favorites. Sort of the village equivalent of a
tupperware party . . . but way cooler. “
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 5
Faculty News
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
GEOFFREY GREEN delivered a paper, “Freud and Korngold at the Crossroads of the Psyche: Freud’s ‘Remembering, Repeat-
ing, and Working-Through’ (1914) and ‘Mourning and Melancholia’ (1917) as Represented in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt (1920),”
at the 2012 annual conference of the Humanities Education and Research Association in Salt Lake City. He has edited a spe-
cial issue of Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction: “A Search for the Most Deeply Hidden Human Values”: Film Adaptations
of Post-1950 Novels. The issue includes Georey’s introduction and an essay, “’Trying to Talk about Paradox, or the Existence
of That Which Does Not Exist’: The Transposition of The Blood Oranges from John Hawkes’s 1972 novel to Philip Haas’s 1997 lm.”
PROFESSOR GREEN also delivered a paper on postmodernism and participated in the panel on assessing postmodernism at the
recent Brown University “Unspeakable Practices” conference. In 1988, Brown held the rst “Unspeakable Practices” conference, to look
at the state of ction and postmodernism. Participating at that conference were: Donald Barthelme (in his last public appearance);
William Gaddis; Robert Coover; Stanley Elkin; William H. Gass; John Hawkes; Susan Sontag; Jaimie Gordon; Leslie Fiedler; Robert Scho-
les; Marianne Robinson (among many others) and Green. This 2012 conference provides a benchmark attempt to chronicle an era of
contemporary ction, mapping the changes from modernism to postmodernism and beyond.
GEORGE EVANS’ essay “The Deaths of Somoza” has been placed on a shortlist of sta favorites from the past ten years at World Litera-
ture Today, and reposted online as part of a readers’ choice vote to celebrate the 350th issue of that magazine: worldliteraturetoday.
com/deaths-somoza-george-evans. “Bash’s Pheasant,” next in his ongoing series of memoir essays, is forthcoming from the online
magazine Jacket2, University of Pennsylvania. He also has work forthcoming in Poetry Ireland Review, the online magazine Big Bridge,
and the anthologies Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here and Come Celebrate with Me (a St. Mary’s College, Maryland memorial tribute by
friends of the late poet Lucille Clifton). Additionally, he has been appointed to the Advisory Board for the annual International Poetry
Festival of Granada, Nicaragua.
ERICA FRETWELL, lecturer in literature, gave a paper at the second conference of the Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists,
held in April in Berkeley. Beverly Voloshin chaired a session at the conference on masculine and feminine genres.
On March 17, ELLEN PEEL gave a paper entitled “Unnatural Narration by Constructed Bodies” at the conference of the International
Society for the Study of Narrative.
The CATESOL association presented MARK ROBERGE with a distinguished service award for his past 8 years of work as co-editor of
the CATESOL Journal.
BEV VOLOSHIN is a member of the Planning Committee for the Fulbright Institute on American Studies for German University
Teachers, which will be held on our campus in September. This will be the fourth time that San Francisco State has hosted the Ful-
bright Institute, and we are the only university to host the Institute more than once. Bev will also be giving a presentation, “Race and
Reconstruction: The Example of Charles Chesnutt.”
BrickHouse Press in Baltimore is
publishing PETER WELTNER’s
new book of poems, The Outer-
lands. He read from the book at
Canessa Park on Montgomery
Street in San Francisco on May
14th at 7:30. (Left: the cover of
Weltner’s book)
!
Peter Weltner
The Outerlands
BrickHouse Books
BrickHouse Books
ISBN: 978-1-938144-03-5
Such cold is what his music wants to say,
the strange chill of age from the day he was born,
the nip of fall in all he has loved, the notes
of his scores chiseled from ice. at crystalline.
at light, impossible to touch or hold, like sleet
to a boy’s delight melting in his hands.
from “Edvard Grieg”
irteen, when I lost my faith, I set myself on
a mortal quest. Old age would come and I’d
be done, having learned what I’d sought, all God
had wrought on this earth, and I’d be willing to go.
Is it too late? In ancient Colonus, death brought
one blind to an olive grove. I wait by the sea.
from “A Walk Down Mount Tamalpais”
Peter Weltner has published ve books of ction,
including e Risk of His Music and How the Body Prays,
three poetry chapbooks, one full length collection of
poems, News from the World at My Birth: A History,
and, most recently, a collaboration with the artist Galen
Garwood, e One-Winged Body. Two of his stories won
O. Henry Awards, in 1993 and 1998. He taught modern
and contemporary poetry and ction at San Francisco
State University for thirty seven years. He lives in San
Francisco, near Ocean Beach.
$18.00
THE OUTERLANDS
PETER WELTNER
ELISE WORMOUTH participated
in a show, “Small Wonders,” at
the Santa Cruz Art League, with
three of her photographs. (Right:
one of Elise’s photographs)
GITANJALI SHAHANI was invited to present a lecture on “Shakespearean and Hindi Cinema” at the Asian Art Museum on March 31st,
as part of the culminating events associated with the Maharaja exhibit. She also participated in a seminar on “Shakespeare in Public”
at the 40th Annual Shakespeare Association of America meeting, held in Boston from April 5-7th.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 6
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Jenny Lederer’s
new baby, Dorian
Lawrence
Matos, was born
on Leap Day,
February 29, at
8 lbs.,
13 oz.
Newest Arrivals
Former ETC manager
Maureen Carey welcomed
new baby Calvin Thomas
Carey on Thursday,
January 12 at 6:19 a.m. He
weighed 8 lbs., 2 oz. and
measured 20 inches long.
Nelly Volsky’s new
bundle of joy, Nev
Sarah-Adam Wolfson,
arrived on February 24
at 6:02 a.m., weighing
in at 7 lbs., 2 oz.
and measured 19.5
inches long.
Congratulations to Anita Kitses on the birth of
new granddaughter, Audrey! Her mother is SFSU
alumna Jasmine Kitses (MA Lit, plus Reading and
Composition Certicates at SFSU 2002-2004),
who is currently completing her PhD at Davis.
Audrey was born on Thurs. April 12.
Tributes to Retiring Faculty
The Composition Program honors the years of service of Mary Winegarden, Michael Frisbie, and Elizabeth Spinner and wishes
them well on their retirement. Thank you for all you have done over the years for your students, our program and department.
- Elise Ann Wormuth
Helen Gillotte-Tropp’s scholarly expertise is a valuable but all-too-rare field not only at SFSU , but in higher education in gen-
eral. Professor Gillottte-Tropp spent her professional career as a postsecondary reading specialist at a time when reading theory and
instruction were typically considered the purview of elementary education (learning to read wasthought to be accomplished by third
grade and teachers who teach reading earn elementary teaching credentials). Conventional wisdom suggested, then, that undergradu-
ate college students did not need reading courses and certainly SFSU did not need to prepare teachers to teach reading at the post-
secondary level. Yet, Dr. Gillotte-Tropp spent her long and productive career at SFSU doing both, teaching reading to undergraduates
and teaching prospective teachers to teach these courses at community colleges. Just as importantly, Dr. Gillotte-Tropp has contrib-
uted scholarly work to a national conversation about why reading is a vital component of the postsecondary education curriculum.
Under Professor Gillotte-Tropp’s stewardship, San Francisco State’s Graduate Certicate in Teaching Postsecondary Reading has served
as a model for other campuses within the CSU and remains one of the few graduate certicates in California to meet the state-mandated
qualications for teaching reading at the community college level. Dr. Gillotte-Tropp was also a primary architect of SFSU’s award-winning
Integrated Reading/Writing (IRW) program which serves as a model alternative to traditional English remediation in reading and writing.
- Sugie K Goen-Salter
Faculty News
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ron Martinez (Ph.D., Nottingham University) has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor po-
sition with the MA TESOL Program, starting Fall 2012. Most recently, Ron was a Research Fellow at the Center for Research in Applied
Linguistics at Nottingham University.He also is a part-time lecturer with the University of Oxford, where he received his Master of Sci-
ence in Applied Linguistics.Ron’s research interests involve the practical application of a wide number of applied linguistic disciplines,
including corpus linguistics, vocabulary acquisition, and language testing.In addition to scholarly publications, he is also the author
of a number of ELL books, includingTaboos and IssuesandConversation Lessons(Heinle).Ron is a native of San Francisco. In Fall 2012,
Ron will be teaching ENG 426 Second Language Acquisition, and ENG 732 Seminar: TESOL Reading and Writing Skills. Please look out
for Ron in the hallways next fall, and welcome him to our Department!
WELCOME, PROFESSOR RON MARTINEZ, TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT!
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 7
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
UNDERGRADUATE HONOREE
Ayse Kublay- Literature
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD FOR
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT
Heather Swenddal - TESOL
Jennifer Tinonga - LITERATURE
Mariko Mihashi - TESOL
Emily Watson - COMPOSITION
ASW SCHOLARSHIP
Amylia Pounds
CUNNINGHAM SCHOLARSHIP IN
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Gina Caprari
JIM KOHN SCHOLARSHIP
Heather DeSmidt, Sanghee Park, Adam
Reid
R. JOEL DORIUS MEMORIAL SCHOLAR-
SHIP
Tauva Hellie
TESOL CONVENTION
SCHOLARSHIP
Heather DeSchmidt, Julia Schulte, Aaron
Sponseller
GAIL WEINSTEIN SCHOLARSHIP
Chelsea Lo
DEBRA PLOUSHA MOORE & JOHN E.
MOORE JR. SCHOLARSHIP
Telisa Nyoka King
ELLANORE AND MAURICE BASSAN
ENGLISH DEPT. SCHOLARSHIP
Bethany Qualls
JAN GREGORY POSTSECONDARY
READING AND COMPOSITION
SCHOLARSHIP
Robert Talley
JIM BROGAN – JACK POST
SCHOLARSHIP
Jesse Ataide
Student News
2011-2012 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
HONORS AND AWARDS RECIPIENTS
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Thank you to those who
presented at this years conference!
Former MA English Literature students:
Ron Richardson
Ali Sperling
Viola Lasmana
Ruth Osorio
Alden Wood
Current MA English Literature students:
David Cosca
Amy Thrash
Stephani Pierce
SFSU English Literature Faculty:
Sarita Cannon
Georey Green
Humanities Education and Research Association Conference (HERA)
- Salt Lake City, March 8-10, 2012
Congratulations to the Spring 2012 graduates of the MA TESOL Program, who hosted a successful conference, Paths
and Panoramas: Exploring the Landscape of TESOL, on May 4, 2012. The conference showcased the students’ cap-
stone projects. Please check out the conference website to see the student work: http://matesol2012.wordpress.com/
Front row, left to right: Prof. Maricel Santos (faculty advisor), Kendra Aronson, Julia Schulte, Joel Swenddal, Lena Kelly, Octavio Alvarez, Rebecca Aldinger, Erinn Struss, Blanca
Coma, Marie Caput. Second Row, left to right: Jessica Morrow, Maritez Apigo (photo credit), Yuriko Matsumoto, Clare Corcoran, Ruth Crossman, Ligia Montano, Michelle Du,
Osa Kauman, Tamara Strelnik, Lauren Yal
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 8
Annette Hulbert (MA 2011) has accepted
an oer, with fellowship, to attend the PhD
program in English Literature at UC Davis.
Jennifer Tinonga (MA 2011) has accepted
an oer, with fellowship, to enter the PhD
program in English Literature at UC Davis.
Karl Mohn (MA 2011) will be attending the
University of Georgia in the Fall to begin his
PhD work.
Rachel Mann (MA 2012) will be attend-
ing the University of South Carolina in the
Fall to begin her PhD work. In addition to
a GTA fellowship, Rachel was also awarded
the Brucolli Fellowship for British Literature.
Josie Schoel will be attending a doctoral
program in English at SUNY Albany, with
funding.
Student News
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
CONGRATULATIONS!
Here is a list of students who have been accepted into PhD programs,
credential programs and other graduate programs:
G o o d l u c k w i t h
y o u r
f u t u r e e n d e a v o r s !
Congratulations to Chaz Kelley, English literature senior, who took rst place at
the Interstate Oratory Competition in February.
Kelley has been on the SFSU speech and debate team for 4 years and wrote a per-
suasive speech on the topic of SuperPACs, which received rst place at the North-
ern California Forensics Association (NCFA) Championships. This win allowed him
to attend the Interstate Oratory in Boston, MA at the end of April. Kelley is the rst
person from SFSU to qualify for this tournament, which he says he nds to be “quite
humbling and a great honor.” Kelley said he found the entire trip to be a great way to end his speech and de-
bate career, and his undergraduate education. Kelley would like to thank the director of the program, Alexis
Litzky, who helped him with his winning speech and throughout his forensics career.
Congratulations, Chaz!
MA Composition student
accepted into PhD programs:
Exequiel Ganding
UC Berkeley, Education PhD
Jennifer Saltmarsh
University of Pittsburgh, Composition &
Rhetoric PhD
Carrie Hall
University of Pittsburgh, Composition &
Rhetoric PhD
English Education students
moving forward to credential
programs:
Anthony Schwartz
Jesse McGrath
Robert Lechleiter
Kendricks Anderson
Claire Barros
Sheree Christensen
From the MA
Literature program
Herman Leung will attend the linguistics
doctoral program at UC Berkeley, with fund-
ing.
Noah Katznelson has been oered ad-
mission and funding to begin UC Berkeley
School of Education’s doctoral program in
Language, Literacy and Culture. She begins in
the fall.
From the MA
Linguistics program
English Education students
accepted to graduate schools:
Gregory Done - Naropa University for
an MA inReligious Studies - Indo-Tibetan
Buddhism w/ Sanskrit and Tibetan
Language
Ashley Guaraldi, MA TESOL - San Jose
State University
Sara Britto - MA in Literature - SFSU
Emily Adams-Irving (BA 2012) has ac-
cepted an oer, with fellowship, to enter
the Master of Arts in Teaching program at
Bard College.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 9
“Heart of the Valley,” an article by Gerald Haslam (B.A., ‘63; M.A., ‘65) that appeared in Saveur magazine (140 [Aug/Sept. 2011]) has
been nominated for the Bert Greene Award for Culinary Writing. His most recent book, In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S.I.
Hayakawa (w/ Janice E. Haslam, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2011) has been nominated for the Book Club of California’s Oscar Lewis Award.
Alumni News
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Corrie McCluskey, who is pursuing a Certicate in Immigrant Literacies Programs along with her MA, has been elected to the Board of
the Adult Literacy League of Sonoma County. She will serve as the chair of in-service tutor trainings.
Elizabeth Wadell (MA 2011) and April Shandor (MA 2011) have had a manuscript “Changing views on motivation in a globalizing
world” accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal The Language Teacher, a journal associated with the Japan Association
for Language Teaching.
Norman Smith (class of 64, MA ‘66) has recently published the book Out of the Norm, a 314 page
series of short essays on all areas of life. The book is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and
other book sellers.
Christina Lorimer (M.A. ‘11) graduated from the MA TESOL program in 2011 and served as the student rep-
resentative on the CATESOL Board of Directors from 2009 to 2011. She has taught academic and nonacadem-
ic English in the US and abroad. Her primary interests are community-based ESL, immigrant literacies, and
curriculum development/assessment. In 2012, she will be conducting teacher training in Brazil with the sup-
port of the Fulbright Program. She is currently keeping a blog of her life and work in Brazil that reects on lan-
guage, culture and her experience teaching English at a University abroad. (Right: A photo of Lorimer in Brazil)
You can nd her blog at: www.christinanobrasil.squarespace.com
James Duggins, SFSU BA 1960, MA, 1964. Ph.D. UCBerkeley, 1970. Faculty, SFSU College of Education,
1969-2002 (FERP 1997-2002): Following retirement, Dr. Duggins retired to southern California where he
writes historical ction full time. He has won fourteen prizes for his three books, The Power, Slave Stealer,
and The Possession of Sarah Winchester. He is currently working on his fourth novel. He has a home in Mexi-
co where he collects Mexican Folk Art and contributes to half a dozen museums around the United States.
<<< Clark Wolf (B.A. ‘76) is the coeditor of the book, 101 Classic Cookbooks; 501 Classic Recipes, which will
be released in October. Clark assembled the advisory committee and wrote the preface for the book. (Left:
the book cover for Wolf’s cookbook)
Brooke Steckley (MA ‘06) is currently teaching composition and other courses for a technical col-
lege in Portland, OR. As a writing-practice example to students and to further her own writing goals,
she began a blog (secondhand-goods.blogspot.com), functioning as a form of politicized, contem-
porary, and informal archaeology of domestic artifacts, personal reection, and cultural critique.
<<< Jerey Kinghorn (BA ‘77) has spent his entire life in the theater and as a university and public
school Special Education teacher. He continues to write novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays,
and just this month published his latest play, In a Coal-Burning House, published by RMJ Donald.
Michael Corrigan’s (MA ‘69) book, These Precious Hours, is being released as an audiobook read by Alex Hyde White.
John J. Lesjack (‘65) is now a retired school teacher that is working on winning a Pulitzer for his
book on Bert Cutting, a blind diver who is now in the Diving Hall of Fame. An excerpt of his book
was published in winter edition of Dialogue magazine.
Richard Arbib (BA ‘82, MA ‘89) was born in New York City, earned a master’s degree in English and creative writing at San Francisco
State University, taught English in Vietnam, and composition and literature to college students in Nevada. He has had short ction
published in Mensa Bulletin and articles published in Integra—The Journal of Intertel.
John Christgau (MA ‘62) has published a book titled, Birch Coulie:
The Epic Battle of the Dakota War.
Michael Howerton (MA ‘11) is teaching freshman reading and writ-
ing at The College of New Jersey.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 10
Ms. Grace Annts Chen
Dr. James Brogan and Mr. John
Post
Ms. Linda Callis Buckley
Drs. Steven and Emma White
Mrs. Debra Plousha Moore
Mr. Gregory G. Locher
Dr. Jonathan Middlebrook
Ms. Stacie Yee May Guan
Mr. and Mrs. Gene Weinstein
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Parris
Ms. Kimberly L. Stewart
Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Faye
Ms. Kathleen M. Bailey
Ms. Lisa Skeist Hadar
Ms. Jane E. Averill and Mr. Bruce
Osen
Dr. James Kohn
Ms. Najwa Adra and Mr. Daniel
Varisco
Our greatest thanks to those who made donations to the
SFSU English Department for the 2011-2012 academic year:
<<< Steve Schaefer (BA ‘78), currently has a novel in draft titled Have You Seen Her Face: a middle age
man’s coming of age story. For the past 20 years he has been writing automotive columns for the San
Leandro Times where he writes reviews on dierent cars that he test drives every week. You can nd
his blog here: http://testdrivinglife.blogspot.com/
Alumni News
Michael Sykes (BA ‘66, MA ‘68) was accepted by the U. of Iowa in the Writer’s Workshop, but elect-
ed not to continue with graduate work and went on to open several bookstores around the coun-
try since graduating from the department. He currently runs a bookstore called Floating Island
Books and Publications, in Cedarville, CA, and on occasion hosts readings and book signings by
authors from the 1960s.
Diane P. Levine (BA ‘69) is a professor of anthropology at Los Angeles Pierce College, where she teaches cul-
tural and physical anthropology, as well as linguistics. She is the chair of the Department of Anthropological
and Geographical Sciences. As a former teacher of English and ESL, she has written articles on the use of
literature in the ESL classroom and presented seminars on critical thinking in the language arts classroom.
Professor Levine is on the advisory boards for Annual Editions: Anthropology and was also a national adviser
for the lm series Cultural Anthropology: Our Diverse World. She is the co-author of three editions of A Con-
cise Introduction to Linguistics. (Left: Levine’s book cover photo)
Candace Khanna (MA ‘98) continues to teach at Laney College part-time, mentor UC Extension TESOL students occasionally, and
teach at the UC Berkeley SELS program (Summer English Language Studies, formerly SELI: Summer English Language Institute).
Robert Tindall (‘04) has written a couple of books on Amazonian shamanism, in keeping with Stephen Arkin’s prediction that his work
would be in distant lands. He and his wife now live in the Peruvian Amazon, in a small town called Tarapoto. His teaching is entirely
online, for the Academy of Art University and Skyline College.
In April 2011, Wendy LaBron (M.A. ‘98) joined Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts as the Director of the Academic Resource
Center where she oversees the peer tutoring, writing assistance, academic counseling, and disability support programs. Previously,
she was a faculty member in the liberal arts department of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Linda Teague (MA ‘79) taught ESL/EFL in San Francisco and abroad for many years and then changed her career to advertising copy-
writer, then technical writer, then corporate communications. She says she has used her English MA for every job she’s ever had and
is immensely grateful.
Mary O. Burnette (BA ‘70, MA ‘73) retired from fulltime teaching in 2004. Her memoir on growing up in
the mountains of western North Carolina before the civil rights era is almost nished.
Clark Sturges (MA ‘66) is a retired community college teacher and current publisher of a small press,
Devil Mountain Books. He has published four books by another SFSU English grad, Gerry Haslam.
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Kevin Bourque (MA 2005) is working on his dissertation at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin. His recently edited Charles Johnstone’s
novel, Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea (1760), which has just
been published by Valancourt Books.
Amy Storniauolo, who took her MA in Composition in our depart-
ment and who also taught in our Composition program, has taken
a position as assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania’s
Graduate School of Education in the Reading/Writing/Literacy de-
partment. Amy writes, “My research interests center around multi-
modal literacies, adolescent and adult literacy, diversity and equity
in education, education in global contexts, and relations between
authors and audiences in new media composing contexts. I am
also interested in qualitative methodology more broadly, particu-
larly in methods that capture how people, ideas, and texts travel
across spaces.”
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NEWS / SPRING 2012 / PAGE 11
English Department, SFSU / HUM 289
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132 engdept@sfsu.edu
415-338-2264 http://english.sfsu.edu
Memorial: Bernice Prince Biggs - January 2, 1923 - February 3, 2012
Bernice Prince Biggs
Jan. 3, 1923 - Feb. 3, 2012
After enjoying a good lunch, a mov-
ie, and the Peet’s coee she loved,
Bernice Prince Biggs had a stroke and
died peacefully on the evening of Feb.
3, 2012, with her loving children and
grandchildren around her.
Bernice’s career began editing
Student Life for the National Educa-
tion Association in Washington, D.C.
However, she realized it wasn’t what
she wanted to do and went back to
school. In 1950, with a year to go to
nish her Ph.D. dissertation in Speech
Communication at the University
of Denver, she wrote to prospective
employers: The answer came back
from San Francisco State: “Come now!”
She did, and felt she had come home
when she saw San Francisco for the
rst time. She taught for 43 years at
San Francisco State and made a dif-
ference to thousands of students. She
was known as an advisor who could
solve problems, one of a network of
knowledgeable faculty members who
could help a student with too many
units and no major gure out a way
to graduate. She instituted innova-
tive programs for students to earn
university credit for their life and work
experience, helping many a success-
ful person fulll a goal of achieving a
college degree – including her eldest
daughter. Bernice was very popular
with the members of the Humanities
Club for Elders, a group she co-found-
ed for older adults in the community
to take classes in the School of Hu-
manities at SFSU.
Her rst Fulbright Scholarship was to
the University of Navarra, Pamplona,
Spain (1966-68). Although she was
advised not to take the children to
Spain due to their young ages (3, 7, 11
and 13), she did not consider leaving
them behind. Bernice taught at the
university by day, made dinner for
the family, entertained guests in the
evening, and after the children were
in bed she typed husband Donald’s
dissertation (six carbons on a manual
typewriter).
Her second Fulbright Scholarship
was as the rst recipient (with Don-
ald) of concurrent scholarships to a
married couple, to Adam Mickiewicz
University in Poznan, Poland (1973-
74). She taught university students
during the week, and teachers of
English in weekend seminars.
In her 43 years in the English Depart-
ment at SFSU, she taught courses in
English, Reading, Speech, and added
the Teaching of English as a Second
Language to her expertise. She also
lled many other roles on campus:
founding member, board member
and vice president of the SF State
chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; chair of the
campus Academic Senate 1984-86;
member of the California State Uni-
versity Statewide Academic Senate
for several terms, as well as chair of its
governmental aairs committee.
Elected president of the campus
chapter of United Professors of
California (UPC), she held the post
from 1979-83,
when UPC lost by
a few votes to the
California Faculty
Association (CFA) in the collective
bargaining agent election runo. She
then joined CFA and held the posi-
tion of Political Action Chair for CFA in
1986-87.
A founding member of the Friends of
the San Francisco Public Library, she
was also a founding member of the
Friends of the J. Paul Leonard Library
at SFSU.
When she retired from SFSU in 1992,
she stated her concern that she would
be bored. There was nothing to fear;
many organizations and her church
beneted of her time and talent. She
served the ACLU of Northern Califor-
nia on the board and seeking major
gift donations. She was a member
of the 1994-95 San Francisco Civil
Grand Jury, where she deepened her
understanding of the issues of home-
lessness. She was a member of the
First Unitarian Universalist Society of
San Francisco for thirty years, singing
in the choir for 25 years and hold-
ing many leadership positions. Her
three terms on the Board of Trustees
included two years as moderator; she
was also president and program chair
of the Society for Community Work.
She was honored with the Rheiner
Award for lifelong community service.
A Memorial service was held at 11 a.m.
Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the First Unitarian
Universalist Society of San Francisco, 1187
Franklin St. at Geary St. The family invites you to
visit the memorial website at www.bernice-
biggs.org. In lieu of owers, the family suggests
donations to the ACLU of Northern California,
in memory of Bernice Biggs (39 Drumm St., San
Francisco, CA 94111 or www.aclunc.org), or the
Bernice Prince Biggs Scholarship Fund in the
English Department at SFSU. If you would like
to contribute to the fund, please make checks
payable to The University Corporation, SFSU;
indicate Bernice Prince Biggs Scholarship, and
send to Andrea Rouah, University Develop-
ment, Adm 153, SFSU.
Editor and Design: Kelsey Avers The English Department holds the right to edit all submissions
