Greetings from the SCU English Department!

I write from a threshold, looking back over my 37 years in the English Department with nostalgia and looking forward with great anticipation to my new one-year term as Department Chair followed by retirement in June 2020. Intense awareness of change colors my thoughts of the past and of the future. In what ways have teaching and learning changed for the better? What practices will we need to continue in the spirit of Ignatian values and best pedagogical practices, and how can we adapt what we do best to the needs of the most diverse and best-prepared student body yet admitted to Santa Clara University?

Of one thing I am sure: the faculty I work with (in our department and throughout the University) are passionately committed and richly experienced educational practitioners. The story in this newsletter about LEAD Scholar participation in a Shakespeare workshop at San Quentin Prison provides one great example. Our faculty's close collaboration each year with Canterbury Scholars, teaching and mentoring outside their regular teaching assignments, is another example. Canterbury Scholars attested to the importance of their faculty mentors at the spring department event celebrating students' achievements. And the brief notice of a book created by students in Claudia Monpere McIsaac's first-year writing course in collaboration with fourth-graders at Lazear School in Oakland provides a glimpse of the beauty of this exceptional project.

A different kind of example is Theresa Conefrey's ongoing work exploring the value of ePortfolios to enhance learning. This summer she co-presented "ePortfolios for Civic Scientific Literacy," which focused on the use of ePortfolios for improving information literacy and increasing undergraduate engagement in STEM fields. Because of our department's commitment to writing in first-year sequences, other Core courses, and courses for our majors and minors, our teaching and research extend across disciplines in many ways.

Another example of our faculty's impact was the May four-part event "Analog/Digital: Premodern Technology Meets Silicon Valley," celebrating the convergence of multimedia, technology, and archival work, which allow participants to transport themselves to the past through interactive exhibits. See Jackie Hendrick's article in this newsletter. I will note in particular alumna Tanya Schmidt's moving testimony to the importance of Professor Emerita Judith Dunbar's teaching and mentoring.

Enjoy reading!

Phyllis Brown

Community Accomplishments

John Hawley Edits Two Volumes

Professor John Hawley has continued his work making global literature more accessible to undergraduates and their teachers by means of essay collections applying a range of literary and cultural studies theories to particular works of literature.

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Graduation Toast 2019

At our June congratulatory reception, Father Andrew Garavel, S.J., Associate Chair of the Department, addressed our graduates with these words:

We're grateful and hopeful for all and for each of you,
The pride and the promise, the grasp and the reach of you.
And so, before you leave this place
You ought to know just what a grace
Your time among us here has been,
And so, without further ado, let's begin:
Derek, Serena, Austin, and Sue,
We gladly raise a glass to you;
Likewise Dominic, Brenna, and Sam,
You are the greatest grads what am,
Along with Ethan, Leah, Lissette
(We're nearly halfway there, I bet),
Meredith, Maggie, Michaela, and Madeline,
Saverio, Perla, Brian, and Catherine,
For all of you we shout, 'Hallelujah,'
Not forgetting Jordan and Julia,
Riley and Rosey, Kimmie, Nicole,
And finally Bevin to round out the roll.
Take a moment of pride now for all you've achieved,
And think grateful thoughts for those who believed
And sacrificed that you might reach this great day.
Now all join in our toast as with one voice we say,
"Congratulations to the class of 2019!"

Check out the Fall 2019 schedule of classes.