Calendar

A "NON-PLACE" TO VISIT: Exploring the Employment Practices and Working Conditions that Affect Writing Instructors. The North Carolina Symposium on Teaching Writing is interested in exploring the conditions under which writing instructors currently work as well as facilitating discussion about how instructors and departments can connect--or reconnect. The symposium is aimed at those interested in the working conditions of and the hiring practices for writing instructors. $30 registration required; some funds are available for students. Contact Chris Tonelli at catonelli@ncsu.edu for details.

Think you can move a crowd? Enter Obsidian’s "Straight to the Mic" Spoken Word competition. Get your entries in by February 5. Presented by Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora 2012 Reading Series. Details at Obsidian's website.

Experience some of North Carolina's best writers: fiction by Tracie Fellers, Makuchi (Dr. Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi), and Sheila Smith Mckoy;spoken word from Anjail Rashida Ahmad, L. Teresa Church, celeste doaks, Lenard D. Moore, Crystal Simone Smith and Darrell "SCIPOET" Stover. The Cafe will also feature finalists from Obsidian’s "Straight to the Mic" Spoken Word Competition. Refreshments served. Presented by Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora 2012 Reading Series. Details at Obsidian's website.

You're invited to a reading by Karen Joy Fowler, author of five novels and three short story collections. Her novel The Jane Austen Book Club was a NY Times bestseller and Sister Noon was a PEN/Faulkner finalist. This event is part of the Owens-Walters Reading Series, sponsored by the CHASS Creative Writing Program.

Dr. Neal Lerner, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University, presents a workshop for faculty and teaching assistants titled How Does ”Good Writing” Get Defined in our Disciplines? And What Does this Mean For Our Teaching? Register at the link provided, or email Dana Gierdowski at dcgierdo@ncsu.edu. Seating is limited.

Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History at Yeshiva University, NY, gives a lecture titled, "The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Academic Freedom in the Age of Accountability." Schrecker has written extensively on higher education, including her recent book, "The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University." She is also the leading expert on McCarthyism and has published several books on the subject. Hosted by the Department of English. 

You're invited to a reading by San Antonio poet and Trinity University Press director Barbara Ras. Ras' first collection of poetry Bite Every Sorrow won the 1997 Walt Whitman Award and the 1999 Kate Tufts Award. Her other collections of poetry are One Hidden Stuff (2006) and The Last Skin (2010). During the reading, Ras will announce the winners of the NC State poetry contest. This event is part of the Owens-Walters Reading Series, sponsored by the CHASS Creative Writing Program.

Please join Dean Jeff Braden in honoring CHASS faculty who will be recognized for excellence in teaching, research, and extension. A reception will follow the program at 5:00 pm.