October 17-18, 2020
All Sessions Online via Zoom
Note: You must register and pay for the conference to get the links and passcodes
Saturday, October 17
9:00am—10:30am
Opening Remarks and Poetry Workshop, Part 1
Laura Apol, Conference Guest Speaker
10:45am—12:15pm
Session 1A Minds and Matters — Pedagogy/Practice
Moderators: Joyce Meier
We Want You to Stop Diagnosing the Protagonist and Start Expanding and Problematizing the Text: Exploring How Health Sciences Undergraduate Students Use Psychiatric Narratives and Creative Methods to Learn about Emotional Distress–Angie Mejia and Yuko Taniguchi, University of Minnesota-Rochester
Contagious Memes in an Anxiety-Evoking Era–Nurzahan Rahman, University of Detroit Mercy
Pandemic Primary Sources: Creating Student Historians in the Composition Classroom–Jacqueline Herbers, Viterbo University
Transformative Learning and Personal Narrative: Creative Process as a Catalyst for Change–Amber Jensen and Kim Davidson, South Dakota State University
Session 1B Literary Pasts and Futures — Literature
Moderators: Lori Burlingame and Ilse Schweitzer
Smallpox, Systemic Racism, and Hope for the Future in Ella Cara Deloria’s Waterlily and James Welch’s Fools Crow–Lori Burlingame, Eastern Michigan University
The Weary March from the 20th to the 21st Century–Uma Ray Srinivasan, Victoria Institution, University of Calcutta
“An alphabet as opposed to a sentence”: Le Guin’s Rhetoric of Space-Time in Robinson’s 2312 and Aurora–Joseph Donaldson, Barton Community College
LUNCH BREAK
1:00pm—2:30pm
Session 2 Pestilence and Parasites– Poetry
Moderators: Curtis VanDonkelaar and Cheryl Caesar
“The Coronavirus Plague” and Other Poems–Janet Heller, MCEA President
“The Shore” and Other Poems–Leacadia Herweyer, Oakland University
“Alienation” and Other Poems–Maryam Qureshi, Independent Scholar
“The Parasite” and Other Poems–Cheryl Caesar, Michigan State University
2:45pm—4:15pm
Session 3 Poetry, Pedagogy, and Perseverance –Pedagogy
Moderator: Stephen Souris
Limericks as a Coping Strategy– Aram Kabodian, Red Cedar Writing Project
Staying Alive: Challenges of Keeping Lansing Poetry Club Alive in the Time of COVID-19–Rosalie Sanara Petrouske and Mary Fox, Lansing Community College/Lansing Poetry Club
The Pedagogy of Play– Mikayla Davis, University of Minnesota-Rochester
“I Just Don’t Do Poetry”: Reaching Poetry-Phobic Undergraduates– Stephen Souris, Texas Woman’s University
4:30pm—5:45pm
Session 4A Building America — Panel Discussion
Moderator: Mary Assel
Building America: Immigrant Stories of Hope and Hardship
Mary Assel, Committee to Promote Better Understanding of Islam
Nancy Owen Nelson, Henry Ford College
Glenn O’Kray, Henry Ford College (ret.)
Ed Demerly, Past President, College English Association
Session 4B Negotiating (out of) the Classroom — Panel Discussion
Moderators: Suzanne Gut and Curtis VanDonkelaar
Negotiating Negotiations: Did You Really Mean to Give Me THAT Grade?
Suzanne Gut, Davenport University
Lynn Russell, Bryan College (TN)
Betsy Weems, East Tennessee State University
Sunday, October 18
Session 6B:
9:00am—10:30am
Session 5 Collaboration and Creation — Pedagogy
Moderators: Uma Ray Srinivasan
Writing as Gardening–Ilse Griffin and Isa Keller, Saint Paul College
Antiracist Composition Pedagogy and Interdisciplinary Collaboration–Carlos Toledo-Parada, Iowa State University
Coping with COVID and TESOL Online: Change and Challenges in a Polish Context–Tiffany Stachnik, Northern Michigan University
Producing a Podcast as a Means for Collaboration and Catharsis–Erin Bell, Baker College, and Judith Lakamper, Independent Scholar
10:45am—12:15pm
Session 6A Writing Center Diversity — Panel Discussion
Moderators: Trixie Smith and Joyce Meier
Language, Power, and Accessibility: Advocating for Language Diversity in the Writing Center
Floyd Pouncil, Nick Sanders, Grace Pregent, Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, and Trixie Smith, Michigan State University
Session 6B Loss and Learning — Mixed Media
Moderators: Curtis VanDonkelaar
Love, Loss, Love: Poetry of Change and Survival–Deirdre Fagan, Ferris State University
Loneliness, Uncertainty and Learning: Chronic Illness, Coping, and Community Building in Virtual Spaces During the Covid-19 Pandemic–Deanna Laurette, Milwaukee Area Technical College
Coping as Learning in Uncommon Rites–David Boeving, Eastern Michigan University/University of Michigan
“So Moved” and Other Flash Fiction–Curtis VanDonkelaar, Michigan State University
LUNCH BREAK
1:00pm—2:30pm
Session 7 Literacies of Teaching and Administering — Pedagogy
Moderators: Joyce Meier
Literacy in the Hybrid Classroom: Advancing Literacy During the COVID Epidemic–Jordana Hall, Waldorf University
Literature in Science: Non-Fiction Narrative in the Classroom–Mehar Soni, University of Detroit Mercy
Rhetoric, Communication, and Coronavirus: Investigating How University Leaders Communicate about Emergent Crises–Emily Gresbrink, University of Minnesota
Teaching and Administering in a Pandemic–Joyce Meier, Michigan State University
2:45pm—4:15pm
Session 8 Empathy & Emotion in Pre-modern Worlds — Literature
Moderator: Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar
Teaching The Tempest and Paradise Lost in the Era of COVID-19: Reflections on Displacement, Isolation, Connection, and Empathy– David Urban, Calvin University
Expressive Response and Meaning-Making in the Spaces of Fairy Tales– Kristie DeVlieger (Undergraduate), Grand Valley State University
William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: Toxic Masculinity and Roots in Motherhood–Jenaya Hughes, Wright State University
Swich a Gracious Lady: Conceptualizing Mercy in the Poetry of Chaucer– Sister Lucia Treanor, Franciscan Life Process Center, Lowell, MI
4:30pm—5:45pm
Poetry Celebration & Workshop, Part 2
Laura Apol, Conference Guest Speaker
6:00pm
MCEA Business Meeting
All are welcome to join.