Here is the program for the Michigan College English Association Conference on October 5, 2019 at Michigan State University in Bessey Hall.

Michigan College English Association 2019 Conference

Theme:  Borders, Walls, and Bridges

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Michigan State University, Bessey Hall

434 Farm Lane, East Lansing MI 48824

8:30 am—9:30 am

Registration (continues throughout the conference) in 1^st Floor Hallway

9:30 am—10:45 am

Session 1A – Speak-Out Poetry in Room 105

Moderator: Joyce Meier

A Piece of Creative Non-Fiction, with Imbedded Poems–David Settle, Grand Rapids Community College

A Poetry Reading–Cheryl Caesar, Michigan State University

Selection of poems from Quiet Woman–Katrina Kalisz, Grand Rapids Community College

“The Trump Dunciad” and Other Humorous Poems–Janet Ruth Heller, President of the Michigan College English Association

Session 1B – Connecting Undergraduates to Research in Room 106

Moderator:

Undergraduate Research as the Bridge between Triggering Feminist Aesthetics in the Classroom and Students’ Lived Experiences–Nicole McCleese, Michigan State University; Tabitha Zivku, Michigan State University; Hannah Rosemurgy, Michigan State University

Session 1C – Testimonials and Bridges in        Room 111

Moderator:

Poems from Imaginary Homeland–Jenna Bazzell, Monroe Community College

Poetry Reading–Margaux Griffith, Michigan State University

“The Testimony of Ebb Cade, Injected without His Knowledge with

Plutonium-239 by Doctors of the Manhattan Project” (& other poems)–          John Blair, Texas State University

Reading from “Bridge the Grand” (a short story)–Curtis Van Donkelaar, Michigan State University

11:00 am—12:15 pm

Session 2A– Justice, Stereotypes, and Boundaries  in Room 105

Moderator: Lori Burlingame

Building Bridges: Restorative Tribal Justice in Louise Erdrich’s LaRose—            Lori Burlingame, Eastern Michigan University

Muslim Women: Individualism and Stereotypes–Mary Assel, Henry Ford Community College

Erased from History: The “Vanishing Indian” as Perpetuated by Misrepresentation–David Eltz, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Riddle of the Reed: Crossing Medieval Boundaries of Space and Speech–            Ilse Schweitzer Van Donkelaar, Michigan State University

Session 2B – Poetry Reading in Room 106

Moderator: Cheryl Caesar

“Autonomy and the Human Collection” (poems)–Megan Jones, Wayne State University          

Selections from Magician Lake: A Memoir–Sarah J. Smith, Lake Michigan College

Poems (both published and new)–Nancy Owen Nelson, Henry Ford Community College

Reading from novel The Night of the Red Moon–Gonzalo Munévar, Lawrence Technological University

Session 2C – Stretching Boundaries (A Poetry Reading) in Room 111

Moderator: Joyce Meier

Setting and Stretching Boundaries, Bridging to Family and the Natural World–Mary Anna Kruch, Northern Michigan University; Jan Shoemaker, independent scholar; Rosalie Sanara Petrouske, Lansing Community College; Janine Certo, Michigan State University

12:30 pm—1:15 pm — Lunch in Room 106

1:15 pm–2018 Conference Guest Speaker in Room 106

Dennis Hinrichsen, former Lansing Poet Laureate

Also, thank you to the Lansing Refugee Development Center for their assistance in setting up and arranging for the Refuge Lansing exhibit to be at our conference!

1:45 pm—3:00 pm

Session 3A – Walls & Bridges in Room 105

Moderator: Joyce Meier

The Third Wall–Edward Lessor, Colorado State University

On Working with International Students in FYW and Beyond–Joyce Meier, Michigan State University

Sharing Stories: Using Narratives to Help Students Build Bridges between the Literate Practices of Home and School–Tina Arduini, Texas State University

What Could the Commons Mean for Community Colleges Today?–                Tim Deines, Lansing Community College 

Session 3B – Diaspora and Identities in     Room 106

Moderator: Janet Ruth Heller

The Contemporary Iraqi Poetry Diaspora–Wijdan Alsayegh, University of Michigan

Tom Zimmerman, Washington Community College–Ecuador is Black: Afro-Ecuadorian Literary Resistance in Drums Under My Skin–Gabriella Davis, Grand Valley State University

Session 3C – Conversation, Past & Present in Room 111

Moderator: Cheryl Caesar

Assessing ‘Good English’ for First-Year Writing Placement: Examining the 1935 Michigan Committee on the Articulation of High School and College English–Andrew Moos, University of Michigan

Pomodoros in the Classroom–Eric Hood, Michigan State University

Increasing Student Imagination and Specificity of Language in Creative Writing Using Virtual Reality–Rebekah Keaton, Niagara County Community College

Thoreau and Conversation–Michael Daher, Henry Ford Community College

3:15 pm-4:15 pm

MCEA  Business Meeting in Room 106

All are welcome to join.

Notes:

Michigan College English Association Conference Program for Friday, October 27, 2017

Themes:  Authority and Agency in Divisive Times

Eastern Michigan University, McKenny Hall, 878 W. Cross St., Ypsilanti, MI 48197

REGISTRATION:  8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and throughout the day—Mezzanine Hallway

SESSION ONE— 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Session 1A—Race, Gender, Sexuality, and War—Tower 348

Moderator:  Phillip Arrington, Eastern Michigan University

Lori Burlingame, Eastern Michigan University—“The Impact of Race, Gender, and Sexuality on Agency, Authority, and Justice in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House”

Hyun-Joo Yoo, Eastern Michigan University—“Marguerite Duras’ The Lover”

Phillip Arrington, Eastern Michigan University—“Analyzing and Judging the Manifest Rationality of Gloria Steinem’s ‘Supremacy Crimes’”

Daniel Hanke, Iowa State University—“Both Activist and Martyr: Examining Mouloud Feraoun’s Journals through the field of Postcoloniaism and Social Justice Rhetoric”

Session 1B— Authority and Agency in Teaching Ethnic and Gender Studies, Neuro-Science, and Composition—Guild Hall 330

Moderator:  Ed Demerly, Henry Ford College

Julie M. Barst, Siena Heights University—“Authority and Agency: Teaching Ethnic and Gender Studies in Divisive Times”

Mary Assel, Henry Ford College—“Memory, Retention, and Neuro-Science Implications for Teaching English”

Bernard Miller, Eastern Michigan University—“Composition, Decomposition, and the Rhetoric of War”

Session 1C—Creative Writing—Alumni Room 342

Moderator:  Joyce Meier

Vytautas Malesh, Wayne State University—“After Homecoming” (short fiction)

Joyce Meier, Michigan State University—“When the Earth Shakes under Your Feet” (creative non-fiction)

Janet Ruth Heller—“Poems about Agency in Nature and Music”

SESSION TWO—11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Session 2A—Ethics, Diversity, Rhetoric, and Race—Tower 348

Moderator:  Charmayne Mulligan, Davenport University

Cheryl Caesar, Michigan State University—“Teaching (and) Rhetoric in a Time of Trump”

Jonathan Brownlee, Bowling Green State University—“How to Evaluate Authority Using Virtue Ethics”

William Barr, Henry Ford College and Wayne County Community College—“Agency and Authority in Two Journey Novels Set in America, J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road”

Susan McGrade, Indiana Institute of Technology—“Individual and Communal Agency in Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad”

Session 2B—Creative Writing about Music, Travel, the Dust Bowl, Women, and Agency—Guild Hall 330

Moderator:  David Settle, Grand Rapids Community College

Joanna Cowan White—“The Artist’s Agency:  Wielding Power with Words and Music”

David Settle, Grand Rapids Community College—“Mexico Meditations”

Samantha K. Clasman, Central Michigan University—““I Am Woman. I Am Me.”

Rachel L. E. Klammer, Central Michigan University—“Dust Blowing Westward”

Session 2C—Memoir, Poetry, and God’s Rhetoric—Special Session for Writers of Recently Published Books—Alumni Room 342

Moderator:  Ed Demerly, Henry Ford College

Mary Assel, Henry Ford College—“Reading from A Sprinkle of Dust: A Mother’s Struggle with Loss and Healing”

Phillip Arrington, Eastern Michigan University—“Author’s Remarks on His New Book, Eloquence Divine–In Search of God’s Rhetoric”

Nancy Owen Nelson, Henry Ford College—“Understanding My Confederate Ancestry:  Readings from Memoir and Poetry”

LUNCH— 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.—McKenny Ballroom/Salon 300/320

1 p.m.—Welcoming Remarks—Eastern Michigan University’s President James McCune Smith

Brief Remarks—Janet Ruth Heller, MCEA President

Featured Luncheon Speaker:  Matthew Gavin Frank

Matthew Gavin Frank has published The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America’s Food (W.W. Norton: Liveright, 2015).  Frank is also the author of Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer (W.W. Norton: Liveright), Barolo (The University of Nebraska Press), a food memoir based on his illegal work in the Italian wine industry, and Pot Farm (The University of Nebraska Press / Bison Books) about his time working on a medical marijuana farm in Northern California.  His poetry collection The Morrow Plots is available from Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books. His poetry book Sagittarius Agitprop is available from Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books.  His poetry book, Warranty in Zulu is available from Barrow Street Press.

SESSION THREE— 2:00 to 3:15 p.m.

Session 3A—Films, Culture, Diversity, and Use of Critical Theory, Tower 348

Moderator:  Cheryl Caesar, Michigan State University

Jacob Hall, Northern Michigan University—“The Occupation of Material Space in an Urban Highlife”

Abby McGuire, Central Michigan University—“Pragmatic Constructivism:  A Reflective Analysis of Educators’ Ambivalence Implementing Critical Theory in Literacy-Learning Classrooms”

David Settle, Grand Rapids Community College—“Diversity as a Unifying Element in T. S. Eliot’s ‘Notes towards the Definition of Culture’”

Session 3B—Authority and Agency in Student Placement, Composition Classes, and Technology, Guild Hall 330

Moderator:  Lori Burlingame, Eastern Michigan University

Hannah Butler and Kristine Johnson, Calvin College—“Affirming Agency: Directed Self-Placement for International Students”

Rebecca C. Conklin, Michigan State University—“Writing Our Story:  Negotiating Agency and Authority Through Collaborative Authorship in First-Year Writing”

Annette Ternullo and Kristen Conte, Baker College of Clinton Township—“Electronic Resource Platforms for Millennial Student Success”

Session 3C—Agency and Authority for Returning Veterans, for Writing Students, and for Women, Alumni Room 342

 Moderator:  Joyce Meier, Michigan State University

Bill Reader, Mid Michigan Community College—“Stories of Community College Student Veterans’ Experiences of Return to Civilian Life and School”

Ruthe Thompson, Southwest Minnesota State University—“The Authority of Self-Knowledge: Contemplative Education in the University Classroom”

Joyce Meier, Michigan State University—“A First-Year Writing Conference (Unexpectedly) Moving Students Toward Cross-Cultural Awareness”

 SESSION FOUR— 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.

Session 4A—A Poetics of Pop Agency: Performance, Theory, and Identity Politics—Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, Tower 348

Moderator:  David Settle, Grand Rapids Community College

Jill Darling, University of Michigan-Dearborn

David Boeving, Eastern Michigan University

Adam Malinowski, Eastern Michigan University

Session 4B—Agency and Authority in Medieval Literature, Guild Hall 330

Moderator:  Lori Burlingame, Eastern Michigan University

Stephanie Rosalyn Reynolds, Eastern Michigan University—“Pride and Power: A Question of Divine Authority in La Chanson de Roland”

 Darcie Rees, Eastern Michigan University—“Vibrant Giving in Pearl”

Maia Farrar, University of Michigan—“Sir Kay’s Fantasy of Unity in Malory’s Morte D’Arthur”

Session 4C—Reframing and Revising the English Major: A Proposed Response to Stagnant and Declining Enrollment Numbers in English Programs, Alumni Room 342

Moderator:  Curtis VanDonkelaar, Michigan State University

Roundtable Discussion by Debbie Courtright Nash, David Marquard, Rebecca Sammel, and Tracy Webb, Ferris State University

5 p.m.–MCEA Brief Business Meeting, Mckenny Gallery II, room 249—We welcome all MCEA members and conference participants to give us their ideas for future conferences.