EGSA Digest: You know you all have missed me

Dear EGSA,
Good things tend to come in threes: first, last weekend’s sweet and balmy weather; second Friday’s snow-day; and third, the first

EGSA Digest of the semester!
Please read the following updates and announcements carefully. The first, from our esteemed president, includes a number of updates

on many of the issues (funding, summer courses, oral presentation, teaching etc.) that were on all our minds at the end of last semester. Following Mary’s notice, there are some miscellaneous items (job postings, Beall Poetry, 19th-century studies) of interest to grad students.

Remember, you can email me at bethany_bear@baylor.edu with any EGSA-related information.

Bethany

** From the Oval Office: Dear EGSAns,

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I hope everyone’s semester is off to a good start! Watch your inboxes for news of an upcoming general EGSA meeting where we will discuss important things and maybe even eat delicious food.

In the meantime, Danielle and I had a fruitful and congenial meeting with Drs. Vitanza and Barcus on Thursday morning where we brought up the concerns you voiced on the EGSA survey sent out last fall, at our meeting in December, and during the time in between. We will talk in more detail at our general meeting about their responses, but here are some highlights that you should be aware of:

1) Dr. Barcus has agreed to send an official written description of the new oral presentation requirement for PhD students to clarify its purpose and how we are to fulfill it. We should receive that soon, and it will hopefully clear up many of our questions about this.

2) The English department will again be funding our Terence Hoagwood lecture on film and literature, which WILL take place this spring on March 24th at 3:30 pm in the Armstrong Browning Library. Steve Petersheim has been working heroically to bring Dr. Hoagwood to campus, and he will fill us in with more information as the time draws nearer.

3) We discussed the comments we received on the survey that address the general lack of any advising when we register for classes and as we progress through the program. Both Dr. Barcus and Dr. Vitanza were receptive to this need, although Dr. Barcus cautioned that part of our professional preparation involves learning to take initiative and actively seek advice when we need it. This is of course something that we all know, and Danielle and I tried to make it clear that we are not asking for undergraduate-style advisement and hand-holding, but that we would appreciate more direction than we get now when it comes to making difficult planning decisions and staying on track through our programs. They’ve agreed to consider this issue and try to come up with a practical compromise that gives us more opportunities to receive advice when we need it. They were particularly receptive to the request that some graduate faculty member become a go-to person for the Religion and Lit program so that students in that program can get reliable information about what the requirements are. We will hope that this receives attention and follow up with them later in the semester.

3) As far as taking classes during the summer goes: Danielle and I pointed out that it has not been made clear in the past that the department generally expects all grad students to take classes through every summer. Also, the fact that our funding doesn’t continue through the summer and that they don’t offer a full schedule of graduate courses seems to communicate the opposite. Therefore, we asked that this expectation be made very clear to new and incoming students, particularly so that students can prepare financially for the long drought between paychecks. They agreed to make clear communication about this a higher priority than it has been. We did bring up the other important activities some choose to do during the summer — participating in conferences, preparing essays for publication, planning courses to teach, reading to explore dissertation or thesis topics, etc. (in addition to all those real-life things we do like go on vacation and spend family time that don’t earn us much sympathy). Dr. Barcus and Dr. Vitanza understand and affirm that these are all important activities, but they maintain that the choice to do these instead of take classes is a choice to forfeit rather than defer a semester of potential tuition remission funds. This is the position of the graduate school rather than the department, so everyone’s hands are somewhat tied, but it is a step at least to know that incoming students will be made clearly aware of this expectation.

4) Both of them took seriously the comment that a faculty advisor can delay a student’s graduation by neglecting to return comments on dissertation/thesis chapters in a timely fashion. Dr. Vitanza wants to know if anyone has had a problem with this, and she assured us that she will exercise full discretion in order not to get anyone into trouble with his or her advisor.

4) Summer and fall courses: Dr. Barcus will be sending me a list of the graduate seminars they plan to offer in the summer and fall (and who will be teaching them) very soon. I will make sure we have it by the EGSA meeting at the latest.

That’s all for the present. I’ll be able to give you more details and answer questions during the meeting, so once we fix a date put it on your calendars. Best wishes,