EGSA Digest 02.07.14

EGSA,

For some reason I feel obligated to fill the blank space between the salutation and the announcements. Please ignore this and the previous sentence.

Announcements

Prospective Student Weekend

• New Student Orientation Co-Chairs Sarah Clark and Elizabeth Travers write:

Attention Current Baylor Bears: The prospective student preview weekend is Feb. 14-15. Check out the attached schedule for opportunities to meet and mingle with the prospies. Pay special attention to the events on Saturday morning (faculty introductions at 9 and mini-conference at 10). Last year faculty members were very impressed by how many grad students showed their support by attending these events. Let’s keep up the good work of supporting our department (plus breakfast is free). Looking forward to seeing you then!

• Prospies. Love it. Especially since it evokes both “prospective students” and “financially prosperous.” It’s fun to watch the little ones dream.

3MT Competition

• GSA Representative Andy Rasmussen writes:

The Graduate Student Association is hosting a competition which allows you to showcase your research and win great prizes!

The 3MT Competition will be held in Morrison 120 on Thursday, February 13th , at 7:00pm.  Gift cards of $150, $100, and $50 will be awarded to the top three contestants. Light food and coffee will be provided. All are welcome – bring your friends, family, professors, colleagues and students!

The Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®) challenges research students to communicate the significance of their projects to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes. The idea is simple: Graduate students spend hundreds of hours putting together their complicated theses and dissertations, but then face the far more trying task of explaining their arguments at parties to friends and families who are not willing, or possibly able, to listen to a lengthy explanation. This contest challenges you to do precisely that.

Contestants should email their name, thesis/dissertation title, and a brief summary of the project to Andy_Rasmussen@baylor.edu

Looking forward to seeing you at the competition!

• So, after I’ve read everything I’ve written for my dissertation so far, what do I do for the other two minutes?

Seminar: “Fostering Civility in a University Context”

• Ginger Hanchey, who has no official EGSA title but who is wonderful and deserves your attention anyway in her capacity as Assistant Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning, writes:

This Saturday the ATL in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities is offering a half-day seminar on the topic of “Fostering Civility in a University Context.”  The seminar will last from 8:30-12:30 and will be held on the 5th floor of Cashion.  We would like to invite all composition instructors (faculty and ToR) to attend.  A formal invitation with registration link is attached.  I think the conversation would greatly benefit the work we do in our freshman writing classes.

MRRS, Friday, 7 Feb., 3:30–4:30pm, ABL Lecture Hall

• Dr. Jeanette Marsh, “The Old Saxon Word-Hoard: A Continental Treasure”
• Predictably, furious non-Old English-speaking Saxons showed up to ofslogon me, my progeny, and my peach tree after my gaffe two weeks ago. Joke was on them. Everyone knows ofslogon is an Old English word. And I don’t think they were conjugating it correctly anyway.
• The coast is clear for this afternoon.

Upcoming Events

 

Valentine’s Departmental Tea, Fri., 14 Feb., 3pm, CS 4^th

• Forget chocolates and jewelry. You know the truth. Every kiss begins with departmental tea, baby.
• Oh, and sign up to bring treats.

Edmondson Lecture Series, Dr. Helen Horowitz, “Thinking about the Mind and Body in Nineteenth-Century America,” 17-18 Feb., Kayser Auditorium

• Mon., 17 Feb., 3:30pm, “Why Were They Ill? Thinking About the Mind and Body in Nineteenth-Century America”
• Tues. 18 Feb., 3:30pm, “‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ and the Case of Charlotte Perkins Gilman”
• Creepy. (In the kind of way that makes you want to go and see.)

Life on the Grad Line, Tues., 18 Feb., 12:00-1:30pm, Baines Room

• Dr. Rishi Sriram, “Preparing to Write Your Dissertation or Thesis”
• I’m always for activities that make you feel like you’re making progress without requiring you to actually do any writing. And for pizza.

There is no important information in this line.

Jeremy Leatham

EGSA Secretary

Preview weekend events 2014 Rethinking Civility