Nancy Jordan's Archive

ACU Undergraduate Research Festival 2010

0 Commentsby   |  04.26.10  |  Announcements, Student Spotlight

Congratulations to six English majors who presented papers at ACU’s Undergraduate Research Festival.

Allison Fowler, “Instances of Anger: The Tool of Anger in Little Women.”  Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dana McMichael

Erin Halstead, “The Authoritarian Voice in the Speech of College-Aged Women.”  Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nancy Shankle.  Erin received a commendation for Outstanding Oral Presentation in Arts and Humanities at the awards ceremony.

Joel Dallas, “Return of the Thought Police: 1984 or 2010?” Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Carroll

Joshua Alkire, “‘Literally’ Speaking: Reason, Metaphor, and Exaggeration in Conflict.” Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bill Carroll

Megan Faver Hartline, “I Am Girl, Hear Me Squeak.” Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bill Carroll

Katherine Sinclair, “The Monster Within: The Role of roman Catholic Concepts of Sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bill Carroll

Congratulations University Scholars, 2010

0 Commentsby   |  04.26.10  |  Announcements, Student Spotlight

The Faculty Senate selects 50 of the top academic students from across the campus and recognizes them in an award ceremony in April.  This year, the Faculty Senate selected 4 English majors for this prestigious award.

Joshua Alkire

Josh AlkireJosh is a double major in English and Biblical text with an outstanding record of scholarship that is evidenced by his 4.0 GPA asw ell as a remarkable record of research and conference presentations.  In the Spring semester of 2010, Joshua represented ACU at two separate conferences, both of which have rigorous selection criteria.  One of his papers was accepted for the national conference of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Majors’ Honor Society.

Erin Halstead

Erin is active in the honors program and has completed two honors contracts: her first work was entitled “Gender Discourse in the ACU classroom” and the second “The Longer We Learn English, the More English We Forget: Demotivation in the ESL Classroom.”  She is now conducting research among college-aged women for her honors capstone project called “The Authoritarian Voice in the Talk of College-aged Women.”

Megan Faver Hartline

ENG1 223Megan’s Honors Capstone project explores the shift in the construction of feminine gender in popular children’s literature from the late 19th century to those constructed in contemporary children’s texts.  Her work demonstrates a burden for justice as she discsses how our stories define roles for our girls that often cage rather than free them.  One of her professors says: “I admire Megan’s scholarship.  Its strength distinguishes it from the work of her peers.”

Lydia Melby

Picture 1According to her professors, Lydia Melby is “one of the most academically distinguished of the current English majors; and with her awards and publications she has become the English Department’s most successful creative writing student of the past ten years.”  She won awards for her short story “And We Were Gone,” at the Christianity and Literature Contest and at the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers Contest.  She was accepted into the prestigious CCCU program, Best Semester, and studied in Oxford.

Matthew Worthington, Class of 2008

0 Commentsby   |  04.26.10  |  Alumni Spotlight, Announcements

Matt Worthington, a 2008 Abilene Christian University Graduate from San Antonio, TX, has since uprooted his life to Washington, DC where he teaches Special Education to 8th graders with Emotional Disabilities in the DC Public School System through Teach For America and is currently helping to start an Urban Church Plant in the Columbia Heights and Georgia Petworth Neighborhoods of Washington, DC where he lives and teaches. Matt, a former English Major, is also pursuing his Master’s in Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA where he will graduate from in May 2011. Immediately thereafter, he will be married to another wonderful ACU Alum, Jessica Reyna (08′), who is currently pursuing her MFT at Seattle Pacific University.

Teaching English in China

0 Commentsby   |  04.05.10  |  Announcements, Job & Volunteer Opportunities

April 3, 2010

My name is Mark Bolding and I, along with my wife, Zhu Yan, founded CNET in 2005. CNET (China Needs English Teachers) works directly with the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education (JPDE) in Nanjing, China to recruit English teachers for all levels of educational settings. We charge no fees for this service and are not a for-profit recruiting agency. This is our fifth year recruiting for the JPDE and we have had great success the previous four years. In 2009, we helped place 22 teachers in Jiangsu Province schools. I have contacted your department in previous years.

Zhu Yan and I are former teachers from the Jiangsu region who currently live in Houston, TX. We have assisted in recruiting since coming to Houston five years ago as a favor to friends in China who work within the JPDE. We are attempting to secure the best possible teachers for one or two semester teaching engagements. We are seeking dedicated, career minded persons who understand that living and working in China will be challenging, but very rewarding. This can be the opportunity of a lifetime in both cultivating their teaching careers and experiencing the fabulous culture of China. China is at a crossroad in its history and her children and their parents are desperate for English instruction and foreign involvement. For this reason, we recruit each year solely by contacting English and Education Departments at four year institutions in the United States.

Because our recruits will work directly for the Department of Education, there is very little chance of a contractual misunderstanding and, should a problem arise, it will be addressed and remedied quickly. We find that our recruits enjoy their time in China. We have formalized our relationships with some schools to send graduate or undergraduate student groups annually to our summer program or for one or two semester positions. We are always happy to serve as intermediaries in a dialogue between a college or university and the Jiangsu Department of Education.

If you have graduating seniors or instructors who might be interested, please refer them to our website at www.mmbolding.com.

Sincerely,

Mark Bolding

CNET

8450 Cambridge, #2167

Houston, TX 77054

713-962-7356


Dr. Nancy Shankle, Professor and Chair
Department of English
Abilene Christian University, ACU Box 28252, Abilene, TX 79699
shanklen@acu.edu
Visit The Inkwell, the English Dept Blog, blogs.acu.edu/english

Students Present at Honors Conference

0 Commentsby   |  04.01.10  |  Announcements, Student Spotlight

Three ACU English majors who are also Honors College students presented papers at the Great Plains Honors Council’s 2010 Conference, held March 26-27 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Great Plains Honors Council, an associate of the National Collegiate Honors Council, is the regional organization which serves Honors programs at universities in a six-state region. The annual conference was attended by over 250 students, faculty, and staff from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Students and faculty from any discipline are welcome to submit papers and panel presentations.

Josh Alkire

Joshua Alkire

Joshua Alkire, senior English and family ministries major from Abilene, received a Boe award for his paper, entitled “The Face of the Man: Fumie and Christian Art in Shusaku Endo’s Silence.” The Boe award recognizes “outstanding scholarly work” among undergraduate papers presented at the conference, according to gphc2010.com. Alkire examined portraits of Christ through the eyes of a fictional Portuguese Jesuit, Sebastião Rodrigues, the lead character in Shusaku Endo’s Silence. Alkire said Rodrigues’ perception of Christ changes as he observes persecuted Japanese Christians, who were being pressured to renounce their faith by stepping on a picture of Christ.

Alkire said he understood the novel more deeply once he researched the Japanese images of Christ, called fumie, for himself. “It’s a small piece of blackened wood, dirtied from so many people stepping on it,” Alkire said. “The face of Christ in Japanese art during the 17th century is this humiliated, worn-down Christ.”

ENG1 223

Megan Faver

Megan Faver Hartline examined the commercialization of weddings in her paper, “The Most Important, and Now Commercialized, Day of Your Life.” Hartline—who was married just last summer—noted how wedding planners, marketing agencies, and a consortium of service providers have “changed the wedding ceremony from a sacrament into an industry.” Her paper pointed out that bridal magazines and salespersons are quick to label practices that date back only a few years as important wedding “traditions.”

Oscar Wilde’s well known novel of corruption was the subject of Katherine Sinclair’s presentation “The Monster Within: The Role of Roman Catholic Concepts of Sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Sinclair, senior English major from Abilene, said she identified with the themes in the novel. “Dorian Gray doesn’t realize the terrible things he’s doing to everyone,” Sinclair said. “That’s just human nature.”

Sinclair

Katherine Sinclair

Sinclair said compiling this scholarly presentation was the first time she felt her writing rose above a simple reiteration of something she had read before. She also appreciated the opportunity to present her paper through powerpoint and a concise oral summary. The ability to be able to think through and present one’s own ideas is essential to any communicator, Sinclair said. “I think presenting papers is something all English majors should do, regardless of what career they enter.”

Alkire also valued the resume-building preparation for graduate school and career that the conference afforded—even more than the $200 check he received as part of the Boe award. “I counted up the hours I spent revising it, and I think I got a little over minimum wage,” Alkire said. Still, he noted, that was “more than you get for most papers.”

The students were accompanied to Tulsa by Dr. Joe Stephenson, interim Dean of the Honors College, and Mrs. Stephanie Smith, Honors College advisor. “We are very happy these students got to present their research at the conference,” said Stephenson, who is also an Assistant Professor of English. The Honors College paid for the registration, hotel, transportation, and meals for the students. “The ACU papers were among the best at the conference,” said Stephenson, who added it was “no surprise that three of the four papers accepted to the conference were from English. The students had obviously been prepared well by their work with English faculty members.” Josh Alkire’s paper had been prepared for a class with Dr. Steven Weathers; Megan Faver Hartline’s paper for a class Dr. Laura Carrol; and Katherine Sinclair’s with Dr. Bill Carrol.

Christianna Lewis of the ACU Optimist helped prepare this press release.

Kayla Anderson Hewitt

0 Commentsby   |  04.01.10  |  Alumni Spotlight, Announcements

DSCF0682Kayla Anderson Hewitt, a 2006 ACU graduate, has been accepted into the Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language program at the University of Illinois for the fall of 2010. Kayla, a former English major and Spanish minor, hopes to help adult English learners overcome communication barriers.

Detective Work

0 Commentsby   |  03.23.10  |  Announcements, Faculty Spotlight

WadeCWdisplayDr. Chris Willerton is home from a successful research trip to the Midwest and New York. He’s on administrative leave during spring 2010, a reward after 25 years as ACU’s honors director, and is using the opportunity to continue his work in detective fiction and theology.

CW’s first project was interviewing detective writer Terence Faherty in Indianapolis.  Faherty has two series of novels, one featuring amateur detective Owen Keane, a failed seminarian, and the other featuring Scott Elliott, an actor who becomes a Los Angeles sleuth after returning from World War II. Faherty told CW that his Catholicism comes through most strongly when his characters suffer from unconfessed crimes. He puts in enough gunplay and rough language to satisfy his publisher but is most interested in the way his characters use little mysteries to find clues to cosmic mysteries.

CW’s next project was to present a paper, “Dorothy L. Sayers, the Trinity, and the Creative Reader” at the Northeast ConferenceWadeCWreadng on Christianity and Literature, in New York. This was the first CCL regional meeting to feature detective fiction, and it drew papers on Chesterton, Sayers, Collins, Chandler, and even J. K. Rowling.

WadeCW-Ahlquist

The photo shows CW meeting the plenary speaker, Dr. Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society. In between sessions, CW hiked across Brooklyn Bridge, visited the site of the World Trade Center, and saw an off-Broadway murder mystery, Perfect Crime.WadeCWbridge

Finally, CW spent three days in the Marion Wade Center at Wheaton College, reading manuscripts and letters of Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and translator of Dante. Having written papers extending Sayers’s aesthetics with Reader Response theory, CW focused on her 1941 book The Mind of the Maker and her 1944 lecture “Towards a Christian Aesthetic.” As one critic puts it, Sayers was “highly intelligent, opinionated, and combative,” and CW ended each day’s reading woozy from both her handwriting and her argumentation.WadeCWDLS

WadeCWwardrbThe Wade is an internationally known research center for Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers, Chesterton, Charles Williams, and others associated with the Oxford Christians. Its artifacts include desks used by Tolkien and Lewis and the wardrobe that helped inspire The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the photo, CW inspects an overcoat used by Maj. Warren Lewis (C. S. Lewis’ brother Warnie).

Photo credits: Wade Center photos by Rachel K. Mink, staff. Brooklyn Bridge photo through the kindness of strangers.

Project Coordinator Needed in Dallas

0 Commentsby   |  03.01.10  |  Announcements, Job & Volunteer Opportunities

Amanda Musick is looking to hire 2 Project Coordinators.

If you are interested, email Amanda Musick at amusick@akorbi.com

The job is in North Dallas (in the Farmers Branch area)

Here is the job description:

Akorbi Language Consulting, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a rapidly growing trusted provider of foreign language translation, interpretation, language and cultural training, localization, and technology solutions.

Akorbi is certified as ISO 9001:2000 for quality assurance and also certified as a woman-owned business (WBE and 8a). Akorbi also operates from additional locations including Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Houston, Hyderabad and Medellin to cater to global customers. Akorbi serves a variety of Fortune 1000 companies, high profile non-profit organizations and the public sector.

Akorbi Language Consulting is the recipient of many business awards and recognitions, some of them include Woman-Owned Business Enterprise of the year by the NCTRCA. Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award at the Fort Worth Entrepreneur Expo and the Microentrepreneur of the Year by Wachovia and ACCION Texas.

We are looking for a production coordinator with the following:

Skills

  • Highly effective communication skills both written and verbal
  • Proven ability to manage multiple tasks and juggle priorities
  • Intermediate computer skills: Microsoft Office Suite, Outlook, Adobe, QuickBooks Organization skills
  • Ability to handle a high volume of emails and organize by tasks/projects
  • Time management
  • Ability to manage long term and short term priorities
  • Ability to understand and work with margins, estimates and invoices

Requirements

  • Experience with project or production coordination
  • 4 year degree in a related field (for ex: business management, advertising, translations)
  • Experience in translation industry preferred
  • Bilingual Preferred (Preferred language: Spanish, Chinese, German, Hindi, Urdu or Korean language skills)
  • Proven performance in a fast pace environment
  • Ability to perform in a high stress position

Daily Responsibilities

  • Creating estimates and entering invoices
  • Matching skilled contractors with job requirements in the language and translation field
  • Recruiting and hiring of contract language professionals (mainly via email and phone screens)
  • Coordinating in-house teams for projects
  • Coordinating activities between corporate offices in Texas and the offshore staff
  • Managing relationships with vendors
  • Clarify project expectations with clients
  • Answering emails related to projects: ability to handle a high volume of emails in the inbox and organize them by task/project
  • On-time delivery of final projects

This position is a high volume, deadline driven, multi-tasking position that interfaces with external vendors and language professionals and the internal departments within the company. It requires attention to detail, superior organizational skills and the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders. Stress levels can be high during peak periods. This is a perfect position for someone looking to use their organizational and communication skills to have a positive impact on the operation.

Culture: high energy, team oriented, multi-tasking, positive, “get it done” attitude

Dress code: Business Casuals

Pay Range: $30,000 – $36,000 base

Hiring Organization: www.akorbi.com

Amanda Musick

Akorbi Language Consulting

An ISO-9001 certified company

4100 Spring Valley Rd, Suite 203, Dallas, TX 75244
(w) 214-736-8358 | (f) 214-594-5908 | (c) 214-938-5810
(e) amusick@akorbi.com| www.akorbi.com

Services: Translations | Interpretation | Localization | Staffing | Technology Solutions
Locations: Dallas | Houston | Buenos Aires | | Medellin | Bangalore | Hyderabad

Have questions?
Check out our blog at
http://www.akorbi.com/blog

In Memoriam, Dr. George Ewing

0 Commentsby   |  02.16.10  |  Announcements, Faculty Spotlight

George  Ewing

George Wilmeth Ewing, 87, of Abilene, passed away Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at Hendrick Medical Center. His service will be held at 10:00 am, Monday February 15th, 2010 at University Church of Christ, 733 E.N. 10th, under the direction of Piersall-Benton funeral directors. A visitation will be from 2:00-4:30 on Sunday at the fellowship hall of the church.

Upon his birth in 1923, to Pat and Genie Ewing in Robstown, he became a 5th generation Texan. He spent his youth in various communities of the lower Rio Grande Valley, eventually graduating from Corpus Christi High School.

With the advent of World War II he found himself in the U.S. Army Air Force teaching advanced electronic/radar courses in Boca Raton, FL. In nearby Ft. Lauderdale he met Mellisse Ann Miller, the love of his life and married, March 1, 1946.

Later that year they returned to Texas, where he completed his BA in Bible and Greek, Magna Cum Laude, at Abilene Christian University in 1948. Through the years with the support of his “Lissie” and family he earned MA and PhD degrees with English major and Greek minor at The University of Texas. He spent 37 years teaching English, including chairing the Department of English with ACU.

Daddy learned to work with his father and family early in his life in order to survive the Great Depression. His love of work continued throughout his life. He advocated that “there is honor in all work, that after all we are laboring for our Master, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” He was a good carpenter, constructing his and Lissie’s home in Abilene. Additionally he loved to preach the Gospel and did so to more than 180 groups/congregations. Most recently here at the Coronado Nursing Home.

He was a member of numerous organizations including his beloved Texas Folklore Society since 1974 where he was President (1995-96) and member of the board. He published numerous folklore articles, as well as the book, The Well-Tempered Lyre: Songs and Poems of the temperance Movement, SMU press and edited and indexed John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity 1965 and still in print with the 1998 edition. In addition he wrote numerous poems, articles for Christian publications and several hymns including “Sin Sorrow of Six Thousand Years.” Great Songs of the Church ACU Press 1986. He read his last professional paper in 2005 at the Texas Folk Lore Society meeting in El Paso, “Folksy, But Devout, Bookkeeping.”

He was an eclectic man of great curiosity, whose activities included carving of wood especially custom walking sticks of all sorts, abstract paintings, rock and wood sculptures, ink and pencil drawings including his locally famous “doodles.”

George loved music of all kinds but especially vocal acappella music. He was a member of the A Club at ACU as an undergraduate, as well as a member of the A Cappella Quartet. He continued his interest in music throughout his life teaching singing schools, leading singing, and providing music for marriages and funerals.

He attributed his remarkable health (only one-half day of work lost to sickness, 1944-1992) to his varied diet and his dedication to exercise. He treasured his gymnastic performance with Ben Zickefoose. He quietly gloried in his weight lifting contest successes in 1950 (UT). His personal records at age 41 include 450 lb. squat, 525 lb. deadlift as well as a lock-out squat of 946 lbs. while he was a graduate student at UT. At age 73 he hiked 26 miles in one day!

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and a brother. He is survived by his wife Mellisse Ann Ewing of Abilene, a son Tom Wallace Ewing (Julie) of Norman, OK, four daughters: Kathryn Ray Campbell (James) of San Antonio, Virginia Ann Whitmire (Mark) of Richmond, VA, Patricia Leigh Ewing Graves (Tim) of Austin and Stephanie Hope Ewing of Norman, OK and a grandson he raised as a son, Jason Tobias Ewing of Houston, TX. In addition he is survived by a sister Nina Sawey of Victoria, TX, sister-in-law Beth Ewing of Tupelo, MS and a brother-in-law Andrew Samo of Corpus Christi, TX, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Additionally, grandchildren April (Donnie McBride), Darcey (Clay Segers), Jonathan (Leslie Ewing), and Kevin Ewing (Tom’s children),

Sunshine (Shawn Stanek) and Brooke (Page Cole) (Kathy’s daughters), Brie and Elizabeth Whitmire (Virginia’s daughters), Courtney and Erin Graves (Patricia’s daughters), Jason and Chris Ewing (Stephanie’s sons).

Great grandchildren include Christy, William, and Joshua McBride (April’s children), Mycah Segers (Darcey’s daughter), Luke, Graham, and Blair Ewing (Jonathan’s children), Kirby and Campbell Stanek (Sunshine’s children), Bo and Jet Cole (Brooke’s sons).

Donations may be made in honor of Dr. Ewing to the Mellisse and George Ewing Vocal Scholarship Fund, Department of Music, Box 28274, Abilene, TX 79699 or to a charity of your choice. Condolences can be offered to the family online at www.pbfuneraldirectors.com.

This obituary appeared in the Abilene Reporter News on February 12, 2010.

Poet’s Corner

0 Commentsby   |  02.05.10  |  Announcements

Poet's Corner is a new feature on our local radio station, KACU.  English students and professors read their favorite poems either ones they've written or ones by their favorite authors.  Click here for the link to their podcasts.