English

Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett’s latest essay in Style magazine discusses the complications surrounding recent improvements made to his home. “They say no jobs were added to our economy last summer but that is just simply wrong. Half my neighborhood was under construction. The other half was thinking about it. And I was doing my part, too. I have the canceled checks to prove it,” he concludes. The essay, “Home Improvements,” is featured in the November 2011 issue of the magazine. Corbett was also interviewed by the Associated Press about the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental telegraph.… Continue Reading Christopher Corbett, English, in the News

Jody Shipka, associate professor of English, is featured in a new work. “Master Hands, A Video Mashup Round Table,” is a unique experiment in digital publishing that is featured in George Mason University’s journal enculturation. Through the project, scholars created video mashups using the same source footage – a 1936 video entitled Master Hands – and respondents discussed the mashups. Artists had to use footage from Master Hands, could not provide a companion text, had to create a mashup that was no longer than ten minutes and were not permitted to see anyone else’s work until all five were completed.… Continue Reading Jody Shipka, English, in “Master Hands”

Tweens, teens, and kids of all ages are “plugged in,” and parents are always looking for ways to make sure their time on the internet is safe and productive. ABC reports that Joan Korenman, professor emerita of English, is helping parents achieve that goal: she created a page on UMBC’s web site that holds a host of links to “websites for girls.”  Korenman is also the founding director of UMBC’s gender and women’s studies program and CWIT.  She moderates WMST-L, one of the longest running online academic discussion lists, and she started work on the “websites for girls” while directing CWIT.… Continue Reading Joan Korenman, English, on ABC

“‘The Amiable Baltimoreans’ was published in 1951—just 60 years ago—and yet the city contained within it is as remote from our time as Carthage, and as alluring as the Seven Cities of Cibola,” writes Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, in his latest essay for Style magazine. “This little book does not merely make me wonder where the amiable Baltimoreans have gone and if there are any about now,” he continues. “It makes me long for the tables they set, and lament that it is no longer possible to savor such cuisine.” “Appetite for the Past,” Corbett’s lament… Continue Reading Christopher Corbett, English, in Style Magazine

Piotr Gwiazda, associate professor of English, has published a review in the Times Literary Supplement. Gwiazda says that in his new book, “Unseen Hand” (translated by Clare Cavanagh), Polish poet Adam Zagajewski “shares his fascination with transience and metamorphosis” and “celebrate[s] the twofold pleasures of recollection and meditation” “Now in his sixties, [Zagajewski] finds solace in the world’s capacity for self-renewal,” Gwiazda writes, noting that “realm, often epitomized by the change of seasons or images of birds and trees, serves as the gateway to epiphany.”