All posts by Rachel Hicks

Poetic Freshman Orientation

This year at freshman orientation, Dr. Pfannenstiel and a group of volunteers designed a game using One Book One Campus to help students experience reading in a new way. Skyler Gibbon, a senior, reflected on what she saw and experienced as a part of orientation. 

I have a confession to make. When I started out as a freshman social work major at Millersville University in Fall 2014, I did not go to about 90% of freshman orientation. Sadly, I snobbishly dismissed it. At that time, I never would have thought that as a senior in 2019, I would actively choose to be present and choose to be engaged at freshman orientation. And let me tell you, going this year as a volunteer made me wish that I had attended my own orientation into this spirited, creative, and innovative academic community. Though I cannot describe freshman orientation as a freshman, I can describe it now as a senior volunteer. I was energized not only by the number of the freshman who are joining us at MU this year, but by their creativity, confidence, empowerment, and thoughtfulness through blackout poetry.

The novel “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Bryan Kiely is our current One Book, One Campus selection. To facilitate meaningful conversations about race among students on campus, the One Book organizers and One Book volunteers used excerpts from “All American Boys.” Blackout poetry is simple, but still a profound art. Basically, students had to cross off what they didn’t want in the text, leaving what they wanted to keep to form their blackout poem.

It is common for people to build walls between themselves and the things that help us grow or challenge us. Poetry is one of those things. I think many people often believe that it is something innate. Or that is for more contemplative types. Or for monks that live on mountain tops. Or for 1800s’ transcendentalists who live near ponds. Or, as Dr Archibald has argued, for people who have had “a fairy land on their head to gift them.” Through blackout poetry, freshman students discovered that poetry can be created from what already exists rather than being completely manifested. Sure, there were a few students who still felt too discouraged to give a thoughtful attempt. However, almost everyone left appreciating the language that can emerge out of themselves through poetry. It surprised them. Many eyes lit up with the discovery of the profundity that was woven from the fabrics of their own mind and the words of “All American Boys.” They saw how poetry is freeing rather than confining. They saw how poetry can give the sense of a fierce and rebellious act through potentially using a marker to cross out lines in an old, worn library book. They have the words before them. They just had to choose which ones to use. And there is something so exciting and powerful in that.

Welcome to MU, new innovators/rebels

-Skyler Gibbon

Internship Profile: Hadassah Stoltzfus

Hadassah Stoltzfus interned with Empower Hope, an organization that is breaking the cycle of poverty & creating a new path of purpose by training indigenous leaders to empower vulnerable children.

“So you’re going to teach?” As every English major knows, a ready response to this question is a necessity. While teaching is a worthwhile and impactful profession, I could not see myself at the head of a classroom, but my internship this past summer with Empower Hope was an encouragement that I have other options to use my English degree.

I first saw the posting for a “Content/Creative Writer Intern” on ELCM’s website. I was unfamiliar with Empower Hope, so I read extensively on their website, growing increasingly excited about the work they were doing in Kenya. With sustainability in mind, the organization, though still in the infancy stages, had designed a mentorship model to equip local leaders to train and educate the next generation.

Poverty tends to be cyclical. Those that are born into families living on one to two dollars per day rarely find the tools to start a new life, and so the pattern of barely subsisting continues. In response, Empower Hope provides education and business training using local leaders to implement the projects so that communities can be transformed from the inside out. Where foreign aid has failed to remedy the problem of poverty, Empower Hope sees an opportunity to fix the root of the issue, and it starts with seeing individuals for their inherent worth. Empower Hope calls it “giving a face to the invisible.”

During my internship, I wrote a variety of content, most of which was marketing related, such as radio ads, presentations, promo scripts, and letters requesting sponsorship. I got a window into the workings of a not-yet-established non-profit which had its challenges, namely a lack of structure. However, the longer I worked with Empower Hope, the more I understood their goals and how they spoke, which helped me to complete writing projects with limited supervision.

An upside of working in a short-staffed office was the chance to do meaningful work. The staff treated me as an expert in my field and took my opinion seriously despite my being only an intern, an experience that would probably have been different had I been at an established, fully-staffed organization.

Empower Hope excels in recognizing individuals’ strengths and putting them to use. A highlight was creating illustrations for a kids’ booklet on poverty that they were creating to hand out at events. Despite being hired to write, I got to change hats for a week to work in the artistic realm.

Overall, the experience was a good window into the daily life of non-profit work. My internship presented me with alternative avenues to use English, and it was exciting to know that I was indirectly contributing to the work of bringing hope to people in poverty.

-Hadassah Stoltzfus

English Clubs

The English Department at Millersville University is proud to support the work, creativity, and fun involved in the various English clubs. For more information about clubs at MU, check out Get Involved where organizations across campus post club descriptions and contact information.

Film Club

The Film Club is a campus organization where film fans can gather for screenings of films followed by discussions, as well as connect with others with a passion for the art of film across Millersville. The club screens films and discusses the topics presented in them by correlating them to larger societal issues. You can find more information on the club’s Facebook page or by contacting club adviser Jill Craven.

English Club

The English Club provides a welcome environment where lovers of language and literature can come together to participate in literary activities, field trips, discussions, and more! Both majors and nonmajors are welcome. Meetings will begin at 6pm on Tuesdays starting September 11th. The location will be sent out via email at a later date. For more information, contact President Morgan Reichenbach or Vice President Stephanie Wenger.

The Snapper:

The Snapper is Millersville University’s student-run newspaper, providing fair, accurate, and unbiased reporting on a weekly basis for the student body. The Snapper is the campus’ independent watchdog, a tireless advocate and champion of student rights. Through its sections and other positions, The Snapper provides every student an opportunity to experience hands-on the print media field as well as improving their own writing and other pertinent skills. The Snapper’s office is located in the bottom level of the SMC, room 15. They hold weekly meetings every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Students can contact The Snapper at: editor@thesnapper.com.

The George Street Press:

George Street Press is Millersville University’s literary magazine that is open to students and faculty alike. The publication is completely student run and student published, accepting all sorts of work from poetry, short fiction, essays, creative nonfiction, photography, painting and sculpture. If you are interested with assisting in publication, the club meets Tuesday nights in Club De’Ville (the commuter lounge in the lower level of the SMC) at 9pm. If you would like to submit any work for the Fall 2018 publication, submissions open on November 1st at georgestreetpresssubmissions@gmail.com. If you have any questions, contact President Kitsey Shehan or Vice President Sara Pizzo. Updates can be found on the club’s Instagram page.

American Association of University Women:

The purpose of MU’s AAUW, among other things, is to prepare students for leadership in the civic realm, offer students an opportunity to exchange ideas on social justice, network members with the global AAUW community of more than 170,000 members, and support women in gaining positions of leadership across campus. Meeting times will be announced. For more information, contact  President Amanda Mooney or adviserJill Craven.

Faculty Profile: Dr. Emily Baldys

Dr. Emily Baldys is the new English department hire! Read through her interview to find out what she loves about literature, what she enjoys teaching and writing about, and what the study of English means to her.

What brought you to literature and specifically your focus on disability studies?

I’ve always been a reader. When I was a kid, I used to get in trouble at school for reading during lessons, and then when I went home I would get in trouble for reading at the dinner table. I find joy and life and challenge in exploring the imaginative worlds that authors create, and so it seemed natural to me to find a career that would allow me to continue to read and learn about literature and to help others to do the same. I first encountered disability studies as a senior in college, and I was totally intrigued. A few years later, in graduate school, I had the opportunity to take a disability studies seminar, and things just clicked. I came to understand disability studies as a powerful lens for investigating literature’s treatment of crucial concepts such as difference, otherness, and the body. At the same time, I realized that literary depictions of bodily difference have helped to shape attitudes that still influence our cultural understanding and treatment of people with disabilities, and so there is an important ethical component to studying them.

What is your favorite “era” of literature and why?

I love studying literature of the Victorian era. It was a time when society was coming to grips with being “modern,” and I find it fascinating to watch authors grapple with issues like rapidly-advancing technology, urbanization, and industrialization—issues that still obsess our contemporary world. The novel, my favorite genre, was in its ascendancy in the Victorian era, and so as a scholar of this era I get to study some of the great classic novels by Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot, and others.  Finally, I like studying the Victorian era because it was a time that saw the consolidation of so many concepts—like gender roles, disability, domesticity, social class, and colonialism—that still shape how we think about identity and our place in society.

What are you coming to teach at Millersville? Are you hoping to teach specific classes or create some of your own?

In addition to composition courses, I will teach the early and later English literature surveys, as well as some upper-level courses that offer a deeper dive into Romantic, Victorian, and post-1914 British literature. I’d also love to teach courses on the English novel, and I have some ideas for new courses on disability in literature, disability theory, and the “New Women” (first-wave feminists of the late nineteenth century).

Where did you go to school for your undergrad and PhD program? What were some of your experiences there?

I earned my B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College and my M.A. and Ph.D. (also in English) from Penn State.  I loved the supportive, close-knit, and academically rigorous environment at Bryn Mawr; I also played soccer there and served as fiction editor for the literary magazine. At Penn State, I had the opportunity to work with some amazing scholars in the fields of disability studies, Romantic literature, and Victorian literature. I learned and grew so much at PSU, and I also made some dear friends there, including my husband Darrell, who is a fantastic teacher, scholar, travel partner, and kitty papa.

Are you looking forward to working at a larger university than the school you previously worked at? What kind of opportunities will a larger department bring?

While working in a small college can be quite cozy, I’m looking forward to working at a larger university and in a larger department at Millersville. A larger university provides more opportunities for dynamic campus life, and I hope to become involved in such events as the disability film series and Millersville Disability Pride day. Also, working within a larger department will allow me to specialize a bit more so that I’m teaching more of the literature courses that relate to my research areas.

Are you looking forward to living in Pennsylvania?

I am most definitely looking forward to living in Pennsylvania again! As you can probably tell from reading about my education, PA is my home state, and I’m excited to return. I grew up in central Pennsylvania (Williamsport) and still have family there, so it will be lovely to be closer to them. I’m also looking forward to getting to know the Lancaster area. It’s a beautiful part of the state, but apart from a couple of soccer games in college, I haven’t spent much time there yet. I’m looking forward to exploring the beautiful Millersville campus, checking out the Central Market and bookstores in downtown Lancaster, and finding a restaurant that serves a decent cheesesteak. There are many things I like about Ohio (where I’ve lived for the past seven years), but I must admit that their cheesesteaks are just not up to par.

Emily and her husband, Darrell, at Loch Ness in Scotland
Emily and her husband, Darrell, at Loch Ness in Scotland

What are some of your favorite past-times?

Unsurprisingly, I love to read, and I’m rarely happier than when I’m reading a good book with a cat on my lap. I also love cats, and when I’m not spoiling Penny and Percy, our two rescue kitties, I enjoy volunteering at the local animal shelter. My husband and I also love to travel together. We have a pushpin map to keep track of the places we’ve been (like France, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Bulgaria) and a LONG list of places we’d still like to go (too many to name). When I’m at home, I have a soft spot for the goofy spectacle that is minor league baseball, so I’m thrilled to be moving to a town that has a team; I can’t wait to check out the Barnstormers! Finally, I’m a relatively recent convert to world of fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, so I’m looking forward to exploring the gaming community in Lancaster.

What do you enjoy writing about?

I enjoy researching and writing about depictions of disability in literature, especially insofar as these depictions illuminate the conceptual intersections between disability and other ideological constructs such as gender, domesticity, and social class. My dissertation traces the ways in which mid-nineteenth-century novels engage with scientific and medical discourses like phrenology and lunacy reform. I’ve also published articles on the rehabilitation of “idiocy” in Wuthering Heights and on the normalizing of disabled protagonists in contemporary popular romance novels. My next article project will examine eugenic strands in fin-de-siècle and modernist feminism and their implications for evolving conceptions of bodily difference

What does it mean to study English?

I think the study of English provides us with a means to critical literacy in an information-saturated world. Through analysis of our own and others’ writing practices, we can attain an analytical perspective about the messages with which we are constantly bombarded in everyday life, and, by extension, about the cultures in which we live.  Further, when we find our way into the world of a two-hundred-year-old novel or hundred-year-old poem, when we forge connections with the characters or the emotions that these texts relate, it helps us to become better citizens. These connections can inspire us to relate our personal experiences and responses to broader social histories that demonstrate the power of language and narrative.  I truly believe these kinds of connections are ethically imperative in today’s world, and that empathic, reflective readers form more constructive, more culturally competent members of our communities.

Title Image: Photo of Emily on the moors above the Bronte parsonage in Haworth, England

 

Alumnus Profile: Alex Kaufman

Alexander L. Kaufman graduated from Millersville University in 1999 with a Bachelors of Science in Education (BSE) in English and also in Social Studies. He is originally from Glenside, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County. As an undergraduate at Millersville, he enjoyed the intersections of history and literature, from the Middle Ages to the present day. While at Millersville, Alex forged close professional bonds with a number of faculty members in the English and History Departments. These unofficial mentorships instilled within him the importance of research, scholarship, collaboration, and professionalization. He realized that if he wanted to attend graduate school and teach at the college level, then he would need to go beyond the minimum requirements within each syllabus, especially in his upper-level literature and history courses, and to concentrate on these four critical areas of intellectual and personal growth.

After graduating from Millersville, Alex earned an MA in English in 2001 and then a Ph.D. in English in 2006, both from Purdue University. His doctoral studies focused on Middle English Language and Literature, and he had two secondary concentrations: Old English Language and Literature, and History of the English Language. His love of literature and the historical record greatly informed his studies and research in late medieval English literature and historical writings. While at Purdue, he continued to explore new areas of scholarship. While people in the corporate world often speak of the importance of “networking,” Alex understood that those in academia must also network in order to learn and grow as scholars and professionals. Alex gave his first professional presentation while an undergraduate at Millersville, and he soon learned as a graduate student that attending and presenting at national and international conferences is an excellent way to learn, receive feedback on one’s work, meet new colleagues, and initiate collaborative research projects.

After Purdue, Alex accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position of English at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. He would spend eleven years at AUM, where he eventually earned the rank of full professor. He also continued his collaboration and mentoring, both with students and colleagues, where he served as the Coordinator for the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program for a number of years and also as Chair of the Department of English and Philosophy.

In January 2018, Alex returned to Indiana. He is now the Reed D. Voran Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at Ball State University where he teaches in the Honors College. Alex really enjoys teaching, and some of his classes include outlaws from the medieval period to the present day, the Robin Hood tradition, historical writing and medieval chronicles, Chaucer, Arthurian literature and film, and medievalisms.

He loves researching, especially in archives. In addition to authoring numerous journal articles and book chapters, Alex is the author of The Historical Literature of the Jack Cade Rebellion (Ashgate 2009; repr. Routledge, 2016), co-editor of Telling Tales and Crafting Books: Essays in Honor of Thomas H. Ohlgren (Medieval Institute Publication, 2016), and editor of British Outlaws of Literature and History: Essays on Medieval and Early Modern Figures from Robin Hood to Twm Shon Catty (McFarland, 2011). He is currently working on two collections of essays, one on Robin Hood and the literary canon, and another on food and feasts in modern outlaw tales.  His passion toward history is still very much present, as he’s writing a sourcebook for the Jack Cade Rebellion.

Alex took to heart his Millersville and Purdue professors’ positive notion of collaboration. Much of his scholarship is collaborative in nature, especially his editorial work. With Valerie B. Johnson, he co-founded the journal The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies and also serves as co-administrator for the scholarly blog Robin Hood Scholars: IARHS on the Web. Moreover, he is also a general editor, with Lesley Coote, of the book series Outlaws in Literature, History, and Culture for Routledge Publishing.

Alex Kaufman

Fall 2018 Open Classes

There are still some open classes in the English department for you to take! Remember, if the class you want is already full, put yourself on the wait-list–that is how the department knows to open up new sections! Visit the registrar’s website for the full registration guide. 

235 Early American Literature: T, R from 10:50-12:05pm  or 421 Early American Literature T 6-9

  • 200 Level
  • G1 – Arts and Humanities (for 235)

240 Introduction to Film: M from 2-5:20 with a recitation W from 2-3:30

  • 200 Level
  • G1 – Arts and Humanities

242 Reading Our World: Stranger Things: T, R from 2:35-3:50pm

  • G1 – Arts and Humanities
  • W – Writing Component

242 Reading Our World: Social Justice: W from 6-9pm

  • G1 – Arts and Humanities
  • W – Writing Component

274 The Craft of Writing: M, W from 3-4:15pm

  • G1 – Arts and Humanities

312 Technical Writing: W from 6-9pm or MUOnline

  • AW – Advanced Writing Component

313 Fundamentals of Journalism: R from 6-9pm or MUOnline

  • AW – Advanced Writing Component

316 Business Writing: T from 1:10-2:25pm; T, R from 8-9:15am or 9:25-10:50am

  • AW – Advanced Writing Component

319 Science Writing: MUOnline

  • AW – Advanced Writing Component

333 African American Literature 1: M, W, F from 1-1:50 or 10-10:50

  • 200 Level
  • G1 – Arts and Humanities
  • CDC – Diversity Requirement
  • W – Writing Component

424 Realism and Naturalism to 1920: W from 6-9pm

463 Applied Linguistics: T from 6-9pm

  • 200 Level
  • G1 – Arts and Humanities
  • W – Writing Component

466 Writing Studies Seminar- Environmental Advocacy: M, W from 4:30-5:45pm

  • W – Writing Component

482 Film and American Society: R from 6-8:55pm

  • 200 Level
  • G1 – Arts and Humanities

Student Profile: Kaylee Herndon

Kaylee Herndon
Kaylee Herndon

Kaylee Herndon, a current sophomore and Sports Journalism major at Millersville University, has been attending Bowers Writers House events for three years. The house, founded in the spring of 2010 right outside Elizabethtown College, is an interdisciplinary venue for expression, study, presentation and performance. The public events–usually between 12-15 each academic semester–are always free. From dramatic readings to musical performances to interactive panels, the Writers House’s program is diverse and welcoming to readers and writers alike.

Kaylee first got involved in Writers House because she lived so close to the Bowers Writers House. She has always been involved in the writing/journalism scene; she was the head editor of the E-town ExPRESSion, and wrote for both the Elizabethtown Advocate and The Torch. Also, she is a blogger on Figment, where she was a featured author in 2015. She has also been featured in the VOX magazine, a local publication of Elizabethtown College, and on The Virtual Cavern. Kaylee also runs her own personal blog where she posts articles and miscellaneous works of fiction.

IMG_20180402_082151_381

At Made in Millersville, Kaylee presented her feature-style profile piece “‘A Different Space: Inside a local Writers House.” The piece focuses on Elizabethtown College’s Writers House and its director, Jesse Waters. She explained what the house is, some of its struggles, and its connections with the local community and other writers houses. (You can find her abstract for the article on this site by searching “Herndon” at the top)

In the future, Kaylee will continue working with Writers House by finding events professors and students at Millersville would enjoy and organizing the Emerging Writers Festival.

 

Student Profile: Trevor Stauffer

Trevor Stauffer is in his last semester at Millersville University and has recently completed an internship at Merit Marketing. If you are a student looking for internships, visit this page to find more information. 

I put off my internship for a while. I always had excuses. I worried that I wouldn’t have enough time, that the pay wouldn’t be as good as my part-time job, and that my grades would suffer. Part of me even thought that I wouldn’t benefit from an internship. After all, school was going well, and the business world couldn’t be that different.

I was wrong. I’m a little over halfway through my copy-writing internship with Merit Marketing, and the experience is transforming my ability to write and edit in ways that formal classes never did (at least for me). In no way do I mean that traditional courses are less valuable; they are two totally different ways of learning.

F76A8222 (3)The internship atmosphere is different. In a college course, you are among peers. If you’re one of the more studious kids in the room, you may know a bit more about some topics, or pick up on lecture material faster. But no matter how much you stand out in the classroom, in an internship you know much less, and have much less experience, than anyone around you. In my opinion, this is a fantastic opportunity. You can ask for advice, learn from criticism, and foster connections with professionals. Be a humble sponge, soaking up the insights, methods, habits, and years of real-world wisdom around you.

An internship is also much more demanding than most college courses. There is both a much heavier workload and greater expectations on the quality of work. In an essay about Shakespeare, for example, you can probably get away with some awkwardly constructed, uninteresting sentences. And you’d probably be given at least a few weeks to write it. My copy-writing internship has been a great way to learn to write cleaner, leaner, more direct prose on a tight deadline. Professors are generally nice people, and don’t want to tear your heartfelt essay to shreds. But the real world is cruel. It doesn’t care how much introspective finesse you put into crafting that paragraph. Shorten it! Add more SEO keywords! Get to the point! While my mentors at Merit could not have been more polite or helpful, I did end up revising a lot. And that’s good: better to learn in an internship under friendly guidance than be called into a manager’s office at a real job.

F76A6164 (2)As different as my internship has been from previous classes, I know that without those classes, I would have been worse off. In particular, I think my journalism courses were especially good preparation. Because journalism stresses facts, readability, and topics that appeal to the public, I was able to use a lot of the skills I learned in journalism courses while writing blog posts for Merit.

My English degree has had less direct application, but it’s still been important. Pursuing an English degree has led me to care about language and literature. I’ve read many challenging works, become interested in different genres, and been absorbed in the power of history’s greatest authors. So while I’m far from a great writer, I’m a far better writer than I would have been without pursuing an English degree.

Another aspect of my internship I’ve really enjoyed has been writing blog posts from home. It’s been a lot more work than I expected, but that’s not a bad thing. Each week, I’ve been researching and writing one blog post for Merit’s website from the comfort of my own room. I’ve been able to cover a wide range of topics I previously knew nothing about, so it’s been a great way to expand my general knowledge of the business world. This from-home work has added extra credits to my internship and flexibility to my schedule: it could not have worked out better.

If you’re an English major on the fence, trying to decide if an internship is worth the extra work, I’d say go for it. You can earn credits, get paid, and, if your experience is anything like mine, you’ll meet great people and improve your writing dramatically.

—Trevor Stauffer

2018-2019 English Award Winners

Congratulations to the 2018-2019 English Award Winners!  Below are the scholarship recipients and the award qualifications. On May 1st there will be a banquet for the winners. Visit this website to see English major only scholarships and this website to see past award winners. 


Allison Rickert Memorial Award: Catherine Shehan

  • Awarded to a student from any class year with a minimum GPA of 3.0 or greater who contributes to the George Street Press or the Creative Writer’s Guild.

Dorothy J. Patterson English Award: Bryce Rinehart

  • Awarded to a rising junior majoring in the English teacher preparation program and working toward a Bachelors of Science in English Education with a minimum GPA of 3.0 in both the major and overall. The scholarship is renewable for two additional semester.

William S. Trout Memorial Award for English Education: Mariah Miller

  • Awarded to a senior English education major who has a cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.5, and 3.5 GPA in English courses. Candidates are required to document a commitment to creative writing through publication of original work.

Nadine Thomas Journalism Award: Vanessa Schneider

  • Awarded to a senior English education major who has a cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.5, and 3.5 GPA in English courses. Candidates are required to document a commitment to creative writing through publication of original work.

Eileen Carew Promising Writers Award: Shaakirah Ahmad-Tate

  • This scholarship is awarded to an English major with a declared Writing Studies Option who has achieved excellence or shows promise in writing. The student must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.

Dilworth-McCullough English Award: Mary Beth Nolt

  • Awarded to a student who has achieved excellence in English literature.

Class of 1910 Award: Amanda Mooney

  • Awarded annually for excellence in English to a student at the end of his or her senior year.

Frank R. Heavner Memorial Award: Maria Glotfelter

  • Awarded to the English major with the highest average in at least nine hours of linguistics courses.

Alice R. Fox Memorial Award in English: Emily Perez

  • Awarded to a student who, in the judgment of the English Department, has achieved excellence in English.

Class of 1917 Award: Matthew Moyer

  • Awarded at the end of a student’s junior year to a person who, in the judgment of the English Department, excels in the general field of English.

Class of 1922 Award: Hadassah Stoltzfus

  • Awarded to a senior who has demonstrated outstanding proficiency in the use of English.

National Day of Action

Friday, April 20th is The National Day of Action Against Gun Violence in Schools. Inspired by the brave students in Parkland, Florida, and across the nation, Millersville University students, parents, educators, school staff, administrators and community allies will join together to take up the students’ call of “No more” during the National School Walkout.

The last poster-making session will be on Tuesday, April 17th at 6pm in 310 Breidenstine. We will discuss the aims of Friday’s event, show examples of posters from recent anti-gun-violence rallies, and experts (art students) will be on-hand to help make posters. There will be plenty of supplies on hand courtesy of MU administration.

The group asks participants to research past shooting victims in advance, print out photos (with names, and which shooting) to bring to the poster-making session. These photos will go toward making a giant, participatory group collage, which will stand behind the stage on Friday, imprinted with the words: Enough is Enough! The New York Times published an article “After Sandy Hook, More Than 400 People Have Been Shot in Over 200 School Shootings” by Jugal K. Patel; the group recommends using this resource to begin researching.

On Friday, April 20th, the main event will be held in front of the Library (if rain, in the SMC) from 10am-1pm. The movement is powered and led by students around the country to protest congressional, state, and local failures to take action to prevent gun violence.

America is the only country in the world where so many people are killed by guns, and yet our leaders do nothing about it. In many states it’s more difficult to register to vote that it is to buy a rifle. Apparently to some politicians, a vote is scarier than a gun. We’re changing that. Our Mission

As of this publication, the MU event is sponsored by:

  • African American Studies
  • The Alliance for Social Change
  • American Association of University Women at Millersville University
  • Art Club
  • Center for Civic and Community Engagement
  • Center for Disaster Research and Education
  • Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change
  • The English Department
  • Frederick Douglass Black Culture Celebration
  • The Gender Issues and Social Justice Committee of APSCUF
  • The Honors College Student Association
  • The MU Philosophical Society
  • NAACP College Chapter at Millersville University
  • Office of Diversity and Social Justice
  • Philosophy Department
  • President’s Commission on Gender and Sexual Diversity
  • School of Social Work
  • Women’s and Gender Studies
  • The George Street Press

For more information on the national event, visit this website.