Category Archives: Publications

What It Means to Become a Scholar

May 20, 2022 hebillet

By: Artemis Harris

We hear the word “scholar” used a lot as graduate students. We write scholarly work, use scholarly sources, follow scholarly conversations, etc. But what does it mean to become a scholar?

Simply put, a scholar is someone who uses intellectual and academic pursuits to set them apart from others by applying their expertise in a specific area of study. The key word here is “expertise”, just following intellectual pursuits is not enough. You are expected to show your mastery of those pursuits as well.

This happens in many different forms; through the scholarship you produce such as your master’s thesis or other published works. It can also be shown through presentations at conferences where you are actively involved in the scholarly conversation and help to shape it. It also shows in your professional aspirations. If you are a teacher, professor, or researcher, you are spreading your scholarship to others and helping to further scholarly conversations.

But why should we become scholars? How does this help us?

Besides getting your diploma at the end of your educational journey, becoming a scholar allows us opportunities to grow and develop in our field outside of the traditional sense. One such way is networking. It is imperative in today’s day and age to network with as many people as you can to create connections that can be beneficial to you in the future. It often is about who you know that can help you get to where you are going.

As graduate students, we should be networking with faculty as they are needed to fill our committee for the master’s thesis. Having a good working relationship with a professor or advisor can be beneficial when you need advice or help, or for a letter of recommendation in the future. They are also resources for when you are looking for information that might help you with your professional careers. They have networked with others and might be willing to reach out on your behalf to assist you in future endeavors.

Outside of the university, when you go to conferences and panels you can network with others in your field of study there. These resources can be invaluable when it comes to finding future job opportunities, information for research, or in general making great personal connections.

Being an expert in your field and having all these resources at your disposal can help to improve your odds of meeting your professional goals. Career opportunities will be more available to you if you can show this mastery of your field of study. Having published work, conferences, and recommendations from faculty further show that you are an expert in your field, but that you are ready and able to produce quality work. Employers are going to be looking for the best of the best, and this can set you apart from other applicants in your field.

But how can I become a better scholar?

Joining the conversation is a great way to start. Go to conferences even if you are not presenting to learn from others in your field. This of course opens you to the opportunity to network with others as well. Share your information and develop strong professional relationships with others in your field. Presenting at a conference is also a terrific way to gain scholarship well. You will be a part of the active conversation and it puts you and your message out there for others to see.

Publish your work when you have the opportunity. Even if it is just in your school’s newspaper or journals, these publications get your name out, and can be used to show off your academic and scholarly work to others. It always looks good that you have scholarly work published as it shows that you have produced high quality work in your field that was good enough to be added to a publication.

Becoming an avid reader is also a wonderful way to gain scholarship. This is especially important as following the conversation will help you stay up to date on trends and ideas within your field of study. You should also read outside of your area of study to become a more well-rounded individual. You never know when having an informed opinion on something can make or break an interview. Making an impression on others is a fantastic way to develop professional and working relationships during networking. Breaking away from what is comfortable and familiar to you will help to open your mind to new and exciting ideas and fields that you can apply to your own scholarship. Joining clubs and organizations is also an effective way to do this. Because of the diversity within these groups, you can network and gain leadership experience. You will also have the opportunity to share your scholarship with others so they can learn about things outside of their fields of interest as well.

Newsletter Articles, Publications, Special Activities

Made in Millersville Journal Opportunities

September 24, 2019 Rachel Hicks

Need an internship? Want to get your work published? Check out the Made in Millersville Journal!

The Made in Millersville Journal is an online publication that works to publish student’s presentations from the annual Made in Millersville conference. This conference highlights student research projects and creative works from departments across campus. Students can present a paper, perform poetry, present an art sculpture, discuss a poster, play a musical performance, or anything that fits under the guidelines of the conference.

After noticing the wide variety of research and creativity demonstrated every year at the Made in Millersville Conference, Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol and Kerrie Farkas co-founded and co-created the Made in Millersville Journal, a conference proceedings journal for students and by students. Two pilot issues were published in 2015 and 2016 before the first full-fledged publication began in 2017. As of the 2019 edition, the Made in Millersville Journal has published 111 articles across all three colleges and 24 (of 26) departments, and has offered 24 internship positions.

There are two ways students can get involved with the Made in Millersville Journal: work on the editorial board as an intern or employee or publish in the journal as a presenter at the Made in Millersville conference.

Editors: Sara Lipski and Karen Layman (Shaakirah Tate and Daniel Dicker are not pictured) unveiling the current journal issue of the Journal during the 2019 Made in Millersville conference.

There are many reasons why students should intern for the Journal, some of which include gaining professional editing experience as well as building pathways to professional careers after college. Here’s the full list of reasons students should consider this internship opportunity:

Gain professional editorial and publishing experience
Improve their writing and editing
Gain hands-on experience working in a multidisciplinary, team environment
Work in a supportive environment that encourages interns to step out of their comfort zones
Build pathways between college and their future careers

The application deadline for the editorial board is October 1. Visit the employment/internship flyer for specific qualifications and directions to apply.

Not only can students join the editorial team, but they can publish their work in the Journal. In order to publish in the Journal, students must indicate on their conference application that they are interested in publishing. Here are some reasons student authors should publish in the Journal:

Impress future employers with a published writing sample;
Improve their writing and experience a unique, authentic, and personalized publishing process by collaborating with a team of trained student editors;
Market their scholarly or creative work by being featured in the journal and on our social media platforms;
Translate their conference presentation into an effective and accessible summary for a public audience; and
Build critical communication skills by working with an editorial team.

The application deadline for the Made in Millersville Conference will be in February.

If you have any questions about the Made in Millersville Journal or just want some more information, visit the FAQ page or email Kerrie Farkas or Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol.

Community Engagement, Publications, Special Activities, Student Activities

Get Involved with English Clubs!

September 5, 2019 Rachel Hicks

The English Department encourages students to check out the English-related clubs! The English Club, Film Club, George Street Press, and The Snapper give students opportunities to build community and flex their writing and critical-thinking skills. Click on the headings for the clubs’ Get Involved pages.

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 non-majors are welcome. Meetings will begin at 5:30pm on Thursdays starting September 12th. The location will be sent out via email at a later date. For more information, contact President Stephanie Wenger or Vice President Morgan Reichenbach.

Film Club:

The Film Club is a campus organization where film fans can gather for screenings of films followed by discussion, as well as connect with others with a passion for the art of film across Millersville. The club screens films, both older and more contemporary, and discusses the topics presented by correlating the film to larger societal issues. Film Club will begin screenings on September 16th at 7pm in Club de’Ville and will meet every other Monday afterwards. For more information, visit the club’s Facebook page, contact President Lisa Crum, or email adviser Jill Craven.

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 Monday 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 2019 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.

The Snapper

Editor in Chief Jared Hameloth and Managing Editor Julia Walters at Org Outbreak (Photo courtesy of Jared Hameloth)

The Snapper is Millersville University’s student-run newspaper, providing fair, accurate, and unbiased reporting on a weekly basis for the student body. They are the campus’ independent watchdog, a tireless advocate and champion of student rights. Through the sections and other positions, The Snapper provides students with an opportunity to experience the fields of print and digital media, along with many opportunities to improve their own writing 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.

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, adviser Jill Craven. Want to get involved with AAUW? Consider taking on a leadership position for the 2019-2020 school year.

Creative Writers’ Guild

Creative Writers’ Guild is a place for MU students to mingle and share ideas, discuss their passions, and simply enjoy one another’s company. The members have essentially become a family, and there is always room for more family members to join. Every meeting, club members are given a prompt to guide their writing, but have the freedom to create anything they like. Members have done everything from fanfiction to poetry to improv storytelling, and are always looking to try new writing prompts. The club meets on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm in Chryst 210. To learn more, contact President Jacob Coopersmith.

Publications

2019 Academy of American Poets Student Poetry Contest

June 6, 2019 Rachel Hicks

Every year, Millersville University participates in the Academy of American Poets Student Poetry Contest. Congratulations to Nate Warren, a senior English BSE major, who won first place and to Alicia McCrady, a senior English BA student, who earned “Honorable Mention” in this year’s contest.

Nate wrote a post about his poems, how his poetry comes to be, and the context of the three poems he submitted to the contest.

For me, my favorite kind of poetry to write is something that contains multiple moments in a single one – just a frozen bit found in the multitudes we feel simultaneously in our busy lives. One of my major goals in this style of poetry that I keep in the back of my mind as I write, and can always work towards, is that I want a welcoming tone with a little bit of optimism, or some hope for change. It’s okay to not know or understand everything – it’s impossible to – but for each person, there are things we can’t shake from our minds, both collectively and individually, both for better and for worse. The following poems were made with that mindset.

Altitude Sickness at Sea Level

Planes are atemporal, even though

I know it will be late when I reach home.

I’m just waiting for someone to tear me down,

To tell me to do better, to stick to

those weekly agendas, that daily routine

that will make me feel again. That will

make my contributions materialize.

Oh, to be grabbed by the hand of god

and shown to my place in the amber lights,

On Earth. An address that could be mine. A life

with a living. Worth where the struggles are

not left for thermolysis.

When I am told to get better, I am told to heal. There is a difference between that and improving. They are, after all, different words. Healing is still the act of returning to a perfect state. I want to improve in a way that says, I am not omnipotent, and neither are you.

– I wrote this on the plane coming back from a student activist retreat in Chicago – it was a long weekend at the retreat, and the semester started the next morning. It was also my first time flying at night, and the city went on for miles. I didn’t plan to talk about disability too, but that’s how it went.

Hasten

The lightning bug glow, near to the grass

and Susan yellow,

assured me that I had felt this before.

And each time, having won, this was also acceptable.

More fireflies joined their brethren in a sparkling display, like

streetlamps refracting in muddy puddles.

As I watched, they grew increasingly in sync, and zipped up to the sky.

Thunder rolled back down a second later.

The raindrops absorbed into my skin and froze,

settling myself within my body

I felt there.

On every person’s tongue and into everyone’s deepest thoughts,

And weaving into the day and time,

It rumbled on.

– It was a rainy, thunderous day, where everything felt surreal for no real reason. I believe small talk serves an important social function, of making sure the other person is okay, but that day it felt repeated word-for-word as we talked about the weather.

Carolina

Comfortable with elephants

we converse in gusts

shriveled rustlers in the melody of bells.

And while we’re at it, bites take

reality or build icons

but I’m afraid to represent still moments:

photos, ruin, and words, destroy.

Underneath the bones you tripped on

are bones, and dirt, and bones.

They struck me as prophetic.

You came away with a rash and a newfound love.

Grassless hills of loam shade us

and trick us into seeing only science

so by the time we’re in the sun again

proprioception erodes away,

with only faint muscle memory

of having stumbled.

– This one was written without an idea in mind initially, but as I wrote I remembered a day spent clearing up debris near a river across from this one restaurant when I was younger. The memories are both distinct and amorphous, and some modern thoughts slipped in.

Conferences, Literary Events, Publications, Special Activities, Student Activities

You are Inspiring: Over 100 English Students present at Made in Millersville

April 12, 2019 Jill Craven

Folks, this is a banner year for English at Made in Millersville. We have over 96 separate events (poetry readings, panel sessions, poster sessions, etc.) that Millersville English students are engaged in. What can I say–you all are rocking scholarship, creativity, and professionalism.

Check out Skyler Gibbon in the student spotlight analyzing Beyonce, Adele, and intersectional feminism! Congratulate Daniel Dicker, Karen layman, Sara Lipski, and Shaakirah Tate on their publication of the Made in Millersville Journal next week. If you are thinking about studying abroad, go hear about the amazing journeys of Abigail Breckbill, Thomas Joyce, and Jason Leighty. Or take in Poetry Out Loud with Dr. Corkery and his creative crew. And check out all of the impressive posters and panels. It will be a super busy day.

While the English faculty is always super proud of our students, we take it to the next level when we see all of your accomplishments together on one day. It’s just so fabulous! We hope you will come out and support each other and let your curiosity roam free!

You can find all the English events listed here: MiM English Events 2019

We’ll have a film crew on site that day to capture some of your accomplishments. We’re making a video for the website. Eric Griffin, an MU Art alum who took film classes, is doing the video, so if you see him and his crew, give them a little of you for the video. He won’t be able to capture everything, but I’ve encouraged him to try to get as much as possible so we can represent our community well.

Thanks for all the positive energy, great scholarship, and creative ideas that you all put out into the world. You are inspiring.

Conferences, Newsletter Articles, Publications

Re-Imagining Merlin

February 14, 2019 Rachel Hicks

Professor Leah Hamilton will present a paper on Authorial adaptations at Wayne State University in March. Read about her work below!

Several years ago I was confused by some very strange questions from students about the Arthurian tradition. The students eventually confessed that those questions were inspired by a television show I had never heard of: the BBC’s Merlin. Anyone who teaches literature contends with the many popular book, film, and television adaptations that influence in-class discussions, and it is helpful to know what students are influenced by and watching. So, that very week I set out to watch the first episodes in order to better “unteach” the show’s (apparently) strange presentations of the characters and tales. Instead, the students won me over; years later, I find myself championing the show as a significant adaptation of the Arthurian tradition as I develop a presentation paper about Merlin for Wayne State University’s conference “Telling & Retelling Stories: (Re)imagining Popular Culture,” and write a chapter for editor Susan Austin’s upcoming book, Arthurian Legend in the 20^th & 21^st Centuries.

Merlin includes many obvious adaptations to the Medieval stories (including casting Merlin, Arthur, and Lancelot as young adults simultaneously), but to me the most striking change is an emphatic erasure of Christianity from the stories. The omission of Christianity complicates the retelling of quite a few tales, perhaps most notably those involving the Holy Grail, and this was particularly intriguing as I waited for the young Lancelot and Guinevere’s flirtation to develop into their famously treasonous relationship. How would the writers of the BBC show redeem these characters and preserve their exemplary status without Christianity?

As I analyze the changes to plot and characterization of the characters, I am examining at the same time the circumstances under which modern audiences are willing (or unwilling!) to forgive heroes for missteps, and how the writers of the BBC’s hit show navigate this issue again and again through the five seasons (series) of Merlin. This is particularly relevant as modern audiences are increasingly vocal and public in their responses to the failures of political leaders, celebrities, and other cultural exemplars. Analysis of popular texts about some of the most beloved heroes of all time and the way in which writers are successful in persuading audiences to forgive their flaws (and at times their grievous missteps) may give some insight not only into the Arthurian tradition, but also into current attitudes regarding remorse, atonement, and redemption.

–Leah Hamilton

Community Engagement, Literary Events, Newsletter Articles, Publications, Special Activities, Student Activities

George Street Press Open Submissions!

February 14, 2019 Rachel Hicks

George Street Press is Millersville University’s literary magazine, open to students and faculty alike. Submissions are open for the Spring 2019 Edition!

This year, the club will be accepting submissions until March 8th. One student/faculty/alumni university member may submit:

3 poems (one poem cannot exceed two pages)
2 pieces of prose (one piece should not exceed 4,000 words)
2 pieces of non-fiction (one piece should not exceed 4,000 words)
3 pieces of flash-fiction (each 500 words or less)
5 pieces of original art (submit in .jpg format)
1 experimental piece (found poems, screen-plays, the strange, genre-bending, and unknown)

To submit, please email GeorgeStreetPressSubmissions@gmail.com with your name, contact info (phone number/email), as well as any notes about your pieces for the editors. All documents must be in .docx or .doc format, and art pieces must be in .jpg format. Once a piece is printed into the magazine, the writer is officially a printed author! This is a perfect opportunity for English Majors to get ahead in the creative world.

About a week before the end of the semester, the George Street Press will host a release party for the Spring 2019 Edition! Stay tuned for more information. Here are some photos from last year’s event:

Contact Kitsey Shehan or Sara Pizzo for more information about club meetings/submission guidelines or visit their Get Involved page. Photo Credit: GSP

Grad Students, Newsletter Articles, Publications

myOwnBody.docx by Maria Rovito

December 6, 2018 Rachel Hicks

Congratulations to Maria Rovito for publishing a book of her poems! If you have been recently published, contact Rachel Hicks with your story.

myOwnBody.docx, a collection of conceptual, cyber, and experimental poems, looks at the ways in which bodies are rendered and manipulated on screen, on the Internet, and in real life. Reading on the page as lines of code, chat room messages, and transcriptions, Rovito’s work aims to explore and reinvent the question of the body and human involvement in machinery and technology, shifting the borders between human and non-human.

Maria was profiled on the blog because a few of her poems featured in this collection were published on websites and in magazines. Check out her experiences as a grad student and a writer here.

You can find her book on Amazon.

Newsletter Articles, Publications

M.J. Zeller — The Edelion: Deliverance

December 6, 2018 Rachel Hicks

Within the past year, Millersville alum Matt Zeller published a novel he began working on during his time at MU entitled The Edelion: Deliverance. This is the first book in a series of four.

From the back flap:

The underworld of society is not for the faint of heart. Nobles spit on you, the city watch beats you, and the general public treats you like a disease. To live in this cold and dark life, one must fight for survival every day. Many turn to theft by means of cruelty and murder, but there are some that approach this career through cunning, guile, and skill. It is through this lifestyle that we find a young boy known only as Harth, striving to make a life for himself and gain fame and fortune under the infamous banner of the Thieves Guild.

Upon passing the first test, Harth is instructed to find his way to the City of Thieves; however, he discovers a world far more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. Along his journey to the City of Thieves, evil creatures and minions of a long-forgotten power lurk in the shadows, tracking his movements for reasons unknown to him. It all seems coincidental to Harth, but the fluctuations of a sleeping magic within him suggest otherwise. Harth is left frightened and confused as his injuries pile up and his courage wanes, but the not-so-random people he meets along the way keep him pushing forward. Despite all the near-death situations, Harth finds his way to the City of Thieves to secure his place among the most infamous thieves in the world. But are his adventures complete? His goals met? Or have they only just begun now that a once-slumbering evil creeps back into the land, hungry for destruction?

Matt worked closely with Dr. Tim Miller on the early drafts of the novel when he was an undergraduate student. We are so very proud of the publications that emerge from the creativity of Millersville students.

Millersville students get published! If you’ve recently found yourself a published author, let us know by contacting Rachel Hicks with your story.

Millersville University Department of English & World Languages