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Faculty Feature: Dr. Emily Baldys

Dr. Emily Baldys (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor of English and our new Assistant Chair of the Department of English & World Languages.  She received promotion and tenure this summer and we offer our sincere congratulations! Her areas of interest and expertise include Victorian British literature, Critical Disability Studies, and popular romance. You can read her most recent publication “Imagining the ‘Survival of the Unfit’ in the Novels of Olive Schreiner and Mona Caird,” published this past spring in Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies here: http://ncgsjournal.com/issue191/baldys.html . She received her BA in English from Bryn Mawr College and her MA and PhD in English from Penn State.

Dr. Baldys is a fantastic professor both inside and outside the classroom, receiving MU EPPIIC Values Award nominations for her inclusive practices two years in a row. This semester she is teaching Early British Literature, Shakespeare, and ENGL 110 courses as well as leading independent studies for others. She is also continuing her role as the faculty advisor for MU’s ADAPT chapter. We are so proud and privileged to have Dr. Baldys teaching and working with us!

Dr. Baldys’s Favorites

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is Dr. Baldys’s favorite book – you can read it for free online through the McNairy Library by clicking the link below.

Read Jane Eyre

Normal People is Dr. Baldy’s current favorite TV show – it is currently streaming on hulu.

And although it was difficult for her to choose, Ghostbusters came out on top for her favorite movie. She said: “I will never not watch Ghostbusters if it’s on.”

Ghostbusters is currently available for free on DVD from the McNairy Library. Click the link below to reserve it.

Get Ghostbusters!

 

What does it mean to Dr. B to be an English and World Languages Scholar?

“Practically speaking, it means I am lucky enough to talk about the books, shows, and films that I love with brilliant people every day! I think and hope it also means that my students and I are especially well equipped to critique the many texts that we encounter in our daily lives: that we might watch Barbie or stream Bridgerton or devour the latest BookTok must-read, and while we’re doing that we can not only hear the echoes of earlier texts but also think like a literary critic about the underlying messages and values that shape our world.”

 

 

 

 

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Faculty Feature: Get to know our new department chair Dr. Mando

This fall semester, the department of English and World Languages welcomed a new department chair. Dr. Justin Mando (he/him), who has been a professor for the department since 2016, has already made many positive improvements and ideas within his first month as chair. This week, the department would like to highlight Dr. Mando and provide an opportunity to get to know him beyond the classroom.

Dr. Mando received his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Vermont. He then received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University. There are many different fields of study that he specializes in, including environmental rhetoric, rhetoric of place, discourse analysis, and composition studies. This semester, Dr. Mando is teaching a special version of the science writing course that is paired with Meteorology students taking climate dynamics. In connection with his interest in environmental rhetoric and science writing, his favorite book is Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, a text that details the author’s exploration of life and nature.

Connecting with the theme of exploration, I asked Dr. Mando what it means to be an English and World Languages scholar. His response below highlights the importance of this field and why students need to have humanities courses. He states:

“I find this field meaningful for so many reasons, but what stands out to me the most right now is how we study and teach effective citizenship. For a democracy to thrive, we need citizens who are socially conscious, who can read and think critically, respectfully engage and challenge people’s ideas, and who are able to argue persuasively for the common good of all. We develop these skills by studying language, literature, and rhetoric.”

The department of English and World Languages is so excited to have Dr. Mando as our new chair, and cannot wait to see all the wonderful things he accomplishes within this new position!

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George Street Press wants YOU to submit your creative projects!

The George Street Press is running again! Rising from the ashes, this student led literary and art magazine is seeking submissions of your creative projects! Accepting works of poetry, short prose fiction, drama, stylistic nonfiction, painting, drawing, digital designs, and more. You can even join as a member to gain insights into the world of publishing as well as help guide the creation of 2023-2024 issues. Check out the links below to connect with the Press and enter your submissions.

Image created by GSP secretary Amelia Cusanno

George Street Press on MU’s Get Involved

This is where you can apply for membership as well as get access to all the important information about the aims of the Press, board members, and submission guidelines.

https://getinvolved.millersville.edu/organization/georgestreetpress

 

Instagram @mu_georgestreetpress

Follow here for updates and meeting reminders.

https://www.instagram.com/mu_georgestreetpress/

Or on Discord: https://discord.gg/7WZcYFHn

Submission Form

Make sure you check out the Press’s guidelines for submissions on their Get Involved page to ensure you are meeting all their prerequisites for length, content, and more.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0L6suqNUzK0v7nxBZkg_o-8Dhv0cQQDCyOKDPd1F-wPgHDw/viewform

 

Past issues can be found here: https://georgestreetpresss.wixsite.com/gspmag/past-editions . However, please note that this is no longer the website in use so please follow the other links above for current information.

 

Best of luck to those who submit and to the Press’s board and members for the revival of this fantastic journal!

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Alumni Perspective: Why I Chose to Get My Master’s degree at Millersville

August of 2021 was the beginning of the end of a certain chapter in my life. Like other students, I was happy to return to in-person classes and clubs on campus. My junior year had been completely virtual, and I was greatly missing the connections made in the classroom and in my social life. Although the excitement to return for my senior year grew stronger each day, so did the sadness of knowing this would be my last year at Millersville. I would torment myself with the question of “what will I be doing a year from now,” hoping that I could somehow find a way to align myself with my future goals. I knew that going to graduate school was something that I wanted to do, but where and when was something that overwhelmed me to think about. That is, however, until I learned about the Master of Arts in English program that was offered at Millersville.

When I looked back on my undergraduate years, I was able to see how much I had grown and changed in a positive way from being a student at Millersville. My freshman year, I was a quiet and uncertain student who didn’t believe in herself. Over the course of four years, I had turned into a student who was confident in her academic abilities, and knew the value in herself not only as an academic, but also as a teammate, peer, friend, and partner. The different skills I had learned in my English courses, such as learning how to compose a range of texts, fostering my creativity, and expanding my analytical thinking, had only reinforced that furthering my education in the subject was the best choice for me. Speaking with Dr. Pfannenstiel that spring semester my senior year, I saw a direct path on how to achieve my goals by staying at Millersville.

Although some may assume that staying at the same university for both undergrad and graduate degrees may limit one’s growth, I would argue that it only helps to expand it. Since I already knew the campus, department, and professors I would be working with, I didn’t have to worry about any of that when the school year started. Instead, I could just focus on my studies and figure out how to make the most out of my two years in the program. Another major reason I chose to further my education at Millersville was because of the opportunity to have a graduate assistantship in the English department. Working with Dr. P, Dr. Baldys, Dr. Mando, and my amazing fellow GA Becca on a daily basis has helped me grow as a professional and as a scholar in ways I never could have expected. Their kindness and knowledge have inspired me to look towards my own future, as the skills and connections they have provided me with have helped me to become more excited by the unknown rather than fearful.

Millersville has and continues to be a place where I am changing and growing in a positive way each and every day, and I am so thankful to my past self for choosing to stay here to continue my journey into higher education. Although this chapter will be closing soon, I now have direction on where the next one may start.

Click here to learn more about our graduate programs:

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A Summary of Summer Reads

Here’s what the ENWL faculty, staff, and GAs got up to this summer! Or rather the books they got into? From space escapades, to humanizing narratives about abortion, these are the books that are sticking with us from our summer reading lists. 

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Recommended by Dr. Darrell Lagace 

A scientist wakes up from a coma on a spaceship with no idea where he is or how he got there. 

Written by the author of The Martian, this book has much of the same hard science background. The protagonist uses basic (and not so basic) physics, chemistry, and biology to slowly piece together why he is there and what his mission is. It is also going to be turned into a movie (which will be difficult, given the internal nature of the dialogue!). 

This book is available by request through the Millersville McNairy Library and through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical and eBook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story Edited by John Freeman 

Recommended by Dr. Kaitlin Mondello 

An incredible collection of short stories by one of my favorite editors (John Freeman) with many of my favorite writers (Alice Walker, Jamaica Kincaid, Ursual Le Guin, Louise Erdrich, Ted Chiang, etc.). 

Just read one short story a day or a week! It’s really enjoyable and manageable at the same time. I was reading this to help prepare for my Fiction course this semester. 

This book is available by request through the Millersville McNairy Library.

 

You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The stories behind abortion by Dr. Meera Shah 

Recommended by Dr. A. Nicole Pfannenstiel  

Each chapter offers a different story, cultural perspective, and/or life event surrounding abortion decisions. The breadth of perspectives is so important to recenter how abortion is a medical decision. 

There are statistics about lack of access to medical care, the facts of women suffering due to political decisions, but it’s the stories shared in this book that humanize how medical decisions are made. 

This book is available by request through the Millersville McNairy Library and through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical, eBook, and audiobook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

The Overstory by Richard Powers 

Recommended by Dr. Caleb Corkery 

The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of – and paean to – the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe. 

This book made me think so differently about trees and humans.  Trees are our companions, central to everything about human life.  They are the passageway between the earth and sky.  I actually felt sad after reading this book, but it has stuck with me like nothing else I read this summer. 

This book is available through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical, eBook, and audiobook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera 

Recommended by Dr. Marco Antolin 

Tomas, the protagonist, is a brilliant surgeon in Prague. Briefly married in the past, he neither sees or wishes to see his ex-wife. He is comfortably established as a perpetual bachelor. He pursues a philosophy of lightness in his erotic adventures. Kundera contrasts through the protagonist reflections on the understanding of life as light or of heaviness. If someone has only the opportunity to try one path, to make one decision, they cannot return to take a different path. The uncertain existence of meaning sets the stage for the entire novel. 

Kundera is one of my favorite authors since I was a teenager. I learned this summer that he passed away. I decided to read again one of the novels that made an impression on me growing up to pay homage to his legacy. I recommend this book because of his insightful meditations on the nature of love and because of his magnificent narrative style. 

This book is available through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical, eBook, and audiobook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Recommended by Heather Verani 

A psychological thriller that follows six different characters’ perspectives surrounding a murder on a mysterious island off the coast of Ireland. This book has many exciting themes of betrayal, deceit, secrets coming to light, and so much more! 

I love murder mysteries and have been a Lucy Foley fan for a while, so I thought this book was the perfect choice for a beach read this past summer! 

This book is available by request through the Millersville McNairy Library and through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical, eBook, and audiobook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 

Recommended by Becca Betty 

This is a space story that is not really about space. It is a story about human (and non-human) connections that form and break while navigating values and perspectives that are quite literally worlds apart. Culture clashes and profound discussions of life, love, and loss intermingle with adventurous sci-fi stakes as a ragtag crew builds bridges through time and space to unite distant parts of the galaxy. 

I think I enjoyed this book so thoroughly because it was not at all what I was expecting. This novel is an earnest discussion of what it means to find value in existing wrapped-up in a traipse across the stars in a ramshackle spaceship—its humble crew carrying forward unsettling histories, deep sadness, and seemingly unconquerable differences into a brighter future. 

This book is available by request through the Millersville McNairy Library and through the Lancaster Public Library System in physical, eBook, and audiobook formats and can be accessed for free with a public library card. 

 

Stay up-to-date with ENWL events and opportunities by reading this blog and following our Instagram (@ville.englishworldlanguage) or Facebook (Millersville University, Department of English). 

Are you a grad student? Check out our dedicated blog for the MU ENWL grad experience here: https://blogs.millersville.edu/englishgrad/  

Good Luck in your new semester? 

 

Thesis Defense

Thesis Defense Announcement- “An Analysis of Abbott Elementary Through the Lens Black Placemaking”

The Department of English and World Languages would like to announce the thesis defense of Taylor Green for her BA in Multidisciplinary Studies in Digital Journalism, Honor’s College. Her thesis, titled “An Analysis of Abbott Elementary Through the Lens Black Placemaking” is chaired by Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel with committee members Dr. Caleb Corkery and Dr. Elizabeth Thyrum. Her defense will be held tomorrow, April 28th, at 1pm in McComsey room 359.

Thesis Defense

Thesis Defense Announcement- “Disability Studies Informed Creative Writing: Care not Cure”

The Department of English and World Languages would like to announce the thesis defense of blue Guckert for his MA in English. His thesis, titled “Disability Studies Informed Creative Writing: Care not Cure,” is chaired by Dr. Emily Baldys with committee members Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel, Dr. Jess Hughes, and Professor Michele Santamaria.  blue’s thesis defense will be held tomorrow, April 28th, in McComsey 359 at 4:30pm.

Thesis Defense

Successful Thesis Defense Announcement- William Artz

The Department of English and World Languages would like to congratulate William Artz on his successful thesis defense for his M.Ed. in English. His thesis, which is titled “The Digitized Post-Secondary Transdisciplinary Humanities Classroom,” was chaired by Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel with committee members Dr. Kaitlin Mondello and Dr. Emily Baldys.

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English Internship Experience- Avery Hartman

I am currently completing an internship with Gemini Wordsmiths and I have to say, I couldn’t have hoped for a better internship. This internship heavily focuses on teaching me about the editing/publishing industry and ensures that they are providing me with projects that I deem useful for my future career. After graduation, I hope to go into the editing/publishing industry. Before this internship, I didn’t have much experience or knowledge of the field, but after completing 15 weeks, I feel that I have learned so much and even have a better idea on what career I hope to pursue after college. I went into this internship thinking that I wanted to go into copy editing. However, after working with Gemini Wordsmiths, I think I would rather pursue a career in book publishing. Not only has this internship taught me so much about the editing/publishing industry, but they have also helped me determine where I want to take my next steps and how I want to start the next chapter of my life.

My linguistic courses have played a major role in my success with this internship as I completed multiple projects in editing authors’ manuscripts. Many of my literature courses also played a major role in my success when it came to projects of recommending publication and research of authors. My degree has set me up for success for my career after college and I couldn’t be happier with my choice.

This internship has challenged me with new experiences in order to gain new skills. One of the projects I was given was to create a monthly newsletter. I had never created a newsletter before and was unsure of how to start. After sitting down with me and going over step-by-step what a newsletter entails, I was much more confident in completing this project and gained new skills to apply on my resume.

Throughout my experience with this internship, I was not only able to apply my relevant coursework to complete projects, but I was also able to expand on my hard and soft skills and gain more knowledge on the editing/publishing industry.

Throughout my college experience, I have developed skills in research, copywriting, copyediting, time management, attention to detail, organization, communication, and independence. A project that I think exemplifies these skills is a project where I was asked to be the first reader for a newly submitted manuscript. For this project, I read the entirety of an author’s draft to their manuscript, fact checked authors to ensure they were truthful in their previous work, researched books similar to theirs to see if they have been successful, and gave a full recommendation on whether or not the internship should follow through with publication. With this project alone, I was able to apply my skills of research, copywriting, time management, and organization as well as gain hands-on experience with the publishing industry. My degree has allowed me to apply recently acquired skills to the success of my internship. When I first applied to be an English major, I questioned if it was the right decision. Everyone asked me what I could possibly do with an English degree and said it would be difficult to find a career with a degree like English. I am so incredibly happy to say that I have successfully applied my degree to relevant work and am confident in my next steps after graduation.

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