Departmental Newsletter

MLA Student e-Newsletter, June 1, 2011

Please note that we have had some cancellations, but we have also added a section of MLA 572: Directed Readings and Research, and changed the day of Tommy Hays' Creative Writing Course (now offered on Wednesdays), and changed Elena Adell's Narration of the Nation in Latin American Films so that it only meets once a week, which will hopefully be helpful in providing a variety of courses on a variety of days! See below for more information.

Students may adjust their Fall and Summer Schedules from May 30th through June 3rd. Remember that OnePort is open from 7 am until 10 pm. The RAN is 201160. Complete list + CRNs may be found here: http://mla.unca.edu/fall-2011-course-descriptions.

CHANGES TO THE FALL 2011 SCHEDULE

NOW ON WEDNESDAYS:

ENG 520.002 - Seminar on the Human Experience: A Prose Workshop: Fiction & Creative Non-fiction

 Registration Call Number: (CRN) 61082
Instructor: Tommy Hays, MFA (MLA Core Faculty)
Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30pm
3 graduate credit hours
New Hall 132

This class will provide structure, support and constructive criticism for students who are interested in writing fiction or creative nonfiction. Students may have a project in mind or one they’re already at work on, but that is not required. In fact, part of what students may accomplish is discovering and tapping into creative veins from which to write. In that regard, we will do some in-class writing exercises.

Each student will submit short stories, novel excerpts or creative nonfiction during the semester, which I will respond to at length in writing, and which we as a class will discuss. Over time, as we learn what to look for and how to read like a writer, the class will become a community of supportive and insightful critics. I will also meet individually with students to discuss their writing. And finally, we will read and discuss works by accomplished writers to heighten our awareness of craft so that we might avail ourselves of the many possible approaches to our own work.

Instructor Tommy Hays: Tommy Hays’ latest novel, The Pleasure Was Mine, was chosen for the 2008 One City, One Book community-read in Greensboro, NC and was also chosen for the Amazing Read – Greenville, SC’s first community-wide reading of a single book. The Pleasure Was Mine was read on National Public Radio’s “Radio Reader” hosted by Dick Estell and South Carolina ETV-Radio’s “Southern Read”. It was also a Finalist for the SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) 2006 Fiction Award. Tommy has written two other novels -- Sam’s Crossing and In the Family Way, a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. He is Executive Director of the Great Smokies Writing Program and a Lecturer in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, he received his BA in English from Furman University and graduated from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and two children.

ADDED:

MLA 572: Directed Readings & Research

 Registration Call Number: (CRN) 61307
Instructor: Holly Iglesias, Ph.D. (MLA Core Faculty)
Individual meetings with instructor; 3 class meetings (times TBD by instructor in consultation with enrolled students)
2 graduate credit hours
Prerequisite: Successful completion of 6 hours in the MLA Program

MLA 572 provides direction and focus in research for students who have completed introductory coursework. The topic and methodology are individualized as students follow a course of directed reading that helps them to narrow an interdisciplinary theme down to a research topic. Each student will, with guidance, review the current literature and create an annotated bibliograph that describes and evalutes recent scholarship on the topic.

Instructor Holly Iglesias: Holly Iglesias earned a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Humanities from Florida State University and an Master of Arts in History from the University of Miami. She is the author of "Souvenirs of a Shrunken World" (Kore Press, fall, 2008), a poetry collection, and "Boxing Inside the Box: Women’s Prose Poetry" (Quale Press, 2004), a critical study. "Angles of Approach," another poetry collection, will be published by White Pine Press in the fall of 2010. She is a 2011 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry and has been the recipient of fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Edward F. Albee Foundation. Her teaching interests include American studies, documentary studies and a creative/scholarly approach to history through poetry and to poetry through archival photographs and ephemera.

NOW ON TUESDAYS WITH AN OPTIONAL FILM SCREENING ON THURSDAYS:

MLA 540.002 – Seminar on the Individual & Society: Narration of the Nation in Latin American Film

Registration Call Number: (CRN) 61085
Instructor: Elena Adell, Ph.D (Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages)
Tuesdays, 6:00-8:30pm; optional film screenings, Thursdays, 6:00-8:30pm
3 graduate credit hours
Karpen Hall 241

The course focuses on films from Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The goal of this course is to illustrate / analyze the representation of identities in film, understanding that such a concept, that of identity, is problematic and needs to be deconstructed to fully discover its implications and its fluidity. The type of text analysis that this course proposes requires the following: (1) to pay attention and thoroughly research the different historical contexts: the films will be studied and discussed taking into account that they are explicit cultural productions of a certain historical moment and that they are embedded within ideologies; (2) to deconstruct the way a nation is “narrated” or represented, paying special attention to the exclusion/inclusion process or dynamic that has been traditionally used to design such idea, that of “a nation”; (3) to understand what are the most prominent voices in a social context and who and what is being silenced; (4) to observe how film is “a technology,” a discourse which comforms/determines/influences society and the individual; (5) to enhance the students’ analytical skills through a solid “dialogue” with critical theory. Along with the screenings, this course requires from the student the reading of key intellectual manifestos of the history of Latin American cinema of the last sixty years. These documents will allow us to fully grasp the ideological aspect of the films that will be discussed. These are the themes that will be researched in this course: field of cultural production vs. power; the construction / destruction of collective memories; the narration of the nation; violence: symbolic and factual; local realities in a global world; the neoliberal era in Latin America.

Instructor Elena Adell: Elena Adell specializes in contemporary Latin American literature and film, with a focus on Cuban intellectual history (19th century to the present), more specifically on narrative and visual arts. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of postcolonial and cultural studies, with a focus on new developments on the idea of citizenship in Latin America and on the role of the intellectual in civil society. Her most recent work analyzes the “esthetics of violence” in Cuban novelists and independent filmmakers. In a broader perspective on Latin American culture, Adell is also currently working on the analysis and interpretation of texts set during periods of democratization.

MLA Student e-Newsletter, May 25, 2011

Registration Reminder

Registration will open this coming Monday, May 30 for summer and fall terms. Fall registration will close again on June 3. Summer registration will stay open until each term starts. The RAN is still 201160. Let me know if you have any questions!

Crochet the Coral Reef!

Western North Carolina is joining a global effort to crochet a coral reef. As part of the unique project, the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" by the Institute For Figuring (IFF) in Los Angeles, which unites non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry with ancient craft techniques, area artisans are working to create beautiful and lifelike models that will raise awareness of threats to the world's coral. The Asheville Reef, organized by UNC Asheville's Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, will involve crochet groups in Brevard and Hendersonville, as well as UNC Asheville, Appalachian State University and Western Carolina University.

Beginning in May, creators of the Asheville Reef will gather at five locations. Each group is seeking participation from the public and will be led by an experienced crafter. Additional locations will be added as the project evolves.

Crochet group locations:

* Asheville – men's crochet group led by Mark Koven, assistant professor of Art, Owen Hall, UNC Asheville, email mkoven@unca.edu for details.

* Hendersonville –1-4 p.m. on Thursdays, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, 1181 Broyles Road, call 828/890-2050 for details.

* Brevard: Charlotte's Fibers, 275 N. Broad Street, call 828/862-6886 for schedule.

* Cullowhee: Western Carolina University, call 828/227-3591 for details.

* Boone: Appalachian State University, call 828/262-5268 for details.

To accompany the local reef-making, the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design will display and add to the Asheville Reef as it is being created, through August 12, at 1181 Broyles Road in Hendersonville. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. For more information or to participate, visit craftcreativitydesign.org or email info@craftcreativitydesign.org.

To learn more about the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" project, visit crochetcoralreef.org.

Pan Harmonia: Mixed Bag of Winds Concert

7:30 PM Thursday, Jun 16, 2011. Lipinsky Auditorium

Pan Harmonia is an independent, artist-directed collective based in Asheville, North Carolina. Their work transcends the boundaries of traditional chamber music through eclectic, unpretentious and genre-smashing programs delivering captivating performances with world-class players. Their goals include creating beauty and harmony and sharing the joy and discovery of great music with audiences of all ages. Pan Harmonia, a project of Keowee Chamber Music, has been nationally acclaimed for its unique work and superb artistry.

Tickets will go on sale May 31.

FREE for UNC Asheville students (limit two tickets per OneCard, in person at the Highsmith Union Box Office or at the door)

$12 UNC Asheville faculty/staff/alumni/NCCCR/WCU (limit two per OneCard)

$20 General public

Tickets for purchase are available in person at the Highsmith Union front desk, online at uncatickets.com, or at the door beginning at 6:30pm the night of the concert.

Click it: http://pan-harmonia.org

MLA Student e-Newsletter, May 19, 2011

HAPPY SUMMER!

MLA Office is OPEN

A quick reminder that Associate Director Gerard Voos and I are 12-month employees; we here to offer any assistance you may need this summer! Contact info:

Jordan Dolfi
Program Assistant
123 Karpen Hall
(828) 250-2399
jdolfi at unca.edu

Gerard Voos
Associate Director
216 Lipinsky Hall
(828) 232-5040
gvoos at unca.edu

Checking Grades

1. Log into OnePort

2. Select the Student tab

3. Choose Academic Services

4. Click "continue" under Banner Services

5. Choose Student & Financial Aid

6. Select "Student Records"

7. Click "Final Grades" and choose the current term when prompted.

If you have any trouble accessing this, please feel free to give me a call - 250-2399!

Summer Courses

Continuing students will have the opportunity to register online for Summer courses beginning again on May 30. Registration for each summer term will stay open from May 30 until the beginning of that term (more detailed schedule provided in the next section down).

We still have two summer courses with availability:

MLA 520.001 - Seminar on the Human Experience: English Language, Past & Present

Summer Term IIa (July 5 – July 29)
Monday through Thursday 10:15am-12:35pm
3 graduate credit hours - tuition/fees for this course will be $798.15 for an in-state graduate student
CRN 30038
Instructor: Peg Downes
Karpen 221

Study of the roots and development of the English language from its earliest stages in 5th century Britain to the present state of English in the U.S. and as a global phenomenon. Introductory survey of several topics in linguistics, including phonology and morphology, syntax and semantics, language acquisition, language communities, animal communication systems.

MLA 520.002 - Seminar on the Human Experience: Life Drawing Intensive

CRN 30133
Instructor: Tamie Beldue, M.F.A., Assistant Professor of Art
Summer Term IIb, amended (July 11 - July 22)
Monday through Friday, 9:30am - 2:00pm
3 graduate credit hours - tuition/fees for this course will be $798.15 for an in-state graduate student
Owen Hall 247

This course focuses on working observationally from live models in a nurturing environment that is suitable for all skill levels including beginners. Concepts taught in lecture, critique and practice include figure/ground relationships, using value to describe form and the understanding of structure & proportion of the figure with sighting techniques. A range of black and white drawing materials will be explored as it relates to the development of a personal aesthetic in its application to drawing.

Opportunity to Adjust Summer and/or Fall Schedules! (A very rare opportunity!)

Students may adjust their Fall and Summer Schedules from May 30th through June 3rd. Remember that OnePort is open from 7 am until 10 pm.

An updated list of MLA Courses is available here: http://mla.unca.edu/fall-2011-course-descriptions. Please note that we have had some cancellations, but we have also added a section of MLA 572: Directed Readings and Research, and changed the day of Tommy Hays' Creative Writing Course (now offered on Wednesdays), and changed Elena Adell's Narration of the Nation in Latin American Films so that it only meets once a week, which will hopefully be helpful in providing a variety of courses on a variety of days!

* Students may continue to adjust their Summer Schedule through the end of Drop/Add for each summer term. The Drop/Add Deadline for each term is listed below. In general, the three and four week terms have the first two days of the term for Drop/Add and the six week terms have the first three days of the term for Drop/Add.

* Term IA - Tuesday, June 7.

* Term 3 - Wednesday, June 8

* Term IB - Tuesday, June 14

* Term 2A -Wednesday, July 6

* Term 2B - Tuesday, June 12

Tuition Information

* Payment or approved/accepted financial aid for ALL summer classes is due on May 20th. The Bursar will drop classes for non-payment around May 25th. If your classes are dropped, you will need to pre-pay your tuition and fees in order to re-register. Because summer school is self-supporting without any state funding, we must have an accurate picture of class enrollments.

* Please check your email during the summer for additional announcements from the OneStop Office/Registrar's Office/ Assoc. Provost of Academic Affairs. We will not have definite figures for fall tuition and fees until the NC General Assembly finalizes the 2011-12 budget. As the summer progresses, there are likely to be important announcements related to billing, tuition, and/or class schedule changes that we will be sending via email, so please continue to check your email frequently.

Read past newsletters.