Big Ten English departments launch Emerging Scholars Lecture Series
The Big Ten Emerging Scholars lecture series was created in April 2018 during the inaugural annual meeting of the Big Ten English Department Chairs, hosted by Cara Cilano (Michigan State University) and Marco Abel (University of Nebraska–Lincoln). The purpose of this series is:
- To help the selected Big Ten Emerging Scholars with their academic job search efforts by giving them an opportunity to simulate an on-campus visit (including but not limited to giving a job talk based on their research);
- To help the selected Big Ten Emerging Scholars strengthen their curriculum vitae through the addition of a prestigious invited scholarly lecture;
- To give the selected Big Ten Emerging Scholars the chance to present and promote their work as well as to network with scholars working in their fields;
- To give the hosting departments the chance to connect their own students and faculty to the Big Ten Emerging Scholars whose work is at the cutting edge of their respective disciplines.
Last but not least, this series was also initiated in order to strengthen a sense of community among the participating English Departments in the Big Ten. The Big Ten Academic Alliance is the nation’s preeminent model for effective collaboration among research universities and, other than the Ivy League, the country’s most prestigious higher education consortium of top-tier research institutions.
Being selected as one of the annual Big Ten Emerging Scholars is, thus, a significant honor (the selection process is competitive), the recognition of which will expand over the next years as this series establishes itself in the landscape of higher education. You can learn more about the series on the Big Ten Departments of English website.
Our department’s first Big Ten Emerging Scholars are Michael Gadaleto, who recently earned his PhD under the supervision of David Loewenstein, and Derek Lee, who recently earned his PhD working with Susan Squier. Gadaleto will present his talk on “The Island Nation and Its Discontents: Transnational Identities and Participatory Nationhood in English Renaissance Literature from Shakespeare to Milton”, to the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, on October 19, 2018. Lee will present his talk, “The Parascientific Revolution: The Paranormal Mind in Twentieth-Century Literature,” on September 24, 2018 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Our Penn State department will host two Big Ten Emerging Scholars this year, Kate Norcross, PhD candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Emily Loney, PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Event details:
Katherine Norcross, PhD candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Talk title: “Beowulf and Literary Trauma Theory in Early Medieval England.”
Sept. 7, 2018 from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM — Grucci Room, 102 Burrowes Building.
Emily L. Loney, PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Talk title: “Desiring Delay: Slow Revision and the Sonnets of Lady Mary Wroth”
Sept. 21, 2018 from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM — Grucci Room, 102 Burrowes Building,