English and Comparative Literature

Recent graduate Risa Applegarth received the Conference on College Composition and Communication's 2010 James Berlin Dissertation Award, the most prestigious dissertation award in the field.  Risa will be honored at the upcoming CCCC conference this March in Louisville, Kentucky. Graduate Sarah Hallenbeck also received honorable mention for the CCCC's Dissertation Award in Technical Communication.

Jane Danielewicz, a professor of English and comparative literature, is enthusiastic about the value of undergraduate research. The College of Arts and Sciences has recognized her dedication by naming her one of four inaugural Research and Undergraduate Education Term Professors in the four divisions of the College: fine arts; social and behavioral sciences; humanities; and natural sciences and mathematics. A recommendation of the 2006 Quality Enhancement Plan, these professors will enhance the culture of undergraduate research at UNC.

"When students come to college, it’s about becoming someone, developing an identity … so finding out about research connects the students to their senses of curiosity and creativity,” said Danielewicz, the Richard Grant Hiskey Distinguished Term Professor in Research and Undergraduate Teaching. “You have an opportunity to engage them, to help them claim a space within the university. We’re a research university, and students should be a part of this when they first walk onto this campus."

Congratulations to Nick Gaskill for winning the 2009 Norman Foerster Prize for his paper "Red Cars with Red Lights and Red Drivers: Color, Crane, and Qualia." The Norman Foerster Prize is given annually by the American Literature Section of the MLA to honor the best essay published in the journal American Literature in that year.

Associate Professor Inger Sigrun Brodey was awarded the SAMLA Studies Award for the best book published by a SAMLA member in 2008 for Ruined by Design: Shaping Novels and Gardens in the Culture of Sensibility (Routledge 2008). Presenting the award is Professor Robert West of Mississippi State University, Chair of the SAMLA Studies Award Committee. The SAMLA Studies Award is presented at the annual convention to the author of an outstanding scholarly book published during the previous calendar year.