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Dr. Delia Steverson: UA Alumna and SREB Fellowship Recipient

Dr. Delia Steverson graduated from The University of Alabama’s Department of English with a Ph.D. in African American literature in 2017. She is now an assistant professor in English at the University of Florida, where she also serves as an affiliate professor in the Department of African American Studies. Dr. Steverson’s scholarship has appeared in The Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, The Explicator, and The Journal of American Culture. Her courses at the University of Florida explore Black subjects in nineteenth century American […]

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Professor Phil Beidler’s Beautiful War: Studies in a Dreadful Fascination

Dr. Philip Beidler has been a professor in the Department of English since the 1970s and holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees in English from the University of Virginia. He also served as a lieutenant in an armored cavalry platoon in Vietnam. Professor Beidler recently spoke with Dr. Shanti Weiland about the most recent of his many books, Beautiful War: Studies in a Dreadful Fascination, which is forthcoming from The University of Alabama Press. In the book, Professor Beidler draws on his experience […]

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Interview with Dana Sweeney, English Major Alumnus and Recipient of the Truman Scholarship

Dana Sweeney graduated summa cum laude in May 2017 with a major in English Literature. While at UA, Sweeney earned a prestigious Truman Scholarship, beating out 729 candidates from 305 American colleges and universities. As a Truman Scholar, Sweeney spent his post-graduation summer in Washington D.C. working with the advocacy group, People for The American Way. He is now working in Chicago as an organizer with Change Corps through the Public Interest Network. Sweeney spoke with Van Newell about his […]

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Interview with Lena Levendoski, English Major Alumna

Lena Levendoski graduated from UA with a BA in English in 1995. She is currently the founder of the non-profit organization, Stick’s Gift, which provides clothing to newborns in need in the greater Nashville and Davidson counties. Levendoski shared her story with Van Newell. Why did you decide to attend UA? The reason I chose the University of Alabama was simply because I lived in Tuscaloosa.  It was an easy and convenient choice that worked out well for me. I […]

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What We’re Writing/Reading

Dr. Shanti Weiland I am currently editing my poetry manuscript, “Cracked Planet,” which is a dark, modern fairytale that explores the relationship between time and memory. I imagine the manuscript as a photo album of relationships (romantic and platonic) that emerge from the understanding of familial experience and the balance (and, at times, incongruent nature) of religion and enlightenment. Last year, I started a literary blog called, The Poets That You Meet, that discusses poetry and provides writing prompts. I am interested […]

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Going to Bat for Writers: An Interview with Melinda Fields

Since 2004, Melinda Fields has been an invaluable part of the First-year Writing Program, serving as a liaison between students, teachers, and the Director. One of her many tasks includes helping students register for 100-level courses, a duty that she balances with her work as a Well Bama Ambassador. When I first walk into Fields’ office for this interview, she has heated her lunch, and the aroma of chicken and steamed vegetables fills the room. “Sorry I have to eat […]

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Michelle Dowd: New Director of the Hudson Strode Program

Michelle Dowd joined the University of Alabama in the fall of 2016 as Hudson Strode Professor of English and Director of the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies. Before joining the faculty at Alabama, she taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and at Fordham University. Her work primarily concerns the intersection of economics and gender in Renaissance drama. Her last book, The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. […]

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Cassie Smith’s New Book: Black Africans in the British Imagination

“Early” is the keyword when talking about Cassie Smith. Smith describes herself as an “early African Americanist and an early Americanist and an early Modernist.” Her new book, Black Africans in the British Imagination, explores representations of black Africans in the early Americas. Smith is interested in the narratives that lie outside the realm of typical slave narratives readers have come to expect. She explains, “Conventional wisdom says that the story of black Africans in the early Americas was about […]

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Shanti Weiland’s Sister Nun and the Zen of Typing

Shanti Weiland earned her Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Mississippi and has been an Instructor in the Department of English since 2008. Her book, Sister Nun, recently appeared from Negative Capability Press in 2016. Did the poems in Sister Nun create a theme for you, or did you envision a theme and then begin to write? In 2010, I was hanging out in a friend’s pool, on what was probably the last reasonable pool-day-weather, and lamenting […]

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Report: English Major Recruitment Task Force

In the fall 2016, Department Chair Joel Brouwer put together an ad hoc committee, or task force, to look into recruiting new English majors.  This faculty group, including Lauren Cardon, John Estes, James McNaughton, Luke Niiler, Deborah Weiss, Duncan Yoon, and, in fall semester, Ray Wachter—has extended its purview to increasing minors as well as majors, and has come up with improvements and suggestions for current practice. For instance, this semester, task force members have recommended creating a better sense […]

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