Fall 2022
Dr. Jessica Jensen, Associate Professor of French, was the recipient of a $1,500 Indiana Language Roadmap Grant from the Center for the Study of Global Changes and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University. It is intended for developing and implementing a statewide plan to strengthen world language learning, with collective input from stakeholders across business, education, health care, and government sectors. This project is supported through the Language Flagship, an initiative funded by the Department of Defense through their National Security Education Program and administered by the Institute for International Education.
Dr. Dave Black presented his documentary In Harmony’s Way: A Battle to Save a Bridge on October 18 to a meeting of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society with a discussion following on the current state of the bridge and efforts to fund its revitalization. The documentary provides a history of the closed toll bridge in New Harmony and the efforts to find a solution for its long-term survival.
Criminal Justice faculty have been active in presenting at the American Society of Criminology in Atlanta, GA. Presentations included "Examining Attitudes Towards Police Reform and Use of Force through Public Opinion and Media Coverage" by Jason Callahan and Whitney Hayes (Virginia Tech), "Substance Use and Mental Health" by Laura Lutgen-Nieves, Caroline Jalain, and Taylor Petty, and "Gender and Trafficking Myth Acceptance: Making Child Sex Trafficking Case Decisions" by Taylor Petty, Richard Wiener (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and Anna Pittman (USI student).
Dr. Oana Popescu Sandu has had two recent publications. The first is an article in an edited volume entitled Cultures of Mobility and Alterity: Crossing the Balkans and Beyond (ed. Yana Hashamova, Oana Popescu Sandu and Sunnie Rucker-Chang; Liverpool University Press, 2022). The book trailer can be found in the include link. The second article appeared in Comparative Literary Studies and is titled “New Cold War Nostalgia in Recent US Cultural Productions: Retro and Irony in the Transnational Postsocialist World.” Comparative Literary Studies, 59 (3), 612-630. This article examines the intersection of nostalgia, irony, and retro in “new Cold War” story lines that dominate two U.S. cultural productions—the feature film Creed II (2018) and the series Comrade Detective (2017).
Rosalie Moffett’s works “Hawks” and “Hysterosalpingography” have been nominated for a Pushcart Price by 30 Poems and the New England Review. The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year.
Casey Pycior’s work was recently showcased online by the South Dakota Review. They feature his essay “Cahokia, Summer 2017,” from whence this observation: “About 10 times southwest through the haze, the Gateway Arch goose eggs on the horizon, the St. Louis skyline an uneven roll of dominoes ready to topple into the Mississippi River as it wends past. I pull out my cell phone to take a photo and undergo a brief but jarring realization that 1000 years of technological advancements separate the mound I’m standing on and the cell phone I old in my hand.
MT Hallock Morris judged the State “We the People” competition in Indianapolis. In this program, middle and high schools learn about the Constitution, prepare a written statement, and then participate in “hearings” where they are questioned about their knowledge. The winner from each state goes on to the National Competition. It is an example of great outreach work by our faculty.
2022 National Student Electronic Media Convention
John Morris, Instructor of Radio/TV, and student, Tyler Huyser who, along with three other radio station workers, took third place in the Imaging category of the National Student Production Awards.
2022 National Student Electronic Media Convention
USI Instructor and current president of the event sponsoring organization, College Broadcasters Inc (CBI), John Morris addresses the crowd prior to the awards program.
2022 National Student Electronic Media Convention
John Morris, USI Instructor of Radio/TV, discusses “play by play” reporting for sports broadcasts in a breakout session at the National Student Electronic Media Convention in Baltimore, Maryland.
Sara Christensen Blair, Professor of Art and Chair of the Art and Design Department, and colleagues represented the University of Southern Indiana Art and Design Department by presenting at the 78th Annual Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) in Baltimore on October 26-29, 2022.
Sara Christensen Blair presented “The Sweet and Subtle Smashing of the Status Quo — Not Just a Pile of Candy.” Dr. Gregory Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, presented “Street Art and the Disruption of the Expected.” Virginia Poston, Instructor in Art History, presented “The Invisible Celts: A Neglected European Tradition.” Chuck Armstrong, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, presented “Preparing Students to Flourish in a Digital World: The Importance of Learning to Code or Script.” Nancy Raen-Mendez, Instructor in Art, presented “The Unpainted.” Robert Millard-Mendez, Professor of Art, presented “Spectacles of the Sublime: Monsters in Contemporary Sculpture.” Click here to learn more about SECAC
In addition to SECAC, art faculty have been involved in other venues. Dr. Greg Blair was invited to the Department of Art at Mississippi State University from Oct. 17-19 as a Visiting Artist/Scholar. During his visit, Dr. Blair led a student workshop at the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge on how to connect artistic practice to the experience of place. Likewise, Al Holen, as a result of her sabbatical work, had an article published in the Nov./Dec. issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, which is a partner magazine with Ceramics Monthly. The article, entitled “Double-Walled Chopstick Bowls,” provides pictures and descriptions of several of Al’s works along with her clay/glaze recipe and a pictorial step-by-step process for creating the bowls. It features “how-to” photos taken by recent alum R. Cole Collier.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Assistant Professor of English, gave a presentation entitled "Toward a Humanistic Approach in Medical Education” at the 2022 Indiana College English Association (ICEA) Conference in Indianapolis. LaFollette was also voted in as secretary for the organization.
Jennifer Horn, Instructor of English, gave a presentation entitled " Folklore & FYE: Building Community through Created Traditions” at the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Tulsa, OK.
Dr. David O’Neil published two peer-reviewed articles: "Syntax, Prosody, and the Brut: Continuity in the Medieval English Alliterative Tradition." and "Social Integration and Campus Internationalization Through Performing Arts Volunteerism."
Dr. Elissa Mitchell, Associate Professor of Social Work, has four contributions in the new book, Active Learning Lessons, Activities, and Assignments for the Modern Social Work Educator, coming out later this month (Routledge). The book includes example assignments and class activities. Elissa’s contributions focus on the teaching of Macro Practice (chapter 5 of the book).
Dr. Jane Weatherred, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, along with coauthor Leigh Moscowitz from the University of Southern Carolina, recently published their study “Exemplification of child abduction in US news media: Testing media effects on parental perceptions and assessment of risk,” which was published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology. The study uses a three-group experimental design to examine how news stories of child abduction affect parental concerns. Their findings suggest that watching news stories about abduction doesn’t lead people to report that the problem of child abduction is worsening. However, watching news stories about abduction does make people think that their communities are less safe and those who think that their communities are less safe are more likely to report worsening conditions of child abduction.
Drs. Nick Larowe and Matt Hanka provided pre-election and election night coverage on News 14 in Evansville, and other news outlets in the area.
Election appearances include:
8/29 - Evansville Courier & Press
10/20 - WNIN Newsmakers
Congratulations to Al Holen, Associate Professor of Ceramics, who received the Third Place Award for her 4-piece serving set, Bullseye Bourbon Server. This award comes from the Wichita National Ceramic Invitational Exhibition with this year’s Judge, Eddie Dominguez, Professor of Ceramic Arts at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE, selecting three entries out of 33 total participants from all around the Nation.
Congratulations to Laura Lutgen-Nieves on her recent white paper published by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. The paper, entitled “From the General Public to America’s Jails: MAT Saves Lives”, examined the use of medication for the treatment of opioid use disorders in our jails. Her research finds that despite research indicating the efficacy of medications currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone) in treating opioid use disorder (OUD), opioid-related overdose deaths continue to rise each year and access to treatment remains impeded. This is particularly the case for justice-involved people, and especially for those who find themselves in America’s jails. Adoption of these medications for treatment has been slow within the criminal justice system. However, some states have begun making changes to the system in an effort to expand access to these medications for the treatment of OUD among justice-involved people. Her findings suggest that if policymakers and health care providers are truly interested in reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety, more deliberate movements need to be made in expanding treatment to people in jail and those being released.
Urska Dobersek and Srikanth Dandotkar have become certified Peer Reviewers for Quality Matters. Quality Matters is a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting and improving the quality of online education and student learning. As certified peer reviewers they are experts on research based pedagogy to improve the quality of online learning. Sri (and some other colleagues) have also recently published an article on “Knowing about Knowing” in the Journal of Effective teaching in Higher education. In this study, they examined the effectiveness of the reflective writing task as a means of changing how students think about what is known. The teaching method under investigation successfully improved students’ beliefs in a way that predicts student learning.
Eric Altheide’s work in audiobooks is really thriving. Over the last two years, he has recorded nearly 40 audiobooks including non-fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, romances (released under the pseudonym Grayson Owens) , short stories, thrillers and literary fiction. Upcoming work includes a mystery/thriller about an FBI detective tracking a serial killer, several non-fiction business titles and a non-fiction book about a man retracing the steps of John Muir’s walk from Louisville to Florida in the late 19th century and how much our environment has changed since then. He records this work from a home studio, which thanks to so much interest in his work, has been upgraded to a professional sound booth this summer. Congratulations Eric.
Congratulations to Dr. Anna Stroulia, Adjunct faculty member in Anthropology in the Department of World Languages and Cultures recently publish an article with colleges the Journal of Neolithic Archeology. The article entitled, “Fishing, Weaving, Matting: Debating the Function of Notched Cobbles in Neolithic Greece” addresses notched cobbles (stone piece with symmetric indentations). These artifacts are widespread, but rarely studied. Anna and her colleagues find that they were likely used in fishing and represent one of the rare components of fish capture technology preserved from Neolithic Greece.
Dr. Manuel Apodaca Valdez’s book was recently released by Brill Press. It is entitled Cofradías Afrohispánicas: Celebración, resistencia furtiva y transformación cultural [Afro-Hispanic Confraternities: Celebration, Furtive Resistance and Cultural Transformation]. One Reviewer wrote, “This encyclopedic study of organizations led and founded by Africans and their descendants in the broader Ibero-American world starts with the medieval origins of these groups and carries their stories through to the present day. A timely, sweeping book which synthesizes decades of vibrant scholarship on African diaspora lives, cultures, and beliefs, this engaging work brings together many strands in an expansive geographic overview ranging from Spain to Peru. Readers seeking insights on the complex mesh of African and Catholic spirituality and practices will consult this book for years to come. ~ Nicole Von Germeten, Oregon State University.”
Liberal Arts Achievements: 2021-2022
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Spring/Summer 2022
Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland won the Arthur W. Thompson Award from the Florida Historical Society (FHS) for her contributions to the special issue of the Florida Historical Quarterly (FHQ) journal titled, “Indigenous Florida.”
Named in honor of the late Arthur W. Thompson, longtime University of Florida history professor and former editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly, this award recognizes the most outstanding article appearing in FHQ during the preceding publication year. Dr. Shefveland won for her contribution, "Remembering an Indigenous South: Regional Identity, Vero Beach, and Settler Tourism"
Dr. Melissa Stacer’s research, “Student perceptions of corrections: The influence of media and correctional facility tours,” has recently been accepted for publication by the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Stacer is a Professor of Criminal Justice Studies and the Director of the Criminal Justice Graduate Program. Her current study, forthcoming publication, culminates the research of her previous studies examining the impact of jail and prison tours on undergraduate students.
Dr. Stacer’s research began in 2013, with data collection from 2013-2015, and has resulted in 4 journal articles and 8 presentations. Two USI students, Ryan Eagleson and Lydia Moll, worked alongside Dr. Stacer on this research and were co-authors on all the articles and presentations. Dr. Monica Solinas-Saunders of IU-Northwest was also a co-author on all four articles. Dr. Stacer’s previously published research articles are titled “Exploring the utility of correctional facility tours in undergraduate criminal justice education” (2017, Journal of Criminal Justice Education), “New opportunities or closing doors? How correctional facility tours impact students’ thoughts about careers” (2019, Journal of Criminal Justice Education), and “The impact of correctional facility tours on student perceptions and realizations of the correctional environment: A research note” (2020, Journal of Criminal Justice Education).
Dr. Gregory Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, wrote an essay, “Palimpsests of Identities: Material Voices at the InLiquid Gallery,” for the Material Voices Exhibition at the InLiquid Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, available from October 27 to December 4, 2021. Dr. Blair also presented his paper “Using the Body in Contemporary Art Practices” on the Embodiment and the Politics of Intervention panel at the Midwest Art History Society Annual Conference in Houston TX on March 10-11, 2022.
Click here to read Dr. Blair’s essay “Palimpsests of Identities: Material Voices at the InLiquid Gallery.”
Dr. Taylor Petty, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, presented at the American Psychology-Law Society conference in Denver, CO on March 17, 2022. Dr. Petty presented “The Impact of Emotion Regulation in Child Sex Trafficking Cases.”
Dr. Caroline Jalain, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, participated in a roundtable called “The Future of Veterans’ Courts in the U.S.” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference on March 16, 2022. Dr. Jalain’s central area of study is Veteran Treatment Courts. Recently, Dr. Jalain and Dr. Melissa Stacer, Professor of Criminal Justice Studies and Director of the Criminal Justice Graduate Program, have started a new project that will evaluate how Veteran Treatment Courts have responded and adapted to COVID-19.
Dr. Kathy Elpers, Professor of Social Work, has been nominated by Dr. Elissa Mitchell, Associate Professor of Social Work and Director of Center for Social Justice Education, for the Celebration of Leadership (COL) award, presented by Leadership Everyone at the 27th Annual Celebration of Leadership Event. Leadership Everyone is a non-profit organization committed to engaging, inspiring, and honoring diverse servant leaders to transform the community through vision, collaboration, volunteerism, engagement, and generosity. Dr. Elpers is being recognized for her 30 plus years as an educator, during which she has guided and mentored countless students.
Click here to see Dr. Elpers nomination.
Click here to learn more about Leadership Everyone.
Meredith Hagerty, a double major in Communication Studies and Public Relations & Advertising, was recently awarded the Lois & Betsy Hamburg Scholarship for $5,000 from the Vanderburgh Community Foundation to further her studies here at USI.
In March 2022, the ETS Major Field Test assessed USI Sociology seniors on their student learning in sociology. This standardized test ranked USI sociology seniors collectively at the top 22% of all test takers who tested in the United States between 2012-2021. One USI sociology student even scored in the top 1% of the nation.
Bonnie Rinks, Director of Field Education in Social Work, Summer Wilderman, Clinical Assistant Professor of Social Work, and John Paulson, Associate Professor of Social Work, coauthored the article “Responding to Behavioral Concerns in Field: A Team Approach” and have been published in The Field Editor, an online journal produced by the Simmons School of Social Work.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Assistant Professor of English, was recently asked to serve on the Board of Advisors at The Blood Project (TBP) by the Executive Director, a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. TBP is a platform which educates on the vital role of blood in health and disease, by building bridges between the humanities, science, and patient care. Additionally, Dr. LaFollette was asked to contribute creative work to the humanities section of TBP’s website and, in February 2022, they published seven of her original poems (collectively called “Intern Year”) about medicine and embodied experience.
To learn more about The Blood Project, click here.
To view Dr. LaFollette’s collection of poems on the website, click here.
Dr. Oana Popescu Sandu, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department, and colleagues represented the University of Southern Indiana English Department by presenting—both in person and virtually—at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention in Washington DC, the largest convention in the field of English, on January 6-9, 2022.
Dr. Oana Popescu Sandu presented “More Languages, Fewer Borders: Translingual Poetry against Methodological Nationalism.” Dr. Susana Hoeness-Krupsaw, Associate Professor of English, presented “The Power of Visual Language in Duffy and Jennings’s Adaptations of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Parable of the Sower” and “This above All, to Refuse to Be a Victim.” Dr. Laura Soderberg, Assistant Professor of English, presented “Remaking Archives of Childhood: Surveillance, Documentation, and Memory in Native Children’s Literature.” Dr. Amy Montz, Associate Professor of English, participated as a panelist in the session: “Translating Worlds: Gendered Code- and Role-Switching during COVID.”
Click here to learn more about the MLA.
Dr. Amy L. Montz, Associate Professor of English in 18th and 19th Century British Literature, recently was featured in an interview along with Dana E. Lawrence, titled "The Complications of Adaptation." The interview was published December 31, 2021 in the "Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature," a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the scholarship of young adult literature.
Conducted by Terri Suico, an associate professor of education at Saint Mary's College, the interview discusses adaptation of young adult literature and research that Montz and Lawrence have done on the subject.
The College of Liberal Arts hosted their annual Spring Meeting in January 2022, continuing our tradition of presenting awards of recognition to faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond in their service to the College.
We are proud to announce the following:
- Dr. Urska Dobersek, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received the Outstanding Research and Creativity Award
- Dr. Cacee Hoyer, Assistant Professor of History, received the Outstanding Teaching Award
- Dr. Wesley Durham, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, received the Outstanding Service to the College of Liberal Arts Award
- Dr. Susannah Hoeness-Krupsaw Associate Professor of English, received the Distinguished Faculty Award
Jenn Horn, Instructor in English, delivered her commencement speech to the 2021 College of Nursing and Health Professions graduates and 2021 Pott College of Science, Engineering and Education graduates. See the video here. Skip ahead to see Mrs. Horn at 45:35.
Dr. Silvia Rode delivered her commencement speech to the 2021 Romain College of Business graduates and 2021 Liberal Arts graduates. in the third of four graduation ceremonies for fall 2021. See the video here. Skip ahead to see Dr. Rhode at 48:50.
Fall 2021
Home and Away: Lived Experience in Performative Narratives, edited by Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, was published by Routledge. By combining aesthetic expression and inquiry with critical reflection, the contributors in this volume use a variety of narrative strategies—autoethnography, mystoriography, creative cartography, the lyric essay, fictocriticism, collage, the screenplay, and poetics—to position place as the starting point for the aesthetic impulse. The anthology showcases the power and potential of performative writing to illustrate the ways we interact with and in place; provides examples of the ways one can express lived experience; and demonstrates the ways discourses overlap while extending our understanding of identity and place, whether one is home or away. Although the chapters are fixed by their literary form in this volume, many of chapters are best realized in a performance or shared publicly via an oral tradition.
Dr. Denise Lynn, Professor of History, Director of Gender Studies and Director of the Africana Studies Program, recently had her piece "When it comes to activism, law enforcement has always had a double standard" published in The Washington Post. Lynn's piece was included in the "Made By History" section, a section dedicated to offering historians the opportunity to provide "historical analyses to situate the events making headlines in their larger historical context."
Dr. Stephanie Young, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, received the Undergraduate Mentor Award from the Kentucky Communication Association. This award is given for outstanding support of undergraduate scholarship and participation. It recognizes the important role faculty members play in supporting undergraduates’ academic, personal and professional growth through meaningful interactions related to academic advising, research and creative endeavors. Nominees will have a consistent record of successful outcomes with students such as advising student groups; coordinating presentations at professional conferences; including students in publications; and guidance for academic progress and admission to graduate/professional school, etc. Faculty members will also exemplify a high level of integrity and maintain active and continued mentorship as students move through their academic and professional careers.
Dr. Erin E. Gilles, Assistant Professor of Advertising & Public Relations, received the Harlan Hamm Award for Service to the Organization from the Kentucky Communication Association. Named for Harlan Hamm of Morehead State University, this award is given to a member with sustained service to KCA above and beyond what was expected of her or him.
Distinguished Professor Award
Dr. Silvia Rode, Professor of German and Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, was named the 2020 USI Distinguished Professor. Rode joined the USI faculty in 2007 as an Associate Professor of German and Chair of Modern and Classical Languages. During her time at USI, she has led in the development of new certificates and the Master of Arts in Second Language Acquisition and Culture. The Distinguished Professor Award was established in 1983 and is USI’s highest award given in recognition of significant achievement in teaching, scholarship and service. As a recipient, Rode will receive a $7,000 stipend plus a $3,000 faculty development grant underwritten by generous donors to the USI Foundation.
Lee Cooper Core Curriculum Teaching Award
Jenn Horn, Instructor in English, was awarded the 2020 H. Lee Cooper Core Curriculum Teaching Award. Horn, who serves as the First Year Experience Liaison for the College of Liberal Arts as well as a mentor for Living Learning Communities, is also the 2021 recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Excellence in Teaching Award. The H. Lee Cooper Core Curriculum Teaching Award was established in 2000 and honors a USI faculty member whose work in University Core Courses (UCC) has been especially creative and successful in furthering UCC goals. As a recipient, Horn will receive a $4,000 stipend and a $2,000 faculty development grant underwritten by longtime and generous University friends, Ann and H. Lee Cooper III.
USI Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award by New Faculty
Dr. Srikanth Dandotkar, Assistant Professor of Psychology, was awarded the 2020 USI Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award by New Faculty. Dandotkar joined USI in 2016 and is being recognized for his ability to both teach and assist students throughout the transition to online courses caused by the pandemic, as well as his service as a mentor for a number of his students with Endeavor Research Grants.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette's poem "[Portrait of a] Young Woman's Doppelgänger" was nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology by Rogue Agent. Read it here.
Dr. LaFollette's co-edited collection Queer Approaches: Emotion, Expression, and Communication was released by Information Age Publishing in Fall 2020.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette's two scholarly articles that will be published during the Fall 2021 semester. “Dada and Surrealism in the Composition Classroom: A Transgenre Approach to Basic Writing Pedagogy" is forthcoming in the Journal of Basic Writing and "Constellating Arts-Based and Queer Approaches: Transgenre Composing in/as Writing Studies Pedagogy" is forthcoming in the Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette's full-length poetry collection, Hematology, was selected as the winner of the 2021 Harbor Editions Laureate Prize. The book will be published by Harbor Editions in November 2021.
Dr. Oana Armeanu, Chair of Political Science and Associate Professor of Political Science in the Political Science, Public Administration and Philosophy Department, participated in the international conference "Two Democratic Societies in Transition: Exploring the Dynamics of a Post-COVID World," hosted by the Danubius University in Galati, Romania with a group of USI students in September 2021.
John Sibley Williams’s poem “The Dead Just Need to be Seen. Not Forgiven.” (originally published in the fall 2019 issue of Southern Indiana Review) has been selected for the prestigious annual Best American Poetry anthology. "The 2021 edition of the leading collection of contemporary American poetry is guest edited by the former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, providing renewed proof that this is “a ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title” (Chicago Tribune).
Dr. Sally Vogl-Bauer’s Communicating Ethically in Our Everyday Lives was published in July. Communicating Ethically in Our Everyday Lives provides readers with opportunities to pause and reflect on what it means to engage in ethical communication with others. It defines and explains the relationship between ethics, ethical communication, and ethical interpersonal communication and ultimately helps the reader to identify ethical interpersonal communication in people’s verbal and nonverbal messages. Published by Kendall Hunt Publishing.
The second scholarly book, Rhetorical Narratology (University of Nebraska Press, 1999) by Michael Kearns, Professor Emeritus of English, is being translated into Chinese for a new series in narrative theory, to be published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. The translator, Huaiyu Luo, will also be publishing an interview with Kearns about the book; in a Chinese journal, the title of which translates into English as Narrative Studies.
Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Assistant Professor of English, was selected as the winner of the Harbor Editions Laureate Prize. Her full-length poetry manuscript, Hematology, was chosen by Missouri Poet Laureate, Karen Craigo. The prize includes publication of her manuscript by Harbor Editions. As a collection, Hematology is at the intersection of medicine and the humanities. With a focus on bodies, genetics, and trauma, the poems outline family relationships and experiences with illness, recovery, and grief.
"In this collection, there is close attention to the literal body and its blood—so much blood, plus bone and flesh and bruise and nerve and spine. Right alongside it, though, is the figurative body, which can 'glide like songs from a mouth,' or which is 'honeycomb / & milkweed, then a stack of white plates / with blue borders.' This is a lush, embodied collection with the capacity to surprise and astonish readers. I'm excited to recommend it." - Karen Craigo, MO Poet Laureate
Dr. Laura Soderberg, Assistant Professor of English, has a forthcoming book, Vicious Infants: Dangerous Childhoods in Antebellum U.S. Literature.
Vicious Infants offers a counterhistory of literary childhood as both perceived social threat and site of resistance, revealing that many children were not only cut off from family and society, they were also preemptively excluded from the rewards of citizenship and adulthood. Turning to prison documents, medical journals, overlooked periodical fiction, and literary works from William Apess, Harriet Wilson, Herman Melville, Susan Paul, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Laura Soderberg recovers alternate narratives of childhood and provides an important window into the cultural links between race, reproduction, and childhood in the antebellum period.
The book can be purchased from the University of Massachusetts Press here.