English Department

On Tuesday, February 10, Film Studies Professional Series and The Department of English welcomed Justin Zorn '17, Vice President of Feature Films at International Promotions. Justin's first screenplay, written for his English honors senior thesis, placed as semifinalist in the Austin Film Festival.

English co-hosted Chris Althoff on "How Stories Train Your Brain: Memory, Media and the Experience of Adaptations" on Jan. 27; and Adonis Richards, Schenectady's Poet Laureate, performed Spoken Word Poetry on Feb. 4.

Mark your calendars for these events still to come:

Tu Feb. 24, 12:55 K105: Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times movie critic and creative nonfiction writer

Wed March 4, 5:00 LOC TBA Joorst Burgers, "Turning Narrative into Data and Data into Narrative"

Th March 5, 10:55-12:30 VART 204 Henny Lewin, "Childhood Trauma-Holocaust Survival"

Th March 5, 12:55 LOC TBA Bina Gogineni and Kyle Nichols, "Whose temporality? Which scales?: Shifting from a temporal to a spatial understanding of the human"

Students:

Nevaeh Williams '28, a student in EGL295: Creative Nonfiction Workshop, had an essay accepted for publication in The Oakland Arts Review, an undergraduate literary journal at Oakland University in Michigan. It will appear in their spring 2026 issue.

Naomi Nayor '28 published a poem entitled "-9" from EGL 110: The Poetic Process in Oakland Arts Review, Spring 2025, p. 29.

Benjamin Stern '26 wrote an original one-act play in ATH 320: Playwriting, "The Trees Have Names Too," which won the Judith Barlow Prize.

Alumni:

Aja Schiller '25 wrote a psychological thriller called "Little Creatures" for her English Honors Thesis in 2024-25. Her new short story, "Pigs," is accepted for publication as a chapbook from Bottlecap Press, CA, and may be pre-ordered.

Jamaluddin Aram '17 contracted his essay collection, The Blood of Things to McClelland & Stewart (Canada) for publication in Fall 2026. Aram's prize-winning debut novel is Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday (Scribner-Canada, 2023).

Patrick Mulready '25 published a story (from his honors thesis collection), "The Work Capacity of Young Adults" in Short Vine Literary Journal (U Cincinnati), Spring 2025, pp. 27-33.

Faculty:

Professor Jordan Smith published an essay, "Liberty," and two poems, "In the Pines" and "Threadbare" in Live Encounters, February, 2026. On Feb. 7, the poem "Tattoo" appeared in Vox Populi. Smith has a guest editorial essay, "Listening" in Live Encounters' Nov-Dec 2025 issue; a poem, "Parts of the Same Project" in Vox Populi, September, 2025 and "No Expectations" and "The Great Uncertainty," also in Live Encounters, September 2025.

Professor Bunkong Tuon, professor of English and Asian Studies, won a 2024 Pushcart Prize and Union's 2025 Stillman Prize for Faculty Excellence in Research. Tuon published three poems in the print journal Salamander Magazine, 60: Fall/Winter, 2025-26. "Driving Home after Christmas with the In-laws" and "Year of the Snake" appeared in One Art on Dec. 26, 2025. In November, 2025, Tuon published another Pushcart-nominated poem, "Eating Donuts with My Son at Dunkin'" as well as "My Neighbor's Plea to his Children" at Collateral, where you can both read and listen to Prof. Tuon read the poems.

See you in a writing workshop soon!

English Major Checklist

English ID Major Checklist

Applications due: April 17, 2026.

NEW: English Literature Minor