On-Campus English and English-Related Organizations and Clubs
Calliope
Calliope is Mount Union College's annual literary and art journal with the purpose of encouraging artistic expression in literature and visual arts. Contributions (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction, and art) are accepted from all members of the College community with selections chosen by an editorial staff and published in an annual magazine, with cash prizes for the first three places. Contact faculty advisor Dr. Rodney F. Dick (dickrf@muc.edu) or president Ryan J. Conatti (conattrj@muc.edu) for more information. http://www.OnlineCalliope.com
The Dynamo
The Dynamo is Mount Union College’s student-run newspaper. Though housed in the Communication Department, English majors and minors frequently write for and become editors of The Dynamo. Contact faculty advisor Dr. Len Cooper (cooperlj@muc.edu) for more information.
The Writing Center
An interdisciplinary writing support center, the Writing Center offers English majors and minors an opportunity to tutor others’ writing and, in the process, become more effective writers and communicators. Typically, half the 20 yearly staff positions are filled by English majors and minors. Contact director Dr. Rodney F. Dick (dickrf@muc.edu) for more information. http://www.muc.edu/owl
Sigma Tau Delta (STD)
The International English Honor Society's central purpose is to confer distinction upon students of the English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies. Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature. Contact faculty supervisor Dr. David Thiele (thieleds@muc.edu) for more information.
The English Society
Established during the 2007-2008 year, the goal of the society is to bring together individuals who share an affinity to all things aesthetic and cultural. The society stays busy hosting speakers (Harvey Pekar last year) and a film series, as well as co-sponsoring the mid-year Calliope publication. Contact faculty advisor David Thiele (thieleds@muc.edu) for more information.
National/Regional English and English-Related Organizations and Societies
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
The National Council of Teachers of English is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. NCTE's mission statement is: "to the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language." NCTE has over 60,000 members and subscribers in the United States and other countries. Individual members are teachers and supervisors of English programs in elementary, middle, and secondary schools, faculty in college and university English departments, teacher educators, local and state agency English specialists, and professionals in related fields. Anyone interested in advancing English language arts education is welcome to join the NCTE membership community. http://www.ncte.org/
Our regional Affiliate of NCTE is the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA) which was founded in 1957 as the English Association of Ohio (EAO). OCTELA is composed of teachers of English and anyone interested in practicing and promoting English Language Arts. OCTELA is the only statewide affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) representing teachers of English language arts from pre-kindergarten through college. http://www.octela.org/index.html
Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)
Since 1949, the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) has been the world's largest professional organization for researching and teaching composition, from writing to new media. http://www.ncte.org/cccc/
Modern Languages Association (MLA)
Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. MLA members host an annual convention and other meetings, work with related organizations, and sustain one of the finest publishing programs in the humanities. For over a hundred years, members have worked to strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature. Reportedly, it has 30,000 members in 100 countries, primarily academic scholars, professors, and graduate students who study or teach language and literature, including English, other modern languages, and comparative literature. http://www.mla.org/
Our regional affiliate to the MLA is the Midwest Modern Languages Association (MMLA). Founded in 1959 and based at the University of Iowa, the Midwest Modern Language Association is a non-profit organization of teachers and scholars of literature, language, and culture. A regional affiliate of the Modern Language Association, the M/MLA provides a forum for disseminating scholarship and improving teaching in the fields of literary and cultural criticism. The members of the M/MLA hail from many different departments, including Comparative Literature, English, French, German, Italian, Linguistics, and Spanish. The M/MLA's annual November meeting builds a sense of community among many specialized fields with over 200 sessions, some coalescing around an informal convention theme and others focusing on widely ranging topics that represent the varied interests of the association's fields. Annual meetings also feature professionalizing workshops and a book exhibit that foregrounds the recent publications of its members. The M/MLA's Journal publishes their work in two issues each year. http://www.uiowa.edu/~mmla/
College English Association (CEA)
The CEA serves teacher-scholars of English in many important ways. This vibrant organization provides a meeting ground for those interested in all areas of literature, culture, creative writing, rhetoric and composition, pedagogy and advising. All constituencies from all walks of academic life are represented and welcomed. Members come together annually for exciting conferences on the both the national and local affiliate level, and share new scholarship and ideas in The CEA Critic and The CEA Forum. http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/index.htm
Our regional affiliate is the College English Association of Ohio (CEAO) which is the only statewide professional organization for college-level English departments. It addresses current issues in composition and literature as well as political, economic, and professional development issues that affect both theory and practice in the English profession. The CEAO provides an annual fall conference on administrative and professional issues, and an annual spring conference in current issues in literature, composition, and teaching. http://homepages.ohiodominican.edu/%7Eschaefej/
College Language Association (CLA)
The College Language Association, founded in 1937 by a group of Black scholars and educators, is an organization of college teachers of English and foreign languages which serves the academic, scholarly and professional interests of its members and the collegiate communities they represent. Since 1957, the Association has published the peer-reviewed CLA Journal, a quarterly featuring scholarly research and reviews of books in the areas of language, literature, linguistics and pedagogy. http://www.clascholars.org
The Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS) Founded in 1973, MELUS endeavors to expand the definition of American literature through the study and teaching of Latino American, Native American, African American, Asian and Pacific American, and ethnically specific Euro-American literary works, their authors, and their cultural contexts. http://webspace.ship.edu/kmlong/melus
American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
The American Comparative Literature Association, founded in 1960, is the principal learned society in the United States for scholars whose work involves several literatures and cultures as well as the premises of cross-cultural literary study itself. In its largest sense, comparative literature promotes the study of intercultural relations that cross national boundaries, multicultural relations within a particular society, and the interactions between literature and other forms of human activity, including the arts, the sciences, philosophy, and cultural artifacts of all kinds. The members of the ACLA are thus joined not by a national, linguistic, or methodological investment held in common, but by the shared condition of teaching and writing across nations, languages, and cultures--and hence by their lively interest in comparison as both a theoretical and a practical matter. The ACLA is affiliated with the American Council of Learned Societies, the Association of Departments and Programs of Comparative Literature, the International Comparative Literature Association, the Modern Language Association, and the National Humanities Alliance. The membership of the ACLA currently stands at twelve hundred. http://www.acla.org
Undergraduate Conference on English Language and Literature
Held annually at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL, the Undergraduate Conference on English Language and Literature includes research in wiring, literature, linguistics, theory and film. http://www.stfrancis.edu/en/ellcall.htm
International Congress on Medieval Studies
Held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, the Congress is an annual gathering of over 3,000 scholars interested in Medieval Studies. It features over 600 sessions of papers, panel discussions, roundtables, workshops, and performances. There are also some 90 business meetings and receptions sponsored by learned societies, associations, and institutions. The exhibits hall boasts nearly 70 exhibitors, including publishers, used book dealers, and purveyors of medieval sundries. The Congress lasts three and a half days, extending from Thursday morning until Sunday at noon. http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/index.html
Rhetoric Society of America (RSA)
The purposes of the Society shall be to gather from all relevant fields of study, and to disseminate among its members, current knowledge of rhetoric, broadly construed; to identify new areas within the subject of rhetoric in which research is especially needed, and to stimulate such research; to encourage experimentation in the teaching of rhetoric; to facilitate professional cooperation among its members, to organize meetings at which members may exchange findings and ideas; and to sponsor the publication of such materials dealing with rhetoric. http://rhetoricsociety.org/
RSA Student Chapters provide a forum for gathering locally as rhetoricians and can serve a variety of rhetoric-related functions. Many established student chapters have created or are creating rhetoric colloquia. Some chapters use these colloquia as a speaker series to bring in rhetoric scholars from other universities; others use them as a forum to discuss matters of professionalization such as publishing in the field; applying for fellowships or jobs, and navigating the complexities of interdisciplinary research. Existing chapters also focus their efforts on their own institutions and communities, discussing, for example, matters related to graduate curriculum or creating plans for rhetorical community activism. http://rhetoricsociety.org/
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP)
AWP was founded in 1967 to support the growing presence of literary writers in higher education. The mission of The Association of Writers & Writing Programs is to foster literary talent and achievement, to advance the art of writing as essential to a good education, and to serve the makers, teachers, students, and readers of contemporary writing. http://awpwriter.org/
International Writing Centers Association (IWCA)
The International Writing Centers Association (IWCA), an NCTE Assembly, was founded in 1983 to foster communication among writing centers and to provide a forum for concerns. Membership in the International Writing Centers Association includes directors and staffs of writing centers at universities, four-and-two-year colleges, and elementary and secondary schools, as well as those persons interested in writing center theories and applications. http://www.writingcenters.org
East Central Writing Centers Association (ECWCA)
The East Central Writing Centers Association (ECWCA), an affiliate of the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA), serves writing centers, from K-12 to colleges and universities, in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other regions nearby. The ECWCA is the oldest Writing Center organization in the world. http://www.ecwca.org
North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR)
The North American Society for the Study of Romanticism was founded in 1991 at The University of Western Ontario. NASSR was established as a forum for the discussion of a wide variety of theoretical approaches to Romantic works of all genres and disciplines and of subjects relevant to the international and interdisciplinary study of Romanticism. NASSR members from North America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia work in a wide range of disciplines, including History, Art History, Women's Studies, Philosophy, Music, Political Economy, and Literature; members' interests encompass American, Canadian, English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Russian, Scottish, and Spanish Romanticisms. http://publish.uwo.ca/~nassr/
North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA)
The North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) was established in 2002 to provide a continental forum for the discussion of the Victorian period, to encourage a wide variety of theoretical and disciplinary approaches to the field, and to further the interests of scholars of the period within such larger bodies as the MLA, the AHA, and ACCUTE. Our goal will be to provide a more visible forum for Victorianists in the profession: encouraging press and journal editors to participate in our annual conferences; facilitating the networking of Victorianists across regional and national boundaries; forging contacts with other national Victorian groups, such as the British Association of Victorian Studies; and initiating web-based archival projects that make Victorian texts more easily accessible to members. http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/navsa/
