English Department Annual Events
Skidmore's annual Frances Steloff Lecture honors the work of a major literary figure. The Steloff Lecture series was established in 1967 at Skidmore by Frances Steloff, a native of Saratoga Springs, founder of the Gotham Book Mart in New York City, and well-known patron of writers. She endowed the lecture series as a way to bring outstanding literary and artistic talent to the college. Notable Steloff speakers have including five Nobel Prize winners and dozens of the world’s most important writers. Previous Steloff honorees include Mario Vargas Llosa, Nadine Gordimer, Seamus Heaney, J.M. Coetzee, Saul Bellow, Arthur Miller, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Colm Toibin, Don DeLillo, Marilynne Robinson, John Banville, and Joyce Carol Oates, among many others.
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The Fox-Adler Lecture series was founded in 1991 and commemorates Skidmore’s Norman M. Fox Collection, which features approximately 400 books by prominent Victorian authors and illustrators.
Housed in Special Collections in the Lucy Scribner Library, the Fox Collection has
fostered scholarship and played an integral part in students’ learning in courses and independent academic work. This annual lecture features a distinguished scholar
or practicing artist, and focuses on the creation, history, culture, and/or theoretical
significance of illustrated works, ranging from books and magazines for adults to
children’s literature. Notably Fox-Adler speakers include Françoise Mouly, George
Landow, Barry Moser, Scott McCloud, Jonathan Bate, and Michael Kimmelman.
The 2019 Fox-Adler Lecture, “The Art of Distillation: The Unlikely Road to Making
Books,” will be delivered by William Grill on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. More information is available here.
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Every year the English faculty host a “Critical Futures” event, in which members of the department synthesize for students (and their colleagues) the most exciting and innovative developments within the field of literary studies. Centering on the research of faculty members, recent Critical Futures events have focused on disability studies, ecocriticism, and thing theory.
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“Why Read Aloud?” is an annual event that began in 2001 in order to bring students and faculty together to share their love of literature. The program celebrates the experience of communal listening and the spoken word. Since 2006 the program has been called “Why Read Aloud?: The Megan Rogers Annual Festival” in honor of the life of the 2003 graduate, who died of leukemia shortly after graduating. Megan Rogers was a beloved student, who majored in English and enjoyed all the aspects of this annual event. In recent years, the “Why Read Aloud?” program has focused on marathon readings of single literary texts, such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost and James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Calendar of Events and Important Dates - spring 2021
Date | Event |
---|---|
February 2 | Classes begin |
February 5 | Department Meeting, 2:30 p.m., Zoom |
February 5 | Faculty Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Zoom |
February 9 | Last day to add a class without a signature |
February 10 | Saidiya Hartman Interview and Q & A, 7 p.m., via Zoom |
February 12 | Internship for credit deadline |
February 16 | Drop and/or change to Audit deadline |
February 19 | Virtual Coffee Hour for students and faculty, 7 p.m., Zoom, sponsored by the Student Reps. |
February 25 | After the English Major w/Profs. Bozio and Hrbek, 5 p.m., Zoom |
March 4 | Steloff Lecture with Kwame Anthony Appiah, Zoom |
March 5 | Department Meeting, 2:30 p.m., Zoom |
March 5 | Faculty Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Zoom |
March 8 | Exploremore: What is the English Major/Minor all about?, 7 p.m., Zoom |
March 16 | Break Day, no classes |
March 18 | Last day to change Grade Option (S/U) |
March 26 | Department Meeting, 2:30 p.m., Zoom |
March 26 | Faculty Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Zoom |
March 30 | Capstone Informational Meeting with Prof. Golden, 5-6 p.m., Zoom |
April 5 | Advising Week begins |
April 9 | Tentative Make-up Department Meeting, 2:30 p.m., Zoom |
April 9 | Tentative Make-up Faculty Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Zoom |
April 13 | Registration for Fall 2021 begins |
April 15 | Withdrawal deadline |
April 18 | An Evening of Readings on Loss and Healing, 7 p.m., Zoom |
April 26 | A Screening of Coded Bias, directed by Shalini Kantayya, 7 p.m., Zoom |
April 30 | English Department Writing Awards Ceremony, 1:45 p.m., Zoom |
April 30 | Department Meeting, 2:30 p.m., Zoom |
April 30 | Faculty Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Zoom |
May 4 | Last Day of Classes |
May 5 | Academic Festival |
May 5 | Honors Convocation |
May 6-9 | Study days |
May 10-13 | Final examinations |
May 13 | Senior grades due from faculty |
May 14 | Spring semester ends |
May 17-21 | Senior Week |
May 19 | Faculty Meeting, 10 a.m., Zoom |
May 22 | Commencement, details TBD |
May 25 | Non-Senior grades due from the faculty |
June 25 | Incomplete grades due from the faculty |