The Department of English is pleased to announce that this year’s Outstanding Senior in English is Briana Gonzalez. The committee had a difficult choice, with so many students standing out for their academic accomplishments and their contributions to their communities. Thank you to all our students. Thank you to our faculty for their valuable input during this process.

The Department of English is pleased to announce that this year’s Outstanding Graduate Student in English is Nour Al Ghraowi. Nour’s poem “Truth is I would like to escape myself” appears in Poetry Magazine. You can read the poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155504/truth-is-i-would-like-to-escape-myself

Porter House Review, the MFA program’s literary journal, was recently recognized by PEN America. Fiction contributor Mackenzie McGee’s “Re: Frankie,” originally published in the journal, has been named a winner of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and will be included in the Best Debut Stories 2021 anthology. See announcement here: https://pen.org/pen-dau-short-story-prize/

Leah Schwebel’s chapter “Trophee and Triumph in the Monk’s Tale” was recently published in Chaucer and Italian Culture (University of Wales Press), 2021.

Amanda North presented “Literary Gastronomy: Cultivating Communities around Food and Literature” and moderated “Food and Culture: Communities, Feasts, and Literature” at the 2021 Southwest Popular and American Culture Association conference, held digitally. Her poem “Rumination VII” will be published in the ninth issue of Sobotka Literary Magazine.

On Sunday, Feb. 28, Graeme Wend-Walker was the guest on KZSM’s Philosophy and Popular Music program, where he discussed Australian music. The program is hosted by Paul Wilson and supported by the Texas State Department of Philosophy.

Anne Winchell chaired a Pedagogy and Popular Culture panel at the Southwest Popular and American Culture Association conference on February 24, 2021. Anne also presented “Helping Students Engage in Discussion in the Fully Online Classroom.”

MFA Fiction graduate Lev Keltner’s flash story “Myth Fest” appears in Peach Mag: https://www.peachmgzn.com/lev-keltner