The Gordian Review, an adjunct of the Texas Review Press, is now accepting poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction works by graduate students. This is another great opportunity to get your stuff out there. Deadline is November 30, 2015.
Category: Stuff You Oughta Know
The latest events, opportunities and any other news that is applicable to our program.
Graduate Writing Studies Professor Melissa Goldthwaite and the Four Questions
This is the second in our series “Four Questions,” featuring SJU Writing Studies professors. Meet Dr. Melissa Goldthwaite, who will be teaching ENG 642, “Style,” in spring 2016.
Photo Credit: Howard Dinin
Her Happy Place
What is your current writing project? (Or do you have a link to a recent publication you’d like to share with our grad students?)
I’m finishing two essay anthologies for Norton; they should be out in January: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=4294990902 and http://books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=4294990755
I’m also editing a collection on Food, Feminism, and Rhetoric.
What are you reading, for work or pleasure?
I’ve been reading (or rereading) several food memoirs: Linda Furiya’s Bento Box in the Heartland, Diana Abu-Jaber’s The Language of Baklava, Kim Sunée’s Trail of Crumbs, Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary, and others.
What are you listening to (music/podcast/radio program)?
Today, I’m listening to James Taylor’s latest release, Before This World. Although it’s new, it reminds me of his music from the 70s. Part of me will always be stuck in the 70s.
When you’re not on campus, where’s your happy place?
My happy place is wherever my dog is–usually at home in a room painted bright blue and decorated with children’s toys (many, yes, from the 70s).
Seven Things You Can Do with an SJU Writing Studies Degree
Our illustrious director, Tenaya Darlington, put this piece together. Read on.
Writing Studies Students and Alums
Every year, we follow up with our Writing Studies graduates to find out how they are using their skills from our M.A. program to further their careers. Below you can read about some career options that our students have pursued, from editing to writing for businesses to teaching classes and writing grants. If you’re a current student, consider exploring a position in one of these areas.
- Become a writer or editor at a magazine or publication. Many of our recent graduates edit or write for trade publications, including a law magazine, a health magazine for the nursing sector, and a university alumni magazine. Writing Studies graduate Pete Sanchez is a staff writer for The Catholic Star Herald in New Jersey.
- Write grants for organizations and university research centers. Our Grant Writing class taught by professional grant writer Maureen Saraco partners students with nonprofit organizations around Philadelphia to gain hands-on experience writing actual grants. Writing Studies graduate Clare Dych started with a city nonprofit and worked her way up to the position of Associate Director of Development for Penn Medicine.
- Teach writing. Our graduates work in a variety of teaching fields, from leading workshops for kids at Mighty Writers in Philadelphia to teaching in private high schools, colleges, and universities including Neumann University and Philadelphia Community College.
- Write for digital publications. Our graduates write or have written for such publications as Food Network Magazine, Vogue, Huffington Post, and Serious Eats.
- Work in the Communications sector. Our graduates are employed by start-ups, PR firms, advertising agencies, talent agencies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, universities, city organizations, foundations, and financial firms. One Writing Studies graduate, Mark Chalmers, was recently promoted to Vice Provost of Jefferson University.
- Run a Writing Center. Students who gain experience in our Writing Center at Saint Joseph’s University learn valuable one-on-one communication skills, plus management experience. Two of our graduates now run writing centers at major universities.
- Become an author. Our graduates author novels, cookbooks, and collections of poetry. Marisa McClellan, of the popular canning blog foodinjars, will soon release her third cookbook. Since graduating from our program, she has started her own freelance writing business and is now a full-time food writer. She also has a new podcast, Local Mouthful.
Tenaya Darlington is the director of the Writing Studies M.A. program at Saint Joseph’s University. You can reach her at tdarling@sju.edu.
Note Change to Course Number for Spring 2016
Sorry for the confusion, people! ENG 679 is the correct course number for Writers at Work. The cross-listed course on Writing for Digital Platforms will use ENG 675.
Mondays 6:30-9:15 p.m.
ENG 679 Special Topics: Writers at Work (Area III: Professional Writing) Professor Tenaya Darlington
This course is designed to set your professional life as a writer in motion. Over the course of 15 weeks, you’ll meet a series of working writers from around Philadelphia who will visit our class. During these visits, you’ll have the opportunity to network with professional writers and learn about possible career paths, from public relations to publishing. Each writer’s visit will tie into a different writing assignment so that you can begin building a portfolio of professional work (likely assignments will include: a press release, a review, a book proposal, an edited manuscript, plus a professional resume and bio.) At the end, you’ll develop an online portfolio that you can use as a calling card.
Head’s Up – Another Course Added for Spring 2016
Mondays 6:30-9:15 p.m.
ENG 675 Writing for Digital Platforms
Professor Jana Llewellyn
Writing for Digital Platforms is a new course that explores the changing role and style of writing in our digital age. In addition to practicing multiple genres of internet writing (journalistic writing, marketing writing, business writing, personal writing), students will develop a theme-based blog which they promote through social media. The end of the course will require an open-ended project where students submit to one or more digital publications based on their mastery of various forms of online writing.
Note: this course is cross-listed with our Professional and Liberal Studies (PLS) program – 5 seats are open to graduate students. Professor Llewellyn is a blogger for Huffington Post and the editor of the online literary journal, The First Day. She also teaches at Temple and Rowan University.