English and Modern Languages
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Here’s how students get to know us and we get to know them:- First-Year Composition Classes
- Foreign Language Classes and Activities
- Creative Writing, Literature, and Other Upper-Division Classes
- Affiliated Programs (Gender and Women’s Studies)
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Alumni Spotlight: Kara Funkhouser (2010)
Department News
The next meeting of Shepherd University’s Stammtisch will be on Monday, December 9th, at 4:00 p.m. The group will meet at the Blue Moon Café. Stammtisch is a conversation group for German speakers, and everybody is welcome—from beginners to native speakers. For more information, contact Dr. Eva Suárez (esuarezb@shepherd.edu).
¡Vamonos a Mexico! Travel with Shepherd University’s Spanish program to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula this coming May. Students can earn three or six credit hours. The $1,799 cost includes airfare, Spanish classes, family stays, some meals, cooking classes, and excursions to Mérida, Cancún, and the Mayan ruins. Dr. Berenschot will be hosting an information session about the trip on Wednesday, December 11th, at 3:10 p.m. in Knutti Hall’s room 207. If you can’t attend the session or just want more information, contact Dr. Berenschot at dberensc@shepherd.edu or 240 367-2424. In the meantime, take a look at this brochure.
The Department of English and Modern Languages is pleased to celebrate this latest crop of English Capstone presentations. On Wednesday, November 20th, a small group of English Capstone students presented their work. That group included Marilyn Creager, who talked about and read from her collection of Appalachian short stories, Where the Phoebes Fly; Andrea Monsma spoke about the creation of her play, Farewell to the Student Government, and a scene was read by multiple performers; Lena Nuñez discussed the development of her play, Charity, Cubes and Caroline, and a trio of actors performed a scene from it; and Katreena Stracke talked about and read an excerpt from her eco-fantasy work, The Glass Province.
On December 4th (the Wednesday after Thanksgiving Break), the second group of English Capstone students presented their work from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m. in Reynolds Hall. That group included Lexy Amaro, who read from her novel Brown-Eyed Girl; Emily Grabill talked about her developing novel, A Midnight’s Horror, and read an excerpt of an early chapter; Bethany Kaetzel read an excerpt from a short story she is developing, a part of a larger collection, Elegy to Myth; and Alexandra Rowe read passages from her critical essay, “Batman, Daffy, Wimpy, and Girls on the Run, Oh My! Postmodernism and the Cartoon World in John Ashbery’s Poetry.” All of the Capstone students did well this year and made the faculty proud.
As part of its free lecture series, the Scarborough Society of Shepherd University will sponsor a program featuring Dr. Carrie Messenger on Tuesday, November 19th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Scarborough Library Reading Room. Dr. Messenger will discuss her award-winning collection of short stories, In the Amber Chamber, in which fairy tales and speculative fiction intersect with the hard facts of Eastern European history. A dessert reception will follow the presentation. The Scarborough Society is a friends of the library organization sponsored by the Shepherd University Foundation. Annual membership dues help support library acquisitions, technology, and programs.
On Saturday, November 9th, Dr. Nixon escorted a group of German students and faculty members through a visit of some sites of interest in Washington, DC. The highlight of the trip was a tour of the home of Christian Heurich, a nineteenth-century mansion that is oftentimes referred to as “the Brewmaster’s Castle.” The group saw die Vereinigte Kirche, a protestant church in Foggy Bottom where German-language services are still held, and everybody enjoyed lunch at Café Mozart. Dr. Krantz and her daughter Anna and Dr. Suárez and her husband, Dr. Carsten Krebs, were also on the trip. Es war ein herrlicher Ausflug!