San Francisco State University
Department of English Language & Literature
Message from the Chair
Maricel Santos
Department Chair
June 5, 2024
Dear students, faculty, alumni, emeriti, staff, and community partners,
As we wrap up the spring semester and shift to summer mode, we celebrate many successes and milestones that reflect our vibrant identity as a department. As I read through the pages of our Spring 2024 newsletter, I reaffirm my gratitude for this passionate community of writers, thinkers, and change agents. Thank you all for helping us realize our department’s commitment to social justice and intellectual rigor. I am also deeply appreciative for the ways you have stepped up and cared for one another, particularly during times of tumult on our campus and around the world.
I’d like to take a moment to highlight three reasons to celebrate:
First, a special message to our graduating class of 2024: at our department graduation ceremony on May 22nd, our faculty chose one word to celebrate your hard work and pay tribute to your impact on our community. Here is the full list of words: authentic, voice, grounded, illuminate, luminous, care, rizz, irrepressible, and powerful. (You can also read the faculty remarks here). Take pride in the ways you already have demonstrated those qualities! As English degree holders, you know that language is dynamic and ever-evolving. In time, the weight of those words will change, so I invite you to bookmark this page and re-read periodically what faculty have said about you. Please stay in touch as you move on to new opportunities, and let us know the new meanings you discover in those 9 words.
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Here’s another reason to celebrate: our faculty continue to earn recognition for their professional expertise. CEETL honored Professor Kristin Agius with a 2024 Exemplary Teaching Award for her inclusive pedagogy and commitment to social justice in first-year writing classrooms. Several faculty have been awarded sabbaticals: for AY 23-24, Sarita Cannon, Mark Roberge, and for AY 24-25: Kat DeGuzman, Tara Lockhart. For AY 24-25 Jenny Lederer, Anastasia Smirnova, and Will Clark were each granted Exceptional Assigned Time Awards for their service and campus leadership. Will also received an SF State research grant for his project, “Perverse Citizens: U.S. Literature and the Conception of Queer Rights”. Our faculty collaborated on new curricular offerings: the creation of 4 new courses (ENG 125 Language, Gender, and Sexuality, ENG 180 Understanding Math for AI and Large Language Models, ENG 256 Disability and Literature, and ENG 560 Counternarrative, Literature and the Law: Critical Approaches to Law and Literary Studies) – and a new graduate certificate in TESOL. We also honor four faculty who are retiring after several decades of leadership, and service to our university and department: Professor Larry Hanley, Professor Mary Soliday, Professor Sugie Goen-Salter, and Professor Geoff Green. To Larry, Mary, Sugie and Geoff, it is with mixed feelings that we say farewell. I personally thank you all for your wisdom and mentorship. We look forward to toasting you all at our fall retirement celebration, and until then, we wish you a summer of much-deserved rest.
Finally, I want to celebrate the good work our students do in the community. At the end of this semester, Professor Regina Neu shared with me, "I had the best grant writing class [ENG 490 Grant Writing] this semester. Great students and projects! ...There were quite a few strong technical and professional writing majors that could take on grantwriting as a career." The student projects included: Hope in Every Corner (Lupus Support); Assistance Dogs for Seniors; The BayVotes; Strengthening Civic Engagementl Solar Panel Installations for low income apartment complex; Nonprofit Employment training program; Immigrant Food Assistant Program (vouchers for volunteers; Cat Cafe pilot program; GED and employee training program for clients of a homeless shelter; tutoring support for 826 Valencia and CCSF. I am grateful to the students who continue to protect our commitment to community service. Professor Jim Gilligan’s students ENG 419 Advanced Composition for Teachers and Project SHINE coaches (under the leadership of MA TESOL student Ariana Chavez) contribute over 650 hours of community service this academic year.
Maricel with 4 graduating seniors who have been Project SHINE coaches: Jennifer Guerrero Sandoval, Ariana Chavez, Aziah Griffin, and Faye Mayer
Again, I would like to thank everyone for bringing joy and promise to our department this year. I also must thank the department staff - Chris Conroy, Cynthia Losinsky, Heather Sawyer, and Perry Udomwadhanaphorn – for all they do to make my life easier and our department hum.
Wishing everyone a summer of restorative rest. Macie and I are around this summer, so if you have questions, shout-outs, or just want to chat, please feel free to reach out (mgsantos@sfsu.edu).
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Maricel