2025-11-04
- The voyage of the HMS Challenger in the 1870s was a sprawling 3-1/2-year expedition to explore the world’s oceans. The scientists aboard the vessel collected 100,000 specimens of sea creatures, discovered 5,000 new species, mapped the ocean floors and took hundreds of measurements of sea temperature and chemistry that formed the basis of the discipline of oceanography. The data collected by the...
2025-11-03 - David Wright Faladé examines race, class, and gender through the eyes of a young college woman spending time in her small Texas hometown in his new short story, “Amarillo Boulevard,” which was published in the Oct. 6 issue...
2025-10-30 - Illinois English professor Shawn Gilmore was recently featured on Slate's Decoder Ring podcast. The podcast episode explores the origins of a familiar visual trope in thrillers, mysteries, and crime dramas: a board covered in photos, newspaper clippings, and other documents — all connected by string.These boards are...
2025-10-05 - Rob Kanter believed the best education didn’t happen within four walls. Even when he stood in front of a classroom, he focused on the world beyond it.For more than a decade, Kanter (PhD, '99, English) guided students not only through course readings but across landscapes—from the tropical rainforests of Central America to the prairies and forests of Central Illinois—using his deep curiosity and...
2025-10-01 - David Wright Faladé, professor of creative writing in the Department of English, was recently published in The New Yorker. His short story, “Amarillo Boulevard,” illustrates the complexities of identity as the story’s...
2025-08-29 - English and African American studies professor Irvin Hunt thought twice before he answered a phone call from an unknown caller, but little did he know that it was about to change everything. It came from film director Kahlil Joseph, asking Hunt if he would be interested in writing a script for his newest film...
2025-08-18 - Professor Tim Dean has been named the Frank Hodgins Chair in American Literature. With the named position, Dean is being recognized as a leading scholar in the fields of American literature, queer theory, psychoanalytic theory, and poetics. Dean has been described as a luminary, having published and edited numerous...
2025-07-07 - Angelina Correa became a believer in peer court in high school when she served as a juror in the justice program meant to give juvenile criminal offenders a second chance at reform. When Correa, a rising sophomore double majoring in political science and psychology, came to U of I, she decided to create her own...
2025-07-07 - David Miller has earned a grant from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Miller earned his MFA in creative writing this spring from the Department of English’s Creative Writing Program.Miller, who grew up in Glencoe, Ill., will use the grant to teach English in Romania. Miller’s professional goals include teaching at the university level, and he hopes to become a more well-...
2025-06-16 - Kayla Latricia Woodard and Riley Parks, two undergraduate English majors, have been awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State. The award will help fund study abroad programs for the two students. Woodard, from Chicago, will visit the Czech Republic. Parks, from Fisher, Ill., will travel to Thailand.The Gilman Program is a competitive, merit-based...
2025-06-09 - Erin Cheslow and Jade Chanel Williams were named Leading Edge Fellows by the American Council of Learned Societies. The two graduate students were among 16 PhDs in the humanities and social sciences selected for the program. The fellows are placed in a two-year position at a nonprofit organization committed to advancing justice and equity. According to the ACLS, the Mellon Foundation-...
2025-05-14 - Azlan Smith, a doctoral student in writing studies, earned a Call to Action Research Award from the Chancellor's Research Program for their project entitled “Voices of Cancer.”The program provides support for academic research and the expansion of community-based knowledge that advances the understanding of systemic bias and structural disparities, and enhances the capacity and capability of...
2025-05-12 - Three English professors were recently honored at the Clayton and Thelma Kirkpatrick and Robert Schaefer investiture ceremony at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. A crowd of almost 80 people showed up to celebrate the professors’ accomplishments and presence on campus.Janice H. Harrington and Curtis Perry were named Clayton and Thelma Kirkpatrick Professors in English Literature, and Gillen D’...
2025-05-01 - Janice Harrington, professor of creative writing in the Department of English, has won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for her poetry collection, “Yard Show.”The award, which is presented by the Cleveland Foundation, recognizes books that contribute to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the diversity of human cultures.According to award committee chair Natasha Trethewey, Harrington’...
2025-04-25 - Three students in the Department of English have been awarded prestigious research prizes from the Humanities Research Institute. The HRI Prizes for Research in the Humanities celebrate excellence in humanities scholarship, with awards given at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels. Yoonsuh Kim won a graduate research award for her paper, “Beyond Regions: Iron, Mobility, and the...