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New book shows how literature of extreme poverty provides stirring view of the Great Depression
The literature of extreme poverty during the Great Depression offered an aesthetic that matched the hopelessness and isolation of the unemployed and those living on the street. Robert Dale Parker, a professor emeritus of...
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Write what you know: The unusual journey that led to a haunting novel
John Milas’ journey as a writer has been far from typical, but those unique experiences helped shape his gripping gothic horror novel about a mysterious abandoned building in Afghanistan and the soldiers who would never be the same after entering it.
A Champaign-Urbana native, Milas (BA, ’16,...
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Is the English major obsolete in the age of AI?
The English major is dead. Or at least that seems an increasingly common perception since the advent of artificial intelligence and the release of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT.
Much of this pessimism could be attributed to the sensationalism surrounding AI. Some AI advocates exalt it as a...
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Jamie Jones and Mary Rose Cottingham earn LAS teaching awards
The College of LAS has selected 16 professors, graduate students, lecturers, and advisors as the recipients of the 2025 teaching and advising rewards.
"We are honored and fortunate to have so many amazing teachers and advisors in the College of LAS,” said Venetria K. Patton, the Harry E. Preble...
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English professor’s novel tells of love triangle in post-WWII Paris
A new novel by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign English professor David Wright Faladé tells the story of three people in a love triangle in post-World War II Paris. The characters in “...
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To last a lifetime: A love of reading and giving back leads campus couple to support the next generation of writers.
It was a love of reading that led Jean Sklansky (BA, ’72, teaching of English) to English. For Steve Kaplan (BS, ’72, business), it was his interest in Jean.
The two students from Chicago, who met at a mixer between the men’s and women’s residence halls the first Sunday of new student orientation...
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Harrington poetry collection makes NBCC Award longlist
Creative writing professor Janice Harrington’s poetry collection, Yard Show, has earned a spot on the National Book Critics Circle’s 2024 NBCC Awards longlist for poetry. The poetry collection fuses Black history, cultural...
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Jamie L. Jones book earns spot on MLA's shortlist of outstanding titles
The Modern Language Association (MLA) has named English professor Jamie L. Jones’ book Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling to its shortlist for outstanding books. Her book, published by the...