Rev. Pat Hannon, C.S.C., will present “Sacraments: Personal Encounters,” on Tuesday, February 10, at 7:15 p.m., in the Pilot House bookstore. His lecture is free and open to all. Fr. Hannon’s reading will celebrate the publication of his most recent volume, Sacraments: Personal Encounters with Memories, Wounds, Dreams, and Unruly Hearts (Ave Maria Presss, 2014). For more information contact the English department at 7264 or english@up.edu.
English Department
Larson, Hiro Receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grants for 2014-2015
University professors Lars Erik Larson and Molly Hiro have been selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Teaching Grants to India for the 2014-2015 academic year. Larson and Hiro are both English professors at the University, and a married couple as well. They joined the faculty in 2005. Larson and Hiro anticipate that they will serve for one semester at a university or set of universities in India, possibly New Delhi. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board will inform them of their destination at a later date.
Hiro was an award-winning teacher at UCLA before coming to UP, and currently serves as chair of the English department. Her academic areas of expertise include African-American writers, American women writers, multi-ethnic American literature, American literature and social change, nineteenth-century American literature, and American modernism.
Larson also taught at UCLA before coming to Portland, and his academic interests include twentieth-century American literature, nineteenth-century American literature, western American literature, literature and the visual arts, cultural geography, literature of the environment, and spatiality nonfiction. He received the University of Portland Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013.
Since 1996, there have been a total of 13 Faculty Fulbrights awarded to professors at the University of Portland, including business professor Arjun Chatrath in 2005; English professor John McDonald, education professor Blaine Ackley, and business professors Richard Gritta and Mark Meckler in 2007; and biology professor Katie O’Reilly in 2012.
The United States Fulbright program began in 1946 after World War II to “assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and other countries of the world” through the exchange of students, scholars and professionals. The program operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.
For more information contact Molly Hiro, English, at hiro@up.edu.
Life After The English Major, Feb. 10
Please join the English department for “Life after the English Major,” a panel discussion featuring recent English major alumni, on Monday, February 10, at 4 p.m., in Franz Hall room 128. All humanities majors and the humanities-curious are welcome. The panel will feature:
- Kelly Brown ’08, finance & marketing administrator for Tears of Joy Theatre
- Dan Caccavano ’05, software developer for RightSignature
- Rachel Good ’08, proposal specialist at Ecova
- Win Martin ’07, associate at Perkins Coie.
For more information contact English department chair Molly Hiro at hiro@up.edu.
Alan Shapiro Reading, Nov. 12
Poet and memoirist Alan Shapiro will read from his work on Tuesday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. His talk, part of the English department’s Readings and Lecture Series, is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.
As the author of eleven collections of poetry, Shapiro has explored family, loss, domesticity, and the daily aspects of people’s lives in free verse and traditional poetic forms. His most recent book of poems is Night of the Republic (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). His poetry frequently appears in The New Yorker. In his memoirs, The Last Happy Occasion and Vigil (1997), Shapiro has written about the death of his sister and the role that poetry has played in his life. He is also the author of a collection of essays on poetry, In Praise of the Impure: Poetry and the Ethical Imagination: Essays, 1980–1991.
For more information, contact the English department at 7228 or english@up.edu.
Lucy Corin Reading, Oct. 29
Author Lucy Corin will read from her work on Tuesday, October 29, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. The reading, sponsored by the English Department as part of its Readings & Lectures series, is free and open to the public. Corin is the author of the short story collection The Entire Predicament and the novel Everyday Psychokillers: A History for Girls. Her latest collection, One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses, was released this year. She is currently directing the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact the English department at 7228 or english@up.edu.
Lou Masson Reading September 25
Louis Masson, Tyson Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English, will appear as part of the English department’s Readings and Lectures Series on Wednesday, September 25, at 7:45 p.m., in Mago Hunt recital hall. His reading is free and open to all. Masson is the author of three collections of essays, most recently Across the Quad (Corby Books, 2013). His other collections include Reflections: Essays on Place and Family and The Play of Light: Observations and Epiphanies in the Everyday World. Masson has been a regular contributor to Portland Magazine and has published poems and essays in a number of other publications. He retired from the University in 2011 after teaching here for 40 years.
For more information, contact the English department at 7264 or english@up.edu.
John Orr Lecture, March 27
John Orr will present a lecture, “Scenes of Reading, Sites of Contest: Listening to Henry Adams’s Marginalia,” as part of the Communication Studies Colloquium Series, on Wednesday, March 27, from noon to 1 p.m., in Buckley Center room 102. His talk is free and open faculty, staff, students, and the public.
Orr’s scholarly interests reside in late 19th and early 20th-century American literature and culture, including ongoing work on Henry Adams, several women writers of the era and, most recently, the early Native American writer, Mourning Dove. His talk will describe his work combing through Henry Adams’s personal library at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, in search of marginal comments Adams wrote in his books. Light snacks will be served and attendees are invited to bring their lunches. For more information contact C. Vail Fletcher, communication studies, at 503-943-7351 or fletcher@up.edu.
Lois Leveen Lecture, Reading
Author Lois Leveen will give a talk and read from her work on Thursday, March 21. The talk, at 4 p.m. in Shiley 319 and sponsored by the English and history departments, is titled “Telling Secrets: Mary Bowser, Race, Gender, and the Fictions of History,” and will explore what it means to teach—and learn—African American history through fiction. At 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center room 163, Leveen will read from her 2012 novel The Secrets of Mary Bowser as part of the English department’s Readings and Lectures Series. For more information contact Molly Hiro, English, at 8031 or hiro@up.edu.