People

The English Department had an exciting year in 2011-12. Most significantly, we hired two new tenure-track faculty members: Timothy Michael (Ph.D, Harvard) and Melissa Girard (Ph.D, University of Illinois).

Dr. Mark Osteen took over as Chair, replacing Dr. Gayla McGlamery, in January. Dr. Brian Norman was promoted to Associate Professor. Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Brooke Hunter accepted a tenure-track position at Villanova University. Dr. Sue Abromaitis reached an unprecedented milestone: fifty years of teaching at Loyola.

We also welcomed new Assistant Professor Dr. Giuseppina Iacono Lobo, Affiliate Assistant Professor Dr. Julius Lobo, and Administrative Assistant Cathy Carroll.

Publications

• Dr. Mark Osteen's new book, Nightmare Alley: Film Noir and the American Dream, will be published by the Johns Hopkins University Press early in 2012
• Dr. Brian Norman's new book, Dead Women Talking: Figures of Injustice in American Literature will be published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2013
• The third edition of The Norton Shakespeare's Macbeth, edited by Dr. Robert Miola, is forthcoming 2013

Parties

The Golden Ring
On May 11th, 2012, the Department gathered to celebrate Dr. Sue Abromaitis’s unprecedented achievement: fifty years of teaching at Loyola. Hosted by Dr. Osteen and his wife, Leslie Gilden, the party featured fine food and wines (the latter partly supplied by Dr. Lukacs). The Department presented Dr. A with a large card signed by all faculty (and a few ex-students) listing such statistics as the number of courses she has taught, students advised, administrators annoyed (here our estimate was probably on the low side) and, of course, the many lives she has changed. Embodying those changed lives were several of Dr. A’s ex-students, including Anthony Minervini, Taylor Calderone (‘09), and Dr. Kirsten Sundell (‘95). Dr. Abromaitis also received from the department a Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy.