The Peripatetic Observer

Volume 10 SUNY College at Geneseo, Department of English Winter 2008

English Programs Popular and Influential

A Message from the Department Chair
Having just finished putting together our schedule of courses for the spring, Im reminded of what a strong position your English
Department is in and of how many positive changes have taken place during my more than twenty years at Geneseo. We now have
over 400 majors, more than at any other time in over 25 years. Since enrollment at the College is about the same, that number speaks
to the attractiveness of our programs and students recognition that we have a very strong faculty involved in creative kinds of work. In
response to the growth of our major, our faculty numbers have increased. Im delighted to tell you that for
the first time since the early seventies, we now have three full-time Creative Writers on the faculty and two
more who teach in the program part time. This fall, we were delighted to be able to bring to campus Kristen
Gentry, a fiction writer who holds an MFA from Indiana University.
While recently preparing for the program review that we do every six years, I was reminded that
the English Department is the epicenter of numerous programs and activities at the College. In addition to
running both the literature and writing tracks in the major, we house numerous interdisciplinary programs
and crucial support services. Ron Herzman now co-chairs the College Honors Program, which recently has
been significantly revised and expanded to include many more incoming students. Jun Okada directs the
Film Studies minor and the Alan Lutkus International Film Festival. Caroline Woidat recently has been
appointed Coordinator of the American Studies program at the College while she continues to co-chair
the Native-American Studies Program
that she founded with Michael Oberg of
Richard Finkelstein: the History Department. Ed Gillin leads
Chair the Humanities Core Committee and Ken
finkelst@geneseo.edu Asher, the Comparative Literature major.
In addition, the department participates in
the Africana Studies, Latin-American Studies, the Womens Studies,
and Medieval Studies minors, and works with the School of Performing
Arts to administer the Theatre-English major. Rachel Hall brings
several writers to campus each year as head of the Geneseo Literary
Forum and also runs the large Writing Learning Center, which employs
10-15 tutors that she trains to assist hundreds of students from programs
throughout the College. Graham Drake puts in long hours as Geneseos
principal pre-law advisor.
This has also been a year of transition for the department. Marie
Henry, our secretary of 27 years, who with department keyboard
specialists supported all of these programs, retired from the College last
spring. For many of you (and for most of the current faculty) she was
the mainstay of the departmentnot just because of the work she did to
support the department and its affiliated programs, but also because she
was advisor, mentor, creative problem solver, and friend to many waves
of students and faculty. With Marie in the front office, we could always
count on all systems running smoothly. Over a hundred people came
together for a festive dinner in Maries honor last spring. It was a great Welles Hall, home of the English Department
party and a great reunion. We have been lucky to have Michele Feeley ably move into Maries job.
I continue to hear from many of you who write to share their positive memories of the Department and the College. One of the
favorite parts of my job is responding to your e-mails, even if you graduated before I came to the College or I didnt know you personally
when you were here. Nothing pleases our faculty as much as hearing from former students.
Your ongoing support has helped us transform your English Department into the vibrant center that it has become. Thank you for
your continued support as we work hard to enrich the challenging programs we bring to our students.
2 The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008

2007 Chancellors Awards

The English Departments faculty and students regularly receive SUNY-wide
honors. This year was no exception.

Amanda Gitomer
On 18 April 2007, Amanda Gitomer, a senior double major in English
and Spanish, received the Chancellors Award for Student Excellence.
A Geneseo Presidential Scholar, Gitomer volunteered in the Livingston
CARES Katrina relief program and as a volunteer art therapist for the
Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Service Office. She was a
member of Phi Sigma Iota international foreign language honor society;
La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispanic/Sigma Delta Pi National
Spanish Honor Society; Sigma Tau Delta, an international English honor
society; the international Golden Key Honor Society; and Phi Eta Sigma
national freshman honor society. Gitomer was the recipient of numerous
scholarships and wrote an English Honors thesis. In addition, she was a
writing tutor for the Writing Learning Center, research assistant for the
D.H. Lawrence Review, and teaching assistant for English-as-a-Second-Language classes. In addition, she served
the College in many ways as a facilitator of events, treasurer of Residence Hall Council, and member of various
organizations.

Paul Schacht
This Spring Associate Professor Paul Schacht received a 2007 SUNY
Chancellors Award for Excellence in Faculty Service. He created the
Collaborative Writing Project, a web site teaching tool for his students to
practice collaborative writing and peer editing. He also has been involved
in shaping some of the most complex and time-consuming initiatives on
campus, including: chairing the General Education Committee and the
campus-wide Assessment Committee; co-authoring the colleges General
Assessment Plan; and serving on the American Democracy Project
Committee, the Strategic Planning Advisory Group, and the Middle States
Periodic Review Report Committee. Dr. Schacht also was called upon to
serve as acting dean of the college on a months notice, fulfilling that duty
for the better part of a year. Presently serving as an associate professor of
English and assistant to the provost for general education and assessment,
Schacht joined the college in 1985. In 1997, he received a Chancellors
Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Presently, six English department faculty members have been awarded the Chancellors Award
for Excellence in Teaching.
 The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008 3

Rutkowski Returns from Research Leave

Alice Rutkowski, Assistant Professor in American City Draft Riots, which took place in July 1863 during
Literature, returned this fall after a years academic the second year of the Civil War.
leave. She received a 2006-07 Dr. Nuala McGann Professor Rutkowskis work required her to read as
Drescher Affirmative Action/Diversity Leave, a com- many narrativeswhether fictional or historicalof
petitive program sponsored by the State of New York the Draft Riots as possible, many of which are only
and United University Professions. During her leave, available in the holdings of the New York Public Library
Rutkowski pur- and the New York Historical Society. These different
sued her re- accounts provide unique intersections of the historical
search project, and the speculative, allowing for the investigation of
Appropriating a set of events and texts never before examined from
Agony: Trans- a literary perspective, according to Rutkowski. The
forming Chaos very subject matter of the Draft Riots and their nar-
into Narrative rative aftermath requires her work to actively engage
with the 1863 with discussions about the role of popular culture in the
New York City Civil War as well as representations of women, African
Draft Riots, Americans, white working-class men and the complex
which inves- relationship between these groups.
tigates both While this research continues, Rutkowskis article,
literary and Leaving the Good Mother: Frances E. W. Harper,
historical rep- Lydia Maria Child and the Literary Politics of Re-
resentations of construction, is forthcoming in Legacy: A Journal of
Alice Rutkowski the New York American Woman Writers.

Alumni News Is No News Without You

Tell us about yourselfwed like to know.
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Email Graduation
Publish address? yes / no Date
Address
City/ State/ Postal Code
Education & Dates
Your News
(attachments invited)
Are you interested in mentoring an English Major? Yes No
If yes, how may you be contacted? by dept. by student
Preferred method of contact
(post, phone, email, etc.)
Other information? Any
questions?
Return to:
Alumni Newsletter, Department of English, SUNY-Geneseo, 1 College Circle, Geneseo, NY, 14454-1401
4 The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008

Student Research on Literature and Culture

Presented during Campus-Wide Symposium
On 17 April 2007, SUNY-Geneseo held its first Katie Pearce, Unfixed Beams: Katherine Philips
annual Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement Refashioning of Masculine Images
and Talent (GREAT) Day, a college-wide symposium
celebrating student creative and scholarly endeavors. English
During this day, classes are canceled so that all Session Chair: Ed Gillin, Dept. of English
members of the college can participate in or attend the Katie Owens, Death by Water: Pounds Excisions to
many cross-disciplinary events. GREAT Days purpose Eliots The Waste Land
is to help foster academic excellence, encourage Faculty Sponsor: Ed Gillin, Dept. of English
professional development, and build connections Amanda Dudek, The Hanged Man Does Not Fear
within the community. Death by Water: A Tarot Card Exploration of
English majors and students presented at the Humanitys Search for Hope in Eliots The Waste
following panel sessions held throughout GREAT Land
Day: Faculty Sponsor: Ed Gillin, Dept. of English
Joseph Brognano, The Ambiguity of Salvation and
Jamaica Kincaid: Redefinitions and Resistance Predestination in Early Modern Drama
Session Chair: Nicole Tsapelas Faculty Sponsor: Richard Finkelstein, Dept. of
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Lima, Dept. of English English
Amanda Gitomer, Anger, Hope, and Resistance: The
Writings of Jamaica Kincaid Was Jane Austen a Feminist?
Andrew Coats, Judging Ovando Faculty Sponsor and Session Chair: Celia Easton,
Sabrina Harris, Playing God: Redesigning Origins Dept. of English
in The Autobiography of My Mother Kathryn Adams, Outfoxing Subordination:
Empowerment of Jane Austens Witty Women
Think Globally, Write Locally: Ecocomposition and Mary Annonio, Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft:
Genesee Valley Landscapes A Significant Feminist Connection
Session Chair: Maria Gigante Sara Germain, The Pen is in My Hand: Feminism in
Faculty Sponsor, Ken Cooper, Dept. of English Jane Austens Novels
Rachel Svenson, Avoidance and Remembrance in the Meghann Gordon, The Accomplishment of Reason:
American Cemetery Feminism in Jane Austens Novels
Matt Lapennas, Succession and Conformity: Lawns
as Planned Landscapes on the Geneseo Campus Apron/Queer/Yawn: Scenes from the History of the
Bob Hoffkins, Visions of the American Farmer English Language
Session Chair: Benjamin Gajewski
Gods and Monsters: Women Write Renaissance Faculty Sponsor: Graham Drake, Dept. of English
Love Poetry Felicia Neveldine, Once Apron a Time
Session Chair: Alea Wratten Kim Winkelman, The Metamorphosis of Queer
Faculty Sponsor: Julia M. Walker, Dept. of English Maria Gigante, History of Yawn
Alaina McDermott, We Will Not Be Outfaced:
Phoebus and the Talent of Renaissance Women Frankenstein as a Critique of the Enlightenment
Nicole Schwartz, Venus Immorality: Shakespeare, Session Chair: Dan Fenaughty
Lady Mary Wroth and the Destructive Agent of Faculty Sponsor: Maria Lima, Dept. of English
Sensual Love Kathleen OConnell, Implications of Science and

Reason on Human Character
Elizabeth Cronin, The Creatures Fall
Schuyler Wood, Beware the Hand that Feeds
English and History
Session Chair: Carol Faulkner, Dept. of History
Claire Ruswick, The History of Women at Geneseo
State Normal School: 1900-1925
Faculty Sponsor: Emilye Crosby, Dept. of History
Amanda Gitomer, Struggles in The Life of the
Harlem Renaissance: Interlocking Race and Sexual
Orientation
Faculty Sponsor: Beth McCoy, Dept. of English
Sabrina Harris, Andy Coats, Maria Lima, Amanda Gitomer, and Nicole
Tsapelas enjoy a heady exchange over the literature of Jamaica Kincaid.
Rebecca Ripley, Seventh Century Frankish and
Anglo-Saxon Double Monasteries: A Pious and
Unique Result of Aristocratic Christianity
Faculty Sponsor: William Cook, Dept. of History
Redefining Beauty: Reading Zadie Smiths Novel
Session Chair: Chioma Chukwu
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Lima, Dept. of English
William Sankey, Beauty as Force
Sabrina Harris, Constructing the Human: Finding an
Authentic Self in On Beauty
Kaitlin Snyder, Burden of Beauty
The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008 5
Nicole Tsapelas, Ke-Ke-Ke-Ke-Ke!: The Manifes-
tations of Erzulie in Kiki
Colonial House: Can PBS Mix Reality and History?
Session Chair and Faculty Sponsor: Caroline Woidat,
Dept. of English
Patrick Gilchriest, The Reality of Reality
Perry Hull, Of Reality and Heresy
Lisa Bonanni, A Savage Cycle: Culture and Conflict
in Of Plymouth Plantation and Colonial House
Alaina McDermott, The Individual vs. the Group: A
Timeless Lesson
Honors Projects in Literature
Session Chair: Amy Wrobel
Faculty Sponsor: Olympia Nico-
demi, Dept. of Mathematics
Karen Friedman, The Golden
Legend: the Life of St. Sylves-
ter
Faculty Mentor: Ronald Herz-
man, Dept. of English
Maureen McManus, The
Feminism of Angela Carter and
Caryl Churchill
Faculty Mentor: Robert Doggett,
Dept. of English
Katie Owens, Ethics and Lit-
erature
Faculty Mentor: Kenneth Asher,
Dept. of English
Amy Wrobel, Parallel Jour-
neys: Dantes Quest for Spiritual
Understanding and Parzivals
Pursuit of the Holy Grail
Faculty Mentor: Ronald Herzman, Dept. of English
Women and the Bible
Session Chair: Lindsey Campana
Faculty Sponsor: Carlo Filice, Dept. of Philosophy
Michael LaBlanc, Women and the Bible
David Murphy, Women in the Bible: Differences
in Perception between the Old Testament, New
Testament, and Paul
cd
6 The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008
Voices from the Past and Present: Alumni News
Nate Belois (2002) was awarded a
2007-08 Fulbright to study in Bosnia.
This will serve as a capstone of sorts
to his Masters work at Arizona State
University.
Ralph Bova Jr. (1968) is an adjunct
professor of Speech Communications
at Onondaga Community College and
is an education consultant at Syracuse
Universitys School of Education. He
is currently completing his seventh
year of retirement and enjoys his
role as an adjunct and consultant. He
also volunteers at a local high school
as the President of Athletic Boosters.
rbova@twcny.rr.com
Emma Boyer (2005) is a publicity
assistant at Duke University Press in
North Carolina.
Laurel Potwin Brown (1975) teaches
humanistic education courses at
Jamestown Community College,
despite being advised by her education
advisor at Geneseo never to pursue
teaching. She also leads workshops
and resumes for RW Caldwell
Associates for individuals who have
lost their jobs due to downsizing.
Previously, she dealt with child abuse
cases as social worker in Boston, MA.
Her purpose in writing is to extend my
sincere thanks to Dr. Herzman for his
incredible guidance and inspiration as a
teacher. The trip to England and
France I took under the leadership of
Dr. Herzman and Dr. Cook was one of
the most influential experiences of my
young life, and my love for England,
initiated at that time, has grown to a
passion. Laurel received an MS in
Education at St. Bonaventure,
concentrating in Community
Counseling. She lives in Fredonia with
her husband.
Whitney Arlene Crispell (2005) is
the Chief of Staff for Maria Whyte of
the Erie County Legislature and is a
contributor to Bitch magazine. She is
busy exploring government from the Doris received a Double Masters
inside, buying a house in Buffalos Degree (MLS/Anthropology) from
West Side, and continuing her weekend Case Western Reserve in 1977. She
dragon-slaying classes. whitneyarlene counts Dr. Herzman and Dr. Cook as
@gmail.com inspirations, as well as Dr. Margaret
Poarch in the School of Library
Carol DeMartino (2004)
is attending Columbia Law
School.
Doris Gebel (1975) is the
head of Youth Services at
Northport-East Northport
Public Library. She served
as a member of the 2006
Newbery Committee,
which evaluated childrens
books eligible for the
Newbery Medal. She also
served on the 2003 Mildred
L. Batchelder Award
Committee, awarded to
an American publisher
for an outstanding childrens Maria Lima congratulates her graduating students.
book originally published in a Science.
foreign language in a foreign country,
subsequently translated into English, Amanda Gitomer (2007) is teaching
and published in the United States. English at an all-boys private school in
Doris has been an adjunct professor of Bangkok, Thailand.
Childrens Literature and Storytelling
and International Childrens Literature Karyn (Ferner) Hunt (2000) is a
at St. Josephs College and at the library assistant in the Youth Services
Palmer School of Library Science. Department of a local public library
Recently, she edited the third in a in St. Louis, MO. She married
series of annotated bibliographies, Timothy Hunt on 25 May 2002.
Crossing Boundaries with Childrens karynhunt@gmail.com
Books, sponsored by the United States
Board on Books for Young People. Warren A. Johnson, A.P.R. (1980)
is the corporate marketing director for
MidMichigan Health, a multi-hospital
health system in Michigan. He also
edits Unsolicited Marketing Advice,
a blog and podcast for marketing and
public relations managers.
Edward Kemnitzer (2001) recently
finished his degree in administration.
He lives and teaches on Long Island
and hopes to visit Rochester soon.
Scott McWhorter Keyser (1999)
is a senior recruiter at Datrose,

Inc., located in Webster, NY. He
recruits for IT and engineering
nationwide. On 15 December 2006,
he welcomed a baby daughter, Isabella.
skeyser@datrose.com
Molly Smith Metzler (2000) was the
2003 winner of the Kennedy Center
National Student Playwriting Award
and the Mark Twain in Comedy
Award. Her plays have been produced
at the Boston Playwrights Theatre,
the Kennedy Center, Sundance, the
Cherry Lane, and, most recently, Off
Broadway at Theatre Row for the
prestigious Summer Play Festival.
Her play Cherry Wisteria, performed
Off-Broadway, originated as a Black
Box Theatre senior thesis. Molly is the
writing assistant to Marsha Norman on
Law & Order: Criminal Intent and was
recently nominated for the first annual
Dramatist Guilds Wendy Wasserstein
Prize. She received her MFA from Tisch
NYU in Dramatic Writing in 2006, and
her MA from Boston University in
Creative Writing (playwrighting) in
2002. mollysmithm@gmail.com
Jennifer Napuli (1999) graduated
from New York Law School in 2002
and is currently a real estate attorney.
She is a member of the New York State
Bar Association Committee on Women
in the Law. On 25 March 2007, she
married Daniel Fraidstern in New
Rochelle, NY.
Renee Price (2007) will begin a long-
term sub position teaching 7 and 8th
grade math this fall at Gates-Chili
Middle School.
Tammi Lyn Root (2003) received her
MA in English from the University of
Rochester in 2006. She is currently a
data control clerk at the University of
Rochester. Tammi recently announced
her engagement to Michael James
Holihan, a 2002 Geneseo graduate. A
2008 wedding is planned.
Heather Salviggio (2001) graduated
with an MD from Penn State College
of Medicine, on 20 May 2007. She will
The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008 7
spend her intern year in
internal medicine at York
Hospital in York, PA, and
the following three years
as a Dermatology Resident
at the MS Hershey
Medical Center/Penn
State College of Medicine.
Heather151@yahoo.com
Michael Sheehan (2003)
will begin his MFA in
fiction writing this fall at Rebecca Tibbitts, Marie Henry, and Jessica Allen reunite at
the University of Arizona. Ms. Henrys retirement fte.
2007 from Nazareth College.
Dan Spacher (2007) is teaching
English in Japan through the JET Susan (Hockenberry) Wells (2002)
Programme. is an adjunct professor of English
Composition and Literature at Finger
Sunday Steinkirchner (2003) is Lakes Community College, though
a professional rare book dealer, she plans to branch out and teach at
specializing in literary first editions. Monroe Community College and/or
She lives in New York City with her another college. After graduating
business partner and boyfriend, also a from Geneseo, she taught middle
Geneseo graduate. Her books can be school English for a few years,
found through www.bbrarebooks.com receiving her MSEd in English
Education in May 2006. She and
Liz Tertinek (2003) passed the New her husband Aaron married in June
York State bar exam in July 2006. 2004 and had their first child, Kayla
She is an associate at Anspach Meeks Marie Welles, on 16 November 2006.
Ellenberger LLP, a civil litigation firm suzphone@yahoo.com
in Buffalo, and was sworn in as an
attorney early in 2007. She graduated Courtney Westbrook (2005) received
from the University of Buffalo School her Masters of Library Science this
of Law in May 2006. December from the University of
Buffalo. She has been working as
Rebecca (Lamica) Tibbitts (2003) a temporary cataloger for RIT, and
is a 9th grade English teacher in the will soon be moving to Portsmouth,
Rochester City School District. She Virginia, to work in a public library.
received her Masters degree in May
Cheryl Wilson
(2005) is an Assistant
Professor of English at
Indiana University of
Pennsylvania. She co-
edited Michael Field
and Their World, the
first collection of essays
devoted to Katherine
Bradley and Edith
Cooper, two Victorian
writers who wrote under
the alias Michael Field.
Rob Doggett, Alice Rutkowski, and Bill Harrison attend
Marie Henrys Spring 2007 retirement party. cd
8 The Peripatetic Observer Winter 2008

New Departmental Faculty Member to Teach Creative Writing

This year Kristen Gentry joins the English Department defines itself, she
as a Visiting Assistant Professor specializing in Creative says. This process of
Writing. self-definition poses a
Like many of her students from Western New York, Pro- complicated cultural
fessor Gentry had a rural upbringing, but longed for some- question: How are
thing different. The day after my high school graduation, I the post-Civil Rights
fled from the pigs, cows, and apple trees on my fathers farm and Black Power
in Brandenburg, Kentucky, to Louisville where I attended Movement genera-
the University of Louisville as a communications major, tions unified beyond
she says. After college, she worked at Louisvilles major their overwhelming
daily newspaper, The Courier-Journal. There she quickly eclecticism (an eclec-
discovered the difference between journalism and creative ticism that is too often
writing and headed to Indiana University, Bloomington, misrepresented as a
where she received her MFA in Fiction. menagerie of stereo-
Gentry is responsible for many of the departments cur- Kristen Gentry typical characters)?
ricular offerings in both creative writing and literature. She A self-confessed
teaches writing at both the sophomore (ENGL201, Creative bibliophile, Gentrys devotion to her work and art leave little
Writing) and upper-division levels (ENGL302 and 304, Fic- time for other interests; as she admits, I dont live what
tion Writing I & II). Her literature classes have included some may call an exciting life. However, her work reaches
courses traditionally offered at Geneseo (ENGL142, Liter- out to others in the Geneseo community: for example, she
ary Forms: The Short Story Cycle), as well as new offerings, and Professor Rachel Hall held a joint reading this semester
such as this semesters ENGL390, Studies in Literature: as part of a co-curricular campus offering.
American Literature and Hip-Hop Culture.
That class stems from Gentrys current works and in- cd
terests. Im exploring the ways that the hip-hop generation

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