2024 English Newsletter
Message from the Department Chair
This year, we welcomed students back to campus with spirit and renewed energy to study literature and culture with our outstanding faculty. We gave a special welcome to those first-year students and newly declared majors who were just joining us for the first time, and we connected with them not only in our classrooms but in our suite on the 6th floor of Phillips Hall for events like a talk by the 19th century British literature scholar Patricia Matthew and the annual holiday party. James McMaster, who has an appointment in the Department of American Studies, teaches classes in English and joined us this year to teach a graduate seminar in minority performance studies. I continue to be proud of the many ways that English Department faculty have sought to support students and to cultivate a sense of community.
The department also suffered a tragic loss. Our dear friend and colleague, Associate Professor Daniel DeWispelare, passed away in January. Daniel completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a visiting assistant professor at Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye, before joining us on the GW English faculty in fall 2012 to work in 18th century and 19th century British literature. In 2017, he published his book, Multilingual Subjects: On Standard English, Its Speakers, and Others in the Long Eighteenth Century. Daniel was brilliant, gentle and kind, and he made a great impact on the lives of so many people—students, colleagues, folks in his everyday life.
English staff, students and faculty are a mutually supportive group that fosters a diverse, inclusive learning environment. As always, I encourage you to have a look at our website and to stay connected to the department via Instagram and Facebook. There you’ll find plenty of exciting things happening in our classrooms and events that you’d be welcome to attend. Thanks to those of you who have made donations to us—we are so grateful for your support. Please stay in touch. We love sharing stories of our alums and their career paths with our students, so please reach out with contact information.
Antonio López
Department Chair
Department Spotlights
GW English Announces Ganz Scholarship
The English Department is pleased to announce a new scholarship to celebrate the legacy of Robert Ganz, Jr., poetry scholar and Professor Emeritus.
Welcome New Faculty Member, James McMaster!
We are pleased to welcome James McMaster to the faculty of the GW Departments of English and American Studies. He holds a PhD in performance studies from New York University. Prior to coming to GW, he was a professor of gender & women’s studies and Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His interests include Asian American, gender and women’s/LGBTQ+ studies. His upcoming book discusses care theory in relation with queer, feminist and Asian Americanist critique and cultural production. His writing has appeared in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Asian American Studies, American Quarterly, TDR/The Drama Review, Transgender Studies Quarterly and Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory.
Department Kudos
- The BA in Creative Writing and English program was recognized as one of the best BA/BFA programs in creative writing in the country.
- Thea Brown (English) published a book of poetry, Loner Forensics (Northwestern University Press, 2023). She also published the poem “The Detective” in Oversound.
- Kavita Daiya (English, WGSS) presented her paper “Rethinking Equity, Intersectionality, and Caste in Dalit-American Life-Writing” on the interdisciplinary panel “Setting Caste Ablaze: Global Movements to Destroy Engrained Inequality” at the annual conference of the American Studies Association.
- Jonathan Hsy (English) was interviewed by The Sundial about his book Antiracist Medievalisms: From “Yellow Peril” to Black Lives Matter.
- Alexa Alice Joubin (English) received the inaugural Bell Hooks Legacy Award by the Popular Culture Association.
Alumni Class Notes
Kathryn Abdul-Baki, BA ’73, is the author of six books. Her memoir, Dancing Into the Light: An Arab-American Girlhood in the Middle East (2023), received the Silver Award from the Nonfiction Writer’s Association.
Jacob Abrams, BA ’09, is a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP the firm’s Miami office.
Margaret Carleen, BA ’15, runs a writing team at the international nonprofit Living Goods, raising funds for community health. She lives in D.C. with her husband and dog.
Thomas Roman, BA ’05, resides in Miami, Fla, with his wife Carolina. In August, he embarks on a new career opportunity as the corporate director of food and beverage at Life House.
Antolin Trinidad, PhD ’13, is chair of the department of psychiatry at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Conn., and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont. He co-edited two anthologies on the intersection between trauma and literature and is working on a book on mourning and PTSD.