2027 English Newsletter
Message from the Department Chair
Welcome to the English Department!
We play a vital role in advancing the mission of the Columbian College of Arts and Science at the George Washington University to guide students in examining the world through literary and cultural studies and creative writing.
With our major in English, our major in creative writing and English, our three minors (English; creative writing and English; Asian American studies), two micro-minors (disability studies and immigration and migration studies), and our MA and PhD programs, we offer excellent research, teaching and leadership from our base in literary and cultural studies and creative writing.
Our classes offer individualized attention to students' writing and intellectual development, and our faculty have won university prizes for their teaching (Alexa Joubin) and graduate mentoring (Holly Dugan). We celebrate recent and upcoming publications on Shakespeare (Dugan and Joubin), Jane Austen (Maria Frawley), the environmental afterlives of slavery (Jennifer James), Trans studies (Joubin), disability studies in the Middle Ages, in Nazi Germany and in the present (Jonathan Hsy, David Mitchell and Robert McRuer); Asian Americans and racial care (James McMaster), luminous poetry and personal essays (Chet’la Sebree) and new novels (Jung Yun, Aaron Hamburger).
We’re pleased to welcome visiting Professors Nandi Comer, Aaron Hamburger and Lesley Thulin, and all our incoming and returning students, graduate and undergraduate.
We look forward in 2026-27 to the Woven Words Student Poetry Readings (Sept. 11 and springtime); student visits to the Folger Library and the AWP conference for writers; exciting scholarly talks on AI (Duggan, Sept. 24), Toni Morrison, Jane Austen and the experiences of writing and cooking during the English Renaissance; intimate readings by GW creative writers Comer and Sebree as well as Lacey Dunham, Wil Haygood, Alison Powell and Megha Majumdar—and many other joys!
Patricia Chu
Department Chair
Department Spotlights
Student Storytellers Free Imprisoned Voices
In her digital storytelling class, English’s Emma Wu connects students like former student Inioluwa Jobi, BS ’26, with D.C. inmates through a pen-pal project for reclaiming memory and humanity. The class was featured in the CCAS Spotlight newsmagazine.
AI in Action: Faculty Experiment with Teaching Tools
Through new platforms and new innovations, GW scholars including Professor of English Alexa Alice Joubin are putting artificial intelligence to work in classrooms and clinical settings. She was profiled in the CCAS Spotlight.
Faculty Kudos
Kavita Daiya delivered the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Lecture titled “Migration, Representation, and Imaginings of Hope” at the University of Chicago. She also authored the entry “Partition Migrations” in The Sage Encyclopedia of Refugee Studies, Volume 2 (Sage Publications, 2025).
Holly Dugan received the CCAS award for Excellence in Mentoring of Doctoral Students on April 4, 2025. She was also quoted by Marie Claire in the article “The Rise of Unlikeable Fragrance: How Women Are Reclaiming Perfume as Power.”
Alexa Alice Joubin received a $6,136 grant from the Institute for Humane Studies to develop open-source and open-access AI for liberal arts higher education. She also received the university-wide Writing in the Disciplines Joseph P. Dymond Distinguished Teaching Award in spring 2026. She was interviewed by Higher Ed Dive for the article “Inside Texas A&M University’s partnership with Google for AI training” and spoke with The New York Times about her open-access AI in the article “A.I. Is Coming to Class. These Professors Want to Ease Your Worries.”
Joshua Lawson was quoted in the Washington Post article “We asked strangers around D.C. what they’re reading. Here are their picks.”
Lisa Page authored the Washington Post book review “Decades after Stella got her groove back, Terry McMillan just gets better.”
Chet’la Sebree was featured in the L.A. Times article “Amy Tan, Ekow Eshun and Michael Connelly among L.A. Times Book Prize honorees and finalists” and the NPR article “New poetry stresses that our stories are more precious and urgent than ever.” She appeared on The Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Off the Shelf podcast on the episode “Body of Water” and The Slowdown podcast episode “1405: Entry by Chet’la Sebree.” She was quoted by US News & World Report in the article ”Fall Is Books' Biggest Season. Expect Some Long-Awaited Returns.”
Jung Yun’s book All the World Can Hold was reviewed by Library Journal and BookPage.
Faculty Publications
- Holly Dugan, Shakespeare and the Senses, ARCMRS Press (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, March 2026).
- Maria Frawley, Jane Austen in 50 Words (Bloomsbury, 2025).
- Jonathan Hsy, Disabled Storytellers in the Global Middle Ages (Cambridge UP, Oct 2026).
- Jennifer James, Captive Ecologies: The Environmental Afterlives of Slavery (Duke University Press, 2026).
- Alexa Joubin, Transitional Shakespeare, Gender, and Adaptation (Cambridge University Press).
- James McMaster, Racial Care: On Asian American Suffering and Survival (Duke UP, 2025).
- Robert McRuer, Disability, Revolution. Critical Histories of the Present Book 18 (U of California P, Sept. 2026).
- David Mitchell, Disposable Humanity, researched and co-authored with Cameron Mitchell., multiple film festivals 2025-26.
- Chet’la Sebree, Blue Opening (Tin House Press, 2025) and Turn Where: A Geography of Home (Dial Press-Random House, May 2026)
- Jung Yun, All the World Can Hold (Simon & Schuster, March 2026).
Alumni Class Notes
- Mark Caskie's, BA ’81, debut poetry collection Field Notes for Extinction was runner-up for the 2025 Grayson Books Poetry Prize and is now available for purchase.
- Martin Connolly, BA ’01, joined LiveWell Capital as a partner. He lives in the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife Alessia and their sons, Sam, Teddy and Leo.
- Isabelle Giuttari, MA ’24, authored the novel Most Eligible. The romantic comedy, written under her pen name Isabelle Engel, was one of Women.com’s Most Anticipated Books for Winter 2025–26 and a January 2026 Book of the Month selection.
- Jamie Koff, BA ’93, has built a distinguished career in the fashion industry, working with leading brands including J.Crew, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY Jeans, Sean John and Polo Jeans Company. In 2006, she founded Fabric To Finish, a New York City-based design, product development and production consultancy that helps emerging and established fashion brands bring their ideas from concept to reality.
- Yahia Lababidi, BA ’96, is the author of 16 books of poetry, essays, aphorisms and conversations. His newest, If You Cannot Say Genocide: Essays on Conscience and Witness (New Village Press, 2026), gathers reflections on Palestine and moral responsibility.