Brooks Plugs Dostoyevsky and the Book of Job

"Job" by Oldřich Kulhánek

New York Times columnist David Brooks plugs Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the Book of Job in a recent column encouraging collegians to think not just about the career path that awaits them, but also about the sort of person they want to be. Click here to read the article.

Spring Commencement 2012

David Porter

This spring's commencement address was delivered by Microsoft Corporation vice president David Porter, who received a bachelor's degree in finance from ECU in 1987 and went on to work for Walmart and DreamWorks Animation before accepting his current position.

Porter talked to graduates about the relationships he had developed with country musician Garth Brooks, and Hollywood actors Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, and he recommended that graduates embrace the core values of patience and perseverance and "dream big."  Emphasizing the importance of focusing on the role you are currently in, Porter added that "great things will come to you if you let them come to you."  Porter referred to his recent experience heliskiing to illustrate his claim that "fear is a a sign of growth, and it's proof that you are evolving."  He concluded his remarks with the hope that if graduates remember anything from his address it should be this:  "You control you."

I counted eight English majors listed in the program who are candidates for Bachelor's degrees: Kristen Lorraine Auten, Sarah Manette Berger, Kaylie Janae Blackwell, Megan Michelle Cooper, Ryan Michael Madison, Lacey Elliott McFadden, Kaci Leigh Plunkett, and Katie Elizabeth Rowe.  (Please let me know if I overlooked anyone!)

Congratulations to all! 

Not a waste of time

Click here to read an article recommended to us by Dr. Murphy on the subject of majoring in English.

We Have Picnicked

 

Get Your Picnic On

 Dr. Jason Murray:  "Just a reminder that our end of the year picnic and graduation celebration is scheduled for Tuesday, May 1^st at 6 pm at Wintersmith."

ECU's STD Numbers are Growing

From left to right:  Lindsey Dugan, Robert Darling, Noelle Hurt, Jaime Worden, Macy McDonald, Sarah Berger.

Seven members of ECU's English and Languages department were inducted into the Upsilon Pi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English honor society at our last meeting of the year on Friday, including:   Sarah Berger,  Robert Darling, Lindsey Dugan, Noelle Hurt, Macy McDonald, and Mary Newport.  We also celebrated the service of lecturer Jim Hunter, who has actively supported ECU's STD events these past two years (and will be moving to greener pastures next fall), and Dr. Trisha Yarbrough, a long-time member of Sigma Tau Delta, who is retiring after 25 years at ECU.  We gave Jim a commissioned word-art portrait (thanks, Jim Benton!) with a French-theme, in recognition of Jim's work on ECU's French Film Festival; it features words and phrases we hope he will remember us by and others we will will remember him by (many of them curse words).

"A life should leave / deep tracks..."

We gave Dr. Yarbrough a framed print of a poem, "Things Shouldn't Be So Hard," by Kay Ryan, in recognition of Dr. Yarbrough's infectious love of literature, and the countless poems she has shared with the ECU community during her tenure here (click here to read the full poem).  Dr. Yarbrough honored us with a reading of Ryan's poem and later regaled us with tales of departmental mischief from days of yore.  (My favorite quotation of the afternoon has Dr. Yarbrough insisting, "I am not going to let you handcuff me!")

Thanks to all who turned out, brought food, broke bread with us, contributed to the art projects, and otherwise supported STD activities over the past year.  Our next meeting is Friday, September 7th (with subsequent meetings to be held on the first Fridays in October, November, and December).  Hope to see you then!

And if you can help with our  service project,the Better World Books Drive, by donating books or helping us box and ship them, please let us know!  Our collection bin is outside the ECU bookstore.

We Haiku

Dr. Hada's Non-Western Literature class is haiku-ing . . .

waiting for the bell,
nervous, losing much control
freedom comes at last

a blanket of snow
covering the land below
spring is only near
                        -Hannah Cochran

Sleeping child awakes
Like capricious wind blowing
Life whirls by and leaves

Happy world, good friends
Bullfrog drinks fruit of the vine
Sharing, drinking, joy

Thunder rips the sky
Dr. Hada makes us write
Poems cleave the mind

Water flows downhill
Autumn days turn to winter
Snow piles up in mounds
                        -Teresa Buretta