English | UC Davis College of Letters and Science

Maisha Winn, professor of education, UC Davis

Paying it Forward

Some children grow up playing in parks,” said Maisha T. (Fisher) Winn. “Colleges and universities were our playground.” Winn (B.A., English, ’94), the daughter of James Fisher, an African American studies scholar who taught at UC Davis from 1969 to 1974, fondly remembers trips she and her brother took as children to the UC Davis Arboretum and library.

Alumni News

Photo: young woman standing by columns of an ancient site

Seven College Alumni Offered Fulbright Awards

Thirteen UC Davis students and alumni have been awarded 2018–19 Fulbright fellowships — the largest group of Aggies ever awarded. Seven of them are recent graduates of the College of Letters and Science.

Alumni News

Series Brings Established and Emerging Writers to Campus for Readings

The 2018–19 Creative Writing Reading Series at UC Davis will bring acclaimed, long-established writers along with emerging writers starting in October. The series is organized by the Department of English creative writing program in the College of Letters and Science. All readings are at 7 p.m. in the Peter J. Shields Library and are free and open to the public.

Arts

Double Majors: Explore Your Options

Shannon Beaumont decided to double major early in her college career. But Beaumont took time to explore her options before choosing a second major.

1980, 1988 - Allan Johnson

Allan Johnson (M.A., 1980, Ph.D. 1988, English) has a had a new poetry collection, In A Window, published. His poems have appeared in over 60 journals, including Poetry, Poetry East and Rhino. He has received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, Pushcart Prize nominations and First Prize in Poetry in the Outrider Press Literary Anthology competition. He teaches writing and literature at Columbia College and DePaul University in Chicago.

Creative Writing Program to Begin Offering MFA Degree

The creative writing program, part of the College of Letters and Science’s English department, will offer a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing starting in the 2019–2020 academic year.

Arts

English Major Designs Course On How Humanities Shape Views On Science

“Living sustainably” seems like an intimidating concept. Sustainability and climate change are often tied to direct action and major technological innovation, so we often question how one person can actually help our planet. Kristin Hogue wants to change that misconception — using literature, art and movies.

Society and Culture

Students Take Shakespeare Video Game Into Area Classrooms

A dozen UC Davis English majors recently played a video game with area elementary, middle and high school students. While the students had fun, the goal was to see how “Play the Knave” might improve their reading and writing skills and make the works of William Shakespeare more accessible.

Arts

Recent Graduate Wins O. Henry Award

UC Davis College of Letters and Science alumnus Jamil Jan Kochai (M.A., English, ’17) is winner of an O. Henry Award for his short story “Nights in Logar.” This story and those by 19 other writers will be published in an anthology this fall.

“To be included amongst such a long history of incredible stories, it's unreal,” Kochai said.

Alumni News

Three Professors Named American Council of Learned Societies Fellows

Three faculty in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science will receive support from the American Council of Learned Societies in 2018–19 to work on books on the art and politics of smells, Hmong refugee resettlement in the U.S., and Maoist guerrillas in Peru.

Society and Culture