CASE Concordia

The time has come to be more involved with your program! Three committees are looking for students in English Lit and Creative Writing and require not a large amount of commitment and it is all for your personal benefit and the benefit of your peers!

If you want to sit on the Curriculum Committee and help develop new courses, fine-tune calendar descriptions and freshen up old courses then this is the position for you!

If you’re interested in talks and lectures offered at Concordia and you want to help decide and invite guest scholars then the Speaker’s Committee is for you!

And finally, if you want to help solve any issues pertaining to the Creative Writing department then the Creative Writing Committee is the committee for you!

Email me, Jess Marchand, at case.communications@asfa.ca if you have ANY questions or concerns and if you are at all interested!! I’ll be in the office this week Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00-2:45 and Thursdays from 4:00-6:00 if you want to stop by our office LB-646! I hope to hear from you!

Official Letter from the Department:

The English Department is calling for nominations for undergraduate student representatives to sit on Department Committees for the current school year, 2011-12. Students are encouraged to self-nominate for the following positions:

1. Creative Writing Committee (1 position, must be a student accepted in the Creative Writing program). The Creative Writing Committee is responsible for all issues pertaining to Creative Writing (the program, admission guidelines, Writers Read at Concordia, Summer Literary Seminars, Matrix).

2. Curriculum Committee (2 positions). The Curriculum Committee is responsible for developing new courses, refreshing older ones, fine-tuning Calendar descriptions of courses, and selecting Honours special topic courses.

3. Speakers’ Committee (1 position). The Speakers’ Committee is responsible for selecting and inviting guest scholars to give academic talks. The Committee also coordinates and promotes the talks.

Nominations should be sent directly to Dr. Meredith Evans, Student Liaison Officer, Room LB641, and received no later than 10 a.m. Friday, October 21, 2011.

If there are more candidates than positions, an election will be held on Friday, October 28, 2011, in Room LB-646. Only registered English students will be allowed to vote. The vote will be held between 10 and 11 a.m.

Thank you for your support.

Dr. Meredith Evans
Student Liaison Officer
Department of English
meredeva@alcor.concordia.ca
848-2424, x.8930

A new year has begun and a new executive takes their place in LB-656! As a whole, we are interested in creating awareness of what it is we do as your Concordia Association for Students in English (C.A.S.E.) executive and all of the (really, really easy) ways you can get involved with us, your program, and your school. We are going to be putting out a call over the next few weeks for Curriculum Committee members, Speakers Committee members, and Creative Writing Committee members. It’s pivotal that we fill these positions with members of the student body so that the English Department Faculty and Staff have a better idea of what the students would like to see, hear, or learn about throughout the course of their studies. Also over the next few weeks, C.A.S.E. will be putting out a call for a VP Finance, a VP Internal, and a VP External for all of you who want a more involved position within the English department.

One of our major goals this year is to organize an undergraduate colloquium (for those of you who have no idea what colloquium means like I had no idea before meeting my co-execs Veronica and Paula, a colloquium is a conference at which scholars or other experts present papers on, analyze, and discuss a specific topic). From the papers selected for the colloquium, we would like to develop and publish an undergraduate academic journal. Our goal in doing all this is to get you guys thinking about other views on works of literature other than your own. Our goal is to get you guys published before you finish your undergrad. Our goal is to make you realize your academic potential.

Another one of our smaller but yet still important goals is to increase attendance in both the department’s academic and social activities. We’ll be organizing a Christmas party, an end-of-year blowout party, scrabble nights, poetry/open-mic nights, meet your profs nights, launch parties, a breast cancer fundraiser, as well as some interfaculty events to spice things up. Here’s the catch: Out of approximately 1200 students we’re tired of seeing the same 50 people come out and have a great time because we know that so many more of you would enjoy yourselves and get to know your fellow students and professors on a more personal basis. We want attendance and awareness to go up and lack of knowing what’s going on to go down. For most of the above-mentioned events you can bring all of your friends so if you work better surrounded by people you know feel free to bring as many people as you want!

These are only a few of the many ideas and hopes that we, as your 2011-2012 executive, have this year and we’re really counting on you, the English Literature and Creative Writing student body, to help us make that happen. Here’s to a great 2011-2012 year!

Wishing you a great semester both in class and out,

Jess Marchand, Veronica Belafi, Olivia Taddio, Paul Wilson
C.A.S.E. 2011-2012 Executive

PS: Stop by our office on Tuesdays between 1:00-2:45 or Thursdays between 1:00-2:45 and 4:00-6:00 if you have any questions on nomination forms, elections, and any general questionson how to get involved!

Next week are elections for C.A.S.E. 2011-2012! Check out the candidates and vote for your department’s student association! Make sure that your student fees aren’t wasted!Elections take place on MARCH 22nd & 23rd on the 2nd floor of the HALL BUILDING.

March 18th @ 2pm: Bus leaves from the Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve) goes directly to BU.  (*Please take down the address of your hotel/motel/other so that you can share a cab to that destination from the school. If you are billeting this information should reach your emails soon). March 20th @ NOON: Bus leaves Bishop’s University and goes back to the Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve). There is a general meeting for the conference on Tuesday at 5pm on the 6th floor of the library building (seminar room pending, I will email you the room number this evening) with myself and Professor Meredith Evans: we will answer any questions that you have regarding conference details, transport, and paper presentations. If you have any further questions you can email me at address: rebeccareisler@gmail.com or you can e-mail your panel liaison. See you all there!

There will be a QUEUC information session Tuesday March 15th @ 5pm on the 6th floor of the library building in seminar room 651. Questions regarding transportation, the daily schedule, what to wear, and how to stylize, prepare, and deliver your paper at the conference can be posed to Professor Meredith Evans & Rebecca Reisler (VP Communications, QUEUCer). Please note information on the bus from MTL to Bishop’s will be e-mailed to Concordia presenters this week. Any other questions regarding the conference can be e-mailed to: rebeccareisler@gmail.com. See you all there!

It’s that time again! Nominations for next years CASE members is just around the corner! Positions include: President, VP Interal, VP External, VP Communications, VP Finance, VP Social, Literature Member at Large, and Creative Writing Member at Large. Nominees must submit a completed form in the C.A.S.E. mail slot located outside the English Department office (LB-641, Library Building 6^th floor) no later than 5 pm March 8, 2011. To receive this form  e-mail: rebeccareisler@gmail.com, or you can pick up a copy outside the CASE office (LB 656).

More info”Getting Down, Rising Up!” is a week of events focused on reclaiming sex based on respect, supporting those who have experienced sexualized violence, and strategizing to make our communities (and sex lives!) safer and sexier for everyone! All events will be wheelchair accessible. For accessibility or childcare needs, please contact specialprojects@sacomss.org. For more information on workshops and times check out: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=195443100474880

An undergraduate conference linking students with community activism. Admission is free. Welcome to all!

This year’s Study in Action conference will feature workshops, panels and discussions on topics related to migration, food sovereignty, education, independent media, prison, environmental justice, harm reduction and more. The conference will also include an art exhibition of works related to social and environmental justice. The conference itself highlights undergraduate research linked with community organizing, from a grassroots, anti-oppression perspective. They will join grassroots community organizers from all over the Montreal-area. Presentations will take place in both English and French.

This year’s Grad School or Bust(ed) information session held by the English Department is on March 4th from 11am-1pm. During the information session students interested in graduate school will hear from several professors in Concordia’s Graduate Dept, John Miller, A Concordia Graduate Student, as well as an Undergraduate Student that has been accepted to a Graduate School Program in English. Information on funding, application dates, forms, programs, schools of choice, etc. will be provided. Held in LB-646