past newsletters

Upcoming Talks, Seminars, and Special Events

Autumn 2007

Friday, September 28, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Denney Hall 311

Friday, September 28, 2007
2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Science and Engineering Library 090

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Friday, October 26, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Thursday, November 1, 2007
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Friday, November 30, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Winter 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008
4:00 P.M. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Spring 2008

Thursday, May 1, 2008
4:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House 104 E. 15th Ave

Spring 2009

April 3 - 5, 2009
Ohio State University - Blackwell Inn

Transitions & Continuities

Welcome to Literacy Studies @ OSU for 2007-2008.

Although it's sometimes hard to remember that our endeavors are barely three years old, we are embarking on substantially new ground—what we call a campus-wide initiative—for at least the next three years. At the same time, our goals and a number of our regular activities follow the course originally established in Autumn 2004. As we bring Literacy Studies to a larger audience, we are also working to institutionalize and regularize operations, and promote established activities and programming as well as new. We aim to build on our success at promoting critical, comparative, and historical perspectives on literacy studies across OSU and beyond.

Underlying both changes and continuities is the generous support provided to Literacy Studies, especially from Dean John Roberts and the College of Humanities. The College has committed funding for at least three years, which allows expansion of activities and staff. Basic support also continues from the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities (thanks to Chris Zacher) and the Department of English (thanks to Valerie Lee). Together, this support underwrites office space and equipment in Knight House, and a real home for Literacy Studies. Susan Hanson returns to Literacy Studies as the academic program coordinator. English doctoral student Lindsay Dicuirci continues as GRA, joined this fall by Shawn Casey, also an English doctoral student.

A special annual lecture, presenting major new work, begins this year with funding from the Arts and Sciences Colleges, matched by the College of Dentistry, the College of Art, the College of Biological Sciences, the University Libraries, and the Department of Entomology. John Duffy, University of Notre Dame, will present the inaugural lecture in early March 2008, based at least in part on his important new book Writing from These Roots: The Historical Development of Literacy in a Hmong American Community (University of Hawaii Press 2007).

We also embark on two other long-term developments this fall. First is the new Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies, approved by the Council on Academic Affairs this past June. The GIS's required core courses are offered in Winter and Spring 2008. We are actively seeking interested students. We are also developing new courses in health literacy, science literacy, visual literacy, and spatial literacy and will add these to the curriculum before long.

The other major new initiative is planning for a major international and interdisciplinary conference on literacy studies for graduate students to take place at OSU in early Spring 2009. OSU Literacy Studies graduate students are organizing the conference in an 18- month long pedagogical practice. The conference's general co-chairs are Vicki Daiello (Art Education), Michael Harker (English), and Caitlin Ryan (Education). Plus, we are purposefully expanding the community of graduate students and through them universities with strong interests in literacy studies by including graduate students from other institutions on all the major committees. You will hear much more about the conference as plans take shape.

In addition to the new, our series of public programs continues with Peter Burke and Barbara Sicherman this Autumn, John Duffy in Winter, and Heather Williams in Spring. In October, Robert Tauber presents "The Art of Books." The graduate student literacy studies seminar begins its third year with a presentation on Harlot, a new electronic journal being launched by OSU graduate students. And the History of the Book reading and discussion group begins its third year.

GIS in Literacy Studies Gets Go-ahead

The Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies (GIS-LS) was approved by the Ohio State Council on Academic Affairs at its June 20, 2007 meeting.

The GIS-LS curriculum is broadly interdisciplinary, drawing from and seeking to contribute to research in the humanities, social sciences, arts, and education, but also the biological and physical sciences, health and medicine, and professional areas. We are developing new courses in health literacy, science literacy, visual literacy, and spatial literacy and will add these before long.

The GIS-LS's required core courses are offered in Winter and Spring 2008. The areas in which students might concentrate their elective courses include reading and writing; language, discourse, and linguistics; history; visual studies and design; the sciences; health and medicine; technology; teaching and learning; communication; cultural studies; and space and geography.

For more information about the GIS in Literacy Studies, contact the advising coordinators Harvey J. Graff or Marcia Farr.

Translating the Turks

Peter Burke, Professor of Cultural History (15th-18th centuries) Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, will present "Translating the Turks: A Case-study in the Translation of Cultures" on September 28. One of the world's most distinguished cultural historians, Burke has made major contributions to the history of literacy and the history of the book, as well as culture and language.

Burke's general aim in this lecture is to discuss translation between languages as a special, highly visible (or audible) example of what anthropologists call "cultural translation," the adaptation of artefacts and practices in the course of their passage from one culture to another. The case-study he will present is that of the translation into different western languages, in the 16th and 17th centuries, of accounts of the Ottoman Empire, a process in which translators already faced the well-known modern dilemma of the choice between "domestication" and "foreignizing."

Burke is celebrated as a historian of the early modern era and a methodological and theoretical innovator in cultural history. Among his books are Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe; History and Social Theory; Varieties of Cultural History; The Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy; A Social History of Knowledge; Eyewitnessing; and Language and Communities in Early Modern Europe.

Friday, September 28, 2007
2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Science and Engineering Library 090

History of the Book

Alan Farmer has taken over as moderator of the History of the Book Reading and Discussion Group from Cynthia Brokaw, the brave organizer for the first two years. The group plans three meetings for Fall quarter, the first in the form of the talk by the eminent historian Peter Burke on September 28 (see above).

For the Friday, October 12 meeting (3:30 - 5:30 p.m. Wexner 021L), East Asian Studies—Japanese Specialist Maureen Donovan will circulate two papers: "Time and Change: Reflections on the Development of East Asian Library Collections at the Ohio State University" and another about the OSU Cartoon Research Library's manga collection. She'll talk about the first-year seminar she teaches, "Analyzing the Appeal of Manga," and show selected materials from the manga collection.

For more information about the History of Book Reading and Discussion group, contact Alan Farmer.

Disciplined Interdisciplinarity

Graduate students from more than twenty departmental disciplines continue to meet monthly as the Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar in Literacy Studies.

Students interested in literacy from virtually any perspective are encouraged to attend these informal seminars as a way to explore the possibilities and establish contact with their peers in other fields. Lunch is provided. For more information, contact Kate White.

Friday, September 28, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Denney Hall 311.

Friday, October 26, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House.

Friday, November 30, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House.

Reading Women

Barbara Sicherman, an American cultural historian who specializes in women's history and was a founder of the Women's Studies Program at Trinity College, will visit OSU on November 1.

Sicherman's publications include Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters (2003; 1st published 1984) and "Reading Little Women: The Many Lives of a Text," in U.S. History as Women's History (1995). She co-edited Notable American Women: The Modern Period (1980) and is currently completing a book on women and literary culture in the Gilded Age.

Thursday, November 1, 2007
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. ICRPH Knight House.

CCCCs

A session on Literacy Studies @ OSU will take place at the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, New Orleans, April, 2008. "Creating a Cross-Disciplinary Model for Collaboration: Literacy Studies @ Ohio State University" was organized by Harvey J. Graff, Kelly Bradbury, Michael Harker, and Kate White.

NEW Working Group

A new working group on book arts, the history of the book, and the history of reading and writing is forming, supported by Literacy Studies and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities. For information, contact Robert Tauber, University Libraries.

NEW Lecture Series

The coming year will see the launch of The Ohio State University Lecture on Literacy Studies. This lecture series is supported with funding from the Arts and Sciences Colleges, matched by the College of Dentistry, the College of Art, the College of Biological Sciences, the University Libraries, and the Department of Entomology. The goal is to make OSU the place for both well-established and younger scholars to preview major studies and present new work. This will bring additional publicity and recognition to Literacy Studies @ OSU and OSU more generally.

Thursday, March 6, 2008
4:00 P.M. ICRPH Knight House

NEW International Interdisciplinary Conference

Graduate students involved with Literacy Studies at OSU and the Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar in Literacy Studies will host an interdisciplinary, international graduate student conference on literacy studies on April 3-5, 2009 at OSU.

The conference will be a space for graduate students from a variety of institutions and disciplines to come together to explore multiple meanings and methods of understanding literacy, broadly defined, and allow students to share their research and participate in larger conversations about this developing field.

The 18-month long planning and pedagogical process is underway. Already, students from ten universities are participating in the planning efforts and recruiting is underway here to help with the program, publicity, and site arrangements.

Graduate students interested in literacy who would want to gain experience helping to plan and host a major interdisciplinary conference should contact the co-chairs: Vicki Daiello, Art Education; Michael Harker, English; Caitlin Ryan, Teaching and Learning.

NEW Graduate Student Organization

Over the summer, students formed the Graduate Interdisciplinary Literacy Studies Organization, an OSU registered student organization. For more information, contact Kelly Bradbury.

NEW Office Space, Phone, and Email for Literacy Studies

Literacy Studies @ OSU
George Wells Knight House
104 E. 15th Ave
Columbus, OH 43201
PH: (614) 247-6539
FAX: (614) 247-6336
literacystudies@osu.edu

Literacy Studies @OSU: An Initiative

We are developing Literacy Studies @ OSU with the aim of fostering a critical, cross-campus conversation and investigation into the nature of literacy, bringing historical, contextual, comparative, and critical perspectives and modes of understanding together to stimulate new institutional and intellectual relationships and a sense of collaboration among different disciplinary clusters and their constituents, from the social and natural sciences to the arts and humanities, education, medicine, and law.

Executive Group

• Harvey J. Graff, English; History graff.40@osu.edu
• Steve Acker, TELR; Communications/Journalism acker.1@osu.edu
• Mollie Blackburn, Education blackburn.99@osu.edu
• Sandy Cornett, Health Sciences cornett.3@osu.edu
• Marcia Farr, Education; English farr.18@osu.edu
• Anne Fields, University Libraries fields.179@osu.edu
• Henry Fields, Dentistry fields.31@osu.edu
• Susan Fisher, Biology fisher.14@osu.edu
• Carolina Gill, Industrial, Interior, & Visual Comm. Design gill.175@osu.edu
• Terry Gustafson, Chemistry gustafson@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
• Kay Halasek, English halasek.1@osu.edu
• Kay Bea Jones, Architecture jones.76@osu.edu
• Alan Kalish, Teaching & Learning Center kalish.3@osu.edu
• Jeffrey K. McKee, Anthropology mckee.95@osu.edu
• Beverly Moss, English moss.1@osu.edu
• Leslie Moore, Education moore.1817@osu.edu
• Amy Pope-Harman, Pulmonary & Critical Care harman-1@medctr.osu.edu
• Doug Post, Medicine doug.post@osumc.edu
• Marcy Raymond, Principal, Metro High School raymond@themetroschool.com
• Cindy Selfe, English selfe.2@osu.edu
• Peter Shane, Law shane.29@osu.edu
• Amy Shuman, English; Folklore shuman.1@osu.edu
• David Staley, History; Goldberg Center staley.3@osu.edu
• Kevin Tavin, Art Education tavin.1@osu.edu
• Andy Thomas, Medicine thomas@osumc.edu
• Lewis Ulman, Humanities; English ulman.1@osu.edu
• Mindy Wright, Director, Community Partnerships in ASC wright.7@osu.edu
• Shawn Casey, Doctoral Student, English casey.169@osu.edu
• Lindsay Dicuirci, Doctoral Student, English dicuirci.2@osu.edu
• Susan Hanson, Academic Program Coordinator, Literacy Studies @ OSU hanson.94@osu.edu
• Edward Adelson, Executive Dean, ASC adelson.3@osu.edu
• Randy Smith, Vice Provost smith.70@osu.edu
• Chris Zacher, Director, ICRPH zacher.1@osu.edu