MidTerm News | Winter 2009
Upcoming Meetings, Seminars, and Special Events
Friday, February 13, 2009 3:30-5:00 p.m. Dulles Hall 138, 230 West 17th Av
History of the Book: Daniel Hobbins (History) will lead a discussion of a chapter from his forthcoming book on Jean Gershon (1363-1429).
Thursday, February 26, 2009 4:00-5:30 p.m. Denney Hall 311, 164 W 17th Av
LiteracyStudies@OSU Winter Program: New Literacy Studies Research:
Jonathan Buehl (English),
Valerie Kinloch (Education),
Cassandra Parente (OSU Marion), and
Daniel Keller (OSU Newark), will discuss their research projects in literacy studies; moderated by
Beverly Moss (English).
Friday, February 27, 2009 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House, 104 E. 15th Av
Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar on Literacy Studies: Expanding Literacy Studies Conference Prequel.
Friday-Sunday, April 3-5, 2009
Expanding Literacy Studies, an International, Interdisciplinary Conference for Graduate and Professional Students, sponsored by LiteracyStudies@OSU.
Friday, April 24, 2009 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House, 104 E. 15th Av
Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar on Literacy Studies: A student-led discussion of works by Ira Shor in anticipation of the Spring Lecture on May 14, organized and moderated by Audra Slocum (Teaching & Learning).
Thursday, May 14, 2009 4:00-5:30 p.m. ICRPH Knight House, 104 E. 15th Av
LiteracyStudies@OSU Spring Lecture: Ira Shor (City University of New York): "Can Critical Literacy Change the World?"
Friday, May 29, 2009 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. ICRPH Knight House, 104 E. 15th Av
Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar on Literacy Studies: Career Opportunities in Literacy Studies, organized and moderated by Karin Hooks (English).
Winter Program: New Research in Literacy Studies
The LiteracyStudies@OSU Winter Program on Thursday, February 26 will feature presentations by four OSU scholars whose current projects highlight the range of interests and approaches to research in literacy studies. The program will be moderated by Beverly Moss, an associate professor of English who is currently conducting an ethnographic study of literacy in a Columbus-based African-American women's community service club.
Jonathan Buehl will discuss his work on argumentation in scientific discourse. He will describe what it means to take a rhetorical approach to scientific texts, and he will discuss the implications of this approach for developing professional literacies-including visual literacy-in the sciences. Buehl (Ph.D. University of Maryland) is an Assistant Professor of Business and Professional Communication in the Department of English. His research interests include technical communication, visual rhetoric, science-writing pedagogy, and the rhetoric of science and technology. He has developed business-writing seminars for local firms and science-writing courses for research organizations, such as biotechnology companies.
Valerie Kinloch will discuss her research with youth and teachers in local high schools and in the community of Harlem in New York City. Kinloch (Ph.D. Wayne State University) is an Assistant Professor in Literacy Studies in the School of Teaching and Learning. Her research interests include adolescent identities and youth digital literacies, writing research, urban education, spatial politics, and African American studies. Her forthcoming book on race, place, and youth narratives of change will be published later this year by Teachers College Press. Currently, she is working on her next book project, which explores the intersections of language, community change, and identity in the literacy lives of urban youth.
Cassandra Parente will discuss her study of the literacy acquisition of eleven post WWII Italian immigrants, from their small neighborhood schools in Italy to workplaces in the U.S., highlighting the strategies of cultural and linguistic resistance they learned throughout this journey. Parente (Ph.D. Texas Christian University) is an assistant professor of English at the OSU Marion campus. Her interests include rhetorical theory, composition theory and pedagogy, and research methods; her primary area of scholarly engagement is literacy studies. Her research focuses on unraveling and examining the literacy skills and rhetorical practices of ethnic and working class communities.
Daniel Keller will discuss his study of modern reading, how it is changing through technology, how students read in and out of school, across various genres and media, and how college teachers can respond with a pedagogy that takes traditional and new literacies into account. Keller (Ph.D. University of Louisville) is an assistant professor of English at the OSU Newark campus. His research and teaching interests include literacy, rhetoric & composition, reading pedagogy, new media, and popular culture. He has published chapters in edited collections on literacy and new media; and a co-authored article in the Writing Center Journal that received an award from the International Writing Centers Association for outstanding scholarship.
For more information about the Winter Program or new research in Literacy Studies, contact Harvey J. Graff at
graff.40@osu.edu.
Expanding Literacy Studies: Conference Registration Now Open
Expanding Literacy Studies is the first international, interdisciplinary conference on literacy studies for graduate and professional students. The conference will take place at The Ohio State University April 3-5, 2009. The conference steering committee is in the process of fine-tuning the program schedule. The Call for Proposals yielded a stunning response: more than 180 proposals involving nearly 250 presenters from 66 institutions and 6 countries.
The program committee has announced the general schedule for the three-day event and expects to post the complete schedule on the LiteracyStudies@OSU Web site within the coming few weeks. For more information about the conference, visit
the conference Web site.
Friday, April 3
Noon
3:30-5:00
5:15-6:45
7:30-8:30
On-site registration opens
Concurrent sessions
Plenary: The Literacy Myth 30 Years Later, with Harvey J. Graff
Presenters' Dinner
Saturday, April 4
9:00-10:30
10:45-12:15
1:30-3:00
3:15-4:15
4:30-6:00
Concurrent sessions
Concurrent sessions
Lunch break
Concurrent sessions
Concurrent roundtables
Plenary: Literacy Studies, with Shirley Brice Heath
Sunday, April 5
9:00-10:30
10:45-12:15
Concurrent sessions
Concurrent workshops
Health Literacy: Offered for the first time Spring Quarter
The term
health literacy refers to a person's ability to read, understand, and act on health information, such as prescriptions, recommendations for health care, health insurance applications, and informed consent.
Nearly 90 million people-about half of all American adults-have low health literacy skills. Even people who are read well or are well-educated struggle with understanding and navigating our health care system. Misunderstanding health information negatively impacts a person's adherence with treatment and medical outcomes and increases risk of complications.
A portion of the grant from the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences for the development of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies went toward developing an interdisciplinary course in Health Literacy. It is being offered for the first time Spring Quarter. It will be taught by a team of faculty from the various disciplines, and offers a great opportunity to learn about the issues and challenges of low health literacy. Topics and field experience activities covered will include:
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analyzing data for national and international literacy levels
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examining populations at risk for low literacy
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research on health literacy & measurement tools
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development of health information in plain language
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effective health communication techniques
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organizational approaches to meet the challenges of low health literacy
The course in Health Literacy represents an interdisciplinary first for OSU involving the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, Allied Medicine, Medicine Nursing and Pharmacy. For more information, contact the course director Sandra Cornett at
Sandra.Cornett@osu.mc.edu.
Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies:Spring Quarter Courses
ENGLISH 884 Literacy Past to Present; cross-listed as History 775
From the invention of alphabets to the electronic age: this course explores literacy's relationships with social, cultural, political, and economic changes; impacts and significance for individuals and collectives;
This course satisfies the "Second Core Course" requirement for the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies. Instructor Harvey Graff;
graff.40@osu.edu
NEW! ARTS & SCI 709 Health Literacy; cross-listed as ALLIED MED 710, MED COL 710, NURSING 710, PHARMACY 709
Examines the issues and challenges of low health literacy, including research; development and testing of information in plain language; health communication techniques; and organizational approaches to meet these challenges.
This course satisfies the "Third Core Course" requirement for the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies. Instructor Sandra Cornett;
cornett.3@osu.edu
ARTS & SCI 720 Scientific Literacy
Explores the nature of scientific literacy, scientific thought, roots of western science and technology and the relationship between scientific and other forms of literacy.
This course satisfies the "Third Core Course" requirement for the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies; Instructor Susan Fisher;
fisher.14@osu.edu
Spring Quarter 2009 Electives
CLASSICS
610 Manuscript Studies; Instructor Richard Green;
green.693@osu.edu
712 Greek/Latin Paleography; Instructor Frank Coulson;
coulson.1@osu.edu
ENGLISH
770 Folklore Ethnography; Instructor Gabriella Modan;
modan.1@osu.edu
870 Seminar in Folklore; Instructor Amy Shuman;
shuman.1@osu.edu
EDUCATION T & L
665 Applied Linguistics; Instructor Leslie Moore;
moore.1817@osu.edu
876 Science, Math, Technology, & Educated Mind; Instructor David Haury;
haury.2@osu.edu
907 History of Childhood & Adolescent Literature; Instructor Barbara Kiefer;
kiefer.38@osu.edu
913 Research and Theory Written Composition; Instructor Valerie Kinloch;
kinloch.2@osu.edu
925.10 Seminar in Language, Education, & Society; Instructor Adrienne Dixson;
dixson.1@osu.edu
925.56 Seminar in Reading (multiple sections):
EDUCATION PAES
637D Health Agencies; Instructor Doris Shnider;
shnider.5@osu.edu
652M Health Promotion in the Workplace; Instructor E Stevens;
stevens.353@osu.edu
652N Health Promotion in the Workplace; Instructor Rick Petosa;
petosa.1@osu.edu
GEOGRAPHY
580 Elements of Cartography; Instructor Ningchaun Xiao;
xiao.37@osu.edu
For more information, visit
Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies.
News and Announcements
CCCC Outstanding Book Award
Writing from These Roots: Literacy in a Hmong-American Community has won the 2009 CCCC Outstanding Book Award. Its author John Duffy presented the inaugural OSU Lecture on Literacy Studies last year. The Book Award Committee noted in its discussion of the book that "it richly conceptualizes the study of literacy by considering its historical, personal, institutional, cultural, and transnational dimensions." Duffy will be presented with the award at the 2009 CCCC Convention in San Francisco.
Performing Health Literacies: Sugar, featuring Robbie McCauley
Robbie McCauley's
Sugar brings together storytelling, social commentary, and interactive dialogue on the subject of diabetes and health care disparities. She plays sugar as a metaphor and a reality related to race, class, gender, and health. Both poignant and humorous, the performance reflects her work in residence at OSU. When? Friday, March 13, 7-9 PM, Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, 905 Mount Vernon Avenue.
McCauley will lead a brown-bag lunch discussion on participatory theater, storytelling, and social action on Friday, March 13, noon-1:30 PM, 311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue. These events are co-sponsored by the Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, College of Arts and Humanities Diversity Committee, Project Narrative, Center for Folklore Studies, Department of English, Department of Comparative Studies, and LiteracyStudies@OSU. For more information, contact Sheila Bock at
bock.42@osu.edu.
–Sheila Bock
Literacy Studies GradSem: Conference Prep Session
The Interdisciplinary Seminar in Literacy Studies will host a conference presentation workshop for participants in the upcoming Expanding Literacy Studies graduate student conference. We will discuss conference aims and possibilities, presentation protocols and best practices, and hold feedback and practice sessions to help develop and revise presentations. This session will be held Friday, February 27th, 11:30-1:00pm at the George Wells Knight House, 104 E. 15th Ave. If you'd like to participate, either to present, develop, or respond to a conference presentation, please contact Audra Slocum,
slocum.81@osu.edu.
–Shawn Casey and Audra Slocum, Co-Chairs
Teaching and Technology: "It's a Collaborative World"
The Goldberg Center announces the next event in its Technology and Teaching speaker series: "It's a Collaborative World." The guest speakers are
Barbara Gellman-Danley, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Systems Integration, Ohio Board of Regents, and
Kate Carey, Director of Academic Innovation and Special Projects, Ohio Board of Regents. When? Wednesday February 25, 3:30-5:00 PM 168 Dulles Hall. For more information, contact David Staley at
staley.3@osu.edu.
–David Staley
History of the Book extends an open invitation
We heartily invite those interested in book history to join with us, and hope that you will share this invitation with your colleagues and students. Our interests include the social, economic, and cultural history of authorship, editing, printing, publishing, media, book art, the book trade, periodicals, newspapers, ephemera, copyright, censorship, literary agents, libraries, literary criticism, canon formation, literacy, literary education, reading habits, and reader response. We welcome participation from all disciplines and methodologies, all literary cultures and historical periods. The History of the Book meets two or three times per quarter. The group includes faculty, staff, and graduate students from across the university. If you are interested in learning more, attending a meeting, suggesting a reading, or presenting any of your research, please contact Alan B. Farmer at
farmer.109@osu.edu.
–Alan Farmer
Experimental Writing in Qualitative Research
Following the linguistic turn and postmodern critique of interpretivism, qualitative researchers in art education join the discursive explosion of interest in pushing the envelope of textual convention. Among writings to be explored are autoethnography, autobiography, fictive ethnography, layered and fractured texts, poetics, ethnodrama, memoirs, testimonios, performance texts, journaling, and diaries. This course is designed for students with a background in qualitative methodology and active interests in newly emerging forms of qualitative inquiry in art education and a variety of related disciplines. ART ED 795T 02407-1 T 12:00-2:18 HC 248
–Candace Stout
New Speaker Series: African and African American Diaspora Literacies
The Martha L. King Center for Language & Literacies and the School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education and Human Ecology announce a new speaker series in the field of African and African American Diaspora Literacies.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 4:30 p.m. Ramseyer Hall 200
Keith Gilyard, Distinguished Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University, "Reconsidering the Code-Switching Paradigm"
Friday, March 6, 2009, 11:30 a.m. Ramseyer Hall 200
David Kirkland, Asst. Professor of Education, Steinhardt School, New York University, "Literate Lives of Young Black Women in Online Social Networking Communities"
Thursday, April 23 2009, 4:30 p.m. Ramseyer Hall 200
Shondel Nero, Assoc. Professor of Education, Steinhardt School, New York University, "Language, Literacy, and Pedagogy of Caribbean Creole English Speakers"
Monday, May 11, 2009, 4:30 p.m. Ramseyer Hall 200
Carmen Kynard, Asst. Professor of English, St. John's University, "Poetics and Counter-Storytelling When Young Black Women Right/Write The Wor(l)d"
–Elaine Richardson
Links between Literacy and Social Networks
On Thursday, January 29, Leslie Bartlett gave a lecture previewing her forthcoming book,
The Word and the World: The Cultural Politics of Literacy in Brazil. Bartlett''s lecture addressed how non-governmental organization educators in Brazil construe Paulo Freire's ideas about literacy and translate them into classroom practice. She presented highlights from her own ethnographic study of literacy in public schools and nongovernmental organizations in the Brazilian cities Rio de Janeiro and Joao Pessoa, and discussed how adult students' perceptions of the meaning, purpose, and effect of literacy programs impact the learning process. Adult Brazilian students often identify schooling as the primary contributing factor in expanding their social networks, according to Bartlett, especially women students. The resulting economic benefits from these expanded social networks can be directly linked to the students' cultural understandings of literacy.
The second invited speaker in OSU's Annual Lecture in Literacy Studies series, Bartlett has been a faculty member of the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University since 2002. She is affiliated with the Programs in Comparative and International Education and International Educational Development, as well as the Program in Anthropology and Education. Her research includes ethnographic studies of communication, multilingual literacies, popular education, race and class inequality, and schooling across the Americas. In the informal "Coffee and Conversation" session that preceded her lecture, Bartlett shared information about her current research project in the Dominican Republic, and how the category of race shifts as it travels through different geopolitical and institutional realms.
–Karin Hooks
JUROS: Now accepting submissions
JUROS, the Journal of Undergraduate Research at Ohio State, is now accepting submissions from all areas of research. There is no application fee. Authors retain all rights to their work. The best submissions from the academic year will be judged by our faculty Editorial Board and printed in a hard-copy edition, Oculus. Students should visit
The JUROS Web site to learn more.
–Olga Borodulin
Locating LiteracyStudies@OSU
George Wells Knight House
104 E. 15th Ave
Columbus, OH 43201
PH: (614) 247-6539
FAX: (614) 247-6336
literacystudies@osu.edu
