I talk about the Sigma Tau and Sigma Kappa Delta conference I attended!

1. Harnessing the Power of Literary
Studies

2. agenda
INTRODUCTION
WHO WE ARE, WHAT
WE'VE DONE, SIGMA
TAU/SIGMA KAPPA IN
GENERAL
THE CONFERENCE: A
CAPSTONE MOMENT
TAKEAWAYS: IMMEDIATE &
LONG TERM

3. Introduction: What do we want to
achieve in this presentation?
- Answer: What's an "English Honor
Society?" What do we do?

4. Introduction: What do we want to
achieve in this presentation?
- Convey: the energy & excitement of the
St. Louis conference, themed "In Flux"

5. Introduction: What do we want to
achieve in this presentation?
- Persuade: students invested in literary
studies are incredible. They fully commit to
their imagination; they make every word
count. They communicate effectively and
so much more.

6. What is Sigma Kappa Delta? What is
Sigma Tau Delta?
SKD @ OC:
- 2 poetry nights
- a Friendsgiving
- helping with Fright Fest & Cabaret; -
"Irishgram" fundraiser
- volunteering and service.
"small but mighty" - Dr. Karra at the
Roundtable
Links: Year in Review; Joy Harjo Book Club
Discussion

7. What is Sigma Kappa Delta? What is
Sigma Tau Delta?
Sigma Tau Delta: extremely well-respected;
100 years old; lots of advisors, connections,
mentorship, & opportunities

8. The Conference
- St. Louis! The Hilton! The Ballpark!
Mediterranean & Nigerian food.
- Skills: not just communication, but
commitment to their
words; organization, knowing
strengths and weaknesses; we
watched their courage and openness
grow.
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9. Panel: "What Can You Do With an English
Major?"
- Subtitle: "A Workshop on Mapping
Career Pathways for Students"
- The general feeling: we, as a society,
have ways of bullying people looking
to refine their voice.
- At Widener, the engineering students
had t-shirts saying "Your major is my
hobby."
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10. We're Not Even Talking About Business Majors Here
- If it's not business,
health professions, comp
sci, or engineering, it's in
trouble.
- Note the decline in
Education majors! The
MLA conjectures this is
related to the decline of
the humanities.
- BLS has the median
wage for English majors
at 56k.
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11. Takeaways
Short Term:
- Reach out to Midland. We met them at the conference;
Brendan and Stacy are fully committed to their
students.
- SKD opportunities. So many of these we learned about
at the conference (cash prizes for photography! An
award for best literary journal).
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12. Takeaways
Short Term:
- Poetry Pharmacy. A school in Utah is doing this to
help students open up and promote literacy.
- "Pop up Tables"
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13. Takeaways
Longer term:
- Career maps – what are you doing beyond work and
school? How are you giving back? How are you using
your major already?
- List of alums who are doing work with their major.
(Wordy By Nature blog – how they give attention to
students, too)
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14. Takeaways
Longer term:
- Common read? (one school does a graphic novel)
- Larger contingent at the conference; a pop up table?;
more Noel Quinones; moneyball
- Literary journal
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15. Bonus round: What's it like seeing a Pulitzer Winner do
their thing?
Donika Kelly
- Part of the Welcome
Address
- Talked about Bestiary.
About writing these
poems about human-
animal hybrids, the
imagination of the past,
and trying not to be
horrible after a break-up
- Professorial affect &
clicking with a room of
several hundred.
"Sanctuary"
Carl Phillips
- He has fans. Students talked at length about how
they bought the common read and absorbed his
poems into their lives.
- Sharp questions about craft and whether he's moved
on from what he said in past essays. The Art of
Daring was mentioned by one student as motivation
for their own work
- "from tenderness, the revolution"
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