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Post-Conference Newsletter October 2003 |
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Beyond the Printing Press: Technology, Pedagogy, and Research in the Cyber Age!
Calls
for Contributors |
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The Florida College English Association’s Fall conference broke with tradition in taking place at two dynamic locations. The 2003 Fall Conference drew 60 faculty members to the Holiday Inn Harborside in Indian Rocks Beach and over 100 students and guest faculty to the new Seminole Campus of St. Petersburg College. |
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Conference Overview Our past-president Susan Nugent opened Thursday’s general session with a tribute to a colleague, Carolyn Heilbrun, and her observations from Writing a Woman’s Life. Susan Nugent suggested that Carolyn Heilbrun’s statement that “women don’t serve as role models; only their stories do” also applies to education for “teachers don’t serve as role models; only their stories do.” Susan then invited everyone at FCEA to share their stories—so as to benefit through knowing each other. We were sorry to have missed some stories and conversations in order to have participated in others—but this is perhaps an inexorable existential dilemma in any conference. Many of this year’s concurrent sessions focused on technology, and we were fortunate to hear various perspectives. We even benefited from cross-disciplinary discourse, thanks to many visiting eCampus faculty, who love the opportunity to meet face-to-face. Andrea Greenbaum of Barry University shared her frustrations regarding the institutional politics that frequently creates stumbling blocks for innovative faculty applying the multiple modalities of technology in English. The other side of this brave new world was also represented. Deborah Coxwell-Teague of Florida State University investigated and explored the resistance to technology within our own profession. Jeff Karon of The University of Tampa illustrated the resiliency of paper, art, and physical objects—all examples of time-tested technologies that are by no means “outmoded” and still demand our respect, if not veneration. Not all of the 2003 sessions focused on technology. Many sessions focused on time-honored subjects like literary critique, theory, and pedagogy regarding rhetoric, composition, and literature. The 2003 conference also celebrated an FCEA favorite—Florida Literature: Socky O’Sullivan chaired a dynamic panel titled “This Earthly Paradise: Visions of Florida.” Anna Lillios of The University of Central Florida shared ground-breaking research on Zora Neale Hurston’s relationship with her father in what promises to be the next and most authoritative biographical material on Florida’s best home-grown author. Gregory Byrd of SPC also joined this session in an exploration of wilderness and landscape in Florida and Southern literature. Serious discussions occurred in many sessions about censorship, war, and pedagogy in today’s vexing political climate. We also took time to laugh as we took a look at poetry seen through our student’s eyes in a one-hour session of comedy. Former FCEA President Patrick McMahon’s “Poetry Ruined My Life: and Now It’s Payback Time” supplied first-rate literary humor in multi-media format for a mid-day catharsis. We would like to close by emphasizing that it takes a village to put together a conference. We were very fortunate to have the gracious support of many FCEA members, our college, and especially the Seminole Campus. We would like to thank our provost, Dr. James Olliver, for spearheading an entire infrastructure of technologists and professionals, working together as a team to support this year’s FCEA Conference. Hope you all enjoyed our hospitality, as we enjoyed showcasing our campus. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference which will be hosted by Vice President Steve Brahlek at Palm Beach Community College. We hope to see you there in 2004 and thank each and every one of you for your continued support of the best professional organization in Florida. Kevin Morgan (Shelley)
co-President FCEA |
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Feature
Presentations At the SPC Seminole Campus digitorium, St. Petersburg Times writer Bill Maxwell delivered a very thought provoking examination of race as well as the power of fiction in his key note address and interaction with the audience. Maxwell reflected on the writing of “Parallel Lives” and alluded to the writings of Hemingway, Jackson and Ellison. Bill Maxwell recognized friends in the audience (such as Ward Scott) from his teaching at Santa Fe Community College and fielded many questions from educators in our audience about engaging students in critical discourse of race and culture. Dr. Phillip Sipiora and Dr. Laurence Broer of the University of South Florida performed their original play, “Writer’s Heaven,” for FCEA. This research-based creation probed into the complex and fascinating relationship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald. This one-hour performance was followed by an informative question and answer exchange regarding research on the writings and personalities of both authors that Gertrude Stein described as “the lost generation.” SPC English professor Ned Johnson
delivered a third feature presentation and brought (in full costume)
Samuel Clemmons to life for us—connecting the 19th and the 21st
centuries and encouraging us to ponder the more constant features of
humanity in a changing world. Ned’s brilliant portrayal of the famous
America writer also addressed the issues of censorship, race, and even
Jimmy Buffet. |
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Streaming Video The 2003 Fall Conference introduced much new
and exciting praxis to the Florida College English Association.
Friday’s feature presentations were streamed live for outside
audiences and archived for our future reference. To view:
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Florida
English |
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New FCEA Discussion Board A WebBoard Discussion has been set up to encourage discussion among FCEA members about literature, writing, teaching, the use of technology, Floridiana and FCEA itself. More information about the WebBoard Discussion and instructions on how to access and use it can be found here. |
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Distinguished Colleague |
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The Executive Board
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Members
of the FCEA
Executive Board for the 2003-2004 year are: |
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Florida Association of Departments of English Our distinguished colleague Fred Standley of Florida State University assumed FADE leadership and hosted the 2003 FADE luncheon. During this year’s FADE luncheon, discussion continued over intellectual property rights. Fred Standley also offered a draft proposal regarding intellectual property rights from Lee University for our review. The FADE organization is currently seeking new leadership and new officers. |
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2004 Conference The 2004 Fall Conference will be held in Palm Beach, Florida, on October 15-16, 2004. Steve Brahlek is Conference Chair and will be providing more information at a later date. |
FCEA
© 1999-2003 Florida College English
Association
Hemingway
and Faulkner perform divinely: The link to "Writers'
Heaven" -- 
