Rowan Writing Arts Events Update: Week of September 29th, 2019

Inaugural Student-Faculty Social Scheduled for October 2
The first formal social gathering of Writing Arts students and faculty is scheduled for Wednesday, October 2 at 3:30 p.m. in Victoria 200. This meet-and-greet event is designed to strengthen the connection we have with our Writing Arts Learning Community and also give us an opportunity to publicize our upcoming Writing Arts Winter Writing Retreat to Wallingford, PA on January 10-12, 2020. Hopefully, as 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays is our open period, most faculty and students will be able to attend. As an added incentive to students (and faculty), pizza will be served and, for those who enjoy some friendly competition, there will be writing- and word-related games on hand. Please click here to RSVP and encourage your students to do so as well. Contact Amanda Haruch for more information.
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Charles Barkley Event Sells Out in Two Days
During his 16-year Hall of Fame National Basketball Association career, former Philadelphia 76ers player Charles Barkley often was criticized for his lumbering trips up and down the hardwood during games. However, there was nothing slow about the speed with which tickets disappeared for Barkley’s Tuesday, October 1 appearance here at Rowan University. Less than two days after the event was announced, all 800 free tickets for his appearance in Wilson Hall’s Pfleeger Concert Hall were claimed in the online registration process. During the event, Barkley will be interviewed by Neil Hartman, the Emmy Award-winning former sports broadcaster for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and the new Director of the Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact in the College of Communication and Creative Arts. Barkley, who played at Auburn University and also for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, won two Olympic gold medals as part of the 1992 and 1996 “Dream Team” squads and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History

Collingswood Book Festival Right Around the Corner
This Saturday, October 5, the Rowan Writing Arts community outreach venue crosses back over the Delaware to Camden County for the 17th annual Collingswood Book Festival, an event that will run the full length of the borough along Haddon Avenue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s a day of writing-related readings, presentations, and exhibits with in excess of 5,000 attendees on hand. Rowan Writing Arts will be in booths 106 and 108. . . . Please attend either or both of these free, family-friendly events if you can and contact me at your earliest convenience if you are available to help staff either MightyFest or the Collingswood fair.

Community Writing Conference Coming to Philadelphia
The biennial Conference on Community Writing will be held in Philadelphia on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 17, 18, and 19 at Drexel University, 31st and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia. Rowan Writing Arts and the CCCA are helping to co-sponsor one of the Saturday workshops: “The Soapbox: Community Print Shop and Zine Library.” The conference – staged by the Coalition for Community Writing based at the University of Colorado, Boulder – offers a series of speeches, workshops, think tanks, roundtables, and traditional panels focused on community literacy, social justice, and writing for publics. For those seeking a full immersion experience, The Study at University City (33rd and Chestnut) is offering a conference room rate of $199 a night (down from their rack rate of $444 a night). For more information and to register, click here or contact colleague Jason Luther.
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Writing Arts Diversity Council Offers Development Opportunities
Providing faculty members with the skills and tools to become stronger advocates of diversity, equity, and inclusion is the main goal of our department’s Diversity Council, which is now in its second year of operation. Colleague Rachael Shapiro says the council also is creating instructional resources for use in the First-Year Writing Program and for other department courses. There is no limit on the number of members serving on the council, so everyone is invited to attend and participate. Contact Rachael for more information. Once all department committee assignments have been made, the dates of this year’s Diversity Council meetings will be announced. In the meantime, please take a minute and fill out this anonymous and confidential Diversity Survey to add your voice and opinions to the ongoing department conversation on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Long-Time Glassboro Mayor McCabe Dead at Age 87
The municipal and university communities woke Sunday morning to the news that former Glassboro mayor and key player in the development of Rowan Boulevard – Leo McCabe – died at the age of 87. “We lost a good friend,” Rowan president Ali Houshmand said in the official university announcement of McCabe’s passing. “(He) had the uncanny ability to look beyond day-to-day challenges,” Houshmand said, “and keep everyone focused on achieving what was for the better good.” McCabe served four terms as mayor from 2002 to 2018 and the $426 million public-private Rowan Boulevard project was conceived and came to fruition on his watch. Before becoming mayor, McCabe – who earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at The Ohio State University – worked as Manager of Fuels and Air Quality Research at Mobil Oil

 

​Julie Heffernan: Mending a Reflection 
​On display now through October 26, 2019
This exhibit addresses the connection between culture, mass media, and personal identity through the eyes of a central female figure by investigating the shared collective unconscious, historical narratives, and subliminal imagery that shapes who we are and how we perceive the world around us. Rowan University Art Gallery - 301 High Street West, Glassboro • FREE

Volunteering Opportunities (October)
Rowan University’s “Out of This World” Homecoming celebration takes place the morning and early afternoon of Saturday, October 12. The College of Communication and Creative Arts needs volunteers to work at our booth in College Row. It’s a chance to meet and greet alumni, students, student families, and colleagues from across the university

If you'd like to help in any of these events, please contact Stephen A. Royek here.

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For Your Calendar:

• The fall semester College Assembled will be on Monday, October 7 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. at King Auditorium in our old stomping grounds, Bozorth Hall. Dean Sandy Tweedie will bring us up to date on the latest happenings in the CCCA and will entertain our questions. It’s always an interesting and informative event, so try not to miss it.
• Theorizing At Rowan: Wednesday October 23, 5 pm, Westby 111 — "The Tethered of the Earth: Jordan Peele, Frantz Fanon, Jacques Derrida” — Ammon Allred (Philosophy, University of Toledo). This event is co-sponsored by the English Department.
• The Fall 2019 issue of Glassworks magazine will be rolled out on Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m. across the street in the Rowan Art Gallery with a reception and readings from several local writers and student staff members. Contact Katie Budris for more details.

 
Do you have a new publication, a reading, or any other event of interest coming up? Please let me know so I can let all our colleagues know in the weekly Rowan Writing Arts Events Update newsletter. Stop by my Victoria 521 office or email me at royek@rowan.edu to give me the 4-1-1.

Access Events Update online by clicking here.

​Stephen A. Royek M.A.
Lecturer, Writing Arts
Rowan University
Chair, Faculty Senate Awards Committee
Lecturer Representative, Faculty Center Advisory Board
     Victoria Hall, Room 521
     Phone: 856-906-4755
     Email: royek@rowan.edu ​