The WWU English Community Celebrates a Year of Outstanding Accomplishments
The WWU English Community enjoyed many noteworthy accomplishments during the 2024-2025 academic year. This alumni newsletter celebrates the achievements of our esteemed alumni and highlights faculty news from this academic year. We interviewed our newest faculty members: Eddy Troy, Jamie Rogers, Sean Golden, Melissa Guadrón, and Dennin Ellis and bid a fond farewell to retiring faculty member, Pam Hardman, and Graduate Program Coordinator, Erica Dean-Crawford.
You can also read highlights from Department programming here. They include news of English Department professor Stefania Heim and Fairhaven College professor Yanara Friedland’s relaunch of the MUTTER COURAGE Reading Series at the Geheim Gallery as well as an interview with Ablaye Diakité, Coordinator for the English Department’s annual Senegal study abroad program.
Wherever you are, we hope this issue reminds you that you remain a vital part of the WWU English Community. If you feel inspired to share your news for a future issue, write to us on the Alumni News submission page.
Notes from the English Department Chair, Lysa Rivera
As I think about this past year, a concept very popular in Chicanx culture keeps surfacing for me: “movidas.” Movidas are the day-to-day coping strategies and survival tactics communities practice to navigate difficult and uncertain times. Movidas emphasize the collective over the individual, hope over despair, and resourcefulness over resignation. This year, the English department has gone into full movidas mode. Alongside the many individual achievements of our faculty and alumni, including those featured in this year’s newsletter, this has been a year of movement and pivots as we find ourselves having to respond to the new normal of financial uncertainty and unpredictable structural change. Our movidas show up in the classes we teach, the mentoring we provide, and the opportunities we create to show up for one another with respect, understanding, and empathy. Just this quarter, several of our faculty members picketed alongside the student workers striking for voluntary recognition. Some faculty carried signs, others delivered cookies, and all of them communicated to the students that we see and support them. Earlier this quarter Professors Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi and Jenny Forsythe, collaborating with the student wellness center, organized an event focused on sleep hygiene (and sleep poetry) for all students, faculty, and staff in the English department to meet the needs of folks feeling overwhelmed in school and work. A week prior to this event, Professor Theresa Warburton hosted an event featuring a Minnesota-based writer, performer, and activist Junauda Petrus and Kat David, a local artist and activist. A moving conversation that explored the relationship among art, vision, and social movements, this event ended up feeling like a grounding force at a time in the academic year that can feel very stressful. These are just a few examples of the many ways in which our department shows up for each other — for faculty, staff, and students. Although I admit to being anxious about the challenges that await us, I take comfort in our proven capacity to work together and support one another.
Special Thanks To
Thank you to the WWU English Activities and Outreach Committee: Christopher Wise, Dawn Dietrich, Jane Wong, and Sean Golden for writing articles, gathering news, and making this alumni newsletter possible! Thank you to former committee member, Jenny Forsythe, for assisting with the transition from last year; Lysa Rivera, for contributing the Department Chair’s Note; and Frances Wankowski, Zoe Briggs, and Elle Starr for your work on the functionality and design of the website. And an extra special thanks to our English alumni community who contributed their stories this year—we love to hear from you!
