Course Syllabus—Spring Semester
(printable .doc w/schedule)
(printable pdf w/schedule)
GET INVOLVED in ENGLISHFEST 2008
Enroll in English 398: English Practicum. You can receive 1 or 2 credits at a time for fall and/or spring semester. See Gloria Hochstein in Hibbard 409 for permission to enroll, or email hochstgj@uwec.edu
Committees l Meetings l Expectations l Email
Our English Festival at UWEC is one of the largest student-run language arts festivals in the country. We play host to musicians from around the area, English capstone students presenting their papers, creative and critical works by students and faculty, and people presenting panels on everything that can possibly be related to English. As the staff of the English Festival, during the fall semester, we are responsible both for laying the groundwork for the Festival in the spring, working on outreach to area middle schools and high schools, putting out The Afterword (alumni newsletter), fundraising, working with visiting writers, and planning and hosting the December capstone presentations.
During the spring semester, we make sure the Festival will run smoothly, doing everything from recruiting bands and presenters to advertising and fundraising. In addition, we participate as presenters in the Festival itself.
Students have the option of participating in the Festival for course credit, for service learning credit, or simply as an extra activity.
Committees
Most of the planning and work on the English Festival takes place in committees. All members need to be on at least one committee. The committees include the following:
Advertising: Advertising is responsible for all aspects of publicizing the Festival and its fundraisers. This can include creating posters, placing articles in campus or city news, or creating and handing out fliers.
Community Outreach: All members receiving service-learning credit for the Fest are required to participate in the Community Outreach committee and/or the Children’s Writing Contest or the Young Adult Writing Contest sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta in the spring or the Chippewa Valley Book Festival in the fall. The Outreach committee sets up events involving the community of Eau Claire, including writing workshops with local high schools and panels for the Big Read.
Facilities & Presenters: Facilities and Presenters sets up the mechanics of the Festival. They are responsible for making sure that we have rooms and equipment for the presentations, as well as gathering the equipment requests from all panelists. Members of the Facilities & Presenters Committee contact speakers outside of the English Department. They are also responsible for contacting students (graduate and undergraduate) and faculty to present panels, critical papers, and creative works. The members of this committee will read all individual submissions (those not nominated by a professor) and arrange those accepted into sessions for the Fest. They will also serve as or designate session chairs during the fest.
Fundraising: Fundies are responsible for fundraising ideas and planning our money making activities. Past fundraisers have included raking people’s lawns, holding billiards and Texas Hold’em tournaments, and running bake sales. Members of other committees are expected to work at fundraisers.
Music: The Music Committee is responsible for contacting and getting commitments from the bands that will play at the Fest. In the past, the Music Committee has also planned some fundraising shows at local venues.
Print: The Print Committee designs and publishes the program of events for the Festival. In the fall semester, they are responsible for putting out an issue of The Afterword.
Webmaster: The Webmaster is responsible for keeping our site updated with any new announcements, contact information, photographs, and other information. The Web site has taken on several different appearances throughout the years, but needs to remain professional, easy to navigate, and visually appealing.
Photographer: The Photographer is responsible for taking pictures of all the major English Fest events, including music shows, community events, committees, and the Fest itself. The photographer need to work with the Webmaster to get visuals posted on the website quickly.
Meetings
English Festival meetings are our equivalent of class time, and members are expected to attend these meetings.
Committee: Committee meetings are arranged by the committee chair at a time when everyone on the committee is able to attend. Much of the planning and execution of the Festival takes place at these meetings.
Group: In the spring, large group meetings are held every Thursday at 5:00 pm in the Hibbard Penthouse. In the fall, meetings are held every other week.
Committee Chair: Committee chairs meet as needed to brainstorm and discuss progress or problems.
Extra: Members of all committees are expected to assist with fundraising events and assist in advertising. Everyone in the Festival organizaion is expected to present at the Festival itself: present a paper or creative work, chair a session, or participate in a panel discussion.
Expectations and Grading
Members are expected to attend both group and committee meetings regularly. Committee work comprises a large part of the work and grades for the English Festival, and your committee chair will be handing in a grade report for you at the end of the semester. For those taking English 398, English Practicum, while this doesn’t comprise all of your grade, it is an important part.
The English Fest syllabus is flexible and changes throughout the semester due to new ideas, our interaction with classes and panelists, and many other factors. The most important thing is that everything on this list is finished by Fest time. However, if there are going to be major changes to the deadlines listed on this syllabus, please talk to Gloria Hochstein, the faculty advisor, or Melissa Green, the lead organizer, to verify that we will have enough time to complete everything and to help planning in the future.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact Mel Green or Gloria Hochstein!
Email
Much of the English Festival communication is done via email. All Fest-related emails must be cc’d to the following:
Gloria Hochstein (Faculty Advisor): hochstgj@uwec.edu
Mel Green ( Lead Organizer): greene@uwec.edu
In addition, please feel free to email any of us with any questions about your work in the Festival. Although many of the ideas implemented during the Festival will come from you, we will be happy to answer any questions about how to implement ideas or provide some help brainstorming.
Bulletin Boards & Access to Info
The bulletin board across from Gloria Hochstein’s office (HHH 409) will be used for the Fest. There is also a Festival mailbox in HHH 405 into which you can place items for other Fest members to access; in addition there is now a English Festival mailbox in the student organization complex. There is also a new Festival folder on the deptdir on the W Drive (engl/English Festival). The old Fest folder is also on the W Drive (engl/PacEnglishFest).
