Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Committee
Calendar of Events for Spring 2006
Weekly Creative Writing Hours
Students, faculty, and staff interested in creative writing can meet to share their work and get some feedback from other writers.
Bedford Campus: Fridays 12:30 - 1:30, Writing Center, Room AR-201 (starting February 10th)
Lowell Campus: Dates/times to be announced
The Common Book* Club Party: Discussion Groups on Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
Join us for food, merriment, and WACky ideas as we discuss this year's common book and consider ways to incorporate this book in class discussions. Open to faculty, staff, students, and administrators!
Bedford campus: Tuesday, February 7th, 2:00 � 3:30 p.m., Room CC-217
Lowell campus: Wednesday, February 8th, 2:00 � 3:30 p.m., Room LC-302
Coffee Time with Laurie Hazard and Jean-Paul Nadeau, the co-authors of Foundations of Learning will speak in this first series event of the Spring semester.
Part of the Coffee Time series.
Tuesday, February 7th, 12:00 p.m.
Lowell Campus Writing Center, Room LC-406B
Readings by the award-winning writers and editors of a new book entitled
Why I�m Still Married: Women Write Their Hearts Out On Love, Loss, Sex, and Who Does the Dishes.
This new collection of essays, co-edited by Karen Propp and MCC Professor Jean, captures the passion, loss, joy, friendship and humor that marks a life-long commitment. Discussion and book signings will follow each presentation.
Lowell Campus: Tuesday, February 14th, beginning at 12:00 noon,
Federal Building, Assembly Room
(Writers & Editors Reading: Kathleen Aguero, Marge Piercy, Karen Propp, Jean Trounstine)
Bedford Campus: Wednesday, February 15th, beginning at 11:30 a.m.,
Bedford Campus Center, East Cafe
(Writers & Editors Reading: Elizabeth Graver, Karen Propp, Audrey Shulman, Jean Trounstine)
Sponsored by MCC's One World Series.
Faculty Workshop on Plagiarism: Your Student Plagiarized � What do you do? What can you do?
This faculty workshop will explore student plagiarism issues, including discussions of our pedagogical responses to plagiarism, our current detection options, and our new and easier option of using Turn It In within Blackboard. (Turn It In is an online plagiarism prevention service for which MCC pays. There are now a number of new features in the Fall 2005 edition that allow Turn It In to work seamlessly with Blackboard.com.)
(Read an article on the rise in college plagiarism from Educause Review. And/or listen to this brief 4 minute NPR commentary, Plagiarism in College, from an adjunct professor in New York who uses TurnItIn.com.)
Jointly sponsored by WAC & the Library.
Wednesday, March 1st, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Kerouac Room, Library, Federal Building, Lowell Campus
The ESL Writer in Your Classroom
This faculty session will address instructors' questions and concerns, exploring ways to respond to ESL student writers across the disciplines.
Jointly sponsored by WAC & the ESL department.
Wednesday, March 8th, 1:00 - 2:30
Lowell TLRC, Library, Federal Building, Lowell Campus:
One World Series Presents
Jamaica Kincaid, award-winning author/novelist
Celebrated for her compelling prose and poetry, Jamaica Kincaid has written for The Village Voice and The New Yorker, and has published 10 books and novels, including Annie John, Lucy, At the Bottom of the River, Small Place and Autobiography of My Mother. She has been praised for her �emotional truthfulness� and vivid descriptions of the coming-of-age of strong-minded girls who, like herself, grew up in poverty in the tropics.
A native of the Caribbean island of Antigua, Kincaid will speak about growing up female in a colonial society. A book-signing will follow the program. Free and open to the public.
Lowell Campus: Tuesday, March 28th, beginning at 12:00 noon,
DoubleTree Hotel Ballroom
(the DoubleTree Hotel is adjacent to the Lowell City building)
Celebration of Poetry Month & Shakespeare's Birthday!
This poetry & creative writing reading is open to the entire MCC community. If you�re interested in doing a reading,
please contact Tom Laughlin, ext.3839. (Call for readers flier. For further details, flier, & list of readers.)
Wednesday, March 29th, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Lower Cafe, City Building, Lowell Campus
Chuck Hogan, author of Prince of Thieves
Prince of Thieves, MCC's Common Book for 2005/2006, was recently awarded the Dashiel Hammett Prize (the best crime-fiction novel of the year) for 2004, has received much praise from critics and other authors, and was recently optioned for film production by Law & Order producer Dick Wolf. Stephen King said, �Prince of Thieves is a terrific read. Chuck Hogan has woven a rich narrative of friendship, young love and mounting suspense. On each season's fiction list, if you are lucky, there are one or two books that live up to the advance hype. Prince of Thieves is such a book.� (For more information on the Common Book.)
Jointly sponsored by WAC and the One World Series.
Tuesday, April 25th, beginning at 12:00 noon,
Cafe East, Campus Center Building, Bedford Campus
Noodlebib Drop-In Sessions
Bibliography? Works Cited? MLA Style? Is there an easier way? Yes!
Noodelbib: The Easy On-Line Bibliography Tool
Students! Come get help using Noodlebib to create your works cited pages during either of these helpful drop-in sessions. Drop in during these hours with any or all of your materials, source information, and questions regarding your works cited pages!
Lowell Campus:
Friday, April 21st, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Federal Building, Library, Kerouac Room
Bedford Campus:
Thursday, April 27th, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Library, Alcott Room
Jointly sponsored by WAC & the Library.
Coffee Time with Phyllis White Rodriguez-Peralta
will read and discuss her book, Philadelphia Maestros: Ormandy, Muti, Sawallisch. For more information about her book, visit the following website: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1845_reg.html Also, check out the attached flyer.
Part of the Coffee Time series.
Thursday, April 27th, 12:00 p.m.
Bedford Campus, Campus Center Building, Student Lounge
Topic: The MCC Common Book, Prince of Thieves, raises questions about one�s ties to family, friends, and community. These parts of one�s life may positively or negatively influence the efforts of an individual to make life changes.
From your observations and experiences, what do you see as the positive and negative influences of family, friends, and community upon the growth and development of an individual?
Submission Deadline: May 9th, 2006. (For more information.)
Rock Question Project & River Question Project
Check out the �Rock Question Project� in front of the Trustees Building in Bedford and the �River Question Project� in the Lower Caf� in Lowell. Installed in mid October, these inquiry projects are ongoing.
Creative Writing Activities at MCC
For additional Creative Writing Activities at MCC, go to the following:
http://academic.middlesex.mass.edu/TomLaughlin/aMiniGrant/CrWrtgActivities.htm
As part of WAC activities, each year, a Common Book is recommended for the whole college, selected for literary quality and relevance to many subject areas. Faculty can choose to assign the book to be read independently or teach appropriate elements within a given discipline.
For further information about WAC and our activities, please contact
Tom Laughlin at ext. 3839 or laughlint@middlesex.mass.edu
Last Updated 8/18/06