Continuation of Community Outreach: English
Laura E. Rotunno, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Office: 210 Hawthorn Building
Phone: 814-949-5635
Email: ler12@psu.edu
Dr. Rotunno received her MA and Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Her research and teaching interests include nineteenth-century British literature, the novel, narrative theory, cultural studies, and genre and gender studies. "The Long History of 'In Short': Mr. Micawber, Letter-Writers, and Literary Men," an article that foregrounds her interest in nineteenth-century correspondence customs, appears in a recent issue of Victorian Literature and Culture. Currently, she is working on a book tentatively entitled "Readdressed: Correspondence Culture and Victorian Fiction."
Literature Club and Sigma Tau Delta: English Student Groups
Students created a book club at the Eleventh Street and Green Avenue towers on Tuesday afternoons. The initial goal was to select books in advance and then facilitate group discussions on what participants had read. In time students discovered that the residents were more interested in talking about their personal experiences and stories than the assigned material. Students encouraged tower residents to reminisce about Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas’ past.
The Literature Club and Sigma Tau Delta will continue the Eleventh Street and Green Avenue Towers book club into Fall 2008. Students have revised their approach to include only one book rather than many.
“It will be interesting to see if this approach elicits a different response.”
- Laura E. Rotunno, Ph.D.
ENGL 030T (GWS) Honors Freshman Composition: Writing practice for specially qualified and screened students. Students who have passed a special writing test will qualify for this course.
Students were divided into three groups and assigned a resident from either the Eleventh Street or Green Avenue Towers. The assignment included meeting with the resident, finding a way to relate to the individual and commemorating their personal story. Students learned how to adapt to different people, elicit an in depth, detailed response, and use the materials gathered to create a product that people can get excited about.
