SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Student Involvement
In the English Program
Student Activities
Roundtable Society: This student organization is dedicated to the arts--including film, theatre and creative writing. Roundtable Society sponsors readings, discussions, and theatre excursions, and annually features such events as the Cold Turkey Reading and The Evening of Dubious Taste.
Lake Effect: This student literary magazine publishes original poetry, fiction, and artwork by Penn State Erie students. All students can submit their writing to the magazine or serve on the Lake Effect staff (and receive academic credit for doing so).
The Behrend Beacon: Many English majors write for and help edit the college's student newspaper. Academic credit can be obtained for work on the Beacon.
Student Research
Senior Thesis: As a required part of their work for the major in the BA Literature and BFA programs, all students complete a senior thesis. The thesis serves as the culmination of the student's undergraduate career in English, and allows him or her to study extensively and independently with a faculty member.
Those students pursuing the creative writing BFA develop an extended work of poetry or prose (fiction or creative non-fiction), while students following the literature option critically explore at length a specific text (or specific texts). Many of these theses, when completed, are bound and made part of the college library's permanent collection.
Awards
Outstanding English Major: Each year, at least one student is selected by the English faculty as the outstanding English major. This student is honored for best exemplifying the talent and achievement sought for in our majors.
The Sonnenberg Poetry Award: The Kenneth Jonathan Sonnenberg Poetry Award is given annually to a Penn State Erie student for excellence in poetry. The Award is a project of the Sonnenberg Memorial Fund, instituted in honor of Mr. Sonnenberg, a poet and a 1985 graduate of Penn State Erie who died in 1987. The Award winner receives a $100 prize, a certificate, publication in Tempus, and a copy of Kenneth Sonnenberg's Moving the Dunes.
The Julia Rebman Award: This annual award is given to a Penn State Erie student for excellence in prose writing. The award is given in memory of Julia Rebman, a creative writer and a graduate of Penn State Erie who died in 1994.
The Farrell Nonfiction Award: This award is given annually to a Penn State Erie student for excellence in nonfiction writing. The award is given by the parents of Corey Farrell, to honor their son (a local high school student who died in 1994) and assist writers at the College.
Creative Writer's Speaker Series
The English program features an endowed writers series which brings noted poets and prose writers to campus for readings, class visits, and informal meetings with students. This series has featured such celebrated writers as Maxine Kumin, Robert Olen Butler, and Carolyn Forché.