Getting to Know Your New Officers

Sean Cullen, 2010-2011 Student Representative

Hi, Eastern Region! I am Sean Cullen, your new Student Representative. I am currently working toward my M.A. in Liberal Studies from Alvernia University in Reading, PA, where I am also a Teaching Assistant. I grew up in northern New Jersey, but do not have any friends that go by anything near “Snooki” or “The Situation.” I enjoy culturally enriching tidbits, witty banter, cities, recycling (particularly when it is convenient), reading, films, technology, lacrosse, theatre, and cooking.

I plan on working hard to give the members of our region ample opportunities to get their works published. Also, I would like to have chapters set up several events in various locations throughout our region. I’m easy to get in touch with and would love to hear any ideas, concerns, or thoughts. You can reach me through email at SigmaTD.E@gmail.com or through our region's Facebook group. Feel free to add me as a friend on my personal Facebook (you can find my name as an "officer" of the group).

That is all for now, but please take a look at the "Mind Murals: Call for Entries" section of the newsletter and submit your work! Special thanks to all those who submitted content to this newsletter. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Have a great end of semester, but be sure to enjoy this wonderful weather!

Peace and all good,
Sean

(Photo Courtesy of Melissa Masone from the 2009 Convention)


Marta Paczkowska, 2010-2011 Associate Student Representative

Hello, Eastern Region Lovers of Literature! If you don’t already know me, my name is Marta Paczkowska and I’m your recently elected Associate Student Representative. I hail from The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ, but my current hometown is Clifton, NJ, and I was born in Olsztyn, Poland. I’m a Junior, obviously majoring in English, with minors in Marketing and Spanish. I am a collector of new information, an ardent tea drinker, the fastest walker you will ever meet, but otherwise I like to take my time. The extent of my involvement in team sports is ultimate frisbee (I know, how quintessentially collegiate…), and I’m very excited for my increased involvement with Sigma Tau Delta. Of course as an English major, I have to share my favorite books. My all-time favorites are Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis, and The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. You all know how hard it is to pick favorites amongst our crowd, but I’m sticking to those!

As I mentioned at the convention, I plan on organizing networking events/career fairs for the Eastern Region in the upcoming year so that you all can explore your options (because there really is so much to do with an English degree!). Although this is my main mission, Sean and I hope to organize a lot of other events, publications, and anything else that tickles your fancy.

Looking forward to a great year!
-Marta Paczkowska

(Photo Courtesy of Marta Paczkowska)


Glen Brewster, 2010-2014 Eastern Regent

Thank you very much for electing me the Eastern Regent for the next term. I look forward to serving and working with all of the students and faculty advisors in this region that stretches on the west from Ohio and on the east to at least the Middle East (so I learned at the St. Louis convention). I have been faculty advisor of the Alpha Eta Sigma Chapter at Westfield State College, in western Massachusetts, since I and another faculty member started the chapter 12 years ago. As I am completing my second three-year term as Chair of the English Department at WSC, the timing was fortuitous for me to make a greater commitment to this organization that has come to mean so much to me and to our Westfield State College English majors. Having served on a number of Sigma Tau Delta committees and having attended most of the conventions for the last ten years, I have met many of the faculty advisors and hundreds of students who continually reinvigorate the organization. I am eager to meet more of you at next year’s convention in Pittsburgh, but I am also eager to hear from you before then: your questions, your comments, your ideas. I need to get your suggestions about ways to encourage students to apply for the many scholarships and internships, and for chapters to apply for the several awards and grants, that Sigma Tau Delta provides. In particular, I would like for the Eastern Region students and faculty advisors to communicate on a regular basis (maybe especially over the summer when some of our best concepts might percolate but then dissipate for lack of a forum to share them in), so I encourage you all to get in touch with me over the summer so that we can exchange ideas about how to enrich our experiences as scholars, students, and citizens -- as members of a community devoted to “Sincerity, Truth, Design.”

(Photo Courtesy of Regina Smialek)

Greetings from Your Student Advisors:

Anna C. Morgan

Greetings from the windy state of Oklahoma! As a native of the west side of Washington state, where things really are, as the state motto explains, ever green, I never really appreciated spring until I moved to Shawnee. But as I look out of my kitchen window at my third Oklahoma spring, one of the miracles that has never ceased to delight me during my three years at Oklahoma Baptist University is the near-overnight transformation of the winter-brown landscape into a green one bursting with life. A week ago I had on my winter coat and walked to class under gray skies and the brown skeletons of trees. Today the window is open, the sun is shining, and those skeletons have magically become living beings again. Beautiful.

My name is Anna Morgan, and I am the new Student Advisor for the 2010-2012 term. I am currently pursuing my B.A. in English literature at Oklahoma Baptist University, a small liberal arts university. I really like school and am trying my hardest to remain there forever – and I am therefore currently trying to find my way through the intricate maze known as “Applying to Grad School.” I welcome any and all advice.

I am thrilled to get to interact with you all these next two years, to hear your stories, listen to your ideas, and learn from your constructive criticism. My lovely partner, Lauren Brandeberry, with whom I am sure you are already well acquainted, and I are looking forward to serving all of you this coming year in part as your voice and advocate to the Board of Sigma Tau Delta, and also as the enthusiastic proponents of your involvement in the many wonderful events and opportunities Sigma Tau Delta offers.

Please email me with questions, suggestions, or just to introduce yourself at sigmatd.sa2@gmail.com. You can also find me under “Anna C. Morgan” on Facebook.

Have a fantastic finish to your studies this academic year – and perhaps, now and then, up, up and quit your books in true Wordsworthian fashion to enjoy that magnificent spring sunshine!

-Anna C. Morgan

(Photo Courtesy of Anna C. Morgan)


Lauren Brandeberry

With the end of the semester fast approaching, and spring already in full bloom, it is hard to think of much beyond final exams and the freedom of summer. My garden calls out to be tended, the ever-growing stack of books that I didn't have time to read during the semester taunts me from the corner, and my list of summer projects grows longer by the day. But before I can give in to the draw of summer, I have so much that I want to tell you!

Greetings, Deltans, from the ever-windy Sooner State (Oklahoma). I am the senior Student Advisor, Lauren Brandeberry. My first year as Student Advisor has been a fun, informative and productive, and I am excited to get to work with Anna Morgan, the new junior Student Advisor, and all of the new members of the Student Leadership Committee on all of the great things we have in store for you next year.

I met many of you at this year's convention in St. Louis, and as always it was great to get to know so many people who share my love of reading and writing. I hope to keep in touch with my new friends, and make many more, thanks to our new Student Leadership presence on Facebook. Join your region's Facebook group to find me and the other student leaders, and to stay informed about all of the fun and exciting events and opportunities coming up in your region and in the Society as a whole. Share your convention pictures with us, tell us what your chapter is up to, and send us a link to your chapter's website or Facebook page. You can also email me at sigmatd.sa1@gmail.com with all of your questions or suggestions. I can't wait to hear from you!

Don't forget, if your semester isn't over yet or just ended, it's not too late to hold a Better World Books book drive! Raise money for your chapter, raise money for a nonprofit literacy partner, save the environment and get entered in a raffle to win $100 worth of free books, all in one fell swoop! They provide you with posters, collection boxes, shipping boxes, pre-paid shipping labels, and everything else you need. They will even pay for a packing party, so you can wrap things up fast and end the semester with a bang! Contact campus@betterworldbooks.com today to get started.

I wish everyone, students and faculty, good luck with your final exams! Have a wonderful summer, and if you go anywhere exciting, be sure to share your pictures with us on Facebook. Take it easy this summer, but try to take a few minutes to think about what you and your chapter would like to do next year. There are tons of ideas for activities, service projects and fundraisers on www.English.org if you need inspiration. And don't forget to curl up with next year's Common Reader, Black Ice by Lorene Cary. If it's even close to as wonderful as the last two, it's guaranteed to be a great read.

(Photo Courtesy of Lauren Brandeberry)