Featured Events
Friday, April 14
Buki Papillon was born in Nigeria. After studying law at Hull University in the UK, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her debut novel, An Ordinary Wonder, has received rave reviews and mentions in The New York Times, Ms., Essence, and Cosmopolitan, and is a Massachusetts Book Awards Fiction Honors recipient, and a Ferro-Grumley Literary Award Finalist. It is brilliantly narrated in audiobook by Bridgerton Actor, Adjoa Andoh.
Papillion is an alumnus of Key West Literary Seminars, Vermont Studio Center, and
Vona Voices residencies and workshops. Her work was published in Post Road Magazine and The Del Sol Review. She has in the past been a travel adviser, events host, and chef. She currently
lives in Boston, where she is resigned to finding inspiration in the long winters.
In 2022, Papillion won the Maya Angelou Book Award for her acclaimed first novel,
An Ordinary Wonder.
Free and open to the public, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., Plaster Student Union 400, Union Club
(4th floor)
Monday, April 17
In honor of the publication of The Orbit of Meter, the panel will feature a discussion of the book and its author.
A reception and tour of the "Wallace Collection" housed in MSU's Special Collections
and Archives will follow. The panel will feature remarks by Christine Wallace, who
will speak of the author and the book's genesis, Distinguished Professor Jim Baumlin,
co-editor of the book, and Tracie Gieselman France, archivist.
Free and open to the public, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. in Ozarks Room, Meyer Library 302.
Tuesday, April 18
Leveraging Skills-Based Microcredentialing to Enhance Student Learning
Timothy Ponce holds a Ph.D. in English and a certificate in teaching technical writing from the
University of North Texas. In addition to serving as an associate professor of instruction
at the University of Texas Arlington (UTA), he also serves as the coordinator of internships
and coordinator of technical writing and professional design in the Department of
English. His scholarship rests at the intersection of technical communication andragogy,
design thinking, mentorship, and student success. His work has appeared in Pedagogy and Hybrid Pedagogy, and he has given presentations at IEEE and CPTSC.
Am I Going to be Replaced by AI?: Natural Language Processing Models in the Technical
and Professional Writing Classroom
Amy Hodges is an assistant professor of English at the University of Texas at Arlington, specializing
in technical writing and professional communication. Her research examines the language,
writing, and communication strategies of multilingual engineers in transnational corporations,
and she also researches what writing programs can do in order to create a more inclusive
environment and prepare all writers for diverse workplaces. Her work has appeared
in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication and Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.
Friday, April 21
Marcus Cafagña is the author of three books of poetry, The Broken World, a National Poetry Series selection, Roman Fever, and All the Rage in the Afterlife This Season. His poems have also appeared in The American Poetry Review, Quarterly West, Rattle, The Southern Review, and The Threepenny Review.
Born in Michigan, he left Pennsylvania for the Ozarks, where he teaches poetry as
a Professor in Missouri State University's Creative Writing Program.
Free and open to the public, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m., Plaster Student Union 400, Union Club
(4th floor)