| Project Sponsor | Sean Carswell |
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| Activity Title | An Evening with Jim Ruland |
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| Activity/Event Date | 11/13/14 |
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| Date Funding Needed By | 11/13/14 |
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| Previously Funded? | No |
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| Semester/Year | Spring/2014 |
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| Proposal # | 614 |
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| Report submitted for previously Funded Activity? | No |
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| Report submitted for previously Funded Activity | — |
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| Academic Program or Center Name | English |
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| Estimated total Course Fee revenue | 600.00 |
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| Amount Requested from IRA | 600.00 |
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| Estimated Number of Students Participating | 80 |
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| Conditions and Considerations | Artist/Performer/Speaker Fees & Honoraria |
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| Brief Activity Description | Jim Ruland is the author of the critically-acclaimed short story collection Big Lonesome. He has won numerous awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his story "Homeward Bound" was the winner of the Reader’s Digest 2012 Life Story contest. Additionally, he has written the "autobiography" of a reality television star, and he writes copy for an advertising agency. Bringing Ruland to campus helps bolster an ongoing project by the English Program to demonstrate for students how former English majors make their living writing while still doing what they love to do.
Ruland will read from his new novel, Forests of Fortune, speak about making a living as a writer, and invite questions from the attendees. |
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| Learning Outcomes and Relation to IRA to Course Offerings | This reading will offer students the opportunity to reflect in on the role of novels as a cultural institution, and the examine the ways in which writing and live performances of writing develop their verbal and critical thinking skills.
Students of Sean Carswell’s English 160: Genre Fiction course will study passages from Ruland's novel in the fall. They will also be encouraged to develop original works that learn from Ruland's techniques and his use of noir tropes. Ruland's reading and lecture will provide a model for their assignment. The event will be relevant to several English courses offered in the Fall, most notably English 110: Themes in Multicultural Literature for Non-Majors, ENGL 120: American Literature 1, English 220: American Literature 2, and English 260: Perspectives in Creative Writing. |
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| Description of Assessment Process | IRA student evaluation forms will be passed around the auditorium to solicit student responses. Additionally, audience members will be invited to write down their thoughts on prepared pads in the lobby. |
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| Activity Budget | budget-for-ira-request-an-evening-with-jim-ruland.xls (MS Excel, 222KB) |
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| CIA Budget | — |
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| CIA Proposal | — |
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| Course Syllabus | — |
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| CIA Certification | — |
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| Other Sources of Funding | None. |
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| Target Audience/Student Marketing | This event will primarily be for students who wish to engage with literature in a vibrant, dynamic setting. It will further be advertised to the local community as one of the enriching cultural events that university campuses attract. The event will be promoted through campus posters, class announcements, various online and social media sites, and, hopefully, through coverage in the local press. |
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| Bring Benefit to Campus | I have brought several award winning writers to campus for well under their normal reading fee. This is one more example of that. When the university promotes its brand, we could always say that we have hosted authors who have won or been nominated for National Book Awards, NEA fellowships, Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and MacArthur Genius grants. An award winning writer like Ruland helps to strengthen this brand. |
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| Sustainability | Not applicable. |
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| Program Chair/Director | brad.monsma |
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| Academic Affairs AVP | karen.carey |
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| Acknowledgement | I acknowledge that I have reviewed and accepted the Conditions and Considerations herein. Please check off boxes as appropriate. |
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