University of California, Irvine, Department of English and Comparative Literature publications, 1966-1990

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Summary

Creators:

University of California, Irvine. Department of English and Comparative Literature

Abstract:

Extent:

0.4 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

University of California, Irvine, Department of English and Comparative Literature publications. PS-010. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection comprises reports, brochures, handbooks, course announcements, magazines, directories, memoranda, and fliers created by the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Department of English and Comparative Literature. These publications were created for various purposes, including development, recruitment, community building, orientation, administrative needs, and publicity.

Biographical / historical:

The Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine was formed when the campus opened in 1965. The units of English and Comparative Literature are united under the single administrative unit of the School of Humanities. One benefit of placing English, Comparative Literature, and Creative Writing under a single unit is that students may select courses within and across all three programs. The Department of English and Comparative Literature maintains strong ties with the School of Humanities, where faculty combine differing perspectives for collaborative programs and research. Humanities faculty are involved with the Writing Center, the School for Criticism and Theory, University Studies, and the Graduate Critical Theory Emphasis Program (under the School of Humanities).

UCI's faculty in English and Comparative Literature has been the recipient of various prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the "Extraordinarious" award, National Endowment for the Humanities grants, and the National Book Award. The department co-sponsors and hosts various symposia and international events. U.S. News & World Report's 2001 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools" ranked UCI's graduate program in English among the top 20 in the country and first in the specialization of Literary Criticism and Theory. This ranking was awarded because of the diversity of critical approaches, the inclusion of American literature and creative writing, and the presence of scholars and critics who contribute to the department's intellectual achievements and growth.

Chronology
Date	Event
1965	University of California, Irvine opened.
1966	The California Poetry Reading Circuit permanently headquartered at UCI, James B. Hall Dir. (December). Murray Krieger and Oakley Hall accepted positions. James B. Hall departed to UC Santa Cruz. The UC Irvine Writing Center was established by Board of Regents, James B. Hall dir. (April). Synapse
1968	KBS Committee staged a rally on campus with 500 out of the 4,100 students participating. "KBS movement" was a student movement whose goal was to pressure the university to retain or rehire three instructors that had not completed their requirements to keep their positions. The assistant professors were George Kent (History), Donald Brannan (English) and Stephen Shapiro (English).
1972	Robert L. Montgomery, professor of English and Comparative Literature, was appointed acting Dean of the School of Humanities (October).
1973	Hazard Adams, Vice Chancellor--Academic Affairs, announced his resignation, effective July 1, 1974, to begin sabbatical leave and return to full-time teaching as professor of English in January 1975.
1974	Murray Krieger, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, was named one of nine University Professors by the Regents (April). Hazard Adams, Professor of English received Guggenheim Fellowship (May).
1975	Hazard Adams, Professor of English and Comparative Literature received "Extraordinarius" award (April). Harold Toliver and Charles Wright, English and Comparative Literature, received Guggenheim Fellowships (April).UCI, the only university in the country offering a doctoral degree in critical theory, chosen as the location for the founding of the School for Criticism and Theory, under direction of Murray Krieger, University Professor of English, and Hazard Adams, Professor of English and Comparative Literature (May). A National Endowment for the Humanities grant of $245,000 was awarded to Krieger and Adams for the start of this school (August).
1976	Albert O. Wlecke, Associate Professor of English, was honored for teaching at UCI Alumni Association at the Lauds and Laurels banquet for excellence (May).
1977	Charles Wright, Professor of English and poet, was named as one of the 14 American writers to receive an award from the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letter (April). James McMichael, Professor of English, received a Guggenheim Fellowship.Bruce R. Hallet, a senior majoring in English, took office as president of the Associated Students.
1978	A scholarship fund was established in memory of Howard S. Babb, Professor of English and chair of the Department of English and Comparative Literature (June). Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship was awarded to Murray Krieger, University Professor of English.
1979	Department hosted an eight-day festival honoring the writer George Sand (November). Robert Folkenflik, Associate Professor in English, received a Guggenheim Fellowship (April).
1982	Major symposium on "Goethe's Narrative Fiction," attended by scholars from the United States, Canada and Germany (April). 12th annual Alumni Association Lauds and Laurels Banquet awarded Dr. Harold Toliver, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, the Distinguished Research Award; Dr. Murray Krieger, University Professor of English, received the 1982 Academic Senate Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award (May). Dog Soldiers
1983	Dr. Murray Krieger, University Professor of English was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (May). Country Music: Selected Early Poems
1984	Mad Ludwig of Bavaria
1985	Myron Simon, professor of English, received a Fulbright grant. Novelist MacDonald Harris was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship, the highest honor bestowed on UCI faculty by their colleagues. Harris is the pen name of Donald Heiney, professor of English and Comparative Literature.
1986	New master's degree program in English designed especially for secondary school teachers announced (November). Apaches
1987	British detective novelist P. D. James was a visiting professor for three weeks (January). Glowstone
1988	John Carlos Rowe, professor of English, was awarded the 1988-89 Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award for Teaching (April).
1991	21st Lauds and Laurels banquet awarded J. Hillis Miller, professor of English and Comparative Literature the Academic Senate's Distinguished Lectureship Award for research (April). Georgina Dodge, a senior in English won a 1991 Melon Fellowship in the Humanities (May). Even Now Miriam Burstein, a junior Campuswide Honors English major, received a $2,200 National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholars Award (June). Prize-winning Australian novelist Thomas M. Kneally was appointed distinguished professor of English and Comparative Literature and joined the faculty of the graduate Program in Writing (June).
1992	U.S. News and World Report Saudale Her Own Terms
1993	Maxine Hong Kingston, author of best-selling novels, spoke as part of her appointment as a Chancellor's Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of English and Comparative Literature (January). Alexander Gelley, Professor of Comparative Literature, became a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Gelley will study Walter Benjamin's position as critic (April). Thomas Keneally, distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (April).
1994	John Carlos Rowe, director of UCI Critical Theory Institute and professor of English and Comparative Literature, was awarded a $106,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to organize a five-week summer institute in 1995 for high school, college and university teachers to focus on incorporating multicultural issues in teaching American literature (August). Pulitzer prize awarded to alumni Yusef Komunyakaa, MFA in English 1980, for poetry (April).
1995	James McMichael, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, was awarded the $30,000 Whiting Writer's Award by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation (October).
1996	Independence Day Rey Chow, a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine, was winner of the prestigious James Russell Lowell Prize for her book on contemporary Chinese cinema (November). Emma Who Saved My Life and Gospel
1999	Peter Goldman, an advanced graduate student in English and Comparative Literature, was selected as the first recipient of the Michael and Stacy Koehn Research Assistantship in Critical Theory (July).
2000	Gabriele Schwab, Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature in the School of Humanities, was honored with the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award for Teaching. Schwab's presentation is titled "Imaginary Ethnographies: The Boundaries of the Human" (November).
2001	U.S. News and World Report The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. J. Hillis Miller receives the UCI medal, honored for his international preeminence as a literary scholar, critic and theorist. Miller is also cited for his role in securing top national rankings for UCI's graduate programs in Critical Theory and Comparative Literature, and the Department of English (November).

Acquisition information:

Acquired periodically from the Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Processing information:

Processed by Christine Figueroa, 2002. Finding aid revised by Cyndi Shein, 2007.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in three series.

Series 1. Unit publications, 1966-2005. 0.3 linear feet
Series 2. Sub-unit publications, 1966-1979. 0.05 linear feet
Series 3. Events, 1968-1990. 0.05 linear feet.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: English literature -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California -- Irvine
Comparative literature -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California -- Irvine
Critical theory -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California -- Irvine
Creative writing (Higher education) -- California -- Irvine
Fliers -- 20th century.
Manuals (Handbooks) -- 20th century.
Brochures -- 20th century.
Names:: University of California, Irvine. Department of English and Comparative Literature -- Archives

Access and use

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research.
Terms of access:: Property rights reside with the University of California. Intellectual property rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the University Archivist.