Cynthia K. Marshall Receives the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Lecturer Award
Senior Lecturer Cynthia Marshall exemplifies the versatility, student-focused service, and commitment to excellence of our English Department faculty. When the department was without a resident poet, Cynthia stepped in to teach creative writing and poetry classes. In response to the department’s need for composition instructors to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), she earned her Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Teaching Enhancement Certificate and began teaching ESL sections of ENG 1100. Ms. Marshall has both designed and consistently teaches courses aimed at Wright State’s high-risk students. In 2006, she was one of the designers of Writer’s Studio courses for students who needed additional writing instruction. In 2010, she both created and taught ENG 101 repeater sections designed for students who did not pass the course the first time. In 2011, Ms. Marshall worked with other faculty to design a brand-new way of teaching, stretch composition courses, for which she co-authored the master syllabus. These courses (ENG 1120 and 1130) slow the pace of the traditional ENG 1100 course down so that it is taught over two semesters instead of just one. This innovative course design allows students more time to strengthen their reading and writing skills to bring them up to college-level.
In addition to actively pursuing ways in which we can better serve our current students, Ms. Marshall is also actively involved in the recruitment of new students. Since her 2013 appointment as the first chair of the English Department’s Recruiting Committee, she has spearheaded the design of exciting new promotional materials for our majors and minors. Her work on CoLA’s annual Pathways to Success event has included the creation of advertising materials, the managing of the department’s table, and the facilitation of break-out sessions highlighting some of WSU’s English courses for area high school students. Ms. Marshall’s support and promotion of Wright State is not limited to campus activities, however. Her professional projects include the overhauling of the 11th, 12th, and 13th editions of the nationally renowned Little, Brown Handbook, for which she also prepared the Instructor’s Manual. In light of all that she has given to Wright State University and its students, Cynthia Marshall is a credit not only to the Wright State English Department, but to the entire Wright State University community.
Dr. Chris Hall Receives the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Professional Service Award
As the Director of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Dr. Chris Hall has not only developed Wright State’s TESOL program but has also increased WSU’s international profile by strengthening our partnerships with countries around the globe. To increase the number of Chinese students training at Wright State to teach English, Dr. Hall developed a first in the College of Liberal Arts, a two-track program (TESOL certificate and MA TESOL program) for Xi’an University undergraduates. Dr. Hall’s TESOL 3+1+1 program allows the Xi’an University students to complete three years of undergraduate study at their home university, then come to Wright State for one year to get a TESOL certificate. They then have the option to go another year at Wright State for a master’s degree in TESOL. Completion of the program means that students have reached the highest level of professionalism as an English teacher to speakers of other languages. Additionally, Dr. Hall created and was the first supervisor of the WSU and Dalian Jiantong University Outreach Workshop and Internship in 2011. No other institution in the United States has such a program.
In addition to creating innovative international programs, Hall has also taken teams of graduate student teachers to universities in Korea and China. His diplomatic navigation of cultural differences in teaching and learning and his astute negotiation of expectations between visiting graduate student teachers and host-university administration represent WSU and its students in the best possible light. In 2014, Dr. Hall developed a combined BA/MA in TESOL program, which is the first of its kind in the College of Liberal Arts. This program allows students to obtain their degrees one year faster than a traditional BA/MA program and prepares students to teach English in international environments. Dr. Hall also developed the TESOL Enhancement Certificate designed to retrain composition faculty as ESL instructors. This program adds depth to the English department’s teaching abilities, allowing us to teach a broader range of students more effectively. Dr. Hall is always available for his students and the TESOL advisees; often, he comes to campus for no other reason than for a student who cannot meet during his regular office hours. He does the same for students interested in the TESOL or TEFL programs and graciously fills in when other faculty are not available: no student is sent away without help. Dr. Chris Hall is a model citizen of the Wright State University community.
English Administrative Unit Receives the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Staff Award
The English Department’s administrative support staff is composed of Leanne Moeller, Department Support Supervisor; Jennifer Sheets, Administrative Support Coordinator; and Sandy Trimboli, Administrative Specialist. This staff is unparalleled in the accurate and efficient ways in which they manage cross-departmental budgets, scheduling, technology, and support for English programs, faculty, and students. English is the largest department on campus: it is home to 53 full-time faculty members, 23 graduate teaching assistants, and over 12 adjuncts. Ms. Moeller, Ms. Sheets and Ms. Trimboli support approximately 3,300 students per term. Managing this number of people and tasks requires a team who can take us seamlessly from one semester to the next: their collegiality is an example to us all. Our administrative support staff handle their many and varied duties with speed, accuracy, diplomacy, and grace. One of the administrative staff’s most important tasks is to manage not only the English department’s budget, but also that of the rapidly growing LEAP program. Budget management requires the staff to perform frequent budget transfers involving multiple departments.
Scheduling literally hundreds of class sections per calendar year is also no small task. The administrative staff is highly flexible, efficient, and accurate as they monitor thousands of student enrollments each term. They work tirelessly to adjust course schedules and enrollments to allow the department to offer as many courses as possible to our students. While handling all department needs, the administrative staff effectively meets with, assesses, and advises scores of students about their writing programs and ESL writing permissions, patiently answering questions about courses and placement, and ensuring that students seeking quality instruction get the information and permissions they need. Smooth operations in the English department are essential both to student success and to retention. It speaks well of the dedication that Leanne Moeller, Jennifer Sheets, and Sandy Trimboli have to the department, the university, and to each other as colleagues that they insisted that they be nominated as a unit. Each one refused to be singled out for her excellent work because each understands that their work is a collective effort. Their extraordinary talents and dedication make this one of the smoothest-running departments on campus.
