Congratulations to Michelle Russell (B.A. Hons English 2020) on her success in the women’s K-1 500m at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago. Michelle demonstrated admirable team spirit after her victory, exclaiming “I’m excited to be the first one done — more time to cheer for everyone else!”
Photographs from the 2023 Canadian Olympic Committee (olympic.ca)
Hello, I’m Diane Piccitto. I am delighted to be serving as the current Chair of the MSVU English Department. I would like to extend my good wishes for the remaining days of summer ahead of you. The English Department is special, and I feel very lucky to be a part of it. Our smaller class sizes and the nature of our course texts and discussions help forge strong connections among students and faculty, making the department a dynamic and engaging place with a thriving student English Society.
The department has undergone some changes recently that I would like to acknowledge. First, I extend heartfelt thanks to Graham Fraser, our recent Chair, who had the gargantuan task of leading our department during a global pandemic. Second, I wish all the very best to Anna Smol on her retirement! She has made such a positive and lasting impact on our department and the Mount. She will be sorely missed. Last, but definitely not least, I offer a warm welcome to our new colleagues Krista Collier-Jarvis and Matthew Roby. We are very happy to be working with you.
Students, you can find our exciting new faculty members teaching, among other courses, ENGL 3211: Special Topic – Climate Fiction (Collier-Jarvis) and ENGL 2260: Poetry and ENGL 3376: Medieval Literature (Roby). Check them out. If you haven’t yet taken any university English in your studies, I invite you to try one of our introductory courses such as ENGL 1170: Literary Genres, ENGL 1171: Literary Transformations, and WRIT 1120: The Writing Process; we still have room for you! I encourage you to register for courses before they fill up and also to check with a senior full-time faculty member if you need advice on what courses you need to take to fulfill your program requirements.
I can’t wait to welcome back students and faculty in person as we continue to challenge each other academically and also have fun together at various department and English Society events. Here, you will find yourself discussing and analyzing the works of Rita Joe, Maya Angelou, Mary Shelley, or William Shakespeare by day and then socializing amidst the imaginative energy of students and faculty by evening at a creative writing symposium, play reading, or Green World banquet. Come join the party – resistance is futile!
I’m looking forward to the coming academic year with all of you, to our intellectual pursuits, and to the memories we’ll make.
Diane Piccitto (she/her)
English Department Chair
About Dr. Diane Piccitto
Diane Piccitto (she/her) is Associate Professor of English at MSVU. Prior to coming to the Mount, she taught at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and then at Plymouth University in England. Her areas of specialization and interest include Romanticism, the poet-painter William Blake, Shakespeare, and queer theory. She is the author of Blake’s Drama: Theatre, Performance, and Identity in the Illuminated Books (2014) and co-editor of The Visual Life of Romantic Theater, 1780-1830 (2023). An active participant in collegial service, she has served on Senate and MSVU’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Committee, and has previously co-organized the Mount’s participation in the Halifax Pride Parade. She has also been the Faculty Association President, Chair of the FA Equity Action Committee, and a member of the FA Bargaining Committee.
The Mount Saint Vincent University Department of English welcomes two new faculty members this Fall semester: Dr. Matthew Roby and Prof. Krista Collier-Jarvis! Please join us in welcoming them!
DR. MATTHEW ROBY
Matthew Roby completed his B.A. and B.Ed. at Queen’s University, Canada, and his M.St. and D.Phil. at the University of Oxford, UK. His doctorate analysed medieval Icelandic conceptions of adolescent and elderly sexuality, focusing particularly on the characterisation of these liminal sexualities in depictions of paranormal entities, including witches, ghosts, and other trolls. His postdoctoral project at Háskóli Íslands, Iceland, and the University of Toronto, Canada, focused on depictions of sexual consent and assault in the Old Norse-Icelandic romance sagas and their foreign sources. He has published on issues of sex, gender, ageing, and monstrosity in English, Icelandic, and broader European medieval literatures. He is also the host of “Saga Stories,” a YouTube series on the medieval Icelandic family sagas with the Reykjavík Grapevine magazine. In his spare time, he enjoys watching snooker being played brilliantly by professionals and playing pool himself quite badly. He loves Iceland and takes every opportunity he can to immerse himself in its language, landscape, and culture.
Areas of research include, but are not limited to:
Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature
Old English language and literature
Middle English language and literature
The pan-European romance tradition
Medieval conceptions of sex and gender
Medieval conceptions of childhood, adolescence, and old age
Medieval depictions of the paranormal and monstrous
Medievalism, especially William Morris and J.R.R. Tolkien
Modern Icelandic language
Pedagogy
PROF. KRISTA COLLIER-JARVIS
Krista Collier-Jarvis (Mi’kmaw; nek’m/she/her) is finishing up her PhD in English at Dalhousie University and joining MSVU as an Assistant Professor in English specialising in American Literature. She holds a Masters in English from Dalhousie University as well as a Bachelor of Arts (honours) from MSVU. Her dissertation work draws on Indigenous knowledge as a lens for developing more interconnected frameworks for understanding contagion and climate change.
Areas of research include, but are not limited to:
Indigenous literature
Horror and the Gothic
Pop culture
How difficult histories are represented in museums.
by Dr. Reina Green
After 37 years in the English Department, Dr. Anna Smol retired from the Mount last week and was appointed Professor Emerita. Her day-to-day presence and sage advice will be greatly missed by her colleagues. We can only hope that she will come and visit from time to time.
I first met Anna in January 1988. She was in her second year as a faculty member at the Mount, and I was a first-year student taking the writing course she was teaching. I was immediately captivated by my new professor: she was engaging, motivating, rigorous, and funny. She set high standards and helped her students achieve them. Like so many of her other students, I was inspired—and that led to me continuing my studies and pursuing an academic career. I am privileged to have been her colleague for almost two decades.
Anna is renowned for her teaching, research, and service. She was promoted to Professor in 2012 through her sustained excellence and effectiveness as a teacher. Over her career, she has also received the MSVU Alumnae Award for Teaching Excellence and the MSVU Instructional Leadership Award. Moreover, she has encouraged her colleagues to give careful thought to their teaching, regularly sharing her knowledge on Faculty Days and at other university events dedicated to teaching. She was an early and continuing proponent for arts-based research and has been a vocal advocate for the classroom as a place of experiential learning.
Anna was also an early adopter of social media and recognized the benefit of sharing her research beyond the university classroom. Aware of increasing public interest in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, she began sharing her research through her blog, “A Single Leaf,” now in its eleventh year. She also spearheaded the development of a website on “Tolkien and Alliterative Verse” for which she was awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant in 2021. This is a “resource for students, poets, researchers and anyone interested in J.R.R. Tolkien’s poetry,” and her co-investigators include some of her former students. Indeed, she has been exceptional in providing opportunities for students to work as research assistants and has co-authored articles with a number of them.
Given the extent of Anna’s research into Old English, medievalism, Tolkien, and fan fiction, which includes more than 20 peer-reviewed articles, many published in top-ranked journals, it is no surprise that she received the MSVU Research Excellence Award in May of this year, making her one of very few faculty who have received awards for both teaching and research.
Beyond her excellence in teaching and research, though, is Anna’s collegiality and dedication to service. She has embraced collaboration not only with students, but also with colleagues in her department and beyond. She single-handedly maintained the English Department website, blog, and notice boards for many years, promoting the research and accomplishments of faculty and students. She has been department chair and coordinator of the Writing programme and served on numerous university and Senate committees. She has also served as President of the Canadian Society of Medievalists and currently sits on the editorial board of Mallorn, the official journal of the Tolkien Society.
While all of these accomplishments make Anna most deserving of her Professor Emerita status, they are not the only reasons she will be missed by her English Department colleagues. I, for one, will miss our doorway chats about classes and assignments—the best ways to engage students and how to encourage them to think critically about what they read. I will miss her perceptive critiques of the academy, and I will miss her as a role model. Back in 1988, she helped me to become a better writer. She has since encouraged me to be a more thoughtful teacher and researcher. I can only imagine how many others she has inspired through her career. As professors, we never know how far our influence for social good extends. We can only hope that it goes beyond the classroom and academic publications. There is no question that Anna Smol’s influence reaches much, much further.
Hanging at the English Corner
Candidly . . .
Poised in Poses . . .
From All of Us at the MSVU Department of English: “Wishing you the best as you continue your path, graduates!”
Michael Gillis has been awarded Valedictorian of Mount Saint Vincent University’s Arts and Sciences AND the President’s Prize, given to members of the spring and fall graduating classes whose energy, generosity and commitment have enriched the University during their time as students, and who show promise that their commitment will continue as alumnae.
Michael has completed a combined major in English and Political Science, achieving a 4.19 GPA. Each of his four years at the Mount, Michael has been awarded the President’s Scholarship. This year, he also received the Sister Marie Agnes Prize in English, conferred to the student having the highest GPA. Michael also received the Dr. Larry Fisk Book Prize, given to the graduating Political Sciences student with the highest GPA.
In addition to his many academic accomplishments and pursuits, Michael has been an outstandingly dedicated member of the Mount student body, serving as Co-President of the English Society, as well as holding several positions within the MSVU Student Union, leading to Michael receiving the MSVU Student Councilor of the Year in 2022.
Michael’s dedication to social justice, equity, and inclusion are well-known and matched by his kindness, generosity, and good humour. Fortunately, those of us in the Department of English will continue to benefit from Michael’s continued presence as he has chosen to work on an Honours Thesis in the coming academic year. We look forward to our continued collaborations with this ever-rising, shining star!
CONGRATULATIONS, Michael!
Dr. Anna Smol received Mount Saint Vincent University’s Award for Research Excellence during the Thursday, May 18th 2023 morning convocation. This prestigious achievement is presented to only one faculty each year for outstanding research accomplishments within their field. During this ceremony, Dr. Smol also was awarded Professor Emerita.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRADUATES!!!
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
Hayley Bone (with first-class honours)
Sam Rooney
Bachelor of Arts
Faith Cosgrove
Alyssa Evans (with distinction)
Natalie Freeman (with distinction)
Michael Gillis (with distinction)
Lauren Hawes (with distinction)
Caylyn McDermott (with distinction)
Kayleigh Mills (with distinction)
Julia Reid
Paige Sleigh
Grace Weickert (with distinction)
Below please find the RSVP link and the QR code. Seating is limited so please do register through the RSVP link or QR code.
MSVU English Department Blog 