Congratulations to Fall 2023 English Honours graduate Sophia Godsoe, who was also selected as the Valedictorian and gave an outstanding farewell address that moved everyone in attendance. It was great to see several current students and recent graduates there to cheer Sophia on. All the best to Sophia as she takes the next steps of her journey!
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)
SPRING CONVOCATION 2022
The B.A. Convocation will take place at 10am on Thursday, May 19th 2022.
Congratulations to all of our graduates in the BA and the BA Honours! We wish you success and happiness as your journey continues. Time to celebrate your achievements!
Bachelor of Arts
Mackenzie Moore (with distinction)
Veronica Roy (with distinction)
Mariah Smart
Sarah Van Achte
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
Julia Hines (with first-class honours)
Honours Certificate in Arts
Darcy Eisan
Graduates with a Concentration in English
Rebecca Hunka (with distinction)
Cherish Thomas (with distinction)
Kiera Waite
Graduates with a minor in English
Genevieve Hanington
Tristan Kenny
Adam Marriott
Esther Purias
Marina van Vessem
Graduates with a minor in Writing
Aiden Deveau
Sara Moginot
Macy Shea
Karen Taylor
Award Winners
Sister Marie Agnes Prize
Julia Hines
Beryl Rowland Book Prize:
Michael Gillis
English Department Literary Prize Winners:
MacKenzie Moore
Sophia Godsoe
B.A. English Major
Michael Coutts
B.A. General Studies, English Concentration
Nicholas MacGillivray
Maria Rodrigues
The B.A. Convocation will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday 6 November. You can also watch a live stream of the ceremony or a recording of the event on the Mount’s YouTube or Facebook channel.
Congratulations to all students graduating in this spring’s Convocation, including those who have completed our English and Writing programs:
English Majors
Kristen Carew
with distinction
Madeline MacEwen
Emma Smith
Noah Wiegers
(also with Writing Minor)
Concentration in English
Sydney Barr
Andrew Caume
with distinction
(also with Writing Minor)
Chloe Kirkpatrick
Nicole Myers
Minor in English
Caitlin Dumaresque
with first-class honours
Elayna Foran
with distinction
Kelsey Hatcher
Jennifer Kearley
with distinction
Justin Robichaud
Kerry Robicheau
Minor in Writing
Donnelle MacKinnon
Links to the grad video and convocation program can be found here: https://www.msvu.ca/campus-life/registrars-office/convocation/celebrating-spring-2021-graduates/
Dr. Diane Piccitto received the Mount’s Early Career Research Award at the November 1st Convocation, which you can watch in its entirety here.
Take a look at her dramatic “Research Minutes” video illustrating her research on William Blake and Romantic theatre:
You can also read more about Dr. Piccitto’s work in the following article, reblogged from the Mount’s website.
Posted: November 4, 2020. https://www.msvu.ca/dr-diane-piccitto-named-2020-recipient-of-the-msvu-early-career-research-award/
Dr. Diane Piccitto, Associate Professor in the Department of English at Mount Saint Vincent University, was awarded the Early Career Research Award at the Fall Convocation on Sunday, November 1st, 2020. The Early Career Research Award was established to recognize a faculty member at the beginning of their career who is pursuing exciting and innovative research in their field.
Dr. Piccitto’s research focusses on the poet and painter William Blake, on Romantic drama and on Victorian writers, specifically interrelations among identity, action, and performance in the Romantic period. In her own words, “I am exploring the representation of individual identity and collective identities in connection with transgression in works by Blake and other Romantic authors, such as Joanna Baillie and Lord Byron.” Dr. Piccitto is especially interested in “how the notion of transgression and its importance to an understanding of the self has the power to create socio-political change, as well as its implications for generic categories.”
After receiving her PhD in English in 2010 from the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Piccitto served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. She served two terms as Lecturer and Associate Lecturer at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom before becoming a faculty member in the English Department at MSVU in 2015.
As a result of her research, she was invited to contribute an article on “Teaching Blake’s Illuminated Books Performatively, or How to Do (Dramatic) Things with Blake” in Teaching Romanticism XXVI: Drama, part 2, an online series on rethinking how to teach Romantic drama, published in Romantic Textualities in 2018.
Dr. Piccitto is no stranger to the world-class publisher Palgrave Macmillan Press. She published her first monograph in 2014, entitled Blake’s Drama, Theatre, Performance and Identity in the Illuminated Books, and in 2015, Dr. Piccitto co-edited a book entitled Romanticism, Rousseau, Switzerland: New Prospects, with the prestigious publisher. She has published four chapters in books, including one in 2016 with the distinguished press de Gruyter. Her most recent chapter publication (in 2018) in Beastly Blake was entitled “Apocalyptical visitations, heroism, and intersections of the human and the not human in Blake’s Milton.” Dr. Piccitto’s most recent article publication, “Engaging Learners Through Experiential and High Impact Practices in Higher Education,” is a co-written report based on a presentation given by Dr. Piccitto and MSVU colleagues, Dr. Reina Green and Dr. Anna Smol, at the 2018 Atlantic Universities’ Teaching Showcase (AUTS). The article was recently published in the AUTS conference proceedings.
Currently, she is co-editing the Visual Life of Romantic Theatre 1770-1830, which will be published by the University of Michigan Press. Referee and colleague Dr. Anna Smol, Professor in the Department of English, reflects on the words of a reviewer of Dr. Piccitto’s co-edited volume of essays titled The Visual Life of Romantic Theatre, 1770-1830: “This will not just be a collection but a field-defining conversation.” Additionally, Dr. Piccitto is currently writing the following chapter to be included in this co-edited collection: “Vision and Spectacle in Byron’s Cain and Blake’s The Ghost of Abel.”
Dr. Graham Fraser, Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of English had this to say about his colleague: “Diane Piccitto has already achieved international recognition as a Blake scholar. She has produced a voluminous body of scholarly work which would do justice to a much more senior scholar, and which includes books that leading scholars in her field believe ‘will change the way we think about Blake’ .”
Early this year, Dr. Piccitto co-presented with Dr. Geneviève Boulet a workshop at the MSVU Girls Conference. The workshop, titled “Cracking the Code,” showed the important connections between Math and English.
Dr. Piccitto has served on many university committees, including the University Senate. She is currently President of the MSVU Faculty Association. Dr. Piccitto’s work in creating a supportive and welcoming mechanism for reaching LGBTQ+ faculty and staff led to the organization of the first Mount employee contribution to the Halifax Pride parade. And together with other colleagues, she is delivering courses in Queer Studies at MSVU.
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Dr. Piccitto!
MSVU English Department Blog 