UT Permian Basin - English Program

Want to write but you are always interrupted? Join the Verve Unplugged Writers' Retreat*, June 26-28, at the Alvie Cole Ranch.

The shared bunkhouse and a bed in the female dorm are still available. Meals are included.

Itinerary: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1fkUU0A4jcl9ESHmZ5PCJpcYfAVT37xnZbF55ZykLu7Q/mobilebasic

Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jzJpnq3b_SsoK4NgCuEFooDZUleb4A4T68c5G848hEc/viewform?edit_requested=true

*This retreat is not affiliated with UTPB.

Todd Richardson presenting his paper “Henry David Thoreau, John Brown, and the Body and Soul of Resistance in John Dos Passos’s _Three Soldiers_” in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal on May 22.

Congratulations to English graduates! Pictured here in recessional march are Victoria Gonzalez, Magdalena Ceniceros, Hope Duran, Cielbi Clark. We are very proud of you.

Congratulations to Blakke Davis for her defense of her excellent thesis Breaking the Binaries of Capitalism in the Hybrid World of The Last of Us.

This past week, English faculty, Dr. Nichole Rougeau-Vanderford and Clark Moreland, presented their IRW approach at AAC&U’s national Conference on Learning and Student Success. Assisted by Cesar Sanchez, Director of UTPB’s Developmental Education program, they workshopped student success initiatives and bringing community members into the classroom to support and connect citizenry to writing education.

(UTPB English faculty and students are really on a roll presenting their research these past few months!)

Dr. Rebecca Babcock and one of our valued adjuncts Sheen Sheena Stief presented at CCCC March 4-7 in Cleveland, OH.
Sheena presented in the panel "Don’t Call It Professional Development: Extending Conversations in Dual Enrollment Composition."

Rebecca had three presentations: "Writing Successful Research Proposals," "Their Conference and Their Conversations: Building an Undergraduate Community through the Naylor Workshop and an Undergraduate Research Journal,"and "Discourse Analysis: A Program Conversation with a Dean."

Dr. Marlon Fick and several students presented UTPB English at the Popular Culture Association conference in Atlanta, GA, April 8-11.

Paper topics included:
Estefania Daza (grad student), "The Inhuman Shape: The Horror of Transformation in Werewolf Media"

Nadya Jackson (undergraduate student), "A Snapshot of the Societal Impact of Disability Representation in Media as Viewed Through The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros"

Lexi Spencer (grad student), "William Seabrook's Controversial Legacy: It's Complicated"

Marlon Fick (faculty), "Mustaf, Epstein, and Trump: Trajectories of Fiction and Revenge to Assuage Injustice" and "Letters from Home: Poems in Captivity"

Congratulations to Hannah Grace Bolting on her successful defense of her Master’s project “Transcending Boundaries: Gender and Identity in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.”

UTPB English participated in Falcon Fest on November 22 and asked the community to create a poem by adding lines to create our Turkey’s tale feathers! Thank you to veryone who contributed!!Here is the resulting poem:

Community Poem
Falcon Fest 2025
November 22, 2025

Turkey is a love letter to spice and family
The turkey
I am thankful for to have a family
Thankful for Poetry
Thankful for graduating soon, and have my family to share it with
Thankful for all of God’s blessings
Poetry is Awesome
If you are not in over your head then your not living.
Thankful for being Part of UTPB!
Roses are red, Violets are blue. I am forever thankful for you.
We don’t do it cause it’s easy. We do it Because it’s Hard!!
I choose to be thankful everyday or at least try
Don’t move so slow that you are not moving but do not move so fast that you miss the view
I am grateful for the blessings God has given me, especially my family and health.
I’m thankful for my family.
Everyone is on a one way ride. How are you gonna get there?
The world is full of light. It is up to us to decide what we do with that light.
I am thankful for my family.
I’m grateful for the beautiful girl I was blessed with and family.
So many reasons to be thankful.

Support Theatre at UTPB!