Dear Seniors,
Director of Undergraduate Studies
I wish I could be speaking to you in person, but instead I will do what English professors and English majors do best: write! This was my first year as Director of Undergraduate Studies, and it certainly has been memorable. Obvious reasons aside, it has been memorable because I got to know so many of our majors outside the classroom. We had pie from Foster’s, and talked about Milton on Third Thursdays; we celebrated the life of Toni Morrison by sharing some of our favorite passages from her fiction and criticism; we discussed so many incredible senior thesis projects at our Distinction Dinners. Here is a sampling: A literary-critical thesis entitled “Narrative as Search: Computational Forms of Knowledge in the Novels of Tom McCarthy” showed how literary analysis can alter our understanding of computing technology. A creative writing thesis called “The Eye of Arctos” took the form of a visual novel or interactive game where readers could choose their own paths through an eerie fictional tale with several possible endings. Finally, a thesis entitled “Conceits of Imagined Silence: Reconciling Recognition and Acknowledgement in Fiction” blended literary criticism with ordinary language philosophy to ask if we can ever really know another person. When does true recognition take place and how can we acknowledge another’s experience, especially when it is so different from our own?
English majors ponder questions that matter. We come up with precise ways of asking questions and we offer researched arguments, meditations, and reflections in response to them. Argument, meditation, reflection: these modes of thinking are just as important as problem-solving especially when the challenges we face are unprecedented in scale and scope. I’m exceedingly grateful to the scientists, physicians, economists, health care workers, delivery people, and grocery store workers who have had essential duties during this pandemic, but I continue to believe that those in the humanities are doing essential work for the long-term. Humanists (that’s all of you!) think historically and rhetorically about the present. You are aware of how the written record shapes the way this moment will be remembered, and you understand better than anyone how vital language is to expressing grief, anger, fear, love, care, and hope.
It is with all these feelings that I congratulate you, Class of 2020. I deeply admire your perseverance and grace.
Aarthi Vadde
Associate Professor of English
Director of Undergraduate Studies
