Know Your Profs with Dr. Adam Frank
Meet Dr. Adam Frank, who loves television, criticism, and the unpredictability of the present moment, though not necessarily in that order. How does one go about carving out a career watching and writing about TV, anyway? Read on to find out.
Professor Emeritus John Kieran Kealy, August 5 1939 – March 22 2023
UBC English Language & Literatures is saddened by the passing of Professor John Kieran Kealy, beloved mentor, lecturer, and friend. Prof. Kealy became a faculty member of our department in 1970 and continued to inspire generations of UBC scholars until his retirement in 2004. Read the tributes from faculty and alumni.
“You betcha I’m a ’Merican”: The rise of YOU BET as a pragmatic marker | A Q&A with Dr. Laurel Brinton and PhD Candidate Tomoharu Hirota
In a new study, Dr. Laurel Brinton and PhD candidate Tomoharu Hirota explore parenthetical and free-standing you bet (you) and you bet your X and their present-day usage and historical development. In this UBC Language Sciences Q&A, Brinton and Hirota explain how pragmatic markers are used, historical uses of YOU BET, and the differences in usage of YOU BET in spoken American English, as compared to usage in television and movies.
Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville Shortlisted for Top New Zealand Book Award
Congratulations to Dr. Te Punga Somerville (Māori – Te Āti Awa, Taranaki), whose brilliant first poetry collection, Always Italicise: how to write while colonised, has been shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry as part of the prestigious Ockham New Zealand Book Awards!
Remembering Dr. Y-Dang Troeung
It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of our dear colleague and friend, Dr. Y-Dang Troeung, EL&L Associate Professor. Dr. Troeung was a brilliant scholar whose research continues to transform conversations in critical refugee studies, transnational Asian literatures, transpacific Cold War studies, and critical disability studies.
Prof. James Stratton: The Role of Historical Linguistics in the Second Language Classroom
When it comes to picking up a language related to one you already know, learning a bit about its history can help speed up the process. “The results, in my mind, are quite groundbreaking. It shows that knowledge of historical linguistics can have a practical function in society,” says Language faculty Dr. James Stratton.
Dr. Patsy Badir Wins 2022 SSHRC Insight Development Grant for Project on Bardolatry in British Columbia
Congratulations to Dr. Patsy Badir, UBC English Language & Literatures Professor and Department Head, on winning a 2022 SSHRC Insight Development Grant for a project entitled Settling Shakespeare: Bardolatry in British Columbia, 1916-2022.
From the Centre in Widening Circles: Alice Te Punga Somerville on Poetry, Humour, and Not Being All the Things
To mark the publication of her first book of poetry, Always Italicise: How To Write While Colonized, Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville reflects on poetry, relationality, and building networks beyond academia to help one overcome the incapacitating fear of individual failure.
Know Your Profs with Dr. Dallas Hunt
In this instalment of Know Your Profs, Dr. Dallas Hunt shares with us how sometimes, the most beautiful moments in a class can come out of the cacophony of conversations yet to be had.
Know Your Profs with Dr. Ian Hill
Dr. Ian Hill specializes in rhetoric, and teaches a range of courses that uses rhetoric as a lens through which to study different kinds of human activity, from propaganda to memes.