The document provides an overview of Scott McCloud's visit to Rowan University as part of the President's Lecture Series, including his engaging presentation about comics and his interactions with students. It also details Dr. Jody Shipka's participation in the Harrah's Emerging Writers Series, where she discusses her writing process and encourages students to experiment. Overall, the content highlights the vibrant literary events and the emphasis on creativity and passion in the writing arts at Rowan University.

1. May 9, 2012
Volume 1, Issue 3
Between the Lines
Upcoming
Events:
• The deadline for
the 4+1
Program
applications has
been extended
until June 8!
Individual
Highlights:
Scott McCloud
Day 1
Emerging Harrah’s
Writer’s Series 2
News Around
Campus 6
Poet’s Corner and
Inside the Writer’s
Mind Unite 7
Rowan University Writing Arts Department/ 8562564000
When my alarm clock went off on
February 20, my first thought was “Scott
McCloud Day!” I had been working with
Professors Tweedie and Jahn-Clough,
along with Christine Deehan from the
office of University Events, in preparation
for cartoonist and comic book theorist
Scott McCloud’s visit as the guest
speaker for the President’s Lecture
Series for weeks, and now the big day
had arrived.
The first event on the docket was a
presentation in Wilson Hall followed by a
book signing. When I walked into Boyd
Recital Hall, the place was packed and
there were still fifteen minutes before the
presentation was scheduled to begin. I
quickly found an open seat and took in
all of the excited energy in the room.
Interim President Houshmand briefly
welcomed the audience and then
Professor Jahn-Clough introduced
McCloud, whom she met McCloud at
Emerson College in Maine. Then the
man of the hour took to the stage. Full of
contagious energy, McCloud bounced
around the stage while his PowerPoint
presentation played on a screen behind
him. His presentation covered everything
from how he defines comics: “Writing
with pictures,” to how his love of comics
came to be and why. He explained that
he loves to experiment with multi-genre
works and marry words and visuals
together in dynamic and compelling
ways.
Scott McCloud Day: A Day with the
“Aristotle of Comics”
After his presentation, McCloud opened
the floor for questions from the audience
and encouraged students to follow their
passions. One of the last things McCloud
said before moving on to his book
signing was “Learn from everyone, follow
everyone, look at everything, and work
like hell.”
As I followed the crowd out of the hall,
McCloud eagerly took his place behind
the table filled with all of his books.
McCloud greeted and spent some time
chatting with everyone who came up as
he signed and personalized each book
and thanked them for coming to his
presentation. While signing books and
chatting with audience members,
McCloud also fielded questions from
reporters.
Professors Tweedie and Jahn-Clough
escorted McCloud out of Wilson Hall to
lunch at Hollybush Mansion with Writing
Arts faculty, and staff, myself included.
During lunch, McCloud regaled his table
with stories and had everyone roaring
with laughter. After lunch, Professor
Block and I escorted McCloud to record
a segment of the Writer’s Round Table,
an interview program on WGLS, which
covered everything from who were
McCloud’s influences to his goals while
writing his book Understanding Comics:
The Invisible Art.

2. Between the Lines
Above: Picture of Scott
McCloud taken by
Craig Terry/Courtesy
Rowan University
Below: Picture of
Writing the Graphic
Novel Master’s class
taken by Craig
Terry/Courtesy Rowan
University
“It’s a complex book,” McCloud said. “I
tried to establish the idea of what comics
can be separate from its history,
mapping its potential, and defining it in
the simple concepts at its core.”
Professor Block then turned the
conversation to increasing popularity of
comics. “It is easier than ever to make
and distribute comics,” McCloud said.
“I’m glad to be overwhelmed by the
amount of comics available. They will
bring in a more diverse audience and
that in turn forces the medium to become
richer and more diverse.”
Professor Block then wrapped up the
interview and Professor Jahn-Clough
and I escorted McCloud to a Graphic
Design class where he spoke about the
potential of comics, how the visual
communication industry is revamping
itself, and his own writing process. “I’m
up by seven, at work by eight, and I work
for eleven hours, and I love every minute
of it!” McCloud said. When a student
asked about how the innovations in the
field, McCloud said, “People who have
innovated in meaningful ways saw an
idea lying around and ran with it,” which,
as a writer, was something I could relate
to very easily.
Scott McCloud Day Continued
This past winter, Rowan was pleased to
welcome Dr. Jody Shipka, Associate
Professor of English at University of
Maryland, Baltimore County for the
Harrah’s Emerging Writers series. Dr.
Shipka spent the day at Rowan, moving
from presentation to guest speaking in a
photography class, speaking one-on-one
with a group of students, and ending the
day by attending Dr. Bill Wolff’s Visual
Rhetoric and Multimodal Composition
Emerging Harrah’s Writers Series: Inside Jody
Shipka’s Writing Life
Page 2 of 8
A girl sitting close to me timidly raised
her hand and asked if McCloud had any
advice for artists trying to make it big in
the industry. McCloud smiled and said,
“You have to do what you love because
that’s the only shot you’ll have that other
people will love it too.”
That message was also prevalent when
McCloud spoke to my Writing the
Graphic Novel graduate class. My
classmates and I were curious to learn
about where McCloud got his start in the
comic industry. “I worked in production
department at DC Comics,” McCloud
said. “I just threw myself into the industry
and tried to demystify it.” When I asked if
he had any advice for us as we each
prepare to dive headfirst into the ever-
changing professional world of writing
and publishing, rather than trying to
discourage us from going down this path
he smiled and said, “Master a set of
fundamental principles rather than skills
that will probably become obsolete.”
McCloud continued, “Universal truths
give you a compass to navigate the ever-
changing waters.” And that was some of
the best advice he could have given us
writers.
class. The night before, Dr. Shipka gave
a presentation which focused on the
themes she presents in her book,
Toward a Composition Made Whole, in
which she presents her theories of
“composition as an act of communication
that can be expressed through any
number of media and as a path to
meaning-making.”

3. Between the LinesPage 3 of 8
I had a chance to spend the day with as
well as sit down with Dr. Shipka for an
interview in which I got to peek behind the
curtain of her writing process and learn
what she loves to learn from her students’
writing processes and how she keeps her
cool while under publishing pressure.
JL: Where did you go to school and what
did you study?
JS: As an undergraduate, I went to
Loyola University, Chicago. For grad
school, I went to University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana to study Literature. I
was almost finished with my Ph.D.
coursework at University of Illinois when I
decided to take a course in Writing
Studies. I was hooked. I decided to
change my focus. I graduated with a
Ph.D. in English/Writing Studies from the
University of Illinois.
JL: Your talk on Wednesday night was
based on telling stories of how we
become writers through process. What is
your writing process?
JS: My process, like most, if not all,
writers varies depending on what I'm
doing, where, why, for whom. For
instance, when I make a grocery list, I
often do that at the kitchen table using
small pieces of paper and I never do it in
pencil. I rarely revise the list. But for
larger projects such as papers, talks,
videos, mash-ups (i.e., those that will go
out for review or publication) a crucial part
of my process involves keeping a work
log. The first thing I do when I get up in
the morning is to begin another entry in
the work log. I keep this on my computer
and the function of the log is to get me
writing and thinking about projects first
thing in the morning. They don't seem so
scary or daunting if I'm not trying to avoid
them. With the work log entries I can talk
about what I plan to do with a piece, what
I'm afraid of, what's not working in a
piece. And it feels less threatening than
Emerging Harrah’s Writer’s Series Continued
Jody Shipka sharing her
work with photography
students. Taken by Dr. Bill
Wolff
“A crucial part of my
process involves
keeping a work log.”
-Jody Shipka
working directly on the piece itself. I often
find that once I've thought or planned
things out in the work log, it's much easier
to move to whatever I'm working on (the
paper, presentation or video). Often, I
have useable parts in the work log—
sentences or ideas that I can just cut and
paste into the draft I'm working on. I can't
imagine myself having accomplished a
book or a dissertation or any articles
without having used a work log as part of
the process.
JL: What is your favorite thing to learn
about your students' writing processes?
JS: I guess it's all the stuff they don't first
think to tell me—things that they assume
that I, as an "English" teacher, wouldn't
be interested in. Often, we try to orient to
our expectations of what other people
might be interested in. So, students,
assuming I'd be interested in matters of
spelling, drafting, revising, proofreading,
often focus on those things, or on having
read great works of literature. I like
hearing about the use/manipulation of
materials other than words. How
someone planned out an essay on a
pair of shoes or a shirt—what they used,
how they went about each step. I'm also
curious to know who else participated in
or watched the composing process.
Because my assignments are more open-
ended, students often ask family
members and friends for assistance—
whether in coming up with ideas for a
task or in putting things together. I'm
interested in hearing about how others
reacted to and/or played a part in what
students were composing.
JL: Do you have a favorite project one of
your students has completed for your
class?

4. Between the Lines Page 4 of 8
JS: There have been sooooooo many
good ones. One stands out though, only
because the moment I experienced that
one I thought, "Okay, I can stop teaching
now. No one will ever top this and to
compare everything else to this wouldn't
be fair." And that was the student I wrote
about in my book and talked briefly about
in the presentation who did a live, in-
class dance-based re-performance of an
earlier class session. She did this with
the help of a handful of university
dancers, of course. There have been
projects that I have loved before and
since then, of course, but this one really
stands out as a highlight. Plus, even if a
project isn't in and of itself a favorite of
mine, a student's reaction to his/her own
work can make that project very
memorable. Like when students are
really surprised by the work they did
because it helped them out of their
comfort zone and to try something new.
Those projects or experiences mean a
lot to me too.
JL: You said in your talk for the
photography class that you took up
photography in 2008 to experiment
writing with light. What made you want to
experiment with photography?
JS: At the time, I did little besides teach
and work on scholarship. I needed
something else to do—and something
that didn't cost a lot of money.
Photography was a way to get out and
start seeing things without spending a lot
of money to do that.
JL: How do you encourage students to
play/experiment with their writing? You
mentioned that a lot of writing students
might resist because other classes view
writing as something very formulaic. How
do you ease their fears and encourage
them?
JS: In part, by showing them what other
students have done. Chances are, there
Emerging Harrah’s Writer’s Series Continued
“Photography was a
way to get out and start
seeing things without
spending a lot of money
to do that.”
-Jody Shipka
“Working with genres
and media that I’m not
familiar with pushes me
out of my comfort zone
and helps me learn
things I wouldn’t
otherwise have a
chance to learn.”
-Jody Shipka
is something in that work that will makes
students think, "oh, maybe I can do
that." The statement of goals and
choices that students write for me also
help them to play/experiment because
even if something goes horribly wrong
with the final product, students know that
they can talk about that, remedy it, if you
will, in their statements. In this way, not
everything is riding on that one flawless
final product. That helps considerably
with the risk-taking. And part of it is, I
think, a matter of teaching persona. The
way I act, the risks I take in the class. If I
came off as all perfect and aloof, I don't
think students would believe me when I
asked them to trust me enough to take
chances or risk something. But because
I'm pretty goofy in class, well, I think this
encourages some students to take
chances too.
JL: Do you experiment with new media at
all?
JS: Yes. I do a fair amount of work with
media that is "new" to me. I also do a fair
amount of digital work. Before I was
awarded tenure, I tried to alternate
between print-based articles and digital
ones. Working with genres and media
that I'm not familiar with pushes me out
of my comfort zone and helps me learn
things I wouldn't otherwise have a
chance to learn.
JL: What is your photography process?
Does it differ from your writing process at
all? If so, how does it differ?
JS: Good question. I'll still have to think
about this. I've not had the occasion to
compare/contrast this before. I've
thought about the differences between
the final products that result from both,
but not the process. At this point, I'd say
that the main differences are as follows:
Firstly, photography tends to take place
outdoors and writing indoors.

5. Between the LinesPage 5 of 8
JS: Secondly, photography feels more
immediate, spontaneous, and intuitive
while writing always feels or seems more
calculated. I think a lot about what I want
to say/do/communicative before I act
(i.e., make notes, put things on paper).
This is not to say that photography is
mindless. When I go out on a shoot, I
almost always size up the situation,
considering which cameras and films I
might use. But when I see something I
want or need to take a photo of, it feels
immediate. My heart will start beating
quickly—I just know I need to capture
that thing. With writing, I might think of
something quickly, but I'll often (a second
later) convince myself what I just thought
was lame, stupid. I guess there's less
second-guessing with photography. I
just grab an image and worry about its
success later. Then again, the biggest
difference between the two processes is
that I don't make a living with
photography. I can play there and not
worry about how well it will be received
by my peers.
JL: You mentioned with photography you
feel free to experiment. Do you not feel
as though you can "play" as much with
your writing?
JS: I definitely feel like I can play or
experiment with my composing when I'm
working with genres or media I've not
worked with before. But I think the
biggest difference (as I mentioned
above) is that I'm not judged by my
photography in the same way that I'm
judged by my writing. With photography,
I can be, and remain, a perpetual
student—always learning, always
improving, and trying new things. I can
do this with my scholarship too, of
Emerging Harrah’s Writer’s Series Continued
“Try to do a little
something on a project
or assignment every
day—whether it’s
researching for it,
composing a bit of it,
making a tentative
outline.”
-Jody Shipka
course, but I feel like there's an
expectation there, perhaps self-imposed,
to top what I did last. To keep getting
better, smarter, and to make fewer
mistakes.
JL: How do you handle the pressure that
comes with publishing success?
JS: In short, I try to avoid the pressure.
Before getting tenure, I always had a
project or two going at once, so I tried to
focus on doing work I enjoyed rather
than worrying about getting published.
[A mentor once said that if you do work
you enjoy and do it well, you'll stand a
better chance or getting that work
published.] I also don't tend to read
reviews/blog posts and I try not to think
about how others will respond to the
work while I'm working on it. I try,
instead, to focus on what I want to say,
do, communicate and to consider ways
of doing that to the best of my ability--in
ways that will translate to others. There
will always be people who don't think
highly of my work and if I think about
them too much, I start to believe it to.
JL: Do you have any general advice for
student writers?
JS: Yes, definitely: Keep a work log.
Also, try to do a little something on a
project or assignment every day—
whether it's researching for it, composing
a bit of it, making a tentative outline.
This is especially crucial, I think, if the
task or assignment is intimidating. If I do
something everyday, I feel like I remain
in control—that I have the upper hand. If
not, I spend all my time worrying about
and/or feeling guilty about what I'm not
doing!

6. Between the Lines Page 6 of 8
When I walked into the Writing Center
one Monday afternoon, the place was
abuzz with activity. I wove through large
tables packed with students and tutors,
all polishing final papers and portfolios.
Preparations were underway for the
poetry reading happening that night in
celebration of National Poetry Month. I
finally found Sharada Krishnamurthy,
assistant director of the Writing Center
and adjunct professor at Rowan, artfully
arranging cookies and laying out
refreshments for after the readings.
I was able to pull Krishnamurthy away for
a few minutes to discuss the new and
exciting changes that have been
happening in the Writing Center all year
and will continue to happen in the fall
semester. Krishnamurhty explained that
the Writing Center provides a space
separate from their courses where
students can work on their writing away
from all of the classroom pressures.
In addition to offering private tutoring
sessions in the Writing Center, in the
spring 2011 semester, the Writing Center
began offering online tutoring session
where the student could opt either for a
synchronous meeting with a tutor in
Goggle Docs or could email their paper
to a tutor, who would then make
comments and suggestions in the
document before sending it back to the
student. “We really need to spread the
word about this service because
commuters or nontraditional students
who may not be able to take advantage
of the Writing Center facility could still
meet with a tutor and work on their
writing from home,” Krishnamurthy said.
The Writing Center also offers
specialized events and tailored
workshops in addition to one-on-one
tutoring sessions. “We have customized
seven or eight Education Leadership
workshops for the Education Doctoral
News Around Campus: Checking in with the
Writing Center
“The Writing Center
provides a space
separate from their
courses where students
can work on their writing
away from all of the
classroom pressures.”
-Julianna Lopez
“This semester we just
started the Rowan
Writer’s Club, which is a
club designed for
writers of all stages,
interests, and skill
levels.”
-Sharada
Krishnamurthy
program and this semester we just
started the Rowan Writer’s Club, which is
a club designed for writers of all stages,
interests, and skill levels,” she said.
Krishnamurthy plans to continue having
meetings for the club next semester and
hopes to transform the club into a
student-run organization. “The Rowan
Writer’s Club is open to all writers in the
area, not just Rowan students, and we
hope to provide a community of and for
writers,” she said.
In addition to beginning the Rowan
Writer’s Club, Kelly Adams, outgoing
Writing Center Director, and
Krishnamurthy have been reaching out to
the Glassboro area for special events as
well. “Last Friday, we held a poetry
reading for third graders from the
Glassboro School District. Anyone who
wanted to read their poetry could and the
students brought illustrations to go along
with their poetry,” she said. “We gave out
prizes for the top three poems and
provided light refreshments afterward. It
was a very successful event and we
hope to become more involved with the
school districts in the area.”
As final’s week rolls around,
Krishnamurthy looks forward to all of the
changes that will be implemented in the
fall. “We applied for and were awarded a
grant to purchase scheduling software,
which will be installed this summer. It is
very exciting,” she said. This software,
WC-Online, will allow students to
schedule appointments online to meet
with tutors, tutors can view all of their
appointments for the week, and the
Center will be able to compile data via
the software. “We will be able to see the
number of the students who schedule
appointments, what their major is, and
which majors are being neglected by or
aren’t aware of the service we provide,”
she said.

7. Between the LinesPage 7 of 8
“Right now, most of our tutors are English
or Writing Arts/MA in Writing students,
and we’re looking to diversify our tutors
as well as better customize our services
for all Rowan students.”
It was clear to see that Krishnamurthy
loves working in the Writing Center and
when I asked her what she loves most
about working here she said, “I sort of
serendipitously fell into working here, but
I love it. When you work with students,
help them better articulate their ideas,
and navigate the direction of their
thoughts, it’s a great thing to witness,”
she said. “It’s exciting to be able to be
helping the community overall write
better.”
I asked what students could do to keep
their writing fresh as summer break
News Around Campus Continued
On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, students,
friends, family, and Writing Arts faculty
convened in the upper level of Rowan’s
Barnes & Noble bookstore to recognize
and celebrate the literary works of the
2012 winners of the Denise Gess Literary
Awards. The Literary Awards, which are
conducted biannually, are according to
the program given out the night of the
readings, “open to all undergraduate and
graduate students enrolled at Rowan”
and were established in order to
recognize “the creativity and literary
achievement of Rowan students.” And
the reading provided the opportunity to do
just that.
Poet’s Corner and Inside the Writer’s Mind
Unite: The Denise Gess Literary Award Winners
“Journaling is great […]
it helps keep the
creative juices flowing
and the writing alive.”
-Sharada
Krishnamurthy
“There are very few
programs like this and I
believe the awards are
encouraging and we
want to recognize as
many students as
possible.”
-Professor Julia Chang
quickly approaches. “Journaling is great
[…] it helps keep the creative juices
flowing and the writing alive,” she said. “It
shouldn’t feel like work. It’s just a way of
expressing your thoughts and organizing
them on paper,” she reiterated. “Reading
is always essential for good writing as
well,” Krishnamurthy said. “You get to see
what other writers are doing and
techniques they’re implementing, and it’s
a great source of inspiration.”
All of the changes the Writing Center
directors and tutors are implementing are
an inspiration as well. For more
information about the Writing Center, visit
their website, contact the Center tutors
via writingcenter@rowan.edu, or stop by
the Writing Center in the fall.
I had the opportunity to briefly sit and talk
with Professor Julia Chang to discuss the
history behind each of the three
categories of the competition: The
Edward J. Czwartacki Award for Short
Fiction, The Pat B. Tweedie Award for
Creative Nonfiction, and the Rowan
University Award for Poetry. “The Pat B.
Tweedie Award was named after a friend
of Professor Tweedie’s mother who made
a gift in her honor. The Edward J.
Czwartacki Award was named for a
Rowan Creative Writing student who
drowned in Ocean City while trying to
save two Amish women who got swept
up in the current because of their skirts,”
said Chang.

8. “The overall name of the Literary Awards was
named after Denise Gess in 2010 when the
Writing Arts department started the awards
up again.” According to the program, Denise
Gess was a “novelist, essayist, passionate
reader, and master teacher who was revered
by both students and comments.”
I also asked Professor Chang what were the
qualities she and the panel of judges were
looking for in the winning pieces. “The quality
of the writing is definitely important,
originality, writer-ly courage or a display of
experimentation with different writing
techniques,” said Chang. “There are very few
programs like this, and I believe the awards
are encouraging and we want to recognize as
many students as possible.”
Congratulations to all of the 2012 Denise
Gess Literary Award Winners for displaying
each of these qualities in their work!
The Edward J. Czwartacki for Short
Fiction:
1
st
– The Incisor – Katelyn Catinella,
Class of 2012
2
nd
– Cedric the Great – Kristina Forest,
Class of 2014
3
rd
– The Path – Christopher Cullen,
Class of 2012
Honorable Mention
The Cemetery Watchers – Alex Grover,
Class of 2014
The Couch in the Basement – Samantha
Brown, second year MAW program
Poet’s Corner and Inside the Writer’s Mind
ContinuedRowan University Writing
Arts Department
201 Mullica Hill
Road
Glassboro, NJ
08028
PHONE:
8562564000
E-MAIL:
lopezj@rowan.edu
We’re on the Web!
See us at:
www.rowan.edu/wr
itingarts
ROWAN UNIVERSITY
WRITING ARTS
DEPARTMENT
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028
The Pat B. Tweedie Award for Creative
Nonfiction
1
st
– Atop the Camel’s Hump – Casey
Otto, Class of 2012
2
nd
– The Bridge – Lacey Bouchard,
Class of 2013
3
rd
– Hate Island – Samantha Brown,
second year MAW program
Honorable Mention
The Hike – Kayla Ewing, Class of 2013
The Great Blue Circle – Natalie
Busarello, Class of 2013
Rowan University Prize for Poetry
1
st
– Have You Seen Me? – Joe McGee,
second year MAW program
2
nd
– The Devil We Know (and other
Folklore from the Garden State) –
Samantha Brown, second year MAW
program
3
rd
– Authentic Philosophy – Rebecca
Force, second year MAW program
Honorable Mention
Carpooling to Game Night – Jayne
Dzuback, Class of 2012
Obsessive Love Disorder – Regina
McMenamin Lloyd, Class of 2015
Dream-walking – Meghan O-Donnell,
second year MAW program
Resignation – Anita Sipala, Class of
2012