Email Listserve

Any grad student can send email to the listserve at umassego-l AT english.umass.edu. All current English MA/PhD students have been subscribed. MFAs and alum are welcome. Manage your subscription or subscribe with an alternate email address.

English Graduate Wiki

The English grad wiki has a new look! Site members can create or edit almost any page, post Events, or write in the Blog. Some of our most important features include:

• The News and Blog sections on the homepage to keep you updated.
• How-To Guides with advice on everything from surviving exams to the best bars in the Valley.
• Syllabi of English courses other grad students have taught.
• Community resources, including bios of current grad students, a space for Reading Groups, a Discussion Board, CFPs, and more.

Learn more.
Click here to join.

Google Calendar

For a quick visual on what’s going on, visit EGO’s Google Calendar. (Also linked from the Calendar icon on the homepage.) To get an event in the calendar, post an Event on the wiki.

Social Networking

Friend EGO on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or subscribe with RSS to keep updated.
Learn more about your options for staying updated.

by EgO at UMass

Remember: EGO is for YOU. Is the new layout attractive, user-friendly, and suitable to your needs as an English graduate student? Please let your voice be heard by telling us what you think.

by EgO at UMass

by EgO at UMass

The listserve is open to any English graduate student. Any user can send emails directly to the list.

Manage your subscription.

by EgO at UMass

The big changes in our health plan are:
(1) You will pay an annual deductible, with or without a referral, for
services outside of UHS. If you go to the ER, you will pay the
deductible. The deductible is $200 for those on individual plans.
For families, the deductible is $200 for yourself, $200 for your
partner, and $200 for the children covered, so up to $600. Before
this fall, no such deductible existed.

(2) The cap has been halved, from $500,000 to $250,000. A medical
crisis (breaking your back, getting a brain tumor, etc) will rack up
bills quickly so the $250,000 is inadequate.

(3) Co-pays for prescription drugs have gone up from $7.50 to $10.

(4) UHS is now closed between the hours of midnight and 8am. Before
this fall, UHS urgent care was open 24 hours.

The university made the cuts to the health plan with no consultation
with any of the students affected, or with GEO. GEO filed a grievance
and requested that UMass release any records on how they shopped for
the plan and what discussions were held with Aetna and other insurance
companies. Susan Chinmann's response was that such records were
irrelevant to GEO, and "in any case, no such records exist."

Visit the GEO website for more information
Read the a related article on the changes in the Gazette.

by EgO at UMass

Present: Queequeg, Miss Bennett, Margo Dowling, E.A. Poe, Lolita, Puck, Penelope, Wife of Bath, Mr. English

Conference updates: Conference committee reporting by proxy:
-Bake sale total proceeds: 229.35
-budget for conference has been met
-conference website now on wiki: http://umassenglishgrad.wikidot.com/2010-conference
-A.E. Poe suggested inquiring about web space available through GSS

Ego Budget: Questions were raised about the budget, whether it has been incorporated
into the conference budget.

Wiki updates:
-Miss Bennett suggested photos for next meeting, will bring camera
-Miss Bennett will send out another email to the department regarding the
photo contest
-group agreed to continue with wiki updates

Seminar committee: A sub-committee of EGO, will be responsible for choosing subjects of interest to graduate students, planning workshops, and enlisting faculty support: Penelope, Puck, Poe, and Queequeg.
-Ideas for seminars include: writing abstracts/choosing conferences, navigating
publishing and journals, job market, job talks/interviews, field specific research strategies (including archival research)
-committee will meet to form schedule for talks

Movie Night: Ideas for a movie series were presented
-first one for Feb.
-possible locations: the Renaissance center, the campus center, Bartlett
-Poe will create an online poll for people to suggest and vote on prospective
movies

Other updates:
-EGO will have a presence at the Dec 4th meeting “Everything you need to know
about the department”, scheduled from 12-2
-Queequeg will schedule a final meeting this semester, which will be more informal and at a location t.b.d.

by AmandaCarr

by EgO at UMass

by AmandaCarr

Just last month after running a Google search on myself, I found myself listed, unauthorized, on a website called Spock. The site had lifted my full name, location, birthday, age, a silly photo, and friend list from my centuries-old, password-protected MySpace profile (which had been set to private) and posted that information in a public listing. Happily, after emailing the company, the information was immediately removed. But a lesson was learned. It's probably no longer realistic to be anonymous on the web. But what can you do to limit the circulation of damaging information and even professionalize your web presence?

Facebook Friend Lists
Articles with tips to protect yourself on Facebook abound and include such no-brainers as "set your profile to private" and "don't post images of yourself drunk and dancing on bar tables." But I have found that one of the most useful but underused strategies is to create "Friend Lists" and then assign each list different privacy settings. For instance, while your 10 closest friends might have access to your full account, you can keep separate Friend Lists for acquaintances, old high school friends you wished hadn't found you, and your mother, who recently and inexplicably set up an account.

To do this, from the top menu, go to "Friends." On the left-side menu, at the bottom of the "Lists" already created, you'll see a little plus sign. Click it to create a new Friend List. Once you've created the lists you want, from the top menu go to Settings —> Privacy Settings —> Profile. From each drop-down menu (i.e., Profile, Status, Photos Tagged of You), choose "Customize." Under "Who Can See This?" choose "Some Friends." You will now have the option to type in a friend list. Facebook even allows you to preview your profile as a certain friend would see it so there is no doubt about who has access to what.

By the time you're finished here, that professor who friended you will be able to see little more than your name.

(Caveat: customizing Friend List privacy settings does not necessarily give you free license; anything on the web is still, well, on the web.)

Delete Accounts on Old Social Networking Sites
Do you have a Friendster account you haven't looked at in 5 years? You were 5 years younger; it probably has something embarrassing on it. Delete accounts for any social networking sites you are no longer using (and monitoring) regularly.

Run a Narrow Google Search
You should (and probably do) Google yourself occasionally. But don't take false comfort in the fact that your name is John Smith and therefore no one will ever be able to find you. In addition to your general Google search, attach keywords that any self-respecting stalker would use to narrow the results. "John Smith UMass" is a pretty good start. Then take action. Remove offending content you have control over; contact websites that are posting hazardous information and ask them to remove it. (See incident with Spock above.)

Build a Professional Web Presence
Finally, taking control of your web presence is not just purging questionable content; it is also a personal PR campaign to define how you want the world to see you. The Chronicle article has some great suggestions to that end. But you might also consider creating a simple, concise professional webpage on UMass's server or writing a blog addressing your research interests via one of the numerous blog hosts, including Blogger, Wordpress.com, or UMass's own Blogs at UMass Amherst. I have a friend, for instance, whose professional interests blog, which she listed on her resume and business card, helped her land a (nonacademic) job.

And of course, post a blurb about your research and teaching interests on our wiki's Grad Student Bio page.

by EgO at UMass

R updated the group on funding for the Graduate conference:
-Good news! Grad conference can be included in EGO
-EGO or conference is not eligible for line-item budgeting (needs to be done a year in advance); but can receive ad hoc funding for events; R will apply for ad hoc funding for the Grad Conference
-Not sure if we can raise funds separately, as with a bake sale or book sale; will fnd out from GSS
-there are gifts and grants available from various funding sources, but, due to the late date, we will have to apply for 2011 conference

A & L agreed to go to classes to recruit grad students for EGO

A & S updated about the website:
-Page views for the Grad Wiki are up! Especially profile views.
-A & S asked for new photos for the website—please post them!
-everyone agreed to add content to the website (e.g., adding “how to’s” for incoming grad students

A took down notes about EGO’s concerns regarding graduate studies; she will present them for faculty retreat this year, which will focus on graduate studies

by juliemb

2. Other plans discussed to get current and incoming students involved: weekly social events; class visits.

3. Book sale details finalized; plans for next year's English Graduate Conference underway.

4. Amy Brady and Joe Mason elected co-chairs of EGO. Thanks to Lisha Daniels Storey for serving as chair this year!

See minutes for all meetings:
About EGO

by Joe Mason

I've often wished for just such a service. And then I found it…right under my nose. It's called an RSS reader, and you've probably seen the little orange squares that signal its feeds everywhere.

I'd like to take away some of the mystery from RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication) and get you to try it out! You'll wonder how you lived without it.

Here's a brief summary of how it works: most news, opinion, and blog websites generate constantly updating "feeds" of all their latest content. An RSS reader tracks your favorite feeds and delivers them to you in one location. Think of it as an email inbox filled with your very own, personalized web content. Just imagine…no more checking the same websites day in and day out to see if anything new has popped up. And you'll never miss a thing.

For example, in my RSS reader, I am tracking the New York Times's Most Emailed Stories, my best friend's blog, the comments my students post on our course website, and— of course —UMass EGO website. As soon as a student posts a comment or another story moves into the NY Times's most emailed list, it appears in my reader, complete with a description (and sometimes the full text), a link, and an option to share by email.

Click the little orange buttons on the UMass EGO website to receive updates directly to your reader.

Although there are many RSS readers available, I use Google Reader because it is straightforward and requires no download. All you need to do is create a free Google account (with which you will also be able to use Google's email, photo, calendar, and other services).

Once you have set up your reader, you can start adding "subscriptions" to your favorite websites by clicking on the site's RSS link (that orange button again). Or you can add the site's URL directly in your reader.

That's it! Turns out, RSS really is Really Simple.

EGO Feeds
Blog
Discussion Board
EGO Site Updates
News and Events!

by EgO at UMass

Arts
Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times
By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: March 7, 2009
Full-time faculty jobs have not been easy to come by in recent decades, but this year the new crop of Ph.D. candidates is finding the prospects worse than ever.
Read Article

by stacita

by EgO at UMass

by lisha daniels storey

How do I post? All you have to do is type the name of your post into the box over there on the side menu, write down what you have to say, and save your work. The formatting is automatic! Your post will now appear at the top of the EGO blog.

How do I use tags? Make sure to tag your post after you save it. Just click on the blue “tags” action link at the bottom right of the page (next to “edit”).

How do I stay updated on the EGO blog? Subscribe by clicking on the link on the side menu—>. This is different from the discussion board email listserve. If you have questions, email the site administrator moc.liamg|ogessamu#ereh.

by EgO at UMass