Guggenheim fellows depart

Shakespeare and Renaissance literature and is chair of peace and conflict studies, is ending his sixth year at the College, the last of which he was on sabbatical. Moving forward, he will be living and teaching high school English classes in Southern California to be closer to his family.

During his time at the College, he has taught many first-year students through Introduction to Shakespeare and tutorial classes, led group Mentor Advanced Projects (MAPs) almost every summer and taught at the Newton Correctional Facility as a part of the Liberal Arts in Prison Program. His desire to be in the classroom began in his high school English classes, he said, where he gained exposure to world-broadening books and developed a lifelong love of discussing literature with others.

“That for me is a certain kind of vision of heaven, or a perfect afterlife — just talking with people about what they think about different kinds of books or texts that I’ve read,” he said.

Shakespeare to tell their own stories. At the time he delivered the Grinnell Lecture, he did not know that he was going to leave the College. Still, he said that the significance of high school English classes has been recurrent in his overall writing and thinking.

“There’s a part of the Grinnell lecture that talks about my own experience in high school and how meaningful English classes were to me in terms of me being able to sort of find my own place in the world,” he said.

Steve Andrews, chair of the English department, wrote in an email to the S&B that the department will submit two replacement position proposals — a fiction writer who may assume Writers@Grinnell directorship and a specialist in Renaissance and Milton studies.

In January 2018, Georgeanna Robinson and the office of analytical support and institutional research published a report that examines why students left Grinnell College. Of the 30 students interviewed, the report indicates that 11 left for mental health reasons, 7 left to find a better institutional fit, 5 left because their desired major was not offered, 3 left because they always planned on transferring and the remaining 6 left for “specific reasons that were individual to them.”

Joyce Stern, dean for student success and academic advising, said that initiatives aimed at student retention are being led by the president’s office, offices ranging from Academic Advising and the Center for Careers, Life, and Services to Residence Life and Student Health and Wellness and faculty development programs. Stern said that the Fall 2022 Strategic Planning Responses document, for example, include suggested resources, policies, practices and educational opportunities to cultivate feelings like belonging based on 700 comments from faculty, staff and students. Stern also said that the semes-

For students of color specifically, Varia and Reed wrote that listening to their needs and experiences at every level — administrative, faculty, alumni and peer — is the first step to raising the quality of their time at Grinnell.

“We’d encourage people to listen and reflect on what they are hearing from people and spaces directly, and consider how they are situated to create pathways of persistence,” Varia and Reed wrote. “For example, the Black Student Union’s 10-point plan offered specific and tangible solutions to address the safety concerns and wellness of Black students.”

According to Varia and Reed, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is already taking steps to help determine new models for the cultural centers, encourage Student Affairs to consider the holistic co-curricular student experience and advocate for culturally and identity informed practices.

The April 3 meeting data indicates that raising the graduation rate to the peer average requires roughly 15 additional graduates per year. To raise the Black student graduation rate to the rate of all students at Grinnell, roughly three additional students would need to graduate per year.

During his sabbatical during the 2022-2023 school year, he completed a book about how Shakespeare’s sonnets reveal different ways that memory works called “The Pleasures of Memory in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” He has also written books on the theme of pacifism in relation to Shakespeare and what Shakespeare thought would happen after death.

In late February of 2023, Garrison delivered the ninth annual Grinnell Lecture and is the first professor of English to be chosen to do so. He explored Rita Dove’s “Shakespeare Says,” a poem that he said is an example of how people can repurpose

As of now, two professors who are already on term contracts with the College will fill the departing professors’ positions. Sherif Abdelkarim, professor of English, will teach Intro to Shakespeare in the fall of 2023 and a seminar called Studies in Shakespeare in the spring of 2024. Santiago Sanchez, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English, will teach Craft of Fiction in the fall and spring and a fiction seminar in the fall. Carolyn Jacobson and Hai-Dang Phan, both professors of English, will direct Writers@Grinnell in the fall and spring, respectively.

“As difficult as it may be to do, I try to separate the persons from the positions,” Andrews wrote. “The positions will be filled, the persons are irreplaceable. The loss of two such consummate teachers, mentors and colleagues will be felt for a very long time. Dean and John raised the bar for all of us — and helped us fly a little in the process.”