From the Director of Undergraduate Studies

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English Department Scholarships and Honors

English Department Scholarships

Helen Aicher and Kenneth Ward Nelson Scholarship
This award is for individuals who intend to teach at the high school level following completion of their studies.

Kyara Dagnino Cretin

Ruth Gulden Holsteen and Charles Sophus Holsteen Memorial  Scholarship
Established by Jon Holsteen and Nancy Holsteen Lerner in honor of their parents, Charles Sophus and Ruth Gulden Holsteen, natives of Burlington, Iowa. Mrs. Holsteen graduated with a degree in English and this award honors students who share her commitment to excellence in the field.

Rhianna Koppes, Olivia Naber

Louise P. Herring Scholarship
Established in honor of Louise P. Herring, who earned her master’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1930 and her doctorate in 1932. It recognizes excellent students with a commitment to English studies as a preparation for life.

Elizabeth Lace

Sherry Loring Memorial Scholarship
Established by Eric Loring in honor of his late wife, Sherry Simmons Loring, who earned her BA in English at Iowa in 1970. The award recognizes students who, like the Lorings, have demonstrated their commitment to and pleasure in the life of the mind at the University of Iowa.

Josie Boyle

Emily Wagner Scholarship
This award honors Emily Wagner, who received her B.A. in English from the University of Iowa in 2002. After graduating, Emily pursued her love of reading and writing by joining the Teach for America Corps and continued her career as an inspiring English teacher, challenging and engaging middle-school students until her death in 2010. This scholarship supports an English major who shares Emily’s love of literature, demonstrates academic excellence, and is a graduate of an Iowa high school.

Rhianna Koppes, Olivia Naber

Melvin J. Blough Scholarship
Established in honor of Melvin J. Blough, this award is given to support students studying in the English Department.

Luke Brosted-Gajewski, Summer Eland, Peyton Knight, Megan McKnight, Grace Olson, Rachel Swack, Alexander Swanson, Natalie Thomas, Savannah Waechter

Scott A. Anderson Memorial Scholarship
Scott Anderson received his B.A. in English with highest distinction from the University of Iowa in 1984. He was an honors student, a member of Phi Be-ta Kappa, a winner of the Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, and, after graduation, he worked as a writer for the UI Foundation and in the television industry in New York and Los Angeles. This scholarship honors students who share his love of writing.

Kaylie Brandhorst, Malaina Elliott, Elizabeth Godsoe, Robert Goodin, Riana Howells, Aishani Kundu, Ella Mainville, Ashlyn Solinsky

Sean Wu Memorial Scholarship
This award was established by Dave Wu and Una Yang in honor of Sean Wu and is used to support a first-year English and Creative Writing major who shows promise in this area.

Lilyana Gustafson

Marvin Bell Scholarship in Creative Writing

Established by Cecile Goding in honor of Marvin Bell, who was a longtime UI professor and the first Poet Laureate of Iowa. The scholarship is for deserving undergraduate students enrolled in the Department of English at the University who are studying creative writing, demonstrate merit, and are in good academic standing.

Joy Singer

Lawrence Tabak Nonfiction Student Project and Professional Development Award

This award covers the recipient’s expenses for a summer internship or research project that will result in a long-form piece of nonfiction writing.

Maya Hernandez

English Department Scholarship
An award to honor high-achieving students in the English and English & Creative Writing majors, based on fundraising efforts of the department.

Abigail Dohmen, Eleanor Granstrom, Elijah Lewerenz, Nikita McNamee, Jaylia Rivera-Smith, Riley Stose

Elizabeth Dietz Essay Prize
This award is given for the best essay on poetry, in honor of Elizabeth Dietz, who was a poet, a professor of Renaissance Literature at Rice University, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and the doctoral program in English.

Jillian Witt

Miriam Gilbert Award for Shakespeare Studies
This award is given each year for the best essay on Shakespeare, renaissance literature, or drama and performance, in honor of Professor Gilbert, who taught Shakespeare at Iowa until 2013.

Josie Boyle

McGalliard Medieval Prize
Established by his former student, Professor Dolores Warwick Frese of Notre Dame University, in honor of John McGalliard, a widely known scholar and teacher of Old English, Old Norse, Old Irish, Chaucer, and other medieval subjects at the University of Iowa for more than forty years, from 1931 to 1975. This award is given to an English or comparative literature major who submits the most outstanding essay on a medieval subject.

McKinley McManus

Honors in English

Graduating English Majors

Crowley, Jenna *

D'Souza, L. Henry

Gurdak, Kelly

Hickman, Charlie

Housour, Jessica

Simms, Margaret Alice

Graduating English and Creative Writing Majors

Ahlrichs, Ben*

Berling, Elliott

Bowers, Brianna

Brands, Bri*

Ceriotti, Gianna Kathleen

Cline, Marion

Downs, Lauren*

Ebberts, Kennedy*

Ellington, Byron López

Garza, Victor

Giddings, Lillian*

Hart, Kelsey*

Hussin, Emma*

Inouye, Lynne*

Jensen, Whitney*

Kaufer, Eli

Keller, Margo

Kilcoin, Ethan

Masterson, Olivia

Mayer, Autumn*

Metz, Jeffrey J.

Pellerin, Joseph Roger

Perez, Isobel Björk

Riske, Madeline*

Rivera Morales, Naomi Marie

Schultz, Kathryn*

Shultz, Mary Katherine

Smith, Hannah

Wagner, Archie

Witt, Jillian*

Ziolkowski, Luke

Zywicki, Felix

* Graduating with a publishing track specialization

Alpha Tau Iota

Alpha Tau Iota is the University of Iowa Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor
Society. Sigma Tau Delta’s central purpose is to confer distinction for high achievement in English
language, literature, and writing. Names in bold designate graduating seniors, those with an asterisk
designate officers.

Sigma Tau Delta Members, 2025-2026

Ben Ahlrichs

Riley Babel

Sam Bayer

Ingrid Berg

Olivia Bishop

Noah Bossler

Archer Bouslog

Josie Boyle

Bri Brands

Abby Buechel

Jinx Buehring

Samantha Burds

Kyleigh Call

Gianna Ceriotti

Henry D’Souza

Katherine DeBauche

Theo Downey

Riley Dunn

Andre Eisele

Ella Fangmann

Julia Fout

Lily Giddings

Elizabeth Godsoe

Erin Gray

Kelly Gurdak

Charlotte Hagen

Reagan Hendricks

Camden Hershberger

Emma Hussin

Lynne Inouye

Charlotte Ip

Clara Jarecke

Sarah Kapustka

Rhianna Koppes

Aishani Kundu

Rachel Manning

Calvin Mansel

Grace Martin

Karlee Mathena

Autumn Mayer

McKinley McManus

Nikita McNamee

Ollie Naber

Jon O’Keefe

Waverly O’Malley

Samantha Patterson

Kayla Person

Haili Potter

Gabriella Risk

Madeline Riske

Maya Salentine

Lauren Sanyal

Jonah Schwartz

Olivia Shick

Natalie Stitt

Rachel Swack

Emma Triareau

Ty VanBenthuysen

Jordan Vander Werf

Solenn Vincent

Elizabeth Von Loh

Adelynn Wijaya

Isabelle Wilson

Kenna Wolbers

Amelia Yoder

Kalleigh Young

Felix Zywicki

Bold lettering indicates a graduating senior.

ATI Officers, 2025-2026

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the ATI officers to the department’s vibrant undergraduate culture.

President — Henry D’Souza

Vice President, Publicity Officer — Natalie Stitt

Vice President, Membership Officer (Fall 2025) — Camden Hershberger

Secretary — Riley Dunn

Treasurer, Membership Officer — Rachel Manning

Alumni Liaison, Historian  — Adelynn Wijaya

ATI Report from Marie Kruger, Faculty Sponsor

In my third year of writing the report, I am continuing to sing the well-deserved praises of Alpha Tau Iota (ATI), the University of Iowa’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honors Society. It’s been yet another successful year for promoting the mission of the English Honors Society to foster an inclusive community with a love for creative expression and a commitment to community service. Under the leadership of President Henry D’Souza, a team of dedicated ATI officers (Camden Hershberger as Vice President; Rachel Manning as Treasurer and Membership Officer; Riley Dunn as Secretary; Natalie Stitt as Publicity Officer; and Adelynn Wijaya as Historian and Alumni Liaison) recruited a solid group of 22 new members into their popular community.

Spring 2026 ATI Inductees with ATI officers [first row, from left: Rachel Manning; Adelynn Wijaya; Henry D’Souza; Natalie Stitt; Riley Dunn]

Through a series of biweekly events, ATI provides English students with a hospitable and inclusive space to engage in conversations about their creative and critical writing, to share their favorite (and least favorite) books, and to transform the Gerber Lounge into a craft making venue. ATI also continues its mission to serve the Iowa City community: ATI members supported the UI Food Bank through a donation drive (February to March 2026) that yielded a rich harvest benefitting the UI community. In turn, ATI has profited from local community support when two local businesses, Teamo Tea and Z’Mariks, partnered with ATI to raise funds for the honors organization. We appreciate their support and are thankful for English students, staff, and faculty who found their way to both venues on November 6 (Teamo Tea) and April 9 (Z’Mariks). While fundraising is always a collaborative effort, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of ATI’s treasurer, Rachel Manning, who managed the budget with meticulous attention to detail.

Continuing last year’s success, ATI organized an event in September 2025 that featured Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones, selected by the international English Honors Society as this year’s “Common Reader.” The event was recognized by Sigma Tau Delta with a Regents’ Common Reader Award, the third (!) consecutive year in which ATI secured such a prestigious acknowledgment from its parent organization. Individual ATI members also received national recognition when Solenn Vincent won the “Community Service Internship Stipend” from Sigma Tau Delta ($ 1,500) for her work with the Chandler Chamber of Commerce where she assisted with event management and curated social media content.

Courtesy of funds provided by Professor Emerita Miriam Gilbert, the Department was able to send seven Iowa students to the annual Sigma Tau Delta convention in New Orleans. Please congratulate Henry D’Souza, Riley Dunn, Samantha Burds, Felix Zywicki, Ben Ahlrichs, Lily Giddings, and Madeline Riske on their poised and eloquent presentations at the convention. Their stellar performance at the convention is matched by the success of ATI members who were admitted to the Department’s U2G program. In fact, all of the admitted students for fall 2026 are current members of ATI: Jonah Schwartz, McKinley McManus, Jordan Vander Werf, Josie Boyle, and Emma Triaureau.  What persuasive testimony to the achievements of English students, on and beyond the UI campus!

ATI convention attendees: Lily, Ben, Madeline, Henry, Samantha, Felix, and Riley

Finally, let me congratulate all graduating seniors and thank officers Henry D’Souza (President), Camden Hershberger (Vice President), Riley Dunn (Secretary); Rachel Manning (Treasurer; Membership Officer), Natalie Stitt (Publicity Officer), and Adelynn Wijaya (Historian and Alumni Liaison) for their excellent work leading our Iowa Chapter throughout the year. Seniors, we wish you well on your future journey beyond the University of Iowa. Please stay in touch in your new role as ATI and departmental alumni!

Marie Kruger

Alpha Tau Iota’s Faculty Sponsor

Other Undergraduate Matters

Michael Haynes and Josie Boyle presented at the Midwest Undergraduate Conference for the Humanities in March.

Josie Boyle also reported for DI TV on the Jason Torres event, "The Nonlinear Writing: How English Majors Build Careers Across Media, Sports and Live Culture", organized by Dr. Tara Bynum.

Graduating senior Ben Ahlrichs, senior student ambassador, will attend the University of Virginia next year to work on a 3-year MFA in poetry with Rita Dove as his main advisor.  He received their highest level of funding. He was mentored primarily by Dr Donika Kelly.

Peter Bennett Nitsche published Weird Atlas: A Magical Field Biologist’s Guide as a part of his Latham Fellowship from the Iowa Sciences Academy.

Faculty and Instructor Matters

Tisa Bryant, Matt Brown, and Will Rhodes's promotions were approved by the Provost.

Donika Kelly's third poetry collection, The Natural Order of Things, is finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry. This semester, she has given readings at Northwestern University, Hamilton College, the University of Central Arkansas, Carlow College, the University of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers New Brunswick. She has an upcoming reading at the Poetry Foundation.

Cherrie Kwok published “Global Neo-Decadence, Postcolonialism, and the Hyper-Digital Hysterical Sublime of Late Capitalism,” for a special issue about decadent literature in Humanities. Additionally, she has accepted a position as Chair of the Aestheticism and Decadence Caucus at the North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) and accepted a courtesy appointment as a Researcher Affiliate at the Center for Social Science Innovation.

She has also received Summer Funding for Humanities Research from the Office of the Vice Provost to present four conference papers from her book project at the British Association for Decadence Studies (BADS) Symposium in London; the Society for Global Nineteenth Century Studies (SGNCS) International Symposium in Paris; the Association of Canadian University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) conference in Montréal; and the Revolution, Revelation, and Reconciliation / Revolución, Revelación, Reconciliatión Conference hosted jointly by the International Nineteenth Century Studies Association (INCSA), Nineteenth Century Studies Association (NCSA), Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies (INCS), and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. The funding will also support her role as Iowa's Faculty Liaison to UC Santa Cruz’s Dickens Universe this summer, where she will co-lead a professionalization workshop about the academic job market and guide students with reading this year’s chosen Dickens novel, Bleak House, alongside the histories of nineteenth-century British imperialism. 

With her undergraduate students, she has also established Brontë Social—a digital teaching project that draws on the novels of the Brontë sisters and scholarship about nineteenth-century class, race, gender, and imperialism to imagine what kind of social media profiles their characters might create if they were alive today. The project began with Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Next Fall, students will focus on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. 

Matthew Helm has accepted a promotion-track faculty position as an Assistant Professor of American Culture and Literature at Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye beginning Fall Semester 2026.

Florence Boos contributed three introductions -- Introduction to Italian translation, Il Gufo Bruno: Una Fiaba (The Brown Owl), Ford Madox Ford, trans. Eleonora Sasso. Milan: Biblion Press, 2025 : the Italian literary foundation, Premio Lingua Opitale per la traduzione letteraria dalle lingue dell’Unione Europea, awarded this a 2026 prize; Introduction, “Down Poverty Street,” novel by working-class author Ethel Carnie. Kennedy and Boyd, 2026; Introduction, William Morris: Claiming a Decent Life, ed. John Blewitt, University of Exeter Press, 2025 -- as well as publishing “Morris as Elder Statesman: Advocacy, Prophecy, Warning,” in Journal of William Morris Studies, 26.1.

Anne Stapleton's "Periodicals Published Under the Banner of Waverley" appeared in the Victorian Periodicals Review 58.3 (Fall 2025), 269-298. 

Alumni Matters

A new collection of poems by Dan Campion (PhD '89), Star Anchors, will be published this month by Ice Cube Press.

Kazuko Shimizu (PhD '98), has published a critical study of Mary Wollstonecraft's The Origin and Progress of the French Revolution with Kyoto University Press.

R.N. Swann (BA '23)'s debut novel, In Case I Go Missing, will be published by MacMillan in May.