The Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) has returned to Concordia as its home base and headquarters for the next two years.
This will be the third time in as many decades that faculty in the Department of English will take on a leadership role in the field and help steer the general mission and vision of literary studies across the country. Concordia's Jason Camlot will serve as ACCUTE president and Cynthia Quarrie as its vice-president. A team of three graduate students in English will also be taking on important roles within the ACCUTE executive team.
"These are interesting, challenging and transformational times for humanities disciplines, and for departments of literature," Camlot explains.
"Many English departments are deep into the work of decolonizing their curricula and critical approaches. With the challenge of many longstanding historical and formal categories and canons that have informed and structured the study of English, new possibilities arise for how to engage in the definition and study of literature."
ACCUTE team members, from left to right: Jason Camlot, Cynthia Quarrie, Gladwell Pamba and Josie Teed.
Ahead of the curve
Concordia's English department is committed to innovation in literary study and practice. It developed one of the first creative writing programs in Canada, expanded the undergraduate curriculum early on with courses on the graphic novel and videogames as literature, and developed research concentrations in literature and media, expanded poetics and literary sound studies.
The partnership between ACCUTE and Concordia is being revived just as the department submits a significant revision of its entire curriculum of course offerings, following years of internal discussion, consultation and planning.
"Our faculty's support of this partnership represents its commitment to our national scholarly communities by promoting human connections and bringing change when it is needed," explains Pascale Sicotte, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. "The association will benefit from the collaborative discussions and changes that have happened here on the ground."
On a mission for revitalization
Under the leadership and supervision of Camlot and Quarrie, three English graduate students Ghislaine Comeau (PhD), Josie Teed (MA) and Gladwell Pamba (MA) will help implement ACCUTE's mission to revitalize the association. Their tasks include:
- Expanding and developing new collaborations with other related national and international associations;
- Exploring diverse methods of scholarly practice and communication in literary studies through innovations in its annual conference programming, but also expanding and experimenting with its digital publications and social media platforms;
- Collaborating with the graduate student caucus to provide practical resources for graduate students to understand and apply the skills they are acquiring (within and beyond academia);
- Supporting the efforts of a newly formed creative writing caucus by integrating more research-creation events into ACCUTE programming;
- Building on ACCUTE's recently revised equity statement and actions by supporting proposals for equity-focused projects and panels;
- Collecting data and information about non-ACCUTE members at colleges and universities across Canada to learn how the association can expand its impact and reach.
ACCUTE was founded in 1957 and ratified as a non-profit in 2015. Its mission is to promote the work and interests of faculty and students who teach and pursue research about a diverse range of literatures written in English. ACCUTE offers this service to the English studies field in Canada by facilitating the exchange of research and new methods of teaching, as well as fostering discussion on emerging professional issues through conferences, webinars and regular communications from individual members to its broader membership.
