The English Studies Conference has been around since 1999, and this year the English department will be broadening its audience and topics for the entire campus to participate.

Melissa Ames, an associate professor and director of English, said in the early years of the conference, it was a final step in the process to graduation for English students receiving teacher certification.

“It soon became a smaller stand-alone conference held on Saturdays once we required that all of our gradating English Language Arts Teacher Certification Students presented at it prior to student teaching,” Ames said.

Ames said over the years, the conference has grown into not only an event that more English students can participate in, but students and faculty in other departments as well.

Undergraduate students, graduate students and now alumni have the chance to present at the conference.

Ames said this is the first year the conference will not be limited to English teaching students.

“We’re quite excited about the role it will play in our program under our new curriculum,” Ames said.

Ames said, the English department’s reasoning behind this year’s conference is to provide students with professional development opportunities that they can use to serve not only the campus, but the community as well.

“We feel that our students really benefit from presenting their work publicly and that this additional experience can help them stand apart when they embark on the job market, she said.”

Ames said this is also a chance for students from other departments to connect their work to English studies.

“It also helps our students connect the work that they doing in English studies,” she said.

Pamela Hoff, the keynote speaker from Illinois State University, will be speaking on educational equality in an event titled “We need to Diverse Books” that will connect all the different departments.

Hoff’s lecture will be at 3 p.m. Friday in the Lumpkin Hall Auditorium.

“As a result this conference is really one that could benefit anyone interested in education more broadly,” Ames said.

Other than a professional and educational experience, Ames said the attendees are in for a “treat.”

The kickoff of the two-day conference will include a free dessert reception and a book raffle. People in attendance will also be hearing presentations from more than 100 students.

There will also be 39 different panel discussions that audience members can attend; each panel discussion will focus a wide variety of topics, Ames said.

Overall, Ames said this a great opportunity for students to gain professional skills and learn about different career paths. There will also be sessions that will focus on internships, post graduation career and study opportunities. The conference begins on Thursday and will end on Friday.

The opening reception is “We Need Diverse Books!: An Educational Celebration,” at 6 p.m. Thursday in Room 4440 of Booth Library.

Other panel sessions will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday in the classrooms on the third floor of Coleman Hall. The schedule of sessions can be found on the English department’s website.

http://www.eiu.edu/english/conference.php

Marcus Curtis can be reached at 581-2812 or mlcurtis@eiu.edu.