An aspiring writer learns from her faculty mentor—a
published author
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Edward Schwarzschild and
LeeFrances Rappaport |
Research is a vital part of the University at
Albany undergraduate experience. Research stimulates
critical thinking, encourages experimentation and
promotes intellectual accomplishment. Abundant
opportunities exist for students to partner with
faculty researchers in a variety of disciplines—from
the arts to the social sciences to the nanoscale
sciences. Here is one such example:
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LeeFrances
Rappaport |
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LeeFrances Rappaport
Cranston, RI
University Scholars Program
English major
Professional goals:
author; focusing on creative short stories and
novels
Quote:
This research project pertained
directly to my interests and I was happy for the
opportunity to write a piece of historical fiction
in collaboration with a professor who is also a
published author.
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Edward
Schwarzschild |
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Edward Schwarzschild, faculty mentor
Department of
English
Assistant Professor Edward Schwarzschild's first
novel, Responsible Men,
was published in 2005 and it was named one of the
best books of the year by the
San Francisco Chronicle. His next book, a
collection of short stories entitled
No Rest for the Middleman,
will be published in 2007. A former Helen Deutsch
Fellow in Creative Writing at Boston University and
a recent Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford
University, he has published stories and essays in
the Virginia Quarterly Review,
Southwest Review,
StoryQuarterly,
Moment Magazine, and
The Yale Journal of Criticism.
He holds a joint appointment in the English
department and the
New York State Writers Institute.
LeeFrances' Research Project:
Using History to Write
Contemporary Fiction
My project focused on writing fiction that is at
once historical and contemporary. We studied how to
read and write narratives that incorporate
historical research. We were challenged to
investigate and analyze the ways in which specific
knowledge about the particulars of the past can help
to create a more "real" fictional world and we put
what we learned into practice as we wrote fiction
about 20th century Russia and Germany.
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