ECHO-ENG: Launching the 1st student-run major periodical at WKU

April 16, WKU launched its first student-run major periodical. On the balcony at GEH B2, students and professors from the Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, witnessed this moment together.

The team of the periodical was founded by eight junior English major students in fall 2018. The name of the periodical, ECHO-ENG, which is pronounced the same as “echoing” and is inspired by the nymph Echo, symbolizes students’ learning and thinking as their echoes. The periodical logo features the silhouette of Mount Chuitai, which is located at the back of the campus. The silhouette is presented from the perspective inside the campus. It resembles the head of a reclining person with an echoing symbol on the mouth, representing the ideas of reflection and echoing.

ECHO-ENG’s first issue published 16 academic papers from the English majors, including five capstone papers from the graduates of the previous year and 11 works from current English students, covering fields such as linguistics, education, literature, and more. The topics were also interesting and diverse, mainly covering reading, speaking, and writing. Some of the works published in the periodical will be presented at the Student Research Day on the following day.

From the very first idea to drafting the proposal, and later to the call for papers, reviewing, revising, typesetting, and finally delivering the finished copies to the readers, the process of creating the journal from scratch was undoubtedly difficult and challenging, considering the ECHO-ENG team members were not exceptionally experienced in producing academic periodicals. Fortunately, this project received generous help from many professors from the English Department and support from the university staff in various departments.

At the launch, the periodical received praise from the dean and other professors. Dr. David Purnell, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at WKU, made a short speech, noting that it was remarkable for English major students to produce such a periodical, and it sets an excellent example for other majors as the first student periodical at WKU. Dr. Gina Roach, professor of the English Department and the chief editor of the first issue of ECHO-ENG, commented, “It may not be the best, but it is the first” Due to the time constraint, the team produced the first issue only a few months after the proposal was approved. Therefore, the first issue of ECHO-ENG might have some flaws. However, it still showcases the English students’ academic ability and provides a good foundation for the later development of the periodical. Dr. Jonathan Mercantini, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Kean University, who visited WKU for the Student Research Day, also attended the launch.

ECHO-ENG will continue to be issued in WKU as a biannual periodical. The team is preparing for the second issue and will develop a detailed plan in the next few weeks. Readers can expect to see the second issue in the fall semester.

At the end of this article, please allow us to list everyone that has promoted and helped the project of ECHO-ENG:

Professors: Dr. Gina Roach, Dr. Wendy Austin, Dr. Vasileios Baziakas, Professor Craig Blacklock, Dr. Henry Haduck, Professor Joel Hendrick, Dr. Jennifer Marquardt, Dr. Nikita Nankov, Professor Liticia Salter.

The ECHO-ENG team and students: Siqi Mao, Leyuan Yu, Xiaoyun Pan, Zhaowen Chen, Cui Zhang, Yiwen Zha, Jing Huang, Hanxiao Wang.

And all the other students, professors, and staff who have supported the ECHO-ENG project.

Author: Siqi Mao, Yiwen Zha

Photograph: Cheng Jiang

Translation: Feng Tang

Editing: Xiang Bingling