WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Dec. 10, 2019 — Ampersand, the journal created entirely by student volunteers and English department professors, has a long history on campus.

Previously run as a publication of the Omicron Nu chapter of the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta, the journal is now a publication of the College of Liberal Arts. After a short absence on one academic year, the journal made a successful return in the spring of 2019 and is now accepting submissions for its Spring 2020 issue.

All students from any major are invited to participate in the editorial board. The board dictates what submissions are accepted, how the journal is advertised, and what the end product looks like in terms of visuals and organization.

“Ampersand gives students the opportunity to submit their creative work, like poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography, and have their peers read it as part of a collection of students’ submitted pieces.

“Both current students and alumni are encouraged to submit to the publication,” explained Nicole Naegele, English instructor who acts as a faculty advisor to the journal staff.

Naegele added, “Now that the word is out, we are hoping to have even more students who are interested in sharing their work with us. The call for new submissions is planned to give students the span of winter break to work on pieces they think they might want to submit next semester,” Naegele added.

The 2020 publication of Ampersand will begin accepting submissions at the beginning of the year, Jan. 1, and the deadline is Feb. 23. Submissions should be in a text format like Word or Rich Text. Pieces of fiction and creative nonfiction should be 3,000 words or fewer, double-spaced, and in an easily readable font like Perpetua, Calibri and Times New Roman.

Students can submit up to four pieces of poetry or art and a cover page with name and email address also are required.

“The 2019 publication saw over 20 different entries from a variety of students submitted, culminating in a 77-page journal chock-full of prose, art and photography from students,” Naegele said.

Naegele is assisted in her advising duties by other members of the faculty, Dr. Scott Hanna and Dr. Jen Fawkes.

To read the publication from the 2019 issue, please click here: westliberty.edu/liberal-arts/publications/ampersand