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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Ethics, Semiotics, Existentialism
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Stacey Ake, PhD, PhD
Co-Director, Certificate Program in Medical Humanities
Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, History, 1985
- MA, Philosophy, 1994
- PhD, Biology, 1994
- PhD, Philosophy, 1999
Research Interests:
Ethics, Semiotics, Existentialism
Bio:
My areas of research in philosophy are semiotics (Peirce, Percy), existentialism (Kierkegaard), existential ethics (Bonhoeffer), and theology (Chesterton, Derrida, MacDonald, Zizek). My interests in biology include population genetics, evolutionary theory, and the co-evolution of bacterial pathogenicity and human immune response. My interstitial interests include biosemiotics (Deacon, Emmeche, Hoffmeyer, Seboek, von Uexkull), the creation of a lived or existential philosophy of mind as found at the intersection of neuroscience and psychology (Damasio, Edelman, Ramachandran, Sacks), and the elucidation of a realetik vis-a-vis the biological and metabiological natures of human reality.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: On Writing by Stephen King; Les Misérables by Victor Hugo; The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins; That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis; The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser, and Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald as well as any poetry by John Donne
Favorite Musical Artists: Bruce Cockburn, Billy Joel, Ruben Blades, Bruce Springsteen, JS Bach, & Poul Krebs
Personal Interests and Hobbies: I am fortunate to be interested in practically everything (except maybe hedge funds).
A Favorite Quote: I have found from past experiences that the tighter your plan the more likely you are to run into obstacles. –MacGyver
Favorite TV Show: M*A*S*H (after Trapper leaves)
One thing that makes me smile is: the delight my dogs seem to have when they’re allowed to run off leash.
A Pet Peeve is: when students ask whether they “missed anything important” in the last class!!!
One hidden talent is: obviously one I intend to keep hidden!
One reason I like my job is: because I get to work with young people.
Specialization:
Ethics, Semiotics, Existentialism
Selected Publications:
- Ake, Stacey E. “I” is a Sign: The Emergence of Human Semiotic Individuality. 350 pages. Under contract to University Press of America.
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A Primer for the Non-Scientific: How to Distinguish Heuristic Models from Predictive Models. IN The 33rd, Volume 3, Drexel Publishing Group, Drexel College of Arts & Sciences, 2010.
- A Review of VV Raman’s Truth and Tension in Science and Religion. IN Theology and Science Journal, Volume 8, Number 2, Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, CA, 2010.
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Does God Exist, or Does He Come to Be? Philosophy and Theology, 21:1-2, Marquette University Journal, Philosophy Documentation Center, Charlottesville, VA. 2010.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Ethics, Marxism, Continental Philosophy
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
- Center for Science, Technology and Society
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Peter Amato, PhD
Director, Programs in Philosophy
Teaching Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Center for Science, Technology and Society
Education:
- BA, Anthropology, Fordham University, 1984
- MA, Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 1993
- PhD, Philosophy, Fordham University, 1998
Research Interests:
Ethics, Marxism, Continental Philosophy
Bio:
I am interested in the ethical and philosophical dimensions of Karl Marx’s critique of capitalist society, in particular as illuminated by Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics.
Specialization:
Ethics, Marxism, Continental Philosophy
Selected Publications:
- “Radical Protest and Dialectical Ethics”, in Peace Philosophy and Public Life: Commitments, Crises, and Concepts for Engaged Thinking, eds. Greg Moses and Gail Presbey, (Rodopi, 2014), 145‐162
- “Decentering and Refocusing Marx”, Review of Marx at the Margins: on Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies by Kevin B. Anderson, University of Chicago Press, 2010, Radical Philosophy Review, 14.2 (2011) 217‐221
- “On the Irrelevance of the Beautiful”, Review of Gadamer and the Legacy of German Idealism by Kristin Gjesdal, Cambridge, 2009, Research in Phenomenology, 41.2 (2011) 287‐294
- “Marxist Critique and Philosophical Hermeneutics: Outlines of a Hermeneutical‐Historical Materialism”, in Radical Philosophy Today, Volume 4: Philosophy Against Empire, eds. Tony Smith and Harry van der Linden, (Philosophy Documentation Center, 2006), 235‐242
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Jan Armon, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, University of Pennsylvania, 1971
- JD, Boston College, 1974
- MA, English Language & Literature, University of Michigan, 1981
- PhD, English Language & Literature, University of Michigan, 1988
- Member emeritus of State Bar of Michigan
Bio:
After graduating from Penn, where I majored in English and solidified my liberal values even while living a fraternity lifestyle, I entered law school. There I devoted much of my second and third years to a clinical program that provided legal services to the poor.
Yet I missed English, and so once I became a lawyer and moved to the midwest, I worked part time on a master's degree at the University of Michigan, writing a thesis on Milton's Paradise Lost.
Then came the decision. I had been specializing in appeals, which require a great deal of writing. Often while writing I kept thinking how I would teach what I had figured out. I decided to switch careers, become an English professor, and specialize in composition. I entered a doctoral program at Michigan, where I wrote a dissertation on the academic functions of personal writing.
I love teaching, and try to create assignments that engage the creativity in each of us. I want my students to write reflectively from experiences, their own and others'. In classes on writing about literature, I encourage my students to use writing to misread, so that they might tease out new interpretations.
Many books have moved me. About a dozen rise to the top, including a new historical novel that came out in 2013: Unexploded, by Alison MacLeod.
Selected Publications:
- "Dear Amy," a memoir. The 33rd. Ed. Scott Stein. Philadelphia: Drexel Publishing Group, 2009. (Reprint of "Dear Amy," Boston College Law School eBrief spring 2005, http://bit.ly/hd4084.)
- "A Method for Writing Factual Complaints." Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University Law Review 109-174 (1998). Through two case problems, this treatise presents an original method, based on a rhetoric of discovery, for researching and writing the most basic document of civil litigation, the complaint. (Republished as How to Write a Factual Complaint. New York Practice Skills Course Handbook Series No. F-46. New York:Practising Law Institute, 1999.)
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Rhetoric and Composition
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Valarie Arms, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BS, Mathematics, Allegheny College
- PhD, English, Temple University, 1979
Bio:
I have used my background in mathematics and English to pioneer several innovative programs in the English and Philosophy Department at Drexel University. With support at various times from F.I.P.S.E. NSF and others, I have championed interdisciplinary approaches to Humanities in Engineering, computers in composition, and multi-modal projects in English Literature courses, such as the senior level Literature of the Holocausts.
Specialization:
Rhetoric and Composition
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
20th Century American Fiction, 18th Century British Poetry, Sports and Social Issues
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Richard Astro, PhD
Provost Emeritus
Distinguished Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, Oregon State University, 1964
- MA, English, University of Colorado, 1965
- PhD, American Literature, University of Washington, 1969
Research Interests:
- 20th Century American Fiction
- 18th Century British Poetry
- Sports and Social Issues
Bio:
Aside from three decades as a department chair, an arts and sciences dean and two stints as a university provost, I have written and/or edited books on John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, and Bernard Malamud as well more than 30 articles on these and other 20th century American writers as well as on higher education administration. I founded the National Consortium for Academics and Sports in 1984 and continue to serve as its Chief Academic Officer, and, since 2005, I have served as an educational consult to the New York Mets Baseball Organization.
Favorite authors or books: John Steinbeck (of course) – The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row; Dirk Hayhurst – Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League
Favorite musical artists: Bruce Springsteen and YoYo Ma
Interests and hobbies: travel, exercising, beachtime, reading and, of course, baseball
Favorite quote: Edward Young: “all men think all men mortal but themselves.”
Favorite TV Show: Bill Maher’s Real Time
One thing that makes me smile is: when my wife and daughter are happy
Pet Peeve: students who don’t turn assignments in on time and/or abuse the English language in their writing
Hidden talent: the ability to hit a curve ball
I like my job because: I have the pleasure of seeing young adults grow intellectually and culturally
Specialization:
20th Century American Fiction, 18th Century British Poetry, Sports and Social Issues
Selected Publications:
- John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist. Univ. of Minnesota, 1973.
- Edward F. Ricketts. Boise State University, 1976
- The Fiction of Bernard Malamud. Ed. With Jackson Benson. Oregon State University, 1976
- Introduction to The Log from The Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts. Penguin Books. 1995.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Freshman Writing, Engineering Ethics, Literature of Baseball
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Kenneth Bingham
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, Temple University
- MA, English, Temple University
Research Interests:
- Freshman Writing
- Engineering Ethics
- Literature of Baseball
Bio:
Ken Bingham has written 12 novels, about twenty plays or so, and produced at least one hundred others through his affiliations with Theatre Exile in Philly, Waterfront South in NJ, REVV Theatre in NYC, and EDGE Productions, East Coast. He has taught at Drexel since 1989.
Specialization:
Freshman Writing, Engineering Ethics, Literature of Baseball
Selected Publications:
- "The Jagged Edge of Silence," with John Francis, National Geographic, 2011.
- "The Greatest Phillies Teams of All Time." Camino Press, 2011
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Valerie Booth, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Humanistic Studies, McGill University, 1985
- MA, American Literature, George Washington University, 1989
- PhD, English Literature, Certificate in Comparative Literature, 1996
Bio:
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Colette, William Gibson, Terry Pratchett
Favorite Musical Artists: Steely Dan, Francis Cabrel, James Taylor, Bob Marley
Personal Interests and Hobbies: Reading, traveling, making soup, reading, walking my dog, reading
A Favorite Quote: Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. -Theodore Roosevelt
Favorite TV Show: Sherlock (BBC)
One thing that makes me smile is: a letter from a friend.
A Pet Peeve: using the verb “grow” when you mean to say “increase” or “expand”: “We will grow our business in new ways.” Arrrggh!
One hidden talent is: I pick up (and mimic) accents pretty well.
One reason I like my job is: I get to meet 80 new people every quarter.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Modern British Fiction; The Novel; Textual Studies
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Raymond Brebach, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, MacMurray College, 1968
- MA, English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1971
- PhD, English: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1976
Research Interests:
- Modern British Fiction
- The Novel
- Textual Studies
Bio:
I came to Drexel in 1978, after teaching for three years at Texas Tech University. In addition to my classroom work, I have served Drexel as Chair of the Faculty Senate, Head of the Department of English & Philosophy, and as an Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences. I was given the Harold J. Meyers Award for Outstanding Service to the University. My research interests include Joseph Conrad, the Modern novel and textual studies. In my spare time I am an enthusiastic amateur flutist.
Specialization:
Modern British Fiction; The Novel; Textual Studies
Selected Publications:
- “Conrad in Context: ‘Heart of Darkness’ and ‘The Man who would be King.’” Conradiana, Vol. 42, No 1-2, 2011.
- Assistant Editor. ’Twixt Land and Sea, by Joseph Conrad Eds. J. A. Berthoud, Laura L. Davis, S. W. Reid; Assistant Ed., Raymond T. Brebach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. [Series: The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad.]
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Ancient Philosophy, Aesthetics, Epistemology
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Jacques Catudal, PhD
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Philosophy, State University of New York
- PhD, Philosophy, Temple University
Research Interests:
Ancient Philosophy, Aesthetics, Epistemology
Bio:
Jacques Catudal, PhD, has taught at Drexel University since 1981 and was the recipient of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1992. Among the courses he currently teaches are Ancient Philosophy, Modern Philosophy and Aesthetics. Catudal maintains three extensive multi-media web sites for the exclusive use of his students. From 1991 to 2001, he also taught courses in aesthetics and the philosophy of music at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music.
Catudal served as the Philosophy Program’s first Director, from 1987 to 1991, from 1993 to 1997, and again from 2007 to 2010. He served briefly as Department Head (2003), before being appointed Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (2003-2005). Prior to serving as Vice Provost, he served as an executive officer of Drexel’s Faculty Senate (2000-2002). For his “consistent and outstanding service to Drexel University,” he was presented with the Provost’s Award in June 2005.
Catudal is the co-editor (with Joseph Margolis) of "The Quarrel Between Invariance and Flux: A Guide for Philosophers and Other Players" (Penn State Press, 2001). His articles have appeared in several journals and anthologies, the former including Ethics and Information Technology, Journal of Human Computer Interaction and Educational Philosophy and Theory. His research interests in the last five years have focused on the cultural, social and military aspects of philosophizing in presocratic and classical Greece.
Specialization:
Ancient Philosophy, Aesthetics, Epistemology
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century English and American Literature; Film Studies
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Paula Marantz Cohen, PhD
Dean of the Pennoni Honors College
Distinguished Professor of English
Co-Editor of the Journal of Modern Literature
Host of The Civil Discourse
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English and French, Yale University, 1975
- PhD, English Literature, Columbia University, 1981
Research Interests:
- Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century English and American Literature
- Film Studies
Bio:
Dr. Paula Marantz Cohen, Distinguished Professor of English and Dean of the Pennoni Honors College, received her BA in English and French from Yale University and her PhD in English from Columbia University. She is the author of five non-fiction books on literature, film, art, and culture and five novels, including the bestselling Jane Austen in Boca, and the Young Adult novel, Beatrice Bunson’s Guide to Romeo and Juliet. She is the host of The Civil Discourse, an interview series on controversial topics appearing online and on PBS television affiliates. She directed the documentary film, Two Universities and the Future of China, and is co-editor of jml: Journal of Modern Literature. Her essays and op-eds have appeared frequently in the Wall Street Journal, the Times Literary Supplement, the Yale Review, The American Scholar, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her latest book, Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy, is forthcoming from Yale UP.
Specialization:
Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century English and American Literature; Film Studies
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
English as a Second Language
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Lisa DiMaio
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, West Chester University, 1995
- MEd, English Education/TESOL, Temple University, 1997
Research Interests:
- English as a Second Language
Bio:
I serve as a Teaching Professor in the Department of English. I teach ESL composition courses in the First-Year Writing Program.
Specialization:
English as a Second Language
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Dan Driscoll
Teaching Professor of English
Associate Director, University Writing Program: Curricular Initiatives
Co-Director, Minor in Writing
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Communications, Rowan College of New Jersey, 1995
- MA, Creative Writing, Temple University, 2004
Bio:
Dan Driscoll teaches in the First-Year Writing Program as well as in the English Program. He has taught creative writing and fiction at Temple University and in Rosemont College's MFA in Creative Writing Program. He is a senior editor of Painted Bride Quarterly.
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Anne Erickson, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- MA Ed, Educational Leadership, Argosy University, 2010
- MA and PhD, English, Purdue University, 2000
- BA, English Literature and Writing, Fairfield University, May 1989
Bio:
I am currently exploring various online educational applications and continue my work in the short story cycle. In the past year, I presented at the New Jersey Writing Alliance, at the International Conference on the Short Story, at and the American Conference on Irish Studies (ACIS) New England.
Selected Publications:
- Entries for EBSCO on several novels (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Walk Two Moons, The View from Saturday, and –forthcoming-- Like Water for Chocolate)
- “Drats! Foiled Again: A Contrast in Definitions.” Gilmore Girls and the Politics of Identity: Essays on Family and Feminism in the Television Series. Ed. Ritch Calvin. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. 63-79.
- “Gothic Figures Emerging from Famine.” Which Direction Ireland? Proceedings of the 2006 ACIS Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference. Ed. Donald McNamara. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2007. 79-86.
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Nomi Eve
Director of the Creative Writing MFA program
Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English Literature, Penn State
- MFA, Fiction Writing, Brown University
Bio:
Nomi Eve is the author of "Henna House" and "The Family Orchard", which was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award.
She has an MFA in fiction writing from Brown University and has worked as a freelance book reviewer for The Village Voice and New York Newsday.
Her stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, The Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions, and The International Quarterly.
She lives in Philadelphia with her family. You can learn more about her at her website.
Selected Publications:
Novels:
- The Family Orchard (Knopf)
- Henna House (Scribner)
Short Fiction:
- The Education of Benesh the Matchmaker (Conjunctions Magazine)
- The Deerskin Torah (Jewish Fiction.net)
Essays:
- The Wrong Uncle (Modern Love Column/New York Times)
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Freshman Writing; Technical and Creative Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Robert Finegan
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English with History Minor, University of Delaware, 1985
- MFA, Creative Writing, University of Pittsburgh, 1991
Research Interests:
- Freshman Writing
- Technical Writing
- Creative Writing
Bio:
Robert Finegan has published short stories in The Sun, The Antietam Review, The Greensboro Review, River Styx, and other magazines. He was the recipient of a Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Literature and has taught creative writing at Drexel, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pennsylvania Writers' Conference and Rosemont College.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Dostoyevsky, William James, Raymond Chandler, Flannery O’Connor, Ralph Ellison, Lorrie Moore, Robert Stone, Huston Smith
Personal Interests and Hobbies: Running, hiking in the mountains
Favorite Musical Artists: Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Indigo Girls, Bruce Cockburn
A Favorite Quote: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Favorite TV Shows: The Sopranos, The Wire, Justified, The Simpsons
One reason I like my job is: Working with students
Specialization:
Freshman Writing; Technical and Creative Writing
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Twentieth Century Drama; Modern and Contemporary American Poetry; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Valerie Fox, PhD
Teaching Professor of English
Founding Editor, Press 1
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, English, Binghamton University, 1990
- MA, English, Temple University, 1986
- BA, English and History, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, 1984
Research Interests:
- Twentieth Century Drama
- Modern and Contemporary American Poetry
- Freshman Writing
Bio:
Valerie Fox's books include The Glass Book (Texture Press) and The Rorschach Factory (Straw Gate Books). Bundles of Letters, Including A, V and Epsilon (Texture Press) is a compilation co-written with Arlene Ang. Her work has appeared in many magazines, including SOUND:POETREE::, Apiary, Hanging Loose, Ping Pong, Juked, Qarrtsiluni, Per Contra, 5_trope, The World, Sentence, Feminist Studies, The Cordite Poetry Review, Phoebe, Watershed, and West Branch.
Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, a craft-book co-authored with Lynn Levin, was a finalist for the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (academic/education category). She was a founding co-editor of 6ix magazine (1990-2000) and of Press 1 (2007-2013).
At Drexel, Fox teaches First-Year Writing, Creative Writing, and Readings in Poetry. She's particularly interested in experimental poetics, intersections between visual arts and poetry and online teaching/e-learning.
Specialization:
Twentieth Century Drama; Modern and Contemporary American Poetry; Freshman Writing
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Writing Studies; Medical Memoir; Environmental Literature and Rhetoric
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Edward Fristrom, PhD
Co-Director, Certificate Program in Medical Humanities
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, University of Puget Sound
- MA, Creative Writing emphasis in Fiction, University of California
- PhD, Writing, Teaching and Criticism with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition, State University of New York at Albany
Research Interests:
- Writing Studies
- Medical Memoir
- Environmental Literature and Rhetoric
Bio:
I work in the writing program and am co-director of the medical humanities certificate program. Recently my interests have turned to writing associated with the gas industry's impact on Northern Pennsylvania where my extended family owns a farm. I've been interested not only in the rhetoric associated with the debate over fracking but in the role of personal narrative, poetry, and fiction. Outside the academy, I spend much of my time with music and photography.
Specialization:
Writing Studies; Medical Memoir; Environmental Literature and Rhetoric
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Keunah Han
Assistant Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Nathan Hanna, PhD
Assistant Department Head
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, Philosophy, Syracuse University
- BS, Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida
Research Interests:
Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy
Bio:
Professor Hanna specializes in Ethics and the Philosophy of Law. His research focuses on the ethics of punishment and related issues like the nature of desert, harm, and moral responsibility.
Specialization:
Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy
Selected Publications:
- "Harm: Omission, Preemption, Freedom," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2016
- "Philosophical Success," Philosophical Studies, 2015
- "Moral Luck Defended," Noûs, 2014
- "Retributivism Revisited," Philosophical Studies, 2014
- "Two Claims About Desert," Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 2013
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Cassandra Hirsch
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, York University, 1987
- MFA, Creative Writing (Fiction), Rosemont College, 2008
Bio:
From 1991-2006, I contributed essays, features, and profiles to regional and local (Philadelphia) newspapers and magazines. My fiction has been published in Philadelphia Stories, my creative non-fiction in Parlor Journal. The latter piece, “Ghosts,” (memoir) was nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize. In 2009, my novel-in-progress, set in 1850’s coastal Massachusetts, was awarded the Novel of Promise Award from Ocean Creative Publishing. An excerpt of the novel and an interview can be found at www.oceancooperative.com. When not teaching, I am a fiction/memoir writing workshop facilitator, and a freelance editor.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Anita Shreve (just about anything she's written); Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility); Ann Patchett. Truth is, I just love books; looking at them, possessing them, their smell, their texture. They always seem thicker after I've read them, particularly soft-cover books!
Favorite Musical Artists: The Beatles, Sheryl Crow, The Eagles, Sara Bareiiles, Joni Mitchell, Squeeze, Wilco, and anything with a good percussion.
Personal Interests and Hobbies: A long, brisk walk (in decent weather, cold or warm); traveling just about anywhere; writing and reading(!); listening to other people's stories.
A Favorite Quote: "I'm very much aware that all of my preparations, despite my earnestness, are merely prologue." Journal of my brother, Colin Stuart Krivy, 1967-2004, at the start of the cross-Canada cycling tour that took his life.
Favorite TV Show: Sherlock (BBC modern adaptation), Torchwood (lots of moral ambiguity in both).
One thing that makes me smile is: the realization that I get to meet 60+ new young people every ten weeks who will share their experiences with me through writing and dialogue.
A Pet Peeve is: Pretense. Be who you are, not how you think other people should see you. You'll get there (see my quote).
One hidden talent is: that I can often see past the pretense and that helps me to appreciate the individual.
One reason I like my job is: its variety of faces and experiences. I guess I keep coming back to the notion of enjoying people of all ages.
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Henry Israeli
Associate Teaching Professor
Director, Drexel Writing Festival
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, McGill University, 1990
- MFA, Creative Writing (Poetry), University of Iowa, 1993
- MFA, Theater Arts (Playwriting), University of Iowa
Bio:
I have taught in Drexel’s First-Year Writing Program and the Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University since 2004. Aside from teaching, I am a poet, translator, and founder and editor of
Saturnalia Books, a publisher of contemporary poetry. I have also published several books of my own, and received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Canada Council on the Arts, and elsewhere.
Selected Publications:
- Our Age of Anxiety (Author). Winner of the annual White Pine Press Poetry Prize. Buffalo: White Pine Press, 2019.
- god's breath hovering across the waters (Author). New York: Four Way Books, 2016
- Haywire (Translator: poetry by Luljeta Lleshanaku). London: Bloodaxe, 2012
- Praying to the Black Cat (Author). Washington: Del Sol Press, 2010
- Child of Nature (Editor and Translator; poetry by Luljeta Lleshanaku). New York: New Directions, 2010
- New Messiahs (Author). New York: Four Way Books, 2002
- Fresco: Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku (Editor and Tranlator). New York: New Directions, 2002.
* More than 100 poems and translations have appeared in numerous journals including American Poetry Review, Tin House, Grand Street, Verse, The Iowa Review, The Literary Review, and elsewhere.
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Kirsten Kaschock, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English Language and Literature, Yale University
- MFA, Dance Choreography, University of Iowa
- MFA, Poetry, Syracuse University
- PhD, Creative Writing, University of Georgia
- PhD, Dance Studies, Temple University
Bio:
Kirsten Kaschock is a poet, a novelist, a critic, and an editor who works in several genres but whose work consistently addresses intersections between language and body. Her most recent book of poetry, The Dottery, won the Donald Hall Poetry Prize from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). She is currently the editor-in-chief of thINKing DANCE, an online journal produced by a consortium of dance writers in the Philadelphia Area.
Selected Publications:
- The Dottery. Poetry. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.
- WindowBoxing. Poetry. Blood Books, 2012.
- Sleight. Novel. Coffee House Press, 2011.
- A Beautiful Name for a Girl. Poetry. Ahsahta Press, 2011.
- Unfathoms. Poetry. Slope Editions, 2004.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
College writing, civic and engaged learning, multilingual and trans lingual practice, history and theory of rhetoric, public and community writing, 18th and 19th century U.S. rhetorical history
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Elizabeth Kimball, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- Temple University, PhD, 2010
- Rutgers University-Camden, MA, 2003
- Earlham College, BA, 1996
Research Interests:
- College writing
- Civic and engaged learning
- Multilingual and trans lingual practice
- History and theory of rhetoric
- Public and community writing
- 18th and 19th century U.S. rhetorical history
Bio:
Elizabeth (Liz) Kimball holds a PhD in English, with an emphasis in rhetoric and composition, from Temple University. She works in community and public writing, multilingual practice, rhetorical history, and engaged teaching and inclusive pedagogies. Her book manuscript, "Translingual Inheritance: Language Diversity in Early National Philadelphia", examines the dimensions of linguistic practice in the German, Quaker and African American communities at the time of U.S. national formation. She is an experienced writing program administrator and has developed a variety of successful community partnerships.
Specialization:
College writing, civic and engaged learning, multilingual and trans lingual practice, history and theory of rhetoric, public and community writing, 18th and 19th century U.S. rhetorical history
Selected Publications:
- "Cross-Language Community Engagement: Assessing the Strengths of Heritage Learners." Co-author with Elise DuBord. Invited contribution for special issue "Service Learning with Heritage Language Learners and Communities." Heritage Language Journal 13(3), December 2016.
- “Writing the Personal in an Outcomes-Based World.” Co-author with Emily Schnee and Liesl Schwabe. Composition Studies, 43.2, Fall 2015. 113-131.
- “Translingual Communities: Teaching and Learning Where You Don’t Know the Language.” Community Literacy Journal, 9.2, Spring 2015. 68-82.
- "Commonplace, Quakers, and the Founding of Haverford School." Rhetoric Review, 30.4, 2011. 372-388
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Continental Philosophy, Phenomenology, Ancient Greek Philosophy
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Adam Knowles, PhD
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, History, Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
- Magister Artium, South Asian History, Philosophy, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany, 2007
- MA, Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, 2009
- PhD, Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, 2014
Research Interests:
Continental Philosophy, Phenomenology, Ancient Greek Philosophy
Bio:
My research focuses on 20th-century German philosophy, phenomenology, intellectual history and Holocaust studies. My first book, Heidegger’s Fascist Affinities: A Politics of Silence, will be published with Stanford University Press in 2019. It examines the affinities between Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of language and political alliance with fascist and ethno-nationalist political movements.
My second book project turns to social and political philosophy. Categories of Complicity: Philosophy under National Socialism will examine how philosophers participated in and contributed to fascist movements in their professional activities in Nazi Germany. My research has been funded by fellowships from the Holocaust Educational Foundation, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, and German Historical Institute. I am a translator of German philosophy and am currently working on translating two books by Heidegger, including his Black Notebooks (1942-48). I also pursue research in the philosophy of language, including analyzing gendered concepts of speech and silence and am applying the tools of critical phenomenology to analyze the legal right to silence.
At Drexel I teach Holocaust and Philosophy, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Introduction to Western Philosophy, Ethics, Aesthetics, and Critical Reasoning. If you’re interested in Germany philosophy (or anything German), feel free to contact me.
Specialization:
Continental Philosophy, Phenomenology, Ancient Greek Philosophy
Selected Publications:
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals
- “Hospitality’s Downfall: Kant, Cosmopolitanism and Refugees,” Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 31:3 (2017), 347-357.
- “The Gender of Silence: Irigaray on the Measureless Measure,” Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 29:3 (2015), 302-313.
- “Heidegger’s Mask: Silence, Politics and the Banality of Evil in the Black Notebooks,” in Gatherings: The Annual Journal of the Heidegger Circle, 5 (2015), 93-117.
- “A Genealogy of Silence: Chōra and the Placelessness of Greek Women,” in philoSOPHIA: A Journal of Continental Feminism, 5:1 (2015), 1-24.
- “Towards a Critique of Walten: Heidegger, Derrida and Henological Difference,” in Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 27:3 (2013), 265-276.
Book Chapters
- “Martin Heidegger’s Nazi Conscience,” in Probing the Limits of Categorization: The Bystander in Holocaust History, ed. Christina Morina and Krijn Thijs (New York: Berghahn Books, 2018), 168-186.
- “The Aristotelian Origins of Heidegger’s Thinking of Silence,” in Sources of Desire: Essays on Aristotle’s Theoretical Works, ed. James Oldfield (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), 94-110.
- “Conjecturing Rudeness: James Mill’s Utilitarian Philosophy of History and the British Civilizing Mission,” in From Improvement to Development: Civilizing Missions in Colonial and Post-Colonial South Asia, ed. Michael Mann and Carey Watt (London: Anthem Press, 2011), 37-64.
Journals
- “Fascism’s Charms: Philosophy under National Socialism,” The Philosopher, special issue on fascism entitled “Us and Them.”
- “University Student Groups in Nazi Germany,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- Co-author Debjani Bhattacharyya, “Le sujet ideal du totalitarisme,” Revue des Femmes Philosophes, special issue on Intellectuels, philosophes, femmes en Inde: des espèces en danger. No. 4-5 (2017), 127-138.
- “The Moral Imperative to Assume the Worst,” Dec. 2016, Blog of the American Philosophical Association.
Translations
- Risky Proximity to Life by Wolfram Hogrebe, The Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, Vol. 31:2 (2010).
In Progress
- “Martin Heidegger’s Rectorate: The Philosopher as a Nazi Bureaucrat.”
- “Heidegger’s Supposed Critique of Biological Racism.”
- Categories of Complicity: Philosophy under National Socialism
- Translation from German of Martin Heidegger, Remarks I-V (Black Notebooks 1942-1948) (Indiana University Press, manuscript submission 2019).
- Translation from German of Martin Heidegger, On the Essence of Language and the Question of Art (Polity Press, manuscript submission 2020).
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
American Literature; Genre Studies; Creative Writing; Communications
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Miriam Kotzin, PhD
Founding Editor, Per Contra
Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, University of Pennsylvania, 1965
- PhD, English, New York University, 1969
Research Interests:
- American Literature
- Genre Studies
- Creative Writing
- Communications
Bio:
Miriam N. Kotzin is Professor of English at Drexel University where she teaches literature and creative writing. She is a contributing editor of Boulevard. Her most recent collection of poetry is The Body's Bride (David Robert Books, 2013), which joins Taking Stock (Star Cloud 2011), Weights & Measures (Star Cloud Press 2009), Reclaiming the Dead, and a collection of flash fiction, Just Desserts (Star Cloud Press 2010). Her debut novel, The Real Deal was published by BrickHouse Books in 2012. Her fiction and poetry have been published in or are forthcoming in Shenandoah, Boulevard, The Flea, Eclectica, Offcourse, Smokelong Quarterly, and The Tower Journal. She was Founding Director of the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing.
Please visit her website, www.miriamnkotzin.com, for more information.
Specialization:
American Literature; Genre Studies; Creative Writing; Communications
Selected Publications:
- A History of Drexel University: 1941-1963, Drexel University Press, 1983
- Reclaiming the Dead, New American Press, 2008
- Weights & Measures, Star Cloud Press, 2009
- Just Desserts, Star Cloud Press, 2010
- Taking Stock, Star Cloud Press, spring 2011
- The Real Deal, BrickHouse Books/Stonewall Press, 2012
- The Body's Bride, David Roberts Books, 2013
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Postcolonial and World Literatures, African Literature and Culture, Trauma Theory
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Roger Kurtz, PhD
Department Head, Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English/Spanish/Education, Eastern Mennonite University, 1985
- PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Iowa, 1994
Research Interests:
Postcolonial and World Literatures, African Literature and Culture, Trauma Theory
Bio:
Roger Kurtz, PhD, is an experienced scholar and teacher whose work has appeared in journals such as Research in African Literatures, the Journal of Contemporary African Studies, ARIEL, the Nairobi Journal of Literature, the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, and the Journal of African Cultural Studies. He is the recipient of multiple Fulbright and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awards. He has held faculty positions in the Department of English and Philosophy at Idaho State University, and in the Department of English at The College at Brockport (SUNY). At Brockport, he served as department chair for the Department of English, for the Department of African and African American Studies, and for the Department of Anthropology.
Specialization:
Postcolonial and World Literatures, African Literature and Culture, Trauma Theory
Selected Publications:
- Urban Obsessions, Urban Fears: The Postcolonial Kenyan Novel(1998)
- Nyarloka’s Gift: the Writing of Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (2005)
- Cambridge Critical Concepts: Trauma and Literature (2017)
- Trauma and Transformation in African Literature: Writing Wrongs (2018)
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Freshman Writing; Technical Writing; Speech; American Literature
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Stephen Mandell, PhD
Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, English and American Literature, Temple University, 1975
- MA, English Literature, Villanova University, 1969
- BA, English with a minor in science, Temple University, 1965
Bio:
As I near the end of my teaching career, my publication commitments seem to be growing. My co-author and I are currently in the process of revising four books, and when this work is finished, we will begin revising three others. Even so, I remain committed to expanding my students' horizons and helping them make the transition from an academic environment to a practical, job-related one.
Specialization:
Freshman Writing; Technical Writing; Speech; American Literature
Selected Publications:
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Practical Argument. New York: St. Martin's, 2011.
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Foundations First: Sentences to Paragraphs. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 2011.
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Writing First: Paragraphs to Essays. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 2009.
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Patterns for College Writing. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 11th ed. 2007.
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Focus on Writing. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.
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The Blair Reader. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 2008.
- LIT. Boston: Cengage, 2011.
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Literature: Reading, Reacting, and Writing. 7th edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.
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The Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, and Writing. 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.
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Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.
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The Wadsworth Handbook. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2008.
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The Brief Wadsworth Handbook. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.
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The Concise Wadsworth Handbook. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2008.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Deirdre McMahon, PhD
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, English Literature, The University of Iowa, 2004
Bio:
My research centers primarily on 19th-century British literature and culture, often with an eye toward empire, critical race studies and analyses of material culture. I have published and presented on the jingoism of late nineteenth-century “books for boys”; the narrative construction of maternity in an imperial context; the imaginative work of tea as Britain’s national drink; and the construction of 19th-century British identity through domesticity. My teaching interests extend much farther. I believe that writing well and with confidence is a hallmark of successful education, so I am pleased to contribute to Drexel’s First-Year Writing Program as well as to the Writing Center. I am currently developing a special topic in “Literature of Conscience” for ENGL 103: Analytical Writing and Reading. In addition, I teach British Literature II, focusing on what it means to be British in a post-industrial age, and Young Adult Fiction, a course that combines study of literature for tweens and teens with analysis of age-appropriate pedagogy.
Selected Publications:
- “‘Quick, Ethel, Your Rifle!’: Portable Britishness and Flexible Gender Roles in G.A. Henty's Books for Boys.” Studies in the Novel. (Winter 2010).
- Response to John Streamas, “Closure and ‘Colored People’s Time.’” Kronoscope: Journal for the Study of Time. (Summer 2010).
- “‘My own dear sons’: Discursive Maternity and Proper British Bodies in Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands.” Claudia Klaver and Ellen B. Rosenman, eds. Other Mothers: Maternity in the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2008: 181-201.
- “Gender, Contingent Labor and Writing Studies.” Academe: Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors. (Nov/Dec 2008).
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Ethics, Medical Ethics, Critical Reasoning
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Carol Mele, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Research Interests:
Ethics, Medical Ethics, Critical Reasoning
Bio:
Carol Mele’s research interests are in Political and Moral Philosophy, and she teaches a variety of courses in the Drexel Philosophy Program, including Ethics, Biomedical Ethics, Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Reasoning.
Specialization:
Ethics, Medical Ethics, Critical Reasoning
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Marianallet Mendez-Rivera, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication, University of Minnesota, 2006
- MS, Scientific and Technical Communication, University of Minnesota, 2000
- BA, Social Communication, Andres Bello Catholic University, 1994
Bio:
Given my training as a rhetorician, technical writer and intercultural communicator, my research interests somehow combine aspects of all of them. One area of interest is the use of the mass media to secure, maintain and enhance political power; more specifically, I am interested in Venezuelan Presidential discourse. Another interest includes exploring the use of technology to enhance the classroom experience.
And last but not least there is my interest in international technical communication—including issues of translation v. localization.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Harriet Levin Millan
Director, Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English Major, Russian Minor, State University of New York at Stony Brook and Temple University, 1977
- MFA, Creative Writing, University of Iowa Writers Workshop, 1983
Bio:
I am the author of two books of poetry, The Christmas Show (Beacon Press, 1997), which won a Barnard New Women Poets Prize, a Poetry Society of America Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, an Ellen LaForge Memorial Poetry Prize and was a Philadelphia Inquirer Notable Book of the Year. My second book, Girl in Cap and Gown, (Mammoth Books, 2010) was a 2009 National Poetry Series finalist. I am just finishing writing a novel that is based on conversations with Lost Boy of Sudan Michael Majok Kuch. I met Michael when One Book One Philadelphia and City Paper commissioned my writing class to conduct interviews with local Sudanese refugees in conjunction with One Book's selection, What Is The What, which is about the Lost Boys. These interviews can be found here.
Another project that grew out of the interviews is the Reunion Project, an annual fundraising event that seeks to reunite Lost Boys and Girls with their mothers living abroad. Drexel students have participated in read a thons and other events to raise over $15,000 for this project. My family and I accompanied Michael on his reunion trip to Australia, an event which I describe in my novel in progress.
Favorite Authors and/or Books:
Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Frank Conroy, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Conner, Anna Akhmatova
Favorite Musical Artists:
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin
Personal Interests and Hobbies:
Writing, Humanitarianism, Skiing, Biking, Traveling, Hiking, Attending Seminars at the Landmark Forum
A Favorite Quote:
"Can you describe this?" asked of Anna Akhmatova while she stood outside the Leningrad Prison during the Siege to visit her son. Her answer was, "Yes, I can". Thus her poem "Requiem."
Favorite TV Show: Borderland
One thing that makes me smile is : a bike path.
A Pet Peeve: no bike paths.
One reason I like my job is: having the opportunity to buy literary journals that I can't find anywhere else at Avril 50 on Samson Street.
Selected Publications:
- "Hang up" (Poem) The Iowa Review, forthcoming
- "Yalla!," (First two chapters of the novel-in-progress) Kenyon Review, Issue 11, Jan-February 2011
- "A Poetic Argument: Setting the Literary Agenda in South Sudan," Smart Set, Jan 14th, 2011
- "In a Jam," Poetry Daily, Featured Poet, Sept. 17th, 2010 Girl in Cap and Gown, Mammoth Books:Dubois, PA. April 2010
- "Swimming in a Glass," (Poem) The Harvard Review, Issue 37, Fall/Winter 2009-2010
- "Boy Soldier" and "King Swat," (Poems) Prairie Schooner, Volume 83, No 3, Fall 2009
- "You Walk in Late," Drunken Boat, 10th Anniversary Issue, Fall 2009
Recent Courses:
- Live Poets and Writers
- Your Immigration Story
- Creative Non Fiction (Immersion Writing)
- Writing in Museums
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Jill Moses
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Shakespeare; Renaissance Drama & Literature; Dramatic Literature; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Christopher Nielson, PhD
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English, University of New Hampshire, 1976
- MA, English, Arizona State University, 1980
- PhD, English, Purdue University, 1990
Bio:
Christopher Nielson, PhD has taught college English continuously since 1978, which included a visiting professorship at Greifswald University, Germany. He served as President of the Pennsylvania College English Association, directed a freshman composition program for four years, judged the annual Shakespeare contest for the English Speaking Union, and wrote the Shakespeare questions for the nation-wide Hi-Q academic quiz competition. He refereed submissions on Shakespeare for Pennsylvania English and has articles in Renaissance Quarterly, Explicator, Indiana English, Writing Centered, and Study Guides on Shakespeare for Hedgerow Theatre where he is the Shakespearean Dramaturge. In 1974, Nielson was a thru hiker on the Appalachian Trail.
Favorite Authors and/or Books:
- Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
- Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
- Dante, The Inferno
- Dickinson, "There’s a Certain Slant of Light"
- Frost, "Acquainted with the Night," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
- Joyce, "The Dead"
- Marlowe, Edward II
- Shakespeare, Hamlet, King Lear, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Whitman, Leaves of Grass
- Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," "Expostulation and Reply," "My Heart Leaps Up," "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802"
Favorite Musical Artists: Beethoven Moonlight Sonata and Ninth Symphony, Bizet “Habanera,” Mozart The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini “Nessun Dorma,” Verdi “La donna è mobile," as well as Beastie Boys, Beatles, R. L. Burnside, Byrds, Rosanne Cash, Cranberries, CCR, CSNY, Doors, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Mumford and Sons, Rolling Stones, Who, Amy Winehouse, Neil Young, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and Larry Coryell’s album Barefoot Boy—a wonderful tribute to the music of Jimi Hendrix
Personal Interests and Hobbies: Backpacking, jogging, travel—especially by train
A Favorite Quote: "And take upon’s the mystery of things, As if we were God’s spies." —King Lear
Favorite TV Show: Turner Classic Movies
One thing that makes me smile is: Children being silly
A Pet Peeve: People who were born old and remain that way
One hidden talent is: Dog Whisperer
One reason I like my job is: I get to do what I love . . . every day!
Specialization:
Shakespeare; Renaissance Drama & Literature; Dramatic Literature; Freshman Writing
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Karen Nulton, PhD
Director, Writing Assessment
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, American Literature, Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick
Bio:
Once upon a time I specialized in American Literature, but the last few decades have seen me focusing on Writing Assessment, Writing Pedagogy and Writing Across the Curriculum. I view writing as a tool to help students and faculty alike to explore, link, and share ideas, and want to help Drexel to harness this tool in lots of fundamental ways. I value collaboration, and strive to bring this philosophy to my work in the Writing Center.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Shoot—do you really expect an English professor to choose favorites? Anything well-written can appeal to me (and even some books that are poorly-written but interesting on some level).
Personal Interests and Hobbies: I ballroom dance at least once a week, and enjoy whirling around the floor. I also like hiking and walking my dog in the woods and experimenting with cooking/baking using gluten-free flours.
A Favorite Quote: "See it to be a lie and you have dealt it a mortal blow." Emerson, from "The American Scholar."
One thing that makes me smile is: seeing someone else smile. So smile!
A Pet Peeve: When I make lunch plans with someone and he/she cancels once I'm at work and it's too late to pack a lunch!
One hidden talent is: Tackling—I was the captain of a women's rugby team longer ago than I care to admit.
One reason I like my job is: that it is so much fun to be present when someone gets excited by learning, or an idea. That moment rocks.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Logic
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
- Center for Science, Technology and Society
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Flavia Padovani, PhD
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Center for Science, Technology and Society
Education:
- PhD, Philosophy, University of Geneva, Switzerland
- MA, Philosophy, University of Pavia, Italy
Research Interests:
Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Logic
Bio:
Flavia Padovani is an associate professor of Philosophy. She is also on the faculty of Drexel’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society. She earned her PhD in Philosophy at the University of Geneva in 2008. Before and after joining Drexel, she held postdoctoral positions and visiting fellowships in various international institutions.
Her research addresses issues in both history and philosophy of science (especially the interplay between science and philosophy in the early twentieth century) and general philosophy of science (objectivity in science, the nature of scientific principles, the structure of scientific theories and theory change, and problems surrounding the intertwined themes of measurement and coordination).
Specialization:
Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Logic
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Margene Petersen
Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- MA, Art Education, Rhode Island School of Design, 1998
- MA, Foreign Language Education with emphasis in Teaching English as a Second Language, Ohio State University, 1987
- BA, Studio Arts with a minor in History - East Asian Studies, Augsburg College, 1979
Bio:
I am currently a full-time assistant teaching professor in the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel University and teach in the First-year Writing Program (FWP). I specialize in English as a Second Language (ESL) and I have a particular interest in the learning styles and strategies of non-native speakers of English. In addition to teaching in the FWP, I have taught ESL at the English Language Center intensive language program at Drexel including presentation skills and academic English. I recently relocated from Oak Park, IL where I was a college advisor for six years to native and non-native students.
In addition to teaching, I enjoy making pottery and stained glass. I am also actively involved in professional development for ESL educators and have been selected as one of the Team Leaders for the 2012 TESOL Convention to be held in Philadelphia.
Favorite authors and/or books: Books-Banned books; Authors-Rita Mae Brown, J.K. Rowling, Harper Lee
Favorite Musical Artists? Adele, Lady Gaga, Indigo Girls
Personal Interests and Hobbies: I love to bake, garden, go to art museums and create stained glass and ceramics and read a good mystery book.
Favorite TV Show: Star Trek and CSI
One thing that makes me smile is: My ten-year old daughter playing violin.
A Pet Peeve is: People who throw litter on the ground.
One hidden talent is: Fixing things.
One reason I like my job is: I enjoy learning along with my students.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Kierkegaard
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Marilyn Piety, PhD
Professor of Philosophy
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Philosophy, Earlham College, 1984
- MA, Philosophy, Bryn Mawr College, 1987
- PhD, Philosophy, McGill University, 1995
Research Interests:
History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Kierkegaard
Bio:
Marilyn Piety lives in Philadelphia where she is an associate professor of philosophy at Drexel University. She has published numerous scholarly articles in professional journals and books as well as popular articles and essays online and in the
Times Literary Supplement. Her translations of Søren Kierkegaard's
Repetition and
Philosophical Crumbs for Oxford University Press appeared in 2009 and her book
Ways of Knowing: Kierkegaard's Pluralist Epistemology was published by Baylor in 2010. She is currently working on a book, entitled
Fear and Dissembling: The Copenhagen Kierkegaard Controversy, for Gegesatz Press. She is the author of the popular blog
Piety on Kierkegaard. You can also visit her on the web at
mgpiety.org.
Specialization:
History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Kierkegaard
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Creative writing; freshman writing; memoir
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Maegan Poland, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, English with a Creative Dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018
- MFA, Creative Writing (Emphasis: Fiction), University of Mississippi, 2013
- BFA, Writing for Screen & Television, University of Southern California, 2004
Research Interests:
- Creative Writing
- Freshman Writing
- Memoir
Bio:
Maegan Poland, PhD, teaches creative writing through Drexel Storylab and composition in the First-Year Writing Program. She holds a PhD in English, with an emphasis in creative writing, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she was a Black Mountain Institute PhD Fellow. She also holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Mississippi, as well as a BFA in Writing for Screen and Television from the University of Southern California, where she was a Trustee Scholar.
Her fiction has appeared in numerous journals, including Mississippi Review, Pleiades and Beloit Fiction Journal. Her writing has been awarded a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology, a Tin House scholarship and a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation. She has served as Fiction Editor for Witness magazine, and as Managing Editor for Yalobusha Review.
Specialization:
Creative writing; freshman writing; memoir
Selected Publications:
- “Milking.” Mississippi Review (print). Volume 47. Number 1 & 2. Summer 2019.
- “Like the Love of Some Dead Girl.” Notre Dame Review (print). Issue 47. Winter/Spring 2019.
- “Overnights Welcome.” Beloit Fiction Journal (print). Volume 32. Spring 2019.
- “Steering.” Juked (print). March 2018.
- “A Literary Long Weekend in Las Vegas: Petroglyphs, Rock Sculptures, and a Wild West Saloon.” Literary Hub. August 2017.
- “Landline.” Day One. August 2017.
- “Spores.” Pleiades (print). Volume 35, Number 2. Summer 2014.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Comparative Literature; Postcolonial Literatures
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Abioseh Porter, PhD
Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English & French/Post Graduate Diploma in Education, Fourah Bay College
- PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Alberta, 1984
Bio:
I was born and raised in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I am a Professor of English at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. I also was Department Head of the Department of English & Philosophy at Drexel from May 2002-December 2015. I served as the founding editor of the Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA) from 2007-2017 and was also editor of JALA’s predecessor, the ALA Bulletin from 1998-2007. After earning a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta, Canada, I received a "Society for the Humanities" postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University and was also a senior postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Prior to coming to Drexel, I taught at the University of Alberta and at Grambling State University, Louisiana. I have published mainly on African authors while my teaching interests span several areas in both the western and non-western literary traditions. I recently was awarded a 2019-2020 Fulbright research fellowship in France (Université Paul-Valéry III) and also received the 2019 “Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service” at Drexel. These awards follow others such as the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1991,”the most dedicated professor" for the year 2002 by the Drexel Undergraduate Student body, and the Faculty Member of the Year for 2002-2003 by The Drexel Minority Achievement Program. The African Literature Association also honored me not only by naming me the Association’s “Distinguished Member of the Year” in 2017 but also inaugurated the “Abioseh Porter Award for Best Essay Published in The Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA).
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Achebe, Adichie, Armah, Beyala, Bhely-Quénum, Emily Bronte, Cheney-Coker, Dickens, Emecheta, George Eliot, Ellison, Flaubert, Aminatta Forna, Hardy, Mallarmé, Marquez, McEwan, Morrison, Alexander Pope, Proust, Rimbaud, Rushdie, Shakespeare, Soyinka, Mark Twain, Yvonne Vera, The Bible, The Gita, among others.
Personal Interests and Hobbies: Reading (365 days a year); photography; travel; technological gadgetry; music, especially old school reggae; African; classical; Jazz.
Favorite TV Shows: Link TV; House Hunters International; Some public TV, especially Brit coms.
One thing that makes me smile is: Being with "la merveille."
Two Pet Peeves: Smoking around me (it's a real health issue for me folks); witnessing mean behavior.
One reason I like my job is: After all these years, I know the vast majority of my students and colleagues respect me for what I do.
Recent Invited/Refereed Lectures/Presentations
- May 24-25, 2019 “Movement, Pain, and Suffering in Contemporary West African Fiction,” Body in Motion, Travelling Bodies Conference, Université Paris 8, France.
- March 23, 2019 “Migrating from Europe to America, You are an “Expat;” Migrating from Africa, you are an “Immigrant” or Worse: Migration in Contemporary West African Fiction,” Migrating World: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Integration Conference, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
- March 17-19, 2018 “If there is no evil within, the evil on the outside cannot do you harm’ [African Proverb]: Questions of Alterity and Notions of Evil in Contemporary West African Fiction,” paper presented at “Faces of Evil Conference,” Lisbon, Portugal.
- June 14-17, “On Aminatta Forna,” African Literature Association Conference, Yale University, New Haven CT.
- November 8-10, 2016. “Sierra Leonean Authors and the Re-writing of National Literary History.” Presented at “The Verbal Text & National Literary Historiography: An Interdisciplinary Conference,” Queen Mary College, University of London, UK.
- July 19-25, 2016. “Recognizing, Knowing, and Understanding Diversity at Home and Abroad in Recent African Fiction,” Congress of International Comparative Literature Association, Vienna Austria.
- November, 26-28, 2015. "'Expats,' 'Immigrants,' 'Illegals,' 'Nationals,' and Alterity in Recent West African Fiction: Narrating West Africa, Europe, and the US in our Contemporary World," to be presented at 40e Congrès de la société française de littérature générale et comparée, Université Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens), France.
- June 3-6, 2015. Chair of Panel on "Narrations of/and Aesthetics" and Presenter of Paper on "Narrating West Africa, Europe, and the US in Modern Ways: Examples of New West African Fiction in the 21st Century," ALA Annual Conference, University of Bayreuth, Germany.
- September 9-11, 2014. "Something Truly Interesting Coming From Sierra Leone: Fiction During the Past Decade," African Studies Association, United Kingdom (ASAUK), Conference, University of Sussex, UK.
- July 28-31, 2014. "Turning Alterity Upside Down: Some Examples from New West African Fiction, Plenary Address at "Representing Alterity in society in crisis: The Construction and Representation of the Other in Society and in Texts" Conference, University of Genoa, Italy.
Recent Academic Awards and Distinctions
- Awarded a 2019-2020 Fulbright research fellowship in France (Université Paul-Valéry III)
- Received the 2019 “Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service” at Drexel.
- April 2017, Inauguration of the “Abioseh Porter Award for Best Essay Published in The Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA),” at the Annual Meeting of the African Literature Association, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
- Part of the citation for the award reads as follows:
"Over many decades, Abioseh Porter has been a permanent fixture at ALA conferences, and since 1998, he has attended all ALA EC meetings and all ALA EC retreats that have been held at ALA Headquarters wherever that may be. The ALA values his service as the longest- serving EC member in the history of the ALA and the fact that he "single-handedly" did the groundwork and edited the ALA Bulletin, and later JALA: Journal of the African Literature Association, now a Routledge/Taylor Francis journal…The EC decided at the November 2016 retreat in Geneva, NY, to rename the “Best Essay Award” as the “Abioseh Porter Best Essay Award.”
- April 2017, Awarded the "Distinguished Member of the Year,” African Literature Association, at the Annual Meeting of the Association, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Specialization:
Comparative Literature; Postcolonial Literatures
Selected Publications:
- Knowledge is more than mere words. Wey Dehn Sey? Dehn Sey Kapu Sehns Nor Kapu Word: A Critical Introduction to Sierra Leonean Literature (edited with Eustace Palmer)Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008.
- "Non-Conventional Literary Media: New Poetic Voices on the Internet," in Knowledge is more than mere words.Wey Dehn Sey? Dehn Sey Kapu Sehns Nor Kapu Word: A Critical Introduction to Sierra Leonean Literature (with Eustace Palmer) (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008), 315-338
- "Fictional Worlds, Symbolism and Struggles of (Under-)Development: Kolawole Omotoso's 'The Combat,'" West African Worlds Paths Through Socio-Economic Change, Livelihoods and Development Harlow, UK: Pearson,/Prentice Hall, 2005, 87-108.
- "Revitalizing an Existing Cultural Phenomenon: Treatment of the Abiku in La Naissance d'abikou and Les Appels du voudou by Olympe Bhêly Quénum" in www.obhelyquenum.com, and published in Melanges offerts à Olympe Bhêly-Quénum (Paris: Gallimard, 2002).
- "Un anglophone et la francophonie" in Autrement memes: Homages à Roger Little Cass, London, 2002.
- "The 'New' New Jerusalem in Contemporary West African Fiction," Jouvert: A Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 2000 (http://Social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v4i2/porter.htm), 21 pp (North Carolina State University) (republished in Emerging Perspectives on Syl Cheney Coker , Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2014).
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Science Fiction; Renaissance Literature; Creative Writing; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Donald Riggs, PhD
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Interdepartmental Major in Myth, Dickinson College, 1974
- MA, Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1977
- PhD, Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1982
- MA, English-Creative Writing, Temple University, 1997
Bio:
I am currently writing a series of entries for an Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters; my entries are on Tolkien’s Monsters, Fauns and Satyrs, the Sphinx, and Gargantua and Pantagruel. I have recently written an entry on Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly and Richard Linklater’s film version of that novel by the same title. Much of my scholarly work deals with the Fantastic in the arts, both science fiction and fantasy, in literature and in film. I have recently published poems online in Orizon Literar (Bucharest) and write a regular column on poetry for the online journal Press 1.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings; George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire; Lawrence Block, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes; C.S. Forrester, Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, Flying Colours; Phillis Levin, ed., The Penguin Book of the Sonnet
Favorite Musical Artists: James Taylor, George Harrison, Bert Jansch, Vladimir Horowitz, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Keith Jarrett, Joni Mitchell, Shadowfax
Personal Interests and Hobbies: walking, reading, writing, listening to music, drawing, looking at art, watching movies, letting time pass
A Favorite Quote: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and then it follows as the night the day thou canst not be false to any man.”
Favorite TV Show: “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle”
One thing that makes me smile is: somebody else smiling at me.
A Pet Peeve: When they neglect to give the day’s weather report during a pledge drive at WHYY.
One hidden talent is: playing the bones.
One reason I like my job is: it gives me a home base between movies.
Specialization:
Science Fiction; Renaissance Literature; Creative Writing; Freshman Writing
Selected Publications:
- Review of Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review VI. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 21.3 (2010). 472-475.
- “Making Things out of Words” (Regular column in Press 1 from 4.1 [May -August 2010 to 2013])
- “Bracket Out the World” and “Two of Swords” (poems). Press 1 3.3 (January-April 2013)
- “Memento Vitae” (six poems). Orizont Literar 2.9 (November-December 2009) ed. Daniel Dragomirescu. Bucharest, Romania. 48-50.
- “Mitchison, Naomi Haldane.” encyclopedia entry in Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. Robin Anne Reid. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2009. II: 226-227.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Medieval Literature; Arthurian Legend; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Donna Rondolone, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Liberal Arts, Temple University
- PhD, English, University of Pennsylvania, 1992
Bio:
Donna Rondolone, PhD teaches a wide variety of courses in the First-Year Writing Program and the Literature Program. As a trained medievalist, she has created several original courses for Drexel, including Arthurian Legend, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Medieval Women Writers. Her work on the Middle English epic poem the Alliterative Morte Arthure has been published in Garland’s The Albert Bates Lord Series in Oral Tradition.
Specialization:
Medieval Literature; Arthurian Legend; Freshman Writing
Selected Publications:
- “Wyrchipe: The Clash of Oral-heroic and Literate-Ricardian Ideals in the Alliterative Morte Arthure” in Oral Poetics in Middle English Poetry. Ed. Mark C. Amodio. Albert Bates Lord Studies in Oral Tradition, Vol. 13. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994.
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Research & Teaching Interests
Law, Communications, Composition
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Gail D. Rosen, JD
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Rhetoric and Communications, Temple University, 1984
- JD, Temple University School of Law, 1987
Bio:
I am currently teaching the three course sequence in the First-Year Writing Program. I teach hybrid versions of all three courses. I also created the curriculum for Law and Literature in which students explore literary works with legal themes. I teach both face to face and fully online versions of the class.
Specialization:
Law, Communications, Composition
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Early American Literature; Race and Gender Studies
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Doreen Alvarez Saar, PhD
American Literature Editor, Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature
Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, English, SUNY Buffalo, 1983
- MA, American Literature, SUNY Buffalo
Bio:
Doreen Alvarez Saar has a PhD (1983) and MA in English and American Literature from SUNY Buffalo; she is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Goucher College.
Her field is eighteenth century America; she has been President and is a Board member of the East Central American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. She serves as the American Literature Editor of the Rocky Mountain Review. She has published widely in American studies and has given papers at national and international conferences including the Canadian and British Societies for Eighteenth Century Studies. She was won two teaching awards, the latest being The Lindbach Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Specialization:
Early American Literature; Race and Gender Studies
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Postcolonial Literature, British Literature, Women Literature, Cultural Studies, Children’s literature
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Sheila Sandapen, PhD
Director of Programs in English
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Communication, Neumann College (now University), 1989
- MA, Writing, Emerson College, 1992
- PhD, English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2009
Research Interests:
Postcolonial Literature, British Literature, Women Literature, Cultural Studies, Children’s literature
Bio:
Sheila Sandapen, PhD teaches in the First-Year Writing Program at Drexel. As a young child she would sometimes leave the playground during school recess to sneak into the library and read in peace. It was this attitude that sealed her fate to be a writer and English Instructor.
Specialization:
Postcolonial Literature, British Literature, Women Literature, Cultural Studies, Children’s literature
Selected Publications:
Reflecting her eclectic interests in cultural studies, women studies, history and film, Sandapen’s publications include book and film reviews and articles on World War I Aviation, Jane Austen and British Cinema and Dr. Who. She is currently researching and writing on the American 1950s children’s author Edward Eager.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Popular Theater; Dramatic Literature, Creative Non-Fiction; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Fred Siegel, PhD
Director, First-Year Writing Program
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Rhetoric and Communication, Temple University, 1983
- MA, Educational Theater, Adelphi University, 1986
- PhD, Performance Studies, New York University, 1993
Bio:
My scholarly interests include composition, creative nonfiction writing, deception, American popular performance, theater arts, dramatic literature, and horror literature/film. As a performer I have been in six Philadelphia Fringe Festivals and three improv groups, plus I write and perform shows based on my life.
Favorite Authors and/or Books: Plays: The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov), Mother Courage and her Children (Brecht), The Glass Menagerie (Williams), Angels in America (Kushner), How I Learned to Drive (Vogel).
Also, many show business biographies.
Favorite Musical Artists: The Beatles, Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim.
Personal Interests and Hobbies: Theater, conjuring, improvisational performance.
A Favorite Quote: “Drama: What literature does at night.”—George Jean Nathan. Also, “They have the same room in heaven that they have in hell.”—The Devil (from an episode of Night Gallery that I saw 35 years ago)
Favorite TV Show: House
One thing that makes me smile is: my sweet spouse.
A Pet Peeve: Card tricks so complicated and long that by the time the magician finds your card you are no longer interested.
One hidden talent is: singing.
One reason I like my job is: my amusing students.
Specialization:
Popular Theater; Dramatic Literature, Creative Non-Fiction; Freshman Writing
Selected Publications:
- Siegel, Fred. “Trip or Trap.” The 33rd: An Anthology. Eds. Albert DiBartolomeo, Scott Stein, and Kathleen Volk Miller. Philadelphia: Drexel Publishing Group, 2008.
- Siegel, Fred. “Between the O’Neills.” JML 31.3 (2008): 165-170.
- Siegel, Fred. “Performance Studies at CCCC.” Kairos. 2006. 5 May 2007
- Siegel, Fred. “CCCC Wrap-Up—Now You CCCC It, Now You Don’t.” Across the Disciplines: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Language, Learning, and Academic Writing. 2006. 19 April 2006
- "Clown Politics," review of 1991 Movement Theatre International Clown Conference in The Drama Review, Summer 1992. (Republished in anthology Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook, Ed. Joel Schechter. London: Routledge, 2002
- "Theater of Guts--An Exploration of the Sideshow Aesthetic," in The Drama Review, Winter 1991.
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Research & Teaching Interests
Environmental Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
- Center for Science, Technology and Society
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Andrew Smith, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Center for Science, Technology and Society
Education:
- BA, Philosophy and Political Thought, Muhlenberg College
- MA, Philosophy, Stony Brook University
- PhD, Philosophy, Stony Brook University, 2007
Research Interests:
Environmental Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy
Bio:
- I’ve authored two books, The Deliberative Impulse (Lexington Books, 2011) and A Critique of the Moral Defense of Vegetarianism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
- I’m currently working on my third book, on Daniel Quinn’s philosophy. Quinn is a novelist, cultural critic, and theorist of ecological and social sustainability.
- I’m also working on articles in which I assess what facing up to ecological catastrophe should entail and the ethical bases for resisting the main protagonists of ecocide.
- Recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Politics, Philosophy & Economics, the Journal of Value Inquiry, Philosophy & Social Criticism, and the International Journal of the Philosophy of Religion.
Specialization:
Environmental Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Fiction Writing; Humor and Comedy; Publishing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Scott Stein
Director, Drexel Publishing Group
Founding Editor, Write Now Philly
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English (Creative Writing concentration), with a minor in Philosophy, University of Miami, 1993
- MA, New York University, 1995
- MFA, Creative Writing: Fiction, University of Miami, 1997
Bio:
Scott Stein teaches Writing Fiction, Writing Humor and Comedy, Major Authors: Franz Kafka, Prepared to Publish, and First-Year Writing in the Department of English and Philosophy. He is the Director of the Drexel Publishing Group and founding editor of its online magazine Write Now Philly.
Stein’s third novel The Great American Deception received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which also selected it as a “Book of the Week” and said, “This zany, uproarious mystery is a constant delight.” The novel was recommended by Kirkus Reviews, which said it was an “amusing SF private eye/coffee spoof chock-full of silicon circuits and served with laughs.”
His second novel Mean Martin Manning was called “a gem of a book” by the Philadelphia City Paper and was a summer book pick in Liberty magazine, which said that “its images, ideas, settings, and characters will linger in your memory far beyond this summer.” The American Spectator called it a “breezily subversive, funny narrative.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer said that his first novel Lost was “wonderfully comic” and “a page-turner” and BookSense.com made it a daily pick, calling it “hilarious and winning.”
Scott Stein’s satire and short fiction have appeared in McSweeney’s, The Oxford University Press Humor Reader, National Review, Liberty, The G.W. Review, Art Times, and Shale. His essays, nonfiction, and book reviews have been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Reason, Liberty, and other places.
Visit his website for more information.
Twitter: @sstein
Specialization:
Fiction Writing; Humor and Comedy; Publishing
Selected Publications:
Novels
Short Fiction and Satire
Essays
- “I’m a Professor Who Doesn’t Use Trigger Warnings. Here’s Why” (Reason)
- “The Failed Playwright of Virginia Tech” (Liberty)
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Literature, Computer Science
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Eva Thury, PhD
Associate Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, Classics, University of Pennsylvania, 1976
- MS, Information Science, Drexel University, 1987
Bio:
Lately I am writing about the vampire as a hero figure. Although Stephenie Meyer has played large in our sense of the vampire, her romantic bloodsuckers are not the only revenants we are telling stories about. We have bloodthirsty vampires galore, as well as zombies, zombies everywhere. I am investigating the relationship of our recent stories to 19th century vampires and studying what the newer stories say about our culture. My other project these days is putting the finishing touches on the translation from the Hungarian of ethnographical accounts collected by Sándor Bacskai in Egy Lépés Jeruzsálem Felé (One Step Toward Jerusalem). This is a volume of stories told by ethnic Hungarian Orthodox Jews living in Hungary and neighboring countries. It focuses on their lives during and after World War II, and includes many poignant and inspiring stories about individuals struggling to maintain their tradition and identity amidst the genocide of the war and the decades of persecution and repression which followed it.
Specialization:
Literature, Computer Science
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Creative Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Kathleen Volk Miller
Director Graduate Program in Publishing
Co-Editor, PBQ
Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- MA, Rutgers University, 1991
Bio:
Kathleen Volk Miller is co-editor of Painted Bride Quarterly, director of the graduate program in Publishing, director of the Drexel Publishing Group, and a teaching professor at Drexel University. She recently co-edited Humor: a Reader for Writers (Oxford Press, 2014).
Volk Miller writes fiction and essays, with work in publications such as Salon.com, thesmartset.org, the New York Times, Family Circle, and several literary magazines. She is currently working on My Gratitude, a collection of essays and Ramp Agent Parenting, a book on parenting.
Follow her on Twitter @kathyvolkmiller and know that she occasionally blogs on kathleenvolkmiller.com.
Specialization:
Creative Writing
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Maria Volynsky
Associate Director, First-Year Writing Program
ESL Coordinator
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Technology and Composition
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Scott Warnock, PhD
Director, University Writing Program
Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, English with a Minor in Journalism, Rutgers University Camden, 1991
- MA, English, Rutgers University Camden, 1995
- PhD, English, Temple University, 2002
Bio:
I am a professor of English and Director of the University Writing Program. I teach first-year writing and courses such as Writing in Cyberspace, The Literature of Business, and The Peer Reader in Context. My research interests focus on uses of technology in writing instruction, particularly how learning technologies can help student writers and facilitate better methods for faculty to respond to student work. I am the author of Teaching Writing Online: How and Why and numerous book chapters and articles. I have spoken about teaching and technology issues and opportunities at many institutions and conferences, and I was Co-Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction from 2011 to 2016 and am currently Vice President of the Global Society for Online Literacy Educators. I was co-founder of Subjective Metrics, Inc. a company created to develop Waypoint writing assessment and peer review software. I also maintain two blogs, one about online writing instruction at onlinewritingteacher.blogspot.com and “Virtual Children” at whenfallsthecoliseum.com/category/blood/virtual-children/.
Specialization:
Technology and Composition
Selected Publications:
- Warnock, Scott. “Foreword.” Personal, Accessible, Responsive, Strategic: Resources and Strategies for Online Writing Instructors. Jessie Borgman and Casey McArdle. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado, 2019. vii-x.
- Mechenbier, Mahli and Scott Warnock. “A Collaborative Method for Observing/Evaluating Online Writing Courses.” Forum: Issues About Part-Time & Contingent Faculty 23.1 (Fall 2019): A8-A16.
- Warnock, Scott and Diana Gasiewski. Writing Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2018.
- Warnock, Scott and Adrienne Cassel. “Teaching Writing Online.” A Guide to Teaching the Norton Field Guides to Writing. 5th ed. Editors Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Deborah Bertsch.Norton, 2019. 104-112.
- Warnock, Scott. “Texting Ruins Students’ Grammar Skills.” Bad Ideas About Writing. Eds. Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Lowe. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Libraries, 2017. 301-7.
- Warnock, Scott; Nicholas Rouse; Christopher Finnin; Frank Linnehan; & Dylan Dryer. “Measuring Quality, Evaluating Curricular Change: A 7-Year Assessment of Undergraduate Business Student Writing.” Journal of Business and Technical Writing 31.2 (April 2017): 135-67.
- Hewett, Beth & Scott Warnock. “Writing MOOEEs? Reconsidering MOOCs in Light of the OWI Principles.” Handbook of Research on Writing and Composing in the Age of MOOCs. Eds. Elizabeth A. Monske & Kristine Blair. IGI Global, 2017. 17-38.
- Warnock, Scott. “Interrogating Online Writing Instruction.” Learning and Teaching Writing Online: Strategies for Success. Studies in Writing. Vol. 29. Series Ed. Gert Rijlaarsdam & Volume Editors Mary Deane & Teresa Guasch. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2015. 178-87.
- Warnock, Scott. “Teaching the OWI Course.” Foundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction. Perspectives on Writing. Eds. Beth L. Hewett and Kevin DePew. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, 2015. 157-97. Available at wac.colostate.edu/books/owi/
- Hewett, Beth and Scott Warnock. “The Future of OWI.” Foundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction. Perspectives on Writing. Eds. Beth L. Hewett and Kevin DePew. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, 2015. 553-69. Available at wac.colostate.edu/books/owi/
- Warnock, Scott. “WPA-CompPile Bibliography no. 21: Studies Comparing Outcomes Among Onsite, Hybrid, and Fully-Online Writing Courses.” WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies April 2013. comppile.org/wpa/bibliographies/. Web.
- Teaching Writing Online: How and Why. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2009.
- “Frequent Low-Stakes Grading: Assessment for Communication, Confidence.” Online Classroom. 12.3 (March 2012): 5, 7.
- With Kenneth Bingham; Dan Driscoll; Jennifer Fromal; and Nicholas Rouse. “Early Participation in Asynchronous Writing Environments and Course Success.” The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 16.1 (January 2012). Web.
- “Streaming Media for Writing Instruction: Drexel’s Streaming Media Server and Novel Approaches to Course Lessons and Assessment.” Streaming Media in Higher Education. Eds. Charles Wankel and J. Sibley Law. Hersey, PA: IGI Global, 2011. 218-236.
- “The Class Message Board Text: What Is It and How Can We Use It to Develop a Student Text-Centered Course?” Teaching Using Student Texts: Essays Toward an Informed Practice. Eds. Joseph Harris, John Miles, Charles Paine. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2010. 96-107.
- “Cutting Keystrokes, Improving Communications: Response Technologies for Writing Instruction.” California English 15. 1 (September 2009): 27-30.
- “Methods and Results of an Accreditation-Driven Writing Assessment in a Business College.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 23.1 (January 2009): 83-107.
- “Responding to Student Writing with Audio-Visual Feedback.” Writing and the iGeneration: Composition in the Computer-Mediated Classroom. Eds. Terry Carter and Maria A. Clayton. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2008. 201-27.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Creative Writing; Freshman Writing
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Robert Watts
Associate Teaching Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- BA, Government, Harvard University, 1984
- MA, English and Creative Writing, Temple University 1996
Bio:
I am writing a historical novel based on the civil rights movement in the Mississippi Delta in the early 1960s. I write a column on politics and history for
Press 1, an online magazine. In my teaching, I combine an interest in fiction along with an interest in science, politics, history, psychology and culture. More recently, my teaching interests have expanded to include humor (analyzing it and writing it) as well as graphic novels. Prominent themes in my freshman English classes include the use of plain language, the nature of happiness, the workings of the mind and the brain and the study of creativity.
Specialization:
Creative Writing; Freshman Writing
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Vincent Williams, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Education:
- PhD, Temple University, 2011
Bio:
Vincent Williams teaches the First-Year Writing Sequence and has taught classes in African-American literature, science fiction and late 20th century novels. He is primarily interested in the intersection of race, gender, class and urbanism.
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Contact
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Research & Teaching Interests
Comparative Race and Empire Studies, Philosophies of Race and Gender, Global Modernisms, LGBTQ+ Studies, Trans Studies, Psychoanalytic Studies, Postcolonial and Global Anglophone Literatures, Transatlantic Studies, and the Global South
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Department
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Department of English and Philosophy
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Jennifer Yusin, PhD
Associate Professor of English
Department of English and Philosophy
Bio:
Jennifer Yusin is associate professor specializing in comparative race and empire studies, philosophies of race and gender, global modernisms, LGBTQ+ studies, trans studies, psychoanalytic studies, postcolonial and global anglophone literatures, transatlantic studies, and the global south.
My work explores underexamined intersections among interdisciplinary areas of thought and practice. My first book, The Future Life of Trauma (Fordham UP, 2017), studied how traumatic experiences that happened during the 1947 Partition of British India and which continue to occur in post-genocide Rwanda compel us to transform traditional philosophies of time and subjectivity. I am currently working on a book called Transformations of Bodies that explores how different notions of “body” function in politics of race, sexuality, and gender. It shows how the subject cannot always be equated to forms of difference. The manuscript develops a novel concept of the body which does not deny its relations to different types of groups, but which is not reducible to a theory or a practice.
I have worked as an editor and co-translator of multiple texts on psychoanalysis, which have been published with international distribution by Hermann Press in Paris. I am also co-editor of the Journal of Modern Literature, a quarterly journal in the field of modern and contemporary literature published by Indiana University Press.
My teaching is informed by the ways different areas of study in the humanities establish their fields of knowledge. I teach a wide range of courses in the English and Philosophy programs and in the Honors College that explore how we as individual persons and communities think about, constitute, and express our different forms of cultural, social, and political bodies. For example, I teach courses on global modernist literature, theories of transnationalism and globalization, philosophies of race and gender through critical race theories, gender and queer theories, and LGBTQ+ studies, literary theory, postcolonial studies, and biopolitics.
Specialization:
Comparative Race and Empire Studies, Philosophies of Race and Gender, Global Modernisms, LGBTQ+ Studies, Trans Studies, Psychoanalytic Studies, Postcolonial and Global Anglophone Literatures, Transatlantic Studies, and the Global South