MARS HILL UNIVERSITY: Where I teach American Lit (including Appalachian Lit) and Composition.
Literature Courses:
Composition Courses:
Presentation:
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY: I spent seven years in "Happy Valley" as a graduate student (MA and Ph.D) and Lecturer, and taught more than twenty courses.
Literature Courses:
Adventure Literature Courses:
Literature Courses:
- ENG 358, American Environmental Expression
A special topics course exploring Nature Writing and other forms of Environmental Expression. For upper-level students. - ENG 340, Appalachian Literature
Students study Appalachia via fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and archival materials.- Spring 2017: Insiders and Outsiders
- Spring 2019: The Civil War in WNC Fiction
- Fall 2020: The Civil War in WNC Fiction
- ENG 322, American Literature since 1900
An in-depth study of selected works of American literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present focusing on a particular theme or genre.- Fall 2015: "Work, Labor, and Leisure"
- Fall 2017: "Writing the American River"
- ENG 215, Survey of American Literature
A comprehensive survey of American literature from the Colonial period to the present that provides a foundation for further study. - ENG 210, Introduction to Critical Reading
Introduces English majors to Literary Theory and Criticism - ENG 200, Introduction to Literature
Introduces students to Literature and the study of it. - HON 400, Senior Honors Seminar
The Capstone course for the Honors Program - HON 200/300, Sophomore/Junior Honors Seminar
A project-based course that emphasizes collaboration and teamwork
Composition Courses:
- ENG 351, Writing for Online Platforms
Introduces students to the writing and publishing conventions of a variety of online platforms and gives them experience in creating and developing their own texts for online publication. - ENG 112, College Composition II: Writing Across the Curriculum
As the second half of the first-year writing sequence at Mars Hill, this course builds on the skills developed in ENG 111 and introduces students to the variety of discipline-specific conventions and expectations of college writing. - ENG 111, College Composition I: Introduction to Academic Writing
The first half of the first-year writing sequence at Mars Hill. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of rhetoric and research.
Presentation:
- Engaged Scholarship at Multiple Scales
Delivered at the Appalachian College Association's Teaching and Learning Institute; Emory, VA; 2017
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY: I spent seven years in "Happy Valley" as a graduate student (MA and Ph.D) and Lecturer, and taught more than twenty courses.
Literature Courses:
- ENGL 232, Survey of American Literature, post 1865
Sophomore level survey course required for English and History majors. Students study the movements in American literature occurring after the Civil War—Realism, Naturalism, Local Color, Modernism, Postmodernism, Ecology, etc—by reading a wide range of authors including Cather, Du Bois, Frost, Hurston, Leopold, Moore, O’Neill, Twain. - ENGL 200, Introduction to Critical Reading
Sophomore level course designed to introduce English majors to texts in a variety of genres. Students learn close reading skills for Drama, Fiction, Non-fiction and Poetry, as well as variety of theoretical approaches to literature, from reader response theory to deconstruction.
Adventure Literature Courses:
- ENGL 181A, Sailing the Chesapeake: Cultural and Natural Landscapes
Special Topics course intended to familiarize students with their watershed. Students study the history and geography of the Susquehanna River and canoe some of its miles. Students also explore Chesapeake Bay via reading, sailing, and eating. - ENGL 297C/B, Eating Your Ecology: Current Trends in Food Writing and Environmentalism
Special Topics course designed to introduce students to both the current popularity of American food writing and its antecedents. After Franklin, Jefferson, and Thoreau, students read through the twentieth century works of Sinclair, Helen and Scott Nearing, and Wendell Berry, and into the twenty-first: Will Allen, Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollan, and Eric Schlosser. As an Adventure Literature course, the class also makes trips to nearby farms to explore ways of learning beyond reading and discourse.
(The video below is from a 2010 class visit to Fiedler Farm in Aaronsburg, PA).
Online Courses:
Composition Courses:
Teaching Assistant Experience:
Certificate:
- ENGL 232W, Survey of American Literature, post 1865
Sophomore level survey course required for English and History majors. Students study the movements in American literature occurring after the Civil War—Realism, Naturalism, Local Color, Modernism, Postmodernism, Ecology, etc—by reading a wide range of authors including Cather, Du Bois, Frost, Hurston, Leopold, Moore, O’Neill, Twain. - ENGL 202C, Technical Writing
Sophomore level composition course designed especially for science and engineering majors. Students refine their rhetorical skills by creating various professional documents: resumés and cover letters, as well as memos and reports. Students also develop an E-Portfolio using the Penn State Blogs platform.
Composition Courses:
- ENGL 202C, Technical Writing
Sophomore level composition course designed especially for science and engineering majors. Students refine their rhetorical skills by creating various professional documents: resumés and cover letters, as well as memos and reports. Students also develop an E-Portfolio using the Penn State Blogs platform. - ENGL 015, Rhetoric and Composition
Freshman writing course. Students are introduced to the Aristotle’s definition and rhetoric and encouraged to blend ethos, pathos, and logos in papers tailored to a specific audience. Assignments include a memoir and a research paper.
Teaching Assistant Experience:
- ENGL 181A, Sailing the Chesapeake: Cultural and Natural Landscapes
Special Topics course intended to familiarize students with their watershed. Students study the history and geography of the Susquehanna River and canoe some of its miles. Students also explore Chesapeake Bay via reading, sailing, and eating. - ENGL 297D/ENGL 181C, The Beach: Exploring the Literature of the Atlantic Shore
Special Topics course designed to expose students to the literature of a particular place—the tidal swamps and beaches of South Carolina—as well as the place itself. After reading history, non-fiction, fiction, and poetry about the beach, students travel to South Carolina and spend a week camping and kayaking. - ENGL 297A/C, Exploring the Literature of American Wilderness
Special Topics course that familiarizes students with the literature and experience of wilderness and wildness. Students read Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, Abbey, Leopold, Dillard, Austin, Bass and also receive instruction in canoeing, rock-climbing, and backcountry hiking and camping.
Certificate:
- Teaching with Technology
Earned in 2014 for creating a teaching portfolio demonstrating the pedagogically appropriate use of technology in teaching.