My research involves the intersection of literary and educational theory with the actual clinical practice of teaching and of teaching teachers. It centers on constructivist, student-centered, reader response approaches to educational reform. I have been planning a new course that is part of our newly created minor, Writing in the Public Sphere, centered around changing schools and have been doing extensive research on the practical, politcal aspects of educational change, based in part on my award-winning book, Minding American Education: Recovering the Tradition of Active Learning, as well as on weekly on-line Newsletter, Active Learning Forum. This will result in a book-length manuscript Enacting the Active Mind.
keywords
American Romanticism, 19th century American Romanticism, 19th century American Poetry, 20th century American Poetry, practical and theoretical pedagogy, history and philosophy of American education, history and philosophy of service learning
ENGL 1420 - Poetry
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Spring 2019
Introduces students to how to read a poem by examining the great variety of poems written and composed in English from the very beginning of the English language until recently.
ENGL 1600 - Introduction to American Literature
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Spring 2024
Introduces students to the American literary tradition through intensive study of centrally significant texts and genres.
ENGL 2102 - Literary Analysis
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Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023
Students will build skills in careful, detailed reading and critical writing. Focusing on poetry, prose, and plays, the course cultivates an understanding of literary forms and genres and introduces techniques and vocabulary essential for the study of literature.
ENGL 2115 - American Frontiers
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
This course explores the power of the frontier myth in US literature and culture. The material we cover may range from stories of the American West and American empire to frontiers like cyberspace or outer space (the final frontier). Texts may include short stories, novels, movies, photographs, and computer games.
ENGL 2655 - American Literature to the Civil War
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Students will explore chaos, possibilities, and violence in American literature as Indigenous lands transform into British colonies transform into a nation that expands across the continent, but nearly implodes in civil war. This class considers how authors struggling to define America used a rising print culture and evolving literary landscape to confront issues of nation, empire, race, gender, sexuality, religion, modernity, and industrialization.
ENGL 3235 - American Novel
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Spring 2021 / Fall 2021
This class explores how over two centuries of Americans have shaped the novel and how the novel has shaped America. What themes or crises define the �American novel�? How do immigrant authors, writers of color, Indigenous novelists, and queer or working class authors unsettle the American stories we think we know? Together we�ll ask how the transformation of America is made visible in the novel�s shifting boundaries and forms.
ENGL 3245 - American Poetry
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
The poetry of America is as diverse as the peoples who inhabit it. This course offers a chance to spend time with some of the most exciting and challenging verse of the last few centuries, exploring poetic form as something continually remade and unmade. We�ll read poetry written as protest and poetry as public memory, private poems and poems meant for singing, poetry from the margins and poetry that purports to speak for America itself.
ENGL 3930 - Internship
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Fall 2021
Provides academically supervised opportunity for upper-division students to work in public or private organizations on projects related to students' career goals and to relate classroom theory to practice. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Department enforced prerequisite: 3.0 GPA and faculty supervision.
ENGL 4039 - Capstone in Literary Studies
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2023
Topic varies by section, but all sections include small seminar discussions and focus on an individualized research project related to the topic. This course will draw on skills from previous courses in critical reading, thinking, and writing and will culminate in high-level discussions and in the final project. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
ENGL 4206 - Writing for the Real World
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Fall 2022
Trains students in advanced techniques of writing with a view toward �real world� application'that is, usefulness after graduation. Emphasis on writing for a variety of audiences and techniques for achieving conciseness, clarity, expressiveness, logic, and appropriateness of diction and evidence. Readings include classic and contemporary writings about writing and exemplary professional essays from a variety of fields. Previously offered as a special topics course.
ENGL 4468 - Modern Poetry
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Spring 2020
This course studies the diverse themes and forms of poetry written across the 20th and 21st centuries. From structured forms to free verse, from songs to sonnets, from private lyrics to public commemorations, from the intimacy of feelings to political anthems, from grief to joy, modern poetry bears witness to how we felt and how the world transformed across the turmoil and turbulence of these centuries we call modern.
ENGL 4830 - Honors Thesis
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Spring 2024
Students accepted to English Departmental Honors are enrolled in this course.
ENGL 5529 - Studies in Special Topics 1
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Spring 2024
Studies special topics that focus on a theme, genre, or theoretical issue not limited to a specific period or national tradition. Topics vary each semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
