Associate Professor of English
Union County College
1033 Springfield Avenue
Cranford, NJ 07016
EDUCATION
Ph.D. English Literature, Drew University, 1996. Dissertation Director, James Hala. Dissertation title: "'A marriage of the unknowable': Language, Gender, and Mysticism in že Wohunge of Ure Lauerd." A study of the thirteenth century poem with attention to its authorship, language, and treatment of the genre and subject of mysticism, examined through the methodologies of semiotic and post-structuralist literary theory.
M.Phil. English Literature, Drew University, 1994. Comprehensive exams passed in the English Medieval Period, the English Romantic Period, Virginia Woolf, Medieval Mysticism, and Allegory. Comprehensive language exams passed in Modern French and Anglo-Saxon English.
M.A. Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, England, 1989. Thesis Advisor, Myra Stokes. Thesis title: "The Decline of Chivalry and the Nature of Heroism in the Later Middle Ages." A study of the decline of medieval heroism as it is portrayed in the heroes of three medieval texts: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Sir Thopas, and Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Examinations passed in Middle English Paleography, Pearl, and Medieval Textual Criticism.
B.A. English Literature, Warren Wilson College, 1987. Honors Thesis Advisor, David J. Bradshaw. Thesis title: "Characteristics of Self-Advancement and Self-Denial in Homer's and Virgil's Epics." A study of the motivation of the heroism demonstrated in the Iliad, with attention to the opposition of Achilles and Hector, and the Aeneid, with attention to the opposition of Aeneas and Turnus.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2006-present Associate Professor, Department of English,
Union County College
2002-2006 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Union County College
2002 Assistant Professor, Classics Department, Montclair State University
2001-02 Adjunct Instructor of English, Union County College
1996-01 Adjunct Instructor, Classics Department, Montclair State University
1994-02 Adjunct Instructor of English, Kean University
1996-02 Adjunct Instructor of English, William Paterson University
1996-97 Part-Time Lecturer, Writing Program, Rutgers University
1994-99 Adjunct Instructor of English, Seton Hall University
1993-94 Assistant Director of the Writing Center, Drew University
1992-94 Adjunct Instructor of English, Drew University
1990-91 Instructor of English (full-time), Warren Wilson College
1989-90 Instructor of English (full-time), Mars Hill College
COURSES TAUGHT
Developmental Writing (Basic Skills)
First Year Seminar
English Composition I: The Expository Essay
English Composition II: Introduction to Literature
English Composition I: Honors
Advanced Composition: Argumentative Writing
Honors Composition: Exposition and Research
News Writing and Reporting
Advanced News Writing and Reporting
British Literature Survey I: Beowulf to the Neo-Classical Period
British Literature Survey II: Romanticism to Post-Modernism
Writing about Literature
Critical Approaches to Literature
The Western Humanities I to 1400
World Mythology
Introduction to Fiction
Introduction to Poetry
World Literature: Classical to Modern
World Literature II: The Post-Colonial World
Great Books I: Homer to Milton
Great Books II: 1700 to present
Honors Seminar: Great Books and Ideas I
Honors Seminar: Gender and Sexuality
American Literature I: Colonial to Romantic periods
American Literature II: Romantic to present
Landmarks of World Literature: The Epic through the Novel
History of the English Language
Women in Literature I: Classical through Eighteenth
Century
Women in Literature II: Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries
Women Authors
Senior Seminar: Literary Theory and Criticism
Undergraduate Chaucer Seminar
Undergraduate Shakespeare Seminar
Special Topics in Women's Literature: The Emergence of Feminist Thought
Topics in Literature: Harry Potter and the Folklore
Tradition
Graduate Chaucer Seminar (Master's in Liberal Studies Program, Kean University)
Seminar on Films of the 1940’s and 1950’s (L.I.F.E.
Center, Union County College)
Seminar on Medieval Studies (L.I.F.E. Center,
Union County College)
Seminar in Shakespeare (L.I.F.E. Center, Union County College)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
I. BOOKS
Intersections of Sexuality and the Divine in the Middle Ages: The Word Made Flesh.
An edited collection of critical essays on the topic of sexuality and the divine
as they interconnect in various genres and forms of medieval literature and art.
Ashgate, 2005.
The Milieu and Context of the Wohunge Group. An edited collection of critical essays. University of Wales Press, Gender and Spirituality series. Series editors Diane Watt and Denis Renevey. Forthcoming 2008.
Anchoritic Spirituality: Enclosure, Authority, Transcendence. Selected Proceedings from the International Medieval Congresses at Leeds, UK and Kalamazoo, MI. International Medieval Research series, Brepols Publishing. Series editor Axel Müller. Forthcoming 2008.
Sweven and Dreme A study of the relationships between dream vision poetry and mysticism. Under review with Boydell and Brewer.
II. Articles
“Bede’s Death Song,” “George Chapman/‘The Shadow of the Night,’” “Marie de France,” “The Ruin,” and “The Testament of Criseyde.” Companion to Pre-1600 British Poetry. Ed. Michelle M. Sauer. New York: Facts on File, forthcoming 2007.
“Hildegard of Bingen.” The Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Thompson Gale, forthcoming 2007.
“Hildegard of Bingen.” The Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Ed. Bonnie G. Smith. Oxford, UP, forthcoming 2007.
“Hermaphrodites.” The Encyclopedia of Sex, Love and Culture in the Middle Ages. Ed. William Burns. Greenwood, 2007.
"Queer Desire and Heterosexual Consummation in the Anchoritic Mystical Tradition." Straight Writ Queer. Ed. Richard Fantina. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. 68-81.
“Chaucer and Vernacular English.” Approaches to Teaching Troilus and Criseyde and the Shorter Poems. Ed. Tison Pugh and Angela Weisl. New York: MLA, 2006. 50-55.
“‘Gladly
Alone, Gladly Silent’: Language, Gender, and Desire in Medieval Mysticism.”
Anchorites, Wombs, and Tombs: Intersections of Gender and Enclosure in
the Middle Ages. Ed. Liz
Herbert McAvoy and Mari Hughes-Edwards. London:
Boydell and Brewer, 2005.
“‘Mi
bodi henge / wiš ži bodi’: The Paradox of Sensuality in že
Wohunge of Ure Lauerd,” Intersections
of Sexuality and the Divine in Medieval Culture. Ed. Susannah Mary Chewning. Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2005.
“‘Make
. . . of me/ wrecche ži leofmon and spuse’: Mystical Desire and Visionary
Consummation.” The Medieval
Mystical Tradition in England, Exeter SymposiumVII.
Ed. Edward Jones. Woodbridge:
Boydell and Brewer, 2004.
"Re-Reading/Re-Teaching Chaucer's Women." New Perspectives on Criseyde. Ed. Cindy L. Vitto and Marcia Smith
Marzec. Fairview, NC: Pegasus Press, 2004. 164-184.
"Gender
Studies: Christian Perspectives” (pp. 521-22), “Solitude: Christian
Perspectives” (pp. 1174-76), and “Western Christian Mystical Vision” (pp.
1332-35). The Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Eds. William Johnston and Christopher Hudson. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
2001.
Biographies
of Jerome of Prague (pp. 247-50), Piero de Medici (pp. 347-49), Matthias of
Janov (pp. 337-39), and Leonardo da Vinci (pp. 283-86) in the collection, An
Age of Crisis and Renewal: 1300-1500. Ed. Clayton J. Drees. Westport:
Greenwood Publishing, 2001.
"The Paradox of Virginity within the Anchoritic Tradition: The Masculine Gaze and the Feminine Body in the Wohunge Group." Literary Representations of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages. Ed. Cindy Carlson and Angela Weisl. New York: St. Martin's, 1999. 113-131.
"Mysticism and the Anchoritic Community: ‘A time of veiled infinity.'" Medieval Women and their Communities. Ed. Diane Watt. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press, 1997. 116-37.
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
July 9-12, 2007. International Congress of the European Middle Ages, University of Leeds, UK. Roundtable Participant: “Carmel: A Hidden Treasure?” Session Participant: Session Title, “Networks of Solitaries.” Paper Title, “In or Out? Space and Identity in the Anchorhold.”
June 22-24, 2007. Weekend at Warren Wilson. Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC. Presentation Title: “Who Was William Shakespeare?”
May 10-13, 2007. 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Roundtable Participant, “Teaching the Works of John Gower.” Session Participant: Session Title: “Can You Hear Me Now?” Paper Title: “Speaking of Flesh and Soul: Concepts of Translation in Medieval English Mysticism.”
April 11-15, 2007. International Anchoritic Symposium, Glenstal Abbey, Ireland. Paper Title: “Daughter and Bride: Subjectivity and Desire in Anchoritic Mysticism.”
March 2-4, 2007. Northeast MLA Conference, Baltimore, MD. Session Chair, “Teaching Medieval Women.” Paper Title, “Chaucer’s Other Women.”
February 16-20, 2007. National Resource Center for the First Year Experience Annual Conference. Addison, TX. Poster Session Title: “UCC 101: Innovations and Best Practices.”
December 27-30, 2006. Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA. Paper Title: “O fals Cresseid and trew knicht Troilus”: Queering the Hero in Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid.”
June 23-25, 2006. Weekend at Warren Wilson. Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa,
NC. Presentation title: “The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code.”
May 4-7, 2006. 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, MI. Session Organizer and Participant: “Teaching Medieval
Studies in the Two-year College: A Roundtable.” Session Participant, “Christina
of Markyate.” Paper Title: “The Sanctuary of Enclosure: Christina of Markyate,
Chastity, and Mystical Desire.” Session Organizers for three session on behalf
of the International Anchoritic Society.
March 2-5, 2006. North Eastern Modern Language Association. Paper Title: “What’s
Beowulf Got to Do with It?: The Use of
English Language History in ENG 101.”
January 6-8, 2006. Gender, Ecstasy, and Identity: Creation, Disruption,
Transformation. Gender and Medieval Studies Conference 2006, Emmanuel College,
Cambridge. Paper Title: “Gender, Desire, and the Nature of Ecstasy in
Twelfth-Century English Mystics.”
December 27-30, 2005. Modern Language Association. Chair of “Villainy in the
Middle Ages” session sponsored by Middle English Language and Literature,
Excluding Chaucer Discussion Group. Participant in Roundtable: “The Place of
Early Modern (Feminist) Scholarship within the Academy.”
July 10-14, 2005. International Congress of the European Middle Ages, Leeds, UK. Paper Title: “The Rhetoric of Anchoritic Studies.”
July 8-10, 2005. Rhetoric of the Anchorhold Conference. Gregynog, Wales. Opening Address. Title: “What We Talk about When We Talk about Anchoresses: The Rhetoric of Anchoritic Studies.”
May 5-8, 2005. 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Chair and Organizer, SMFS Session: “Are We Still Doing Women’s Studies? Making a Claim for Women’s Studies.” Session Participant, Anchoritic Society Session, “Varieties of the Solitary Experience: Anchorite, Recluse, Hermit, and Beguine.” Paper Title: “The Unruly Anchoress: Women on the Margins of Medieval ‘Anchoritic’ Experience.”
July 11-13, 2004. International Congress of the European Middle Ages, Leeds, UK. Paper title: "'My blysse, my bale, ye han ben bože': Mysticism and Pearl."
July
5-8, 2004.
Exeter Symposium on
Medieval Mysticism VII. Paper
title: “‘makedes of me / wrecche ži leofmon & spuse’: Mystical Desire
and Visionary Consummation.” Essays
will be published in a proceedings volume (see above).
May 6-9, 2004. 39th International Medieval Congress, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Session Organizer and Chair for the Anchoritic Society. Session Participant, "(Re)Drawing the Boundaries of the Anchorhold: A Roundtable." Session Participant, "Approaches to Teaching Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and the Shorter Poems." Paper title, "Chaucer and Vernacular English."
March 20, 2004. New Jersey College English Association Annual Conference. Session Chair and Participant. Session title, "Representations of the Body in Medieval Literature." Paper title: "‘Mi bodi henge / wiš ži bodi’: The Paradox of Sensuality in že Wohunge of Ure Lauerd."
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Credit Hiring Committee, Department of English, Union County College, 2007
Co-Chair, 75th Anniversary Founders Day/Academic Conference Sub-Committee,
2005-07
Co-Chair, Middle States Task Force 1: Mission, Goals, and Objectives, 2005-07
Member, Experiential Education Committee, Union County College, 2005-07
Coordinator, UCC 101: First Year Seminar, Union County College, 2005-07
Chair, Education Planning Committee, Union County College, 2005-07
Faculty Editorial Advisor, The Scroll, student newspaper, Union County
College, 2004-07
President, New Jersey College English Association, 2005-06
Recording Secretary, Faculty Executive Committee, Union County College, 2003-06
Member, Educational Planning Committee, Union County College, 2004-05
Member, Honors Studies Advisory Committee, Union County College,
2003-06
Member, First Year Seminar Advisory Committee, Union County College,
2003-06
Secretary, Alumni Association Board, Warren Wilson College, 2005--08
First
Vice President, New Jersey College English Association, 2004-05
Member, Alumni
Association Board, Warren Wilson
College, 2003-06
Advisory Board, Society for
Medieval Feminist Scholarship, 2003-06
President (North America), The
International Anchoritic Society, 2003-07
Second Vice President, New Jersey
College English Association, 2003-04
Member, College Novel Committee, Union
County College, 2002-05
Secretary, Faculty Committee on
Student Affairs, Union County College, 2002-04
Member, Women’s Studies
Committee, Union County College, 2002-03
Chair, Adult Education Committee,
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown, NJ, 2002-03
President,
New Jersey College English Association, 2001-02
ORGANIZATIONS
American Academy of Religion
American Association of University Professors
American Association of University Women
International Anchoritic Society
Modern Language Association
New Jersey College English Association
North East Modern Language Association
Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship
RECENT HONORS AND AWARDS
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2004.
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2005.
Further references and supporting materials available upon request.