EDUCATION

Degrees

Ph.D., English, Indiana University, 1994
Certificate, Medieval Studies, Indiana University, 1994
M.A., English, Indiana University, 1988
B.A., English, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1984

Dissertation

Title:  Toward an Aesthetic of Literary Influence:  Dante, Chaucer, Spenser
Director:  Alfred David
Committee:  Judith H. Anderson, Paul Strohm, and Mark Musa

Distinctions

• Competitive Sabbatical Award, The College of New Jersey, 2011
• Competitive MUSE (Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience) Grant Award, The College of New Jersey, 2009
• Honorary Member, Golden Key International Honour Society, The College of New Jersey, 2007
• Student Life Faculty Recognition Award, The College of New Jersey, 2006
• Annual Competitive 3-Semester Hour SOSA (Support of Scholarly Activities) Grant Awards, The College of New Jersey, 2000-2004
• Competitive 3-Semester Hour FIRSL (Faculty Institutional Research and Sabbatical Leave) Grant Award, The College of New Jersey, 1999-2000
• James A. Work Prize for outstanding graduate student in English, Indiana University, 1988
• Mary Gaither Prize for outstanding graduate essay on British literature, Indiana University, 1988
• Pass With Distinction, Ph.D. Qualifying Exams, Indiana University, 1988
• Honorable Mention, Academy of American Poets Prize, Indiana University, 1987
• Bertha Eikenberry Fellowship, Indiana University, 1984-1985
• Gary N. Murphy Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate essay, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1984

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Associate Professor, English, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, 2004-
Assistant Professor, English, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, 1998-2004 
Assistant Professor, English, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1994-1998
Part-time Instructor, English, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1991-1994
Part-time Instructor, Humanities, Belleville Area College, Belleville, Illinois, 1990-1991*
Associate Instructor, English, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1985-1990
Reader, English, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1984

*Belleville Area College has since been renamed Southwestern Illinois College.

COURSES TAUGHT

The College of New Jersey

Click here to see a complete list of all courses and online syllabi for each semester at The College of New Jersey.

University of St. Thomas

• Critical Reading and Writing I & II (freshman composition and introduction to literary studies)
• Major British Authors I (sophomore British survey from Beowulf to 1800 for majors and non-majors)
• Dragons in English and American Literature (experimental half-credit undergraduate topics course for non-majors)
• Hollywood and the Middle Ages (experimental half-credit undergraduate topics course for non-majors)
• Linguistics (introductory undergraduate course required for English Education majors)
• The Classical Tradition (undergraduate survey of European literary masterpieces through the Middle Ages)
• The Age of Chaucer (undergraduate survey of Middle English literature)
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval English Literature (graduate survey of British literature to 1500)
• Issues on the Canon: Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Spenser (graduate seminar on canon formation and reception)
• Independent Reading: Linguistics (independent study in linguistics for graduate students)

Belleville Area College

• Rhetoric and Composition I & II (freshman composition and research)

Indiana University

• Basic Skills Composition (intensive freshman composition for high-risk students)
• Elementary Composition (freshman composition and research)
• Literary Interpretation (required introductory course for English majors)
• Literary Masterpieces I & II (from antiquity to the present for majors and non-majors)
• Advanced Expository Writing (writing-intensive course for juniors and seniors)
• Professional Writing Skills (required business/technical writing course for business majors)

TEACHING INTERESTS

• Medieval and Renaissance English literature (especially Chaucer and Spenser)
• Comparative literature (especially Virgil, Dante, and Chaucer)
• Canon formation (symbolic capital, reception, literary influence, literary history and theory)
• Linguistics (introductory courses, history of the English language, etc.)
• Composition (first-year, advanced, across the curriculum, and professional/technical/business)
• Literature of Ancient Greece and Rome (in translation)
• Medieval and Renaissance English drama
• Curriculum Development

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Publications

• “Dante, Virgil, Statius, and Christianity:  Biblical Allusion and Clueless Pagans in Inferno IV.”  Under consideration at Forum Italicum.
• “Teaching Chaucer through Chaucer’s Bookshelf.”  Under consideration at Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (SMART).
• “Dante’s Bookishness:  Moral Judgment, Female Readers, and a ‘Rerealization’ of Brunetto Latini.”  Forthcoming in Modern Philology.
• “Chaucer and the Critical Tradition.”  In Approaches to Teaching Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and the Shorter Poems.  Ed. Tison Pugh and Angela Jane Weisl.  New York:  MLA, 2007.
• “Chaucer’s Mutability in Spenser’s Mutabilitie Cantos.”  Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 46.1 (2006), 27-42.  Available online through Project Muse.
• “Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender and the Elizabethan Reception of Chaucer.”  English Literary Renaissance 35 (2005), 31-51.  Available online through EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
• (“The Universal vs. the Historical Chaucer:  The Canterbury Tales and Current Trends in Western Scholarship”).  Trans. Chen Zhou Shen.  Chung Wai Literary Monthly 30:5 (October 2001), 29-44.
• “No Exit?”  Review of Philippa Berry’s Shakespeare’s Feminine Endings (London:  Routledge, 1999), Richard Burt’s Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares (New York:  St. Martin’s, 1998), and Maurice Charney’s Shakespeare on Love & Lust (New York:  Columbia UP, 2000).  College Literature 28:1 (2001), 148-154.  Available online through EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
• “Chaucer in the Field of Cultural Production:  Humanism, Dante, and The House of Fame.”  The Chaucer Review 35 (2000), 182-203.  Available online through Project Muse.
• “In the Beginning Was the Word.”  In Curriculum in a Catholic University.  Ed. Michael Mikolajczak.  St. Paul:  Committee on Catholic Colleges and Universities in the Twenty-First Century, 1995.  Pages 41-43.  Rpt. in Enhancing Religious Identity:  Best Practices from Catholic Campuses.  Ed. John R. Wilcox and Irene King.  Washington, D.C.:  Georgetown UP, 2000.  Pages 250-255.
• “Idolatrous Idylls:  Protestant Iconoclasm, Spenser’s Daphnaïda, and Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess.”  In Refiguring Chaucer in the Renaissance.  Ed. Theresa Krier.  Gainesville:  UP of Florida, 1998.  Pages 128-143.
• Untitled review of Lana Cable’s Carnal Rhetoric (Durham: Duke UP, 1995).  College Literature 23:3 (1996), 193-196.  Available online through EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
• “‘You Know the Plot / We Both Agreed On?’:  Plot, Self-Consciousness, and The London Merchant in Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle.”  Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England 5 (1991), 211-224.
• “Tracing the Lines of Triple Crown History.”  The Blood-Horse 115 (1989), 2194-2197.

Conference Papers and Presentations

• “Teaching Shakespeare’s Sources and Contexts,” 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2013.
• “Who’s Your Daddy?:  Chaucer, Linguistics, Computers, and the Parentage of English Poetry,” Annual Conference of the New Jersey College English Association, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, March 2011.
• “Dante’s Psychology of Human Failing and Success,” 16th Annual Conference of the ACTC Association for Core Texts and Courses, New Brunswick, New Jersey, April 2010.
• “Reconstructing the Trecento’s Field of Struggles:  A ‘Rerealization’ of Dante’s Position-Takings,” 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2008.  Previously presented as “Bourdieu and Medieval Authorship” at the Annual Conference of the New Jersey College English Association, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, March 2008.
• “Connecting Intellectual Growth and Civic Engagement through the First Year Experience,” 14th National Conference on Students in Transition (sponsored by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition), Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2007.
• “Not Your Parents’ Freshman Composition Course:  A Panel Discussion about Reading and Writing in First Seminars at TCNJ,” 8th Annual New Jersey Writing Alliance Conference, Middlesex County College, Edison, New Jersey, May 2007.
• “Dante, Virgil, and Christianity:  Biblical Allusion and Clueless Pagans in Inferno IV.”  40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2005.  Previously presented at the Annual Conference of the New Jersey College English Association, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, April 2005.
• “World War II:  The Last Chance for Restoration.”  Lecture in an all-day seminar on “Twilight of the Kings:  The Dramatic Story of the 20th-Century European Monarchies,” Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 5, 2005
• “The Literature That Never Was:  Teaching the Fragmentary Nature of Middle English Literature.”  46th Annual M/MLA Convention, Saint Louis, Missouri, November 2004.
• “Approaches to Teaching Chaucer II:  The Shorter Poems (A Roundtable Discussion).”  39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 7, 2004.
• “Pairing Biology and First-Year Writing.”  5th Annual New Jersey Writing Alliance Conference, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, March 19, 2004.
• “Dante’s Bookishness:  Moral Judgment vs. Literary Criticism in the Divine Comedy.”  Modern Language Association Convention, San Diego, California, December 2003.
• “The True Well of English Vndefyled?:  Chaucer, Spenser, and Lydgate.”  New Jersey College English Association Annual Conference, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, March 2003.
• “Chaucer’s Mute-ability in Spenser’s Mutabilitie Cantos.”  Thirteenth International Congress of the New Chaucer Society, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, July 2002.
• “In Whose Gentle Spright Did the Pure Well Head of Poesie Really Dwell?:  Chaucer, Spenser, and Lydgate.”  Mid-Atlantic Renaissance and Reformation Seminar, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 2002.
• “The Universal vs. the Historical Chaucer:  The Canterbury Tales and Current Trends in Western Scholarship.”  Keynote Address (I).  Second Annual Fu Jen Catholic University Medieval Conference, Fu Jen Catholic University, Hsin Chuang, Taipei, Taiwan, 2001.
• “Chaucer’s Mute-ability in Spenser’s Mutabilitie Cantos.”  6th Annual Conference of the Medieval Association of the Midwest, College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota, 2000.
• “Microcosm of Reception:  The Uses of Chaucer in Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender.”  27th Annual Sewanee Mediæval Colloquium, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, 2000.  Previously presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1996.
• “Toward a Politics of Literary Influence:  Dante, Cultural Capital, and Chaucer’s House of Fame.”  Colloquia Medievalia Series, Center for Medieval Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1997.
• “Literary Influence, the Canon, and Dante in Chaucer’s House of Fame.”  M/MLA Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1993.
• “The Play of Literature:  Literary Influence, the Canon, and Dante in Chaucer’s House of Fame.”  Fifth Annual Medieval Symposium, Medieval Studies Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1992.

Other Professional Activities

• College Literature, West Chester University
  • Referee, 1990-2005, 2011-
  • Advisory Editor, 2005-2011
• New Jersey College English Association
  • Member, 2005-
• Pre-Publication Reviewer, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2012.
• Editor, “The House of Fame by Geoffrey Chaucer,” Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 Series, Gale Cengage, Inc., 2012.
• Pre-Publication Reviewer, Diana, Princess of Wales, Princess Grace of Monaco, Castles and Palaces, Knights, Kings and Queens, and Princes and Princesses for Capstone Press, 2007-2008, 2012.
• Contributor, “Academic Integrity Educator,” online educational product, Reslife.Net, 2010.
• Presenter and Workshop Leader, “First-Year Students: Expectations and Strategies for Teaching and Advising Students in Transition,” Faculty In-Service, Delaware Technical and Community College, Stanton, Delaware, 2010.
• Co-Presenter and Workshop Leader, “Professional Development:  First-Year Experience,” Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania, 2009.
• Presenter, “Reading, Writing, and Serving at the University:  Initiation to Academia and Civic Engagement at The College of New Jersey,” Faculty Development Day, Holy Family University, Philadelphia, 2008.
• Pre-Publication Reviewer, A Linguistic Introduction to the History and Structure of the English Lexicon, Routledge, 2008.
• Pre-Publication Reviewer, Caxton’s Ovide Moralisé, Broadview Press, 2008.
• Pre-Revision Reviewer, How English Works, Longman, 2007.
• Referee, Interstice: Literary and Cultural Studies (graduate student e-journal), Graduate Institute of Foreign Literatures
  and Linguistics, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, 2006-2007
• Referee, The Chaucer Review, Penn State University, 2004-2005
• Pre-Revision Reviewer, The Origins and Development of the English Language, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 2002
• Reviewer, A Rhetoric of Argument, McGraw-Hill, 1999
• Reviewer, The Anatomy and History of English, Houghton Mifflin, 1999
• Editor, Ex Libris: A Selected Reading List of Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Center for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas, 1996-1998

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Dante’s portrayal of his classical and vernacular precursors in the Divine Comedy (especially Virgil and Brunetto Latini)
• Chaucer, Spenser, and Lydgate
• Chaucer’s reception (particularly in the English Renaissance)

SERVICE

Academic Service

• Faculty Senate, The College of New Jersey
  • Executive Board, 2011-
  • Senator, School of Culture & Society/Humanities & Social Sciences, 2004-
• Steering Committee, The College of New Jersey
  • Chair, 2012-
  • Member, 2011-
• Classical Studies Program, The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Member, 2002-
  • (Co-)Coordinator, 2003-2012
• Comparative Literature Program, The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Member, 2005-
  • Coordinator, 2003-2005
  • Co-Creator, 2002
• Religious Studies Program, The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Member, 2007-
• Outreach Committee, English Department, The College of New Jersey
  • Chair, 2012-2013
  • Member, 2011-2013
• Hiring Committees
  • Postcolonial Literature, 2012-2013
  • Classical Studies, 2003-2005
  • Chinese and Asian/Asian-American literature, 2001-2002
  • Linguistics and History of the English Language,1999-2001
• Teachers As Scholars Program, The College of New Jersey
  • Facilitator, “The Sources and Contexts of Shakespeare’s Comedies,” 2013
  • Facilitator, “The Sources and Contexts of Shakespeare’s Comedies,” 2009
  • Facilitator, “The Historical vs. the Universal Chaucer,” 2008
  • Facilitator, “Not Just Hell:  The Bigger Picture of Dante’s Divine Comedy,” 2008
  • Facilitator, “The Historical vs. the Universal Chaucer,” 2006
• Graduate Committee, English Department, The College of New Jersey, 2001-2012
• TCNJ Advancement Program (TAP)
  • Presenter and Workshop Leader, “Discussion Discussion,” Brown Bag Lunch, 2012
• First-Year Experience Program, The College of New Jersey
  • Presenter and Workshop Leader, “Discussion FAQs,” FSP Faculty Development Workshops, 2012
  • Presenter and Workshop Leader, “Discussion for Dummies,” FSP Faculty Development Workshops, 2011
  • Coordinator, First Seminar Program, 2005-2010
  • Coordinator, Summer Reading Program, 2007-2009
  • Member, Student Transition Experience Concept Group, 2007-2008
  • Member, First-Year Experience Leadership Council, 2005-2007
  • Faculty Fellow, 1999-2004
• Committee for Cultural and Intellectual Community (CCIC), The College of New Jersey
  • Member, 2006-2010
• Department Personnel Committee, English Department, The College of New Jersey
  • Member, 2004-2010
• Leadership Development Program (student organization dedicated to developing and promoting leadership skills), The College of New Jersey
  • Guest Speaker, “Positive Leadership in a Culture of Negativity,” 2007
• IDEAL (a student advocacy group dedicated to informing campus about the concerns and difficulties of students with special needs), The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Advisor, 2004-2006
• Committee on Student and Campus Community, The College of New Jersey
  • Chair, 2003-2005
  • Secretary, 2001-2003
• Medieval Club/Order of the Golden Lion (a student-run historical reenactment group), The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Advisor, 2001-2005
• Curriculum Committee, English Department, The College of New Jersey, 1998-2004
• Curriculum Committee, School of Culture & Society, The College of New Jersey
  • Secretary, 2001-2003
• Curriculum Committee, School of Arts and Sciences, The College of New Jersey
  • Secretary, 1999-2001
• The Rhetoric Web at TCNJ
  • Co-Webmaster, 2002-2003
• ENGA Ad Hoc Committee (worked on learning goals and a revised curriculum for the ENGA major), English Department, The College of New Jersey, 2001-2002
• The College of New Jersey Judicial Procedure (for students involved in hearings before the All College Disciplinary Board), The College of New Jersey
  • Volunteer Faculty Advisor, 1999-2000
• Academic Integrity Committee, English Department, The College of New Jersey
  • Chair, 1998-2000
• Literary Movie Nite, The College of New Jersey
  • Faculty Advisor, 1999
• College Life Committee, University of St. Thomas, 1997-1998
• Curriculum Committee, Interdisciplinary Program in Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas, 1996-1998
• Essay Contest Committee, English Department, University of St. Thomas, 1994-1998
  • Chair, 1995-1998
• Malevich Leadership Conference Planning Committee, University of St. Thomas, 1995-1998
• Sigma Tau Delta/Literary Club, English Department, University of St. Thomas
  • Faculty Advisor, 1996-1997
• Hiring Committee (searched for and hired a colleague to fill a temporary 5-year position), English Department, University of St. Thomas, 1996
• English Majors Conference, Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities, 1995-1996
  • University of St. Thomas Faculty Advisor, 1995
  • Organizer, 1996
• Scheduling Committee, English Department, University of St. Thomas, 1995-1996
• Composition Committee, English Department, Indiana University, 1992-1993
• Ad Hoc Syllabi Revision Sub-Committee, Composition Committee, English Department, Indiana University, 1985

Community Service

• Church of St. Ann, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
  • Eucharistic Minister, 2009-
  • Lector, 1999-
  • Presenter, “Dante and the Road to Salvation, Part II:  The Purgatorio,” Church of Saint Ann Adult Faith Formation Series, 2011
  • Presenter, “Dante and the Road to Salvation,” Church of Saint Ann Adult Faith Formation Series, 2010
  • Volunteer Gardener, 2006-2009
  • Catechist (6th grade), 2004-2005
  • Small Christian Community Leader, 2000-2003
  • Renew 2000 Small Christian Community Leader, 1998-2000
• European Royalty during World War II
  • Webmaster, 1999-
• Career Exploration Day, Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
  • Presenter, 2008
• soc.history.war.world-war-ii, Usenet newsgroup
  • Co-Moderator, 1999-2001
• Trenton Times All Star Academic Team
  • English Judge, 1999, 2001
• Premarital Personal and Relationship Evaluation Program (PREPARE), Campus Ministry, University of St. Thomas
  • Volunteer Counselor, 1996-1998
• St. Mark’s Church, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Bible Study Leader, 1995-1998
  • Lector, 1995-1998
  • Adult Faith Formation Committee, 1994-1996
  • Volunteer, “Soup and Scripture” Lenten Program, 1994-1995
• Adult Education Committee, St. Paul’s Catholic Center, Bloomington, Indiana, 1991-1994
• Scribblers’ Guild (student organization committed to exploring the possibilities of medieval drama for modern audiences), Indiana University, 1989-1992
• Parish School of Religion, Holy Childhood of Jesus Church, Mascoutah, Illinois
  • Volunteer Instructor (6th grade), 1990-1991