Education

Ph.D. in English Studies, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, August, 2004. Emphases in Children's Literature and Composition Studies. Doctoral Dissertation: "Genre, Culture, and Children's Fiction," directed by Dr. Roberta Trites, Professor of English

M.A. in English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, August 2000. Emphases in Children's Literature and Composition Studies. Master's Thesis: "Cornucopia: Food as Signifier in Literature for the Young," directed by Dr. Linda Benson

B.A. in English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, December, 1997. Springfield, MO. Magna Cum Laude

Academic Experience

Assistant Professor, Texas A&M-Commerce, Commerce, Texas, Fall, 2004-Present

English 102: Written Argument and Research
English 201: Introduction to Literature
English 300: Reading, Analyzing, and Teaching Literature
English 305: Children's Literature (on-campus and on-line)
English 403: Discipline of English (on-line)
English 406: Adolescent Literature
English 486: The Hero in Ancient and Modern Society (an interdisciplinary capstone course)
English 506: Problems in Adolescent Literature (graduate course)
English 507: Oral Tradition and Modern Children's Fantasy (graduate course)
English 508: Historical and Realistic Fiction for Children (graduate course)
Liberal Studies 310: Methods of Discovery (on-line)

Teaching Assistant, Illinois State University, Department of English, 2000-2004

English 170: Foundations of Children's Literature
English 101: Language and Composition
English 248: Pre-Law Exposition
English 400: Seminar for Teachers of Writing; assistant to Dr. Claire Lamonica
Assistant Writing Program Administrator, Illinois State University, Spring 2001-Fall 2003.

Teaching Assistant, Southwest Missouri, State University, Department of English, 1998-2000

English 110: Freshman Composition
English 120: Advanced Composition
English 200: Cultural Heritage in Literature; assistant to Dr. Mark Trevor Smith
English 334: Literature for Children; assistant to Dr. Phyllis Bixler

Publications

"A Return to Normal: Lois Lowry's The Giver." The Lion and the Unicorn 31 (2007): 21-35.*

Co-author with Christine Doyle, "Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow: Orson Scott Card's Postmodern School Stories." The Lion and the Unicorn 28.2 (2004): 186-202.*

Review of Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children. By Amie A. Doughty. (2006), in Children's Literature Association Quarterly 31.3 (2006) 307-309*

*The Lion and the Unicorn and Children's Literature Association Quarterly are Johns Hopkins University Press publications

Forthcoming:

"Beyond Borders: Reading 'Other' Places in Children's Literature." Children's Literature in Education. (21-page manuscript)

Review of Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Book: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity. By Thomas Andrae. MELUS (forthcoming in 2007)

Review of Talking Animals in British Children's Fiction, 1786-1914. By Tess Cosslett. Children's Literature Association Quarterly (forthcoming in 2007)

Under Review

"Shifting Worlds: Constructing the Subject, Narrative, and History in Historical Time Shifts" in Telling Children’s Stories: Narrative Theory and Children’s Literature, ed. Mike Cadden, Prepublishing contract, U of Nebraska Press (28-page manuscript)

Honors and Awards:

Paul W. Barrus Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, Texas A&M University-Commerce, April 2007
Winner, Clarence W. Sorensen Distinguished Dissertation Award (a university-wide award), Illinois State University, for 2004 (awarded in 2005).
Taimi Maria Ranta Children's and Young Adult Literature Scholarship, Illinois State University
Illinois State Foundation Fellowship for Graduate Students
Robert H. Hennigan Graduate Student Award, Southwest Missouri State University

International and National Conferences

"Abjection and Invisibility in Robert Cormier's Fade." Paper presented at the International Children's Literature Association Conference, Newport News, VA, June, 2007

"'I Watch Myself Disappear in their Eyes'": Theorizing the Invisible Adolescent. Paper presented at the Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature, Nashville, April, 2007

"Transforming the World: Social Realism and Virginia Hamilton's The Planet of Junior Brown." Paper presented at the International Children's Literature Association Conference, Manhattan Beach, CA, June, 2006.

"Elsewhere" is Here and Now: The Ideological Impetus in Lois Lowry's The Giver (A Return to Normal). Paper presented at the Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, April, 2005.

"'Seeing' the World: Visual Challenges in Adolescent Fiction." Paper presented at the Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, April, 2003.

"Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow: Orson Scott Card's Post-Modern School Stories." Co-presented with Christine Doyle. International Children's Literature Association Conference, Wilkes-Barre, PA. June, 2002.

"When Angels Drink Beer: Bridging Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism in David Almond's Skellig." Paper presented at International Children's Literature Association Conference, Buffalo, NY. June 2001.

"Tea Parties, March Hares, Archaeology, Madness and Civilization: A Foucauldian Approach to Lewis Carroll's Alice Books." Paper presented at the Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature Conference, Nashville. April 2001.

"'Curiouser and curiouser!': The Significance of Food in Children's Literature." Paper presented at International Children's Literature Association Conference, Roanoke, VA, June 24, 2000.

"Crossing Cultural and International Barriers: Food Obsession in Children's and Young Adult Literature." Paper presented at Conference on Food Representation in Literature, Film and Other Arts, University of Texas at San Antonio, February, 2000.

Regional/Local Presentations

"Blurred Borders: The Graphic Novel and Adolescent Literature." Paper Presented at Southwest/Texas Pop Culture and American Culture Assocations Conference, Albuquerque, NM, February, 2007

"Layers of Silence and Religious Discourse: Donna Jo Napoli's Song of the Magdalene." Paper Presented at South Central MLA, Dallas, TX, October, 2006

"Re-Presenting Mary and Rewriting History in Donna Jo Napoli's Song of the Magdalene." Paper Presented at the Federation Rhetoric Symposium, Denton, TX, Feb., 2006

"Shifting Spaces in Historical Fiction: Performing Ideology and the Subject in Time Shifts." South Central MLA 62nd Annual Meeting, Houston, TX., Oct., 2005

"'Stuffing My Guts with Gingerbread Nuts': Food Obsessions in Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy." Paper presented at Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November, 1999.

Graduate Student Advising

Dissertation Director for:

Jonne Akens

Thesis Director for:

Andrea Nicole Miller, More Than "Interesting Dead Things": The Reanimation of the Oral Tradition Through Narrative Subversion and Visual Narrative Performance (Graduated Summer, 2007)
Barbara McGill

595 Director for:

Beth Mizell

Dissertation Committee Member for:

Marscha Brown
Wilma Shires
Lola King

Thesis Committee Member for:

Daniel Ragusa
Thomas Fennimore
Kasey Thomas

Undergraduate Student Advising

Honors Thesis Director, Ricardo Matta
Honors Thesis Director, Melissa Gantt
Honors Thesis Reader, John Miller, 2005

Professional Service

Publicity Committee, Children's Literature Association, 2007
Chair, Children's Literature Section, South Central MLA, 2007
Secretary, Children's Literature Section, South Central MLA, 2006
Judge, Children's Literature Association 2006 Carol Gay Award for outstanding papers on children's literature by an undergraduate student, 2006
Chair, "Disturbing the Universe," Children's Literature Association Conference, June 2006, Manhattan Beach, California
Referee for English Journal
Reviewer for Children's Literature Association Quarterly
Reviewed proposal, preface, and chapter of An Introduction to Close Reading, (Prentice-Hall) (2005)
Reviewed Foresman, Scott. SF Writer, 3rd ed. (2005)

University Service

University Faculty Awards Committee, 2005-2007
Graduate Council Representative, Becky Schwegmann Snow, Final Dissertation Defense: A Policy Study of State Funded Prekindergarten Programs, November, 2007
Mayo Convocation Committee, 2005
Ready Writing Director, April, 2005 and April 2006

Departmental Service:

Professional Development Committee, 2006
Graduate Committee, 2006, 2007
PR Committee
Search Committee for Department Head, 2006
Student Development Committee, 2004-2005, 2005-2006
Chair, TExES/TOP/THEA Committee, 2005-2006
TExES/TOPT/THEA Committee, 2004-2005

Professional Affiliations

Children's Literature International Association
Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
South Central Modern Language Association