Director of Credit Programs and Summer School, Digital and Lifelong Learning / Teaching Professor
2008, PhD. English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2003, M.A. English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
1999, A.B. English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Bio
My teaching and research interests include pedagogy (especially for online courses and programs), African American literature (especially drama), and film studies (especially race in contemporary cinema).
My most recent book, Understanding Walter Mosley (University of South Carolina Press), offers a critical overview of Mosely’s work across genres. My next book project is Understanding Nicky Finney.
Publications:
- “‘How Can I Say Things that are Pictures?’: Foregrounding in Beloved.” In The Bloomsbury Handbook to Toni Morrison. Linda Wagner-Martin, editor. Bloomsbury, 2022.
- “‘All Spooked Out:’ Topdog/Underdog’s Ghosts.” In Dramatic Apparitions and Theatrical Ghosts. Ann Hall and Alan Nadal, editors. Palgrave, 2022.
- Understanding Walter Mosley. University of South Carolina Press, 2016.
- “How a Mama on the Couch Becomes a Man with Watermelon: George C. Wolfe, Suzan-Lori Parks, and the Drama of ‘Colored Contradictions.’” Post-Soul Satire: An Interdisciplinary Critical Overview. Derek Maus and Jim Donahue, editors. University Press of Mississippi, 2014.
- “Madea’s Middle Class: Sentimental Spaces in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion and Why Did I get Married?” With co-author Ashley Reed. The Sentimental Mode: Essays in Literature, Film, and Television. Jennifer Williamson, Jennifer Larson, and Ashley Reed, editors. McFarland, 2014.
- Understanding Suzan-Lori Parks. University of South Carolina Press, 2012.
- “365 Days/365 Plays: A (W)hole New Approach to Theatre.” Suzan-Lori Parks: Essays on Race, Gender, and Mythology. Philip Kolin, editor. McFarland, 2010.
- “Renovating Domesticity in Ruth Hall, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Our Nig.” Women’s Studies 39 (2009): 1-21
Teaching Awards
- Joseph M. Flora Award, 2017
- Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2014
- Joseph M. Flora Award, 2012
Awards
- UNC QEP CURE course development grant, 2017
- College Language Association Creative Scholarship Award, 2013
Courses Taught:
- IDST 190: Death & Dying (Ideas, Information, & Inquiry)
- ENGL 675: Teaching Online
- ENGL 105i: Writing in Law
- ENGL 128: Major American Authors
- ENGL 143: Film & Culture
- ENGL 305: Advanced Expository Writing for Law
- ENGL 385: Literature & Law