Teaching and Research Interests

Welcome statement (teaching/research/personal interests): In my research and my teaching, I take a historical-cultural approach to literature that allows me to examine the intersections between cultural movements (especially scientific and pseudo-scientific movements) and literary production. In both literature and composition classes, I emphasize close textual analysis as a way to examine the historical, cultural, and political underpinnings of literary and non-literary texts. My interdisciplinary approach to literature stems from my educational background in both science and literature, and I bring this sense of the interconnectedness of academic disciplines into the classroom.

Interests: British and Irish Modernisms, American Modernisms, Literature and Science, Evolutionary Theory and Literature, Rhetoric of Reproduction in Literature, Political Rhetoric and Media Analysis

Current, Recent and Future Courses:
ENGL 110: Understanding Terrorism in Political, Social, and Rhetorical Contexts
ENGL 120: Monstrous Bodies/Monstrous Minds
ENGL 110 (Fall 2008): Politics and Media: Image and Rhetoric on the Campaign Trail

ENGL 120 (Winter 2009): Literature and Science

Biography

BA, Biology, Central Washington University
MA, English, Oregon State University
PhD, English,University of Oregon