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Education

Ph.D. in English.  Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, 2006

Dissertation: “Net Work: Social Networks, Disruptive Agency, and Innovation in Howells, Fitzgerald, Heller, Pynchon, and Gibson”  Committee: Dr. Kecia Driver McBride (director), Dr. Robert D. Habich, Dr. Joseph F. Trimmer, Dr. Patrick Collier, and Dr. Melinda Messineo

Specialization: Twentieth-century and contemporary American literature and culture
Exams in: American and British Literature, Literary Theory, Composition and Rhetoric

M.A. in Literature.   Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, 1998

Thesis: “Fascination Machine: A Study of Pop Music, Mass Mediation, and Cultural
Iconography”  Committee: Dr. Patti White (director), Dr. Lauren Onkey, and Dr. Lee Papa

B.S.Ed. Taylor University, Upland, Indiana, 1996; summa cum laude

Secondary education/English (major)
Communication arts education (minor/teaching endorsement)
State of Indiana Teacher’s License (secondary level) 

Dissertation Abstract

My dissertation analyzes the agency of outsider characters in American literature who cause disruption without necessarily securing economic or political power.  Network science (as theorized by thinkers like Duncan Watts and Albert-László Barabási) explains social networking structures: clusters of people, bridges between them, pathways through them.  I theorize such structures as what Michel Foucault calls “surfaces of emergence,” on and through which new notions may enter awareness.  To analyze the influence of characters like Howells’s Silas Lapham and Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby, I show how network surfaces of emergence provide space for what Michel de Certeau calls “secondary production”— inventive repurposing and redeployment of cultural ideas and products.  Besides Howells and Fitzgerald, I consider Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, Heller's Catch-22, and Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

Teaching

Assistant Professor, Whitworth University.  (July 2008 – Present)
Instructor/GA, Ball State University.  (Aug. 2000 – 2002, Aug. 2004 – May 2008)
Instructor, Ivy Tech State College.  (Summer 2000, Summer 2001)

          First-Year/Freshman Seminar (1 section, 2009)
          Introduction to English Studies (5 sections, 2004 – 2007)
          Reading Literature (2 sections, 2006 – 2009)
          Senior Seminar/Senior Portfolio (1 section, 2010)

          20th-Century American Literature (2 section, 2008 – 2010)
          Postmodern Literature and Culture (1 section, 2010)
          American Drama Since 1900 (1 section, 2011)
          American Immigrant Literature (2 sections, 2009 – 2011)
          American Literature Survey, Discovery to Present (1 section, 2009)
          American Literature Survey, 1865 to Present (4 sections, 2002 – 2011)

          Digital Storytelling (2 sections, 2009 – 2010)
          English Studies and Technology (1 section, 2008)
           Film Studies (3 sections, 2006 – 2010)
          Visual Narratives (Graphic Novels) (1 section, 2011)

          Writing 1 (17 sections, 2000 – 2010)
          Writing 2 (2 sections, 2001 – 2005)
          Basic Writing 1 (1 section, 2001)
          Basic Writing 2 (2 sections, 2000 – 2001)

Administration

Writing Program Assistant Director for Technology / Laptop Classroom Coordinator, Ball State University.  Coordination of renovations and technology purchases; writing annual technology proposals; troubleshooting and teacher support for laptop-based classrooms; development and implementation of new ideas for laptop-oriented teaching and learning, based on teacher and student feedback; offering, organizing, and running workshops for teachers.  (Aug. 2005 – May 2008) 

Director of the “Tell-a-Vision” Program, Ball State University; sponsored by the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry and the BSU Center for Media Design.  Funding and guidance of team-based, student-driven, new/digital media projects.  (July 2002 – Dec. 2004)

Graduate Assistant for Study Abroad Programs, Ball State University Center for International Programs.  Promotion of study abroad programs on campus; management/direction of team of five undergraduate classroom presenters.  (Aug. 1996 – May 1998)

Publications and Professional Presentations

Academic Publications

"Film School for Slideware: Film, Comics, and Slideshows as Sequential Art." Computers and Composition.  34 MS pages. Print.  (Forthcoming.)

Commentary and Background for Hannah Charlton’s “The Shadow of Turning.”  The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects 3.1 (2011): n. pag.  Web. <http://jump.dwrl.utexas.edu/content/hcv3.1>.  Along with Hannah's comic adaptation project from my Visual Narratives course, this piece features my commentary, additional reviewer commentary, course information, and my extensive class assignment.

Commentary and Background for Kyle Kim’s “Closer.”  The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects 2.1 (2010): n. pag.  Web. <http://jump.cwrl.utexas.edu/content/kk>.  Along with Kyle’s video project from my Digital Storytelling course, this piece features my commentary, additional reviewer commentary, course information, and my extensive class assignment.

“A Portable Ecology: Supporting New Media Writing and Laptop-Ready Pedagogy at Ball State University.” 19 pages. With Kristie S. Fleckenstein and Jackie Grutsch McKinney. Technological Ecologies and Sustainability: Methods, Modes, and Assessment. Ed. Dŕnielle Nicole DeVoss, Heidi A. McKee, and Richard Selfe. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State UP, 2009. Web.

“About Those Loops.” Technological Ecologies and Sustainability: Methods, Modes, and Assessment. Ed. Dŕnielle Nicole DeVoss, Heidi A. McKee, and Richard Selfe. 10 Minute Video. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State UP, 2009. Web.

“Weak Ties and Academic Community.”  Forum: Newsletter of the Committee on Contingent, Adjunct, and Part-Time Faculty.  Special Section in College Composition and Communication 60.1 (2008): A9-A11. Print.

“Surviving a Plague of Blogs: Strategies for Understanding and Managing Online News and Opinion Environments.”  Reformation: The Teaching and Learning of English in Electronic Environments.  Ed. Richard N. Matzen, Jr., and Jia-yi Cheng-Levine.  Taiwan: Bookman Books, 2007.  167-84. Print.

“U2, Mythology, and Mass Mediated Survival.”  Popular Music and Society 27.1 (2004): 79-99. Print. Article based on MA thesis; explores identity formation and manipulation in mass media environments.


Selected Presentations (Click Here for Complete List)

"MacGuffins and Mad Science: How Lost Dodges Moral Consequences by Ignoring the Bloody Promise of Its Premise.”  Opening remarks for “Religious Themes and Human Prospect in Lost,” a public panel discussion with Dave Calhoun, Michael Collender, and Daniel Walter.  Faith, Film, and Philosophy Lecture Series, Whitworth and Gonzaga Universities, Spokane, WA (Oct. 2010).

“The Story of ‘Digital Storytelling': Developing a No-Budget Course in Emerging Writing Technologies” at the Computers and Writing Conference, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (May 2010).

“Starting with Bad PowerPoint: Slideware Instruction and the New Media Composition Course” at the Computers and Writing Conference, UC Davis, Davis, CA (June 2009).

"A Portable Ecology: Planning Your Next Move" (workshop session), as part of the "Technological Ecologies: Methods, Modes and Assessment" workshop chaired by Dickie Selfe at the Computers and Writing Conference, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI (May 2007). 

“How to Refuse Friendship and Irritate People: The Formation, Fracturing, and Control of Social Networks in Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away” at the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2007).

“Help Me Find It: Teaching Research as a ‘Long Tail’ Conversation” at the Indiana College English Association Annual Conference, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN (Sep. 2006).

“From the ‘Long Tail’ to the Center: How Blogging and the Internet Make Little Things Big” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, IL (Mar. 2006).  (Reviewed here.)

“Exploiting the Apopheniac: How Power Circumvents Itself in William F. Gibson’s Pattern Recogniton.” at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2006). 

“Access at the Hubs: The Pedagogical Potential of ‘Weblogs’ and Other News Hubs” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, CA (Mar. 2005).

“Nets with Disabilities: A Network Science Approach to Motherless Brooklyn, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and The Pleasure of My Company” at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2005).

"Tom Corey in the Court of the Paint King: The Unstable Social Network in W. D. Howells's The Rise of Silas Lapham" at the Indiana College English Association Annual Conference, Ball State University, Muncie, IN (Oct. 2004).

“How They Play the Kevin Bacon Game in West Egg (and at Fangoso Lagoons): Approaching Literary Criticism Through Network Science” at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2004).

“Michel Foucault Plays the Kevin Bacon Game: The Science of Networks in Literature Classrooms and Literary Criticism” at the Indiana College English Association Annual Conference, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN (Sep. 2003).

"Revenge of the Flukeman: Agents, Scenes, Subversions, and Darin Morgan’s X-Files” at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2003).

“A Tour of the Panoptic(online)” at the Conference on College Composition and Communications, Chicago, IL (Mar. 2002).

Poetry Readings

“Punch Blindly Like Children” (poetry reading) at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2002).

"The Stinkeye Rhymes" (poetry reading) at the Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Feb. 2000).

Special Events

“Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry National Showcase” (co-coordinator, with Joseph F. Trimmer and James W. Miles) in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, IN (Nov. 2004).  Event featured multimedia projects from the Tell-a-Vision program and from the Virginia Ball Center’s many “creative inquiry” seminars.

Fellowships, Honors, and Grants

Innovative Teaching Award, Whitworth University. University-wide award presented to one faculty member each year on the strength of written nominations from faculty.  (2010)

Distinguished Dissertation Award, Ball State Alumni Association. Single BSU dissertation selected annually by an intra-university committee of faculty scholars on the basis of originality, significant contribution to knowledge, quality of writing, and potential for publication. (2007)

Professional Equity Project Grant, Conference on College Composition and Communication. Nominated by department chair to receive this grant funding attendance of the CCCC Convention in 2006. $250. (2006)

Grant to bring Dr. Stephen Watt (Indiana U.) to campus as a “UniverCity” speaker. UniverCity is a week-long academic festival featuring “world-class artists, scholars, innovators and leaders.” $500. (2002)

Voss Scholarship for Graduate Research. Competitive annual award funding graduate-level research in literature. $500. (2002)

Ball State University Graduate Fellowship. Awarded annually to approximately 8 of more than 2000 graduate students at BSU. Full tuition and stipend. (Aug. 1998 – Summer 2000)

Selected Professional Service

Elected Member, Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Committee (TLAC), Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2011/12).

Member, New Media Task Force, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2008/09, 2010/11 –  2011/12 ).

Member, Leonard Oakland Film Festival Committee, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2009/10 – 2011/12).

Judge/Organizer, Whitworth Student Film and Animation Competition, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2009/10 – 2011/12).

Faculty Sponsor, Westminster Round (English Department Student Organization), Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2009/10 – 2011/12).

Search Committee Member, Tenure Track English Faculty (Composition/Rhetoric, Writing Center Director), Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Spring 2011).

Discussion Group Facilitator/Judge, Honors Colloquium (Faculty Scholarship Competition), Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Spring 2011).

Reviewer, Act Six Scholarship Essays, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Jan. 2011). 

Search Committee Member, Tenure Track English Faculty (Composition/Rhetoric, WP Director), Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Fall 2010).

Conference Committee Member, Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference (SIRC), Whitworth and Gonzaga Universities, Spokane, WA (2010/11).

“Some Easy Slide Designs That Work (PowerPoint Therapy 2).”  Teaching Roundtable Discussion for Whitworth University Faculty, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Oct. 2010).

Faculty Representative, Presidential Planning Commission, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (2009/10).

"Sharing Culture."  Media Unlimited: Technology, Ethics, and Life at Whitworth in the 21st Century.  Panel Discussion.  Sponsored by Weyerhaeuser Center for Faith and Learning & The Center for Ethics at Whitworth University.  Robinson Teaching Theatre, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Mar. 2010).  Audio (3rd Speaker).

“A Little PowerPoint Therapy.”  Teaching Roundtable Discussion for Whitworth University Faculty, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Mar. 2010).

"Grad School in English: An Interactive Roundtable Discussion, with Snacks."  Roundtable Discussion for English students.  (w/Laurie Lamon, Casey Andrews, and Thom Carraway).  English Department, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA (Oct. 2008, Oct. 2009).

Elected Member, Contract Faculty Merit Committee, Department of English, Ball State University (2007/08).

“Teaching with Laptops.”  Two workshop sessions for Writing Program faculty, Ball State University, Muncie, IN (May 2007).

Undergraduate Studies Committee, Contract Faculty Representative, Department of English, Ball State University (2006/07, 2007/08).

Judge, Frog Baby Film Festival 2006.  Annual student film festival sponsored by Cardinal Filmworks, Ball State University's student-run film production company (Apr. 2006).  (Click here to see the winning film.)

Elected Member, Contract Faculty Steering Committee, Department of English, Ball State University (2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08).

Freshman Connections Faculty, First Year Undergraduate Experience Program, Ball State University. (2005 - 2007).

Organizer, Penscape, bi-annual graduate poetry/prose readings, Ball State University Department of English (1999/00, 2000/01).

Conference Committee, Practical Criticism Midwest VIII, Ball State University. In-house conference at Ball State (1998).

Membership in Professional Organizations

Modern Language Association.  (2002 to present)

National Council of Teachers of English.  (2004 to present)

Other Publications

e-Ball Point: Writing Program Handbook.  20th ed. of Ball Point, 2nd electronic edition. Editor/Co-writer.  Muncie, IN: Ball State University Department of English, 2002.  BSU’s in-house writing handbook. 

“Feedback in Muncie.”  jar.  Nov. 2000.  Publication of the Muncie Star Press.  Feature on a local literary magazine and interview with editor.

“Circvs People.”  jar.  Jan. 2000.  Publication of the Muncie Star Press.  Feature on local arts and community development.

“America in Art at the Ball State University Museum of Art.”  Writer and Editor.  Muncie, IN: Ball State University Museum of Art, 2000.  Educational materials and activities for elementary classrooms, based on works in the BSU museum of art.  104 pages.

“Native Art of North America in the Ball State University Museum of Art.”  Writer and Editor. Muncie, IN: Ball State University Museum of Art, 1999.  Educational materials and activities for elementary classrooms, based on works in the BSU museum of art.  43 pages.

“African Art at the Ball State University Museum of Art.”  Writer and Editor.  Muncie, IN: Ball State University Museum of Art, 1998.  Educational materials and activities for elementary classrooms, based on works in the BSU museum of art.  50 pages.

Community Service

Coordinator, Gallery Stage, Circvs 1999 and Circvs 2000.  Regional independent music festival (1999, 2000).

Coordinator, Guido’s Coffeehouse series.  Readings, musical performances, art exhibits (1998 – 2000).

Updated 5/2011