Degrees
PhD
English, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, Louisiana), 2012
Dissertation: The Establishment of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as the Standard Text of English-Language Arthurian Legend.
Advisors: Drs. Chris Healy and Jennifer Vaught
Comprehensive Exams Passed with Distinction
Medieval English Language and Literature (primary emphasis, to approx. 1485)
Fantasy Literature of the US and Britain (secondary emphasis, 1945 to 2009)
Early Modern English Literature (approx. 1485-1660)
Early American Literature (to approx. 1900)
MA
English, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, Louisiana), 2007
Thesis: "Manifestations of English Arthurian Legend in the Farseer and Tawny Man Triolgies of Robin Hobb."
Advisor: Dr. Chris Healy
BA
English, University of Texas at San Antonio (San Antonio, Texas), 2005
Continuing Education
Oklahoma State University Provost’s Initiative Workshops (Written Communication, Diversity), 2014-2015
University of Cambridge International Summer Schools (Medieval Studies), 2012
Refereed/Reviewed Publications
"Moving beyond Tolkien's Medievalism: Robin Hobb’s Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies." Fantasy and Science Fiction Medievalisms: From Isaac Asimov to A Game of Thrones. Amherst, NY: Cambria P. Forthcoming in June 2015.
"Where Writes Me." CCC 66.2 (December 2014): 247-49. Print.
"Melville's Moby-Dick." The Explicator 67.4 (Summer 2009): 252-54. Print.
"Shades of Steel-Gray: The Nuanced Warrior-Hero in the Farseer Trilogy." Studies in Fantasy Literature 4 (2006): 70-78. Print.
Other Publications
"One Other Bone in the LotR Online Soup." UNICORN Cloud Conference and Virtual Museum. 20 February 2015. Web.
“My Revised Plan B.” How to Succeed in College: It's Never Too Late! Part Two for Adult Learners. Ed. Nancy Riecken. Gary, IN: It’s for Your Community, 2014. Ebook.
“Undisregard.” The View from Here: Poetry to Help You Soar. Ed. Nancy Riecken. Gary, IN: It’s for Your Community, 2014. Ebook.
“By the Crawl-Space Door.” One Image: One Hundred Voices. Elizabeth S. Gunn, 9 December 2013. Web.
“My Acquaintance with Katrina.” Beyond Katrina. Ed. Patricia Ellyn Powell. Alexandria, LA: Arts & Healthcare P, 2005. Print. 16.
Conference Presentations
"One Other Bone in the LotR Online Soup. Popular Culture and the Deep Past, 2015: Tolkien Days (Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio). 2015.
"Royal Evils in the Farseer Trilogy." Evil Incarnate: Manifestations of Villains and Villainy (Case Western Reserve University; Cleveland, Ohio). 2014. (Abstract)
"Play with It." Legacies of Undergraduate Research Roundtable. CCCC (Indianapolis, Indiana). 2014.
With Sonya Jaramillo. "Is the English Strong Verb Making a Comeback?" City University of New York Graduate Center Strange and Quirky Ideas in Development Symposium (New York, New York). 2009.
"Here There Be Dragons: Draconic Parallels between Beowulf and The Faerie Queene." South Central Renaissance Conference (San Antonio, Texas). 2007. (Abstract)
With Michael J. Berntsen. "Tutors, Pimps, and Other Advertising Geniuses." South Central Writing Center Association Conference (Little Rock, Arkansas). 2006.
With Sonya Jaramillo and Melissa A. Kizina. "Building Ideas: The Use of Tangibles in the Writing Center." South Central Writing Center Association Conference (Little Rock, Arkansas). 2006.
International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
"White Hats for White Plumes: The Western as Arthurian Romance Reimagined." 2015. (Abstract)
"Unchurched: On the Relative Lack of Religion in Tolkienan-Tradition Fantasy Literature." 2014. (Abstract)
"A Divergent Medievalism in Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies." 2013. (Abstract)
"Knighthood Continued: The Endurance of the Chivalric in Early Stuart England." 2011. (Abstract)
"No Advice sans Knowledge: The Major Martial Aspect of Castiglione's Ideal Courtier." 2010. (Abstract)
South Central Modern Language Association Conference
"A Tacit Satire in Stansby's 1634 Le Morte d'Arthur." (Austin, Texas). 2014. (Abstract)
"Which Way I Fly Is Middle-Earth; Myself Am Middle-earth: Miltonic Resonance in Tolkien." (Hot Springs, Arkansas). 2011. (Abstract)
"Manifest Destiny and Other Western Ideas in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son." (Fort Worth, Texas). 2010. (Abstract)
"Closed-Lipped Howls: Lupine/Human Psychic Projections in Contemporary Fantasy Literature." (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). 2009. (Abstract)
"Riddle Me This: Warrior Ethics in The Dream of the Rood." (San Antonio, Texas). 2008.
"Martial Methodology in Malory." (Memphis, Tennessee). 2007. (Abstract)
Institutional Affiliations and Professional Positions
Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Oklahoma)
Visiting Assistant Professor of English, 2013-2015
Technical Career Institutes (New York, New York)
Instructor in Arts and Sciences, 2010-2013
Adjunct Instructor in Arts and Sciences, 2009-2010
University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, Louisiana)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2005-2009
Courses Taught
Oklahoma State University
Technical Career Institutes
ENG 101: Freshman Composition I (Mainstream/Regular)
ENG 100: Freshman Composition I (Developmental)
ENG 082: Basic Writing Skills
ENG 081: Basic Reading Skills
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
ENGL 360: Advanced Exposition
ENGL 207: Poetry
ENGL 205: Early American Literature (to 1865)
ENGL 204: Novel and Short Fiction
ENGL 201: Early British Literature (through 18th Century)
ENGL 102: Writing and Culture
ENGL 101: Introduction to Academic Writing
ENGL 090: Developmental English
Selected Service
Reviewer and Editorial Board Member, Humanities Directory, 2013-2014.
Presenter, City University of New York Graduate Center Professional Development Series (New York, New York), 2009.
International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
Presider, Looking Back at the Middle Ages General Session, 2015.
Presider, From Frodo to Fidelma: Medievalism in Popular Genres Roundtable, 2015.
Presider, Middle English Arthuriana Regular Session, 2014.
Presider, Arthuriana Regular Session, 2013.
South Central Modern Language Association
Chair, English I: Old and Middle English Regular Session (Nashville, Tennessee), 2015.
Chair, English I: Old and Middle English Regular Sessions (New Orleans, Louisiana), 2013.
Organizer and Presider, Tauroscatology Special Session (San Antonio, Texas), 2012.
Organizer and Presider, Borrowings from the Past: Reception Studies Special Session (Hot Springs, Arkansas), 2011.
Organizer and Presider, Re-creations of the American West in Popular Culture Special Session (Fort Worth, Texas), 2010.
Tales after Tolkien Society
Vice-President (USA), 2014-2015.
Curator and contributor, Tales after Tolkien: Travels in Genre and Medievalism, 2014-2015.
Technical Career Institutes
Faculty Mentor
Coordinator, Professional Development Research Forum
Member, Library Committee
Originator, Standard Course Syllabus for HUM 209: Ethics and Technology
Participant, Lecture Capture Pilot Program
Guest Lecturer
ESL 031: Advanced ESL
RV 021: ESL Reading and Vocabulary
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Contributor/Organizer, Department of English Thursday Night Reading Series
Presenter, Department of English First-Year Writing Workshops
Member, Louisiana Conference on Language and Literature Abstracts Committee
Chair, Graduate Student Conference on Language and Literature Abstracts Committee
Guest Lecturer
ENGL 505: Medieval Studies (Arthurian Literature)
ENGL 424: Shakespeare, Later Plays
ENGL 360: Advanced Exposition
Selected Awards and Honors
Oklahoma State University Department of English Travel Program for Visiting Assistant Professors
South Central Modern Language Association Travel Grant
Technical Career Institutes
Sabbatical Leave (awarded but waived)
Research and Travel Grant
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Florence Sanders Jones Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in English
Graduate Student Organization Research and Travel Grant
Department of English Graduate Assistantship
Professional Associations
Research and Teaching Interests
Arthurian literature
Fantastic and speculative literatures
Literatures of medieval and early modern England
Reception of medieval and other literatures
"Warrior" texts, including combat manuals
Scansion and interpretation of poetry
Technical and professional writing
First-year English composition, including remedial/developmental English
Other Online Academic and Professional Presence