Curriculum Vitae
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Selected Conference Presentations
Ph.D., Dissertation and M.A. Thesis Advising
Downloadable CV [.doc]
Education
Ph.D. English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000)
M.A. English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.A. English, University of Pennsylvania
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor: Department of English, Auburn University (2005-Present)
Assistant Professor: Department of English, Auburn University (2000-2005)
Visiting Instructor: Department of English, Wake Forest University; Winston-Salem, NC (1999)
Senior Fellow: Department of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999)
Books
Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Culture, 1650-1950. Studies in American Thought and Culture Series. General editor Paul S. Boyer. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming Spring 2009.
Inventing Catholicism: Literary History and the Contest for American Religion. [Under development].
Peer-Reviewed Articles
“New Orleans Cinema and Social Change, 1930-1970.” [under development]
“Cars of Destiny: Globalism in the Gilded Age of Motoring.” [42 manuscript pages, submitted for publication].
“Quakers in American Print Culture, 1800-1950.” In Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America. Ed. Charles L. Cohen and Paul S. Boyer. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming Spring 2008.
“Emmylou Harris.” In The Encyclopedia of Alabama. Auburn, AL: Alabama Humanities Foundation, 2007. [HTML]
“‘Insatiable as Good Old America’: Tough Guys Don’t Dance and Popular Criminality.” Special issue on Norman Mailer since The Executioner’s Song. Ed. John Whalen-Bridge. Journal of Modern Literature 30.1 (Fall 2006), 17-22.[PDF; subscription required]
“Ishmael’s Recovery: Injury, Illness, and Convalescence in Moby-Dick.” Special issue on Disability. Ed. Samuel Otter and David T. Mitchell. Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies 8 (March 2006): 17-34.[PDF; subscription required]
“Antebellum Literary Criticism.” In: American History through Literature, 1820-1870, 2nd edition. Ed. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert D. Sattelmeyer. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. 668-673.
“Robert Creeley’s Pieces.” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Edited by Burt Kimmelman. New York: Facts on File, 2005, pp. 376-378.
“John Berryman.” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Edited by Burt Kimmelman. New York: Facts on File, 2005, pp. 41-42.
“Kenneth Patchen.” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Edited by Burt Kimmelman. New York: Facts on File, 2005, pp. 371-372.
“Unitarianism,” “Perry Miller,” “Bishop James Healey.” [brief essays]. In The Encyclopedia of New England Culture. Ed. Burt Feintuch and David H. Watters. Foreword by Donald Hall. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
“Orestes Brownson in Young America: Popular Books and the Fate of Catholic Criticism.” American Literary History 15 (2003): 443-470.[PDF; subscription required]
“Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in Early American Fiction.” Studies in American Fiction 44 (Fall 2003): 191-220.
“Melville in the Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Fraternalism, and the Artisanal Ideal.” In: Melville Among the Nations. Edited by Sanford E. Marovitz and A. C. Christodoulou. pp. 68-81. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press/Athens, Greece: Gutenberg Orbis Press, 2001.
“Orestes Brownson.” The American Renaissance in New England. Vol. 1. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 235, third series. Pp. 1-20. Edited by Wesley T. Mott, Kent P. Ljungquist, and Joel Myerson. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
“‘The Blind Authoress of New York’: Helen De Kroyft and the Uses of Disability in Antebellum America.” American Quarterly 51 (June 1999): 385-418.[PDF; subscription required]
“Sentimental Catechism: Archbishop James Gibbons, Mass-Print Culture, and American Literary History.” Religion and American Culture 7, no. 1 (Winter 1997): 81-120.[PDF; subscription required]
Selected Book Reviews
Of Peter Coviello, Intimacy in America: Dreams of Affiliation in Antebellum Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. South Atlantic Review, forthcoming.
Of Tracy Fessenden, Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular and American Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Journal of American History 94.2 (September 2007): 531.
Of Simi Linton, My Body Politic: A Memoir. Ann Arbor; University of Michigan Press, 2006. Disability Studies Quarterly, Summer 2006, Volume 26, No. 2 [HTML]
Of Robert Jackson, Seeking the Region in American Literature and Culture. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2005. Southern Humanities Review, 40.4 (2006) 396-402.
Of Stephanie Browner, Profound Science and Elegant Literature: Imagining Doctors in Nineteenth-Century America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. South Atlantic Review, 2006, forthcoming.
Of Patrick W. Carey, Orestes A. Brownson: American Religious Weathervane. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. Journal of American Historyy 92.3 (December 2005): 985-986.[PDF; subscription required]
Of Peter J. Bellis, Writing Revolution: Aesthetic and Politics in Hawthorne, Whitman, and Thoreau. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2003. South Atlantic Review 70 (2005): 158-161.
Of Robert J. Richards, The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. In Southern Humanities Review 37 (Winter 2005): 86-89.
Of Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. Ed. Andrea Oppenheimer Dean. Photographs by Timothy Hursley. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. In Southern Humanities Review 36 (Spring 2003): 174-178.
“A Peopled World,” a review-essay of Hershel Parker, Herman Melville: A Biography, 2 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. In The South Carolina Review 35. 1 (Fall 2002), 204-207.
“Reinventing Melville,” a review-essay of Robert Del Tredici. Floodgates of the Wonder World: A Moby-Dick Pictorial. andClare Spark, Hunting Captain Ahab: Psychological Warfare and the Melville Revival. In The South Carolina Review 35 (Fall 2001): 214-218.
Of Dale S. Brown, Learning a Living: Planning Careers for People with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Dyslexia. In Foreword (March 2000): 62.
Of Ross Labrie, The Catholic Imagination in American Literature. In American Literature 71 (June 2000): 445-446.[PDF; subscription required]
Of Jacques Lusseyran, Against the Pollution of the Eye: Selected Writings. In Foreword (Sept. 1999): 55.
Of Robert A. Herrera, Orestes Brownson: Sign of Contradiction. In Foreword 3 (August 1999): 64.
Of Patrick Allitt, Catholic Converts: British and American Intellectuals Turn to Rome. In The New England Quarterly 61 (March 1998): 156-158.
Of David D. Hall, Cultures of Print: Essays in the History of the Book. In Early American Literature 32.2 (1997): 198-200.
Selected Conference Presentations
“New Orleans Cinema and Social Change, 1930-1970.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. 2008 (pending).
"Staging Quakerism in Anglo-American Theatre and Film" Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists. Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center. Birmingham, England. June 2008.
“New Orleans Cinema.” Graduate Colloquium, Auburn University, March 2007.
“Imaginary Friends.” University of Wisconsin Center for the Book Conference. Madison, WI. September, 2004.
“Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in Early American Fiction.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Atlanta, November 2004.
“Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Fiction.” Southern American Studies Association Meeting. Tallahassee, FL. Feb. 7-9, 2003.
“Automotive Postmodernism, 1885-1915: Going Global in the Early Motor-Car.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, November 8-11, 2001.
“Ishmael’s Recovery: Injury and Convalescence in Moby-Dick.” Third International Melville Conference: Moby-Dick 2001. Hempstead, NY: Hofstra University, October 2001.
“Cars of Destiny: Globalism and the Gilded Age of Motoring.” Southern American Studies Association meeting. Atlanta, February 2001.
"Transcendentalism's Architectural Memory: Frank Lloyd Wright, R. Buckminster Fuller, and American Utopia." Southern American Studies Conference, Wilmington, NC Feb. 1999.
“A Mystical Empire: Isaac Hecker’s Catholicism and the Religious Destiny of Antebellum America.” American Studies Association annual meeting, Seattle, November 1998.
“Blindness, Authorship, and the Gendered Rhetoric of Disability.” Back to the Futures: An Institute in American Studies. The Humanities Research Institute at Dartmouth College/Mellon Foundation/NEH. Hanover, NH, June 1998.
“The Blind Authoress of New York: Helen De Kroyft and the Uses of Women’s Authorship in Antebellum America.” American Studies Association annual meeting; Washington, DC, 30 October–2 November 1997. (Awarded the ASA Baxter travel grant as one of five outstanding graduate student essays.)
"Melville in the Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Fraternalism, and the Artisanal Ideal." First International Melville Conference, Volos, Greece, 2–6 July 1997.
Comment. Duke University/University of North Carolina Religious Studies Colloquium, Chapel Hill, NC, January 1997.
“Questions of the American Soul: Isaac Hecker’s Spiritual Geography.” Graduate English Conference, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, November 1996.
“James Gibbons's Sentimental Catechism and American Literary History.” Mid-Atlantic Region American Academy of Religion/Society for Biblical Literature Conference, Baltimore, April 1996.
“Liturgy for Suffering Bodies: Catholic Cultures and Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon.” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Louisville, KY, February 1996.
Ph.D. Dissertation and M.A. Thesis Advising
Directed theses and dissertations (in progress):
Mark Hill (Ph.D 2010, expected), dissertation director. In progress.
Janna Maples (B.A. 2009, expected) senior honors thesis, thesis director. In progress.
Chris Snellgrove (M.A. 2008, expected), thesis director. In progress.
Carey Pilgrim (M.A. 2008, expected), thesis director. In progress.
Directed theses and dissertations (completed):
Jessica Sims (M.A. 2007). thesis director, “What Would Mother Do?: Boys as Mothers in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Jennifer Reid (M.A. 2006. thesis director, “`Not So Much Written as Dreamed’: Quaker Dream-Work in Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly.” Current position: medical editor/producer for healthcenteronline.com (iVillage) , Miami, Florida.
Ivy Grimes (B.A. 2006). thesis director,“Religion and Family Life in the Oneida Community." Senior honors thesis. Current position: MFA candidate—University of Alabama.
Deborah Walling (M.A. 2005).thesis director, “'The Trance of Ecstatica’: Margaret Fuller, Animal Magnetism, and the Transcendental Body.” Current position: Ph.D. candidate—University of Georgia. **Revised version of this thesis published in Religion and Literature (2007).
M. Kevin Quinn (M.A. 2005). thesis director. Current position, Ph.D. candidate—West Virginia University.
Joseph Brown (M.A. 2004). thesis director,"The Aesthetics of Apocalypse." Current position: Ph.D. candidate—Louisiana State University.
Theses and dissertation committee service:
Amy Qualls, Auburn University. Committee member, Ph.D 2009, expected.
Nick Boone, Auburn Universiity. Committee member, Ph.D.2007 Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of English, Harding University, Arkansas.
Leslie Worthington, Auburn University. Committee member, Ph.D. 2007.
Antonia Bowden, Auburn University. Committee member, M.A., 2007.
Ray Dillman, Auburn University. Committee member, M.A., 2007. Current position: Instructor, United States Military Academy.
Melissa Pojasek, Auburn University. Committee member, M.A.,2007. Current position: Ph.D. candidate, Department of English, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Chandler Combest, Auburn University. Committee member, B.A. senior honors thesis, 2007. Current position: law student, University of Alabama Law School.
Sara Frear, Auburn University Dept. of History. Committee member, Ph.D., 2007. Current position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of South Alabama.
Cayce Gordy Van Horn, Auburn University. Committee member, M.A., 2006.
Mark Brodie, Auburn University. Committee member, Ph.D., 2007. Current position: Instructor, Department of English, Auburn University.
Peer Reviewing
PMLA
Religion and American Culture
Journal of American History
Tenure referee
Department of English, University of Memphis (2006)
Administrative Assignments
Associate Head, Department of English, Auburn University. Hiring, training, and supervisory responsibility for approximately 50 full-time Instructors in the English Department. 2006-present.
Assistant Head, Department of English, Auburn University. 2005-2006.
Chair, American Literature (late-19th century to present) Hiring Committee. 2006-2007.
Member, AU Honors College Director hiring committee. 2006.
Summer Coordinator of World Literature, Graduate Studies, and Undergraduate Studies. 2006, 2007.
Chair, Instructor Hiring Committee. 2005-present.
Member, Executive Committee, Department of English, Auburn University. 2005-present.
Member, Graduate Studies Committee. 2004-2007.
Member, “New Directions” Annual Retreat Planning Committee. 2004.
Panelist, AU Department of English Creative/Research Forum. March 2004.
Faculty Advisor, English Club/Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society. Auburn University. 2003-present.
Member, Executive Committee of the Southern American Studies Association. 2003-2005.
Guest lecturer, “Merit Monday” for the Honors College, Auburn University. Feb. 2003.
Faculty Judge, Auburn University Program Council Songwriting Contest, 2003, 2004.
Founder and Coordinator, Auburn Haiku Challenge. 2002. Annual large-scale poetry writing event for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students; 30 students participated in Fall 2002 by writing and circulating haiku poetry daily for 30 days.
Founder and Coordinator, Haley Center Poetry Project. 2001-2006. Spoken-word and poetry performance series at Auburn University. Founded and coordinated semi-annual public reading by 50 faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students.
Member, Ad Hoc Committee for English Department Distinction Program.
Member, Benson Lecture Committee. 2002-2003.
Member, Job Search Committee [creative writing/poetry]. Fall 2002.
Member, Department of English Undergraduate Studies Committee. 2002-2005.
Faculty judge for graduate student presentations, Graduate Research Forum, sponsored by the Auburn University Graduate Student Council. March 2002.
Member, Department of English Task Force for Student Recruitment. Auburn University, 2001-2002.
Member, Great Books Committee. Auburn University. 2001-2003.
Member, Cultural Diversity in Great Books Committee. Auburn University. Supported by the Breeden Grant, 2000-2001.
Instructional mentor, Auburn University Great Books program. Formally mentored and supervised the instruction of two graduate teaching assistants in core curriculum classes, Fall 2001.
Grants, Awards, and Honors
Early Career Teaching Excellence Award. (sole recipient). College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University. 2003-2004.
Promoted to Graduate Faculty, level 2. Fall 2003.
Residential Seminar Fellowship, “American Literature and the Question of Belief. Pew Charitable Trusts/Calvin College Seminar in Christian Scholarship.” Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. June 24-July 26, 2002 [competitive; received $3000 grant for participation]
Humanities Development Fund Grant, Auburn University. Summer 2002.
Competitive Research Grant. Auburn University, 2002-2003.
J. Walter Thompson Travel Grant (competitive) Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History, Duke University, Durham, N.C. (Summer 2002).
Morgan Writer-in-Residence program director. Organized UNC-Chapel Hill campus-wide events for visiting author Russell Banks, 1999-2000. Duties included handling publicity, budgeting, special events, interdepartmental communications, and community outreach.
Senior Fellow: University of North Carolina English Department (competitive). 1999-2000.
Back to the Futures: An Institute in American Studies. The Humanities Research Institute at Dartmouth College/Mellon Foundation (competitive). Selected as a participant in the international American Studies symposium. Hanover, N.H., 1998.
American Studies Association Travel Grant recipient, 1997 ASA Conference (competitive). Annette K. Baxter travel grant awarded to the top five graduate student papers at the annual ASA meeting.
American Antiquarian Society, 1997 Summer Seminar, “Getting into Print.” Selected as a participant in the annual seminar on the history of the book (competitive).
Chairman of “Positions” critical theory colloquium and lecture series, UNC-Chapel Hill. 1992-93 (elected).
Editorial board, Carolina Quarterly. Evaluated poetry submissions for North Carolina’s oldest literary magazine, 1998-2001.
UNC-Chapel Hill English Department, Peer Review Committee Member, 1997-98 (elected). Evaluated teaching fellows in literature and composition courses.
UNC-Chapel Hill English Department, Coordinating Group Leader, 1998-99 (competitive). Led group training for teaching fellows in literature and composition courses.
UNC Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Grant, Summer 1997.
C. S. Herschel Course Development Award, 1997 (competitive). Composition Program, UNC-Chapel Hill. Departmental award for innovative and interdisciplinary freshman writing course design.
Benjamin Franklin Scholar, University of Pennsylvania [undergraduate].
Professional Organizations
American Studies Association
Quaker Historical Association
Modern Language Association
Melville Society
Society of Early Americanists