Learning to Turn Data into Stories That Create Change
Data: More than a Four-Letter Word The week after every academic semester brings something many faculty dread: the anonymous student evaluations of the courses they just finished teaching. After nearly two decades of teaching in higher education, I try to read these evaluations with this mindset: just as my critical feedback on students’ writing presents […]
Spotlight: What I’m Teaching: Nimona
Recently, in my Graphic Novels class (ENGL 3715), I taught Nimona, a young adult (YA) graphic novel about a young shapeshifter who joins supervillain Ballister Blackheart as his sidekick against Sir Goldenloin and the Institute. When I teach literature classes, I sometimes include a YA book for a few reasons. I often have future teachers […]
What do collapsing bridges, Georges Seurat, and transorbital lobotomies have in common?
A glimpse at three themed first-year writing courses at YSU Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, November 1940. Photo at the Library of Congress. Introduction What do collapsing bridges, Georges Seurat, and transorbital lobotomies have in common? All of them have come up in the first-year writing courses I’ve been teaching. When you build a bridge, you must account for how it responds […]
What Scares You? New ‘Monsters, Mayhem, and Murder’ Literature Course
I’ve been studying early modern England for almost 30 years now, and I’m always struck by how, in this relatively brief span of time, we see amazing convergence of so many energies and tensions. In the English Renaissance, we have technological innovation, religious and political upheaval, astounding cultural output in the arts and sciences, and […]
Coming Home to YSU: A new chapter for the YSU English Major
When I first arrived on the campus of Youngstown State University as an undergraduate English major in the mid-1990s, I could not have imagined that this place would one day become not only my alma mater, but my professional home. I earned my BA here in 1998 and my MA in 2003, both in English, […]