Newsworthy: Welcome New Instructors
Please welcome eleven new instructors to the English Department.
Chantel Acevedo comes to Auburn University from her most recent academic position as Dean of Students at Chase Collegiate School in Waterbury, Connecticut. She is a creative writer who holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Miami. Her first novel, Love and Ghost Letters, focuses on life in Cuba before the Revolution. It was first published by St. Martins Press in 2005, and it will be released in a new paperback edition this fall.
Stuart Allen has held teaching positions at Ohio Wesleyan University and Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He holds a B. A. degree in English from the University of Leeds; Masters degrees from both the University of Sussex and Wolfson College, Oxford; and a doctorate in English from Wolfson College, Oxford. His current research focuses on British Romanticism, especially the poetry of William Wordsworth. 
Katherine Brewer is a recent Summa Cum Laude graduate of Auburn's English undergraduate program, and she has a master's degree from Auburn, for which she completed a creative writing thesis under the direction of Professor Judy Troy. Katherine has recently taught not only English but also math, science, religion, and history at Trinity Classical Christian School in Opelika .
Mark Brodie studied, received degrees, and taught at several institutions, including Virginia Commonwealth University, Clemson University, and Bowling Green University in Ohio, and he is a Ph. D. candidate in twentieth-century literature. He has taught in Auburn's core curriculum for several years. He's currently completing a dissertation on representations of the Holocaust under the direction of Professor Jon Bolton. 
Nathan Faries received his Ph. D. last year from Penn State University, and he holds degrees from Wheaton College and Baylor University. On the way to completing his Ph. D., Nathan worked for many years teaching literature and writing in Asia, at Hong Kong Baptist University and Peking University, before returning to teach and study at the University of St. Francis, Wheaton College, Trinity Christian College, and Penn State. His ongoing research focuses on representations of Chinese religion, culture, and spirituality in twentieth-century American literature.
Joanna Grant completed her Ph. D. in Anglo-American modernism this year at the University of Rochester in New York, where she taught literature and composition while writing a dissertation titled “Journeys to Barbary: Modernism's Middle East.” In addition to her doctorate, Joanna holds a B. A. from Berry College in Georgia and masters degrees from the University of Rochester and Jesus College, Oxford University. At Oxford she studied literature as a Rhodes Scholar.
Anne McConnell comes to Auburn from the graduate program in Comparative Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She taught in the departments of French and Comparative literature and completed a dissertation titled “Communication through Interruption: The Dislocated Conversation of Writing and Reading.” She applies the work of Maurice Blanchot to a number of works of short fiction. Before receiving her M. A. and Ph. D. from Colorado , Anne completed her undergraduate degree at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Nikita Nankov holds a Ph. D. with a double major in Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literatures from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He recently defended his dissertation,“A Poetics of Freedom: Anton Chekhov's Prose Fiction and Modernity.” He has wide range of teaching experience, having had appointments teaching composition, literature, and Russian language, at Washington University in St. Louis and Indiana University. Nikita also holds advanced degrees in English and Comparative Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and St. Kliment Okhridski University of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sharyn Pulling is in the final stages of a dissertation in English literature here at Auburn. Her dissertation, directed by Professor Paula Backscheider, investigates "Representations of Citizenship in the British and Anglophone Novel." Sharyn holds an M. A. in English from Auburn as well as a B. A. from Southeastern Louisiana University .
Michelle Satterlee received her Ph. D. in English this year from the University of Oregon, where she completed the dissertation “Shadows of the Self: Trauma, Memory, and place in Twentieth Century American Fiction.” She holds a B. A. in World Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an M. A. in Literature and Environment from the University of Nevada at Reno. Prior to her work at Auburn University, Michelle has had teaching appointments in composition, technical writing, and literature at both the University of Oregon and the University of Nevada-Reno.
Shea Stuart is an Alabama native who received her B. A. from Troy University before arriving at Auburn University to complete her M. A. and Ph. D. She is currently finishing her dissertation, directed by Professor Paula Backscheider, titled “The Legal Legitimacy of Women in the Novels of Eliza Haywood and Frances Sheridan.” At Auburn Shea has taught for several years in composition and world literature and in the university English Center .
Latino Heritage Month Event Features Chantel Acevedo
Award-winning novelist Chantel Acevedo will read from her book, “Love and Ghost Letters,” on Tuesday, Sep. 26, at 4:00 pm in the Special Collections and Archives Department of AU's Ralph B. Draughon Library as part of the University's celebration of Latino Heritage Month.
Acevedo, a first-generation Cuban-American, grew up in Miami listening to stories of Cuban life, both real and imagined. Her novel, which won the 2006 Latino Literacy Now Award, is set in Cuba from 1938 to the 1960s and chronicles the haunted relationship between a daughter and her exiled father.
An instructor in the AU English Department, Acevedo notes that “ even though most of my family immigrated before the revolution, the effects of exile were still part of my everyday life, as were the stories…that kept the memory of the Cuba-that-was alive.”
Acevedo attended the MFA creative writing program at the University of Miami on a James Michener Fellowship and is the recipient of two Fulbright awards. Her short story “Blue Exile” won the Fred Shaw Fiction Prize. Published to critical praise, “Love and Ghost Letters” was described by Oscar Hijuelos, author of “ The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love,” as “ enchanting; a heartfelt story… [and] a great debut. ”
Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event and in the Auburn University Bookstore. A reception will follow the program.
The event is sponsored by AU Libraries, the AU Bookstore and the Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts . For more information, please call 344-844-4948.
Calendar for 2006-07 Academic Year
Here is information about Departmental events for academic year 2006-07.
- October 12 - English Hour Presentation - Jon Bolton
- October 17 - Professor Melvyn New - "Trends in Criticism as Revealed by Thirty Years of Reviewing"
- October 26-27 - Gregory Orr (English Symposium Series)
- October 27-28 - William Bartram Symposium
- November 6 - Robert Clem (English Symposium Series)
- November 16 - English Hour Presentation - Miriam Clark
- January 18, 2007 - World Literature Lecture: Aiola Irele, Professor of African Studies and French, Harvard University (afternoon- faculty seminar; evening- World Literature lecture)
- March 1-2 - Walter Benn Michael's visit sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa
- March 10 - Graduate Student Colloquium
- March 15 - Trudier Harris (English Symposium Series)
- April 20 - Department Awards Ceremony (3:00 PM)
Here are dates for departmental faculty meetings.
Faculty Meetings
- September 27
- October 4 (ADA Workshop)
- October 11
- October 25
- November 8
- January 31
- February 7
- February 14
- April 4
- April 18
Here are the important dates for the fall 2006 and spring 2007 semesters.
- October 6 - Mid-semester
- November 20-25 - Thanksgiving Break
- December 6 - Last Class Day
- December 15 - Commencement
- January 5 - Lead-Teacher/Co-Teacher Workshop
- January 8 - First Day of Class
- March 26-31 - Spring Break
- April 30 - Last Class Day
- May 10 - Commencement
For more information on these events and more, visit the Department's Calendar page.
To include an item in The English Channel, submit text items by Tuesday at 10 AM for publication Wednesday. Submit items by email to Heather Finch or Margaret Kouidis or put the information in their mailboxes. Please check your submission for accuracy and completion—all calendar items and meeting announcements must include the date, time, and location of the event.
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Last updated September 20, 2006