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Contact UsMeet the 海角社区 English faculty and learn about their office hours, teaching interests, research, and backgrounds.
Faculty are listed alphabetically by last name.
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tues 9:30-11:30 am (Virtual or In-person)
Weds 9:30-11:30 am (Virtual or In-person)
And by appointment
Personal Biography
Professor of English, specializing in Literature, Film and Media Studies. Areas of expertise: Comparative literature; medieval Germanic languages and literature (Old English, Old Norse, Middle High German); English and European literature; cultural criticism; literary theory; gender theory; monster theory.
Education
B.A. University of California, Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D. Brown University
Recent Publications
鈥淭he Case for Hildeburg: Beowulf and Ethical Subjectivity.鈥 Quidditas, vol. 43, 2022, pp. 37-53.
“Exploring the Cultural Mechanics of Social Inequality and Global Cultural Interdependence, “Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs, winter 2022, pp. 111-127.
鈥淥nly Lovers Left Alive: Expat Vampires and Post-Imperial Cosmopolitanism.鈥Vampire Films Around the World: Essays on the Cinematic Undead of Sixteen Countries, edited by James Aubrey, McFarland, 2020, pp. 195-208.
With Andrew Pantos, 鈥淥rganizing the History of English Course by Linguistic Topic.鈥 Teaching the History of the English Language/MLA Options for Teaching Series, edited by Colette Moore and Chris Palmer, Modern Language Association, 2019.
“Sublime Discomforts and Transformative Milksopishness: William Morris in Iceland.” Journal of William Morris Studies, vol. XXII, no. 3, winter 2018, pp. 23-37.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesday 10:00-3:00 pm online
and by appointment; online only
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
Medieval/Renaissance British literature, film, mythology, classics, early world literature, fairy tales, children’s literature and comics/graphic novels, rhetoric, research, essay-writing.
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Degree
PhD in Linguistics
University of Colorado Boulder
MA in Linguistics
University of Colorado Boulder
BA in Linguistics
University of Oklahoma
Published Works
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 11:00-12:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00-12:00 pm
Friday 1:00-3:00 pm
Available face-to-face, online,
and by appointment
Personal Biography
Tom Carlson is a Lecturer in English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Areas of expertise: Comparative literature; continental and aesthetic philosophy; modernist poetry; creative writing.
Education
2024 Master in Fine Arts, Poetry鈥擴niversity of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Thesis: The Saucer: A Record From The Outside
Supervised by: Abigail Chabitnoy, Bianca Stone, and Peter Gizzi
2020 MA, Comparative Literature鈥擟ity University of New York鈥檚 Graduate Center, New York, NY.
Thesis: Topics of The Sky: Ashbery鈥檚 Involving Search for The Poem
Supervised by: Wayne Koestenbaum
2015 BA, Comparative Literature鈥擳he Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA.
Recent Publications
2025 鈥淥N THE 鈥淭RANSMITTED INTO鈥: The receptive poetics of Joan Mitchell, Jack Spicer, and H.D.鈥 Common Place Poetics ed. Scout Turkel, Hannah Piette, and Samira Abed (Common Place Poetics, Summer 2025).
2025 鈥淚ntroduction to The Saucer,鈥 Metapsychosis: Creature Consciousness ed. Brian George and Marco V. Morelli, (Metapsychosis, Longmont, CO).
2024 鈥淏lue in Several Forms,鈥 鈥淚nvocation of the Vessel鈥 and 鈥淭he New Human Right,鈥 EDGE CITY ed. Jos茅 Carpio (Noco Books, Seattle, WA,).
2024 鈥淭he Library,鈥 Metapsychosis: Creature Consciousness ed. Brian George, Marco V. Morelli, and Lauren Rhiannon Lockhart (Metapsychosis, Longmont, CO, forthcoming).
2024 鈥淭he Flood,鈥 peel lit no. 2 ed. Becca Rae Rose, olga mikolaivna, and Ana Carrete (peel lit, San Diego, CA and Philadelphia, PA 2025).
2021 鈥淭he Torque of Thought,鈥 digital vestiges ed. Jared Fagen (Black Sun Lit, Brooklyn & Arkville, NY April 19, 2021).
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 12:20-1:50 pm; in person
Wednesday 2:00-3:30 pm; in person
And by appointment
Personal Biography
Cody Chambless is a Lecturer in English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He holds an M.A. in TEFL/TESL and specializes in applied linguistics, rhetoric and composition, and first-year student success. His teaching emphasizes active learning, process-based writing, and rhetorical awareness, with a focus on amplifying student voices and developing transferable skills for personal, academic, professional, and civic contexts. He is committed to student success through mentorship, direct engagement, and connecting students with campus resources.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:00-3:00 pm
Personal Biography
I have been teaching at 海角社区 since 1996. I originally came to 海角社区 to teach elementary language arts, with a focus on K-16 writing instruction. In 2007 I joined the Department’s writing faculty.
I love teaching in the First Year Writing program, especially 1008/1009 sequence.
My husband, Richard, is a Denver native and is a retired principal and science teacher for Denver Public Schools. We have two children: Evan and Janie. I enjoy spending time with family, reading murder mysteries and taking naps.
Education
PhD, English, Rhetoric and Composition Theory, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada,听 1996.
MA, English, American Literature and American Drama, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah,听 1991.
BA, English Secondary Teaching, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1988.
Publications
Vigil, J. C., Parker, J. L., (2016). Moving Forward: What General Studies Assessment Taught us 海角社区 Writing, Instruction, and Student Learning. Reclaiming Accountability: Improving Writing Programs through Accreditation and Large-Scale Assessments. In Will Banks, Wendy Sharer, Tracy Ann Morse, Michelle F. Eble (Ed.),听 Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press.
Vigil, J. C., (2011). “The Rhetoric of John Cotton: Individual Revelation and Community Preservation”. In Jim Aubrey, special editor (Ed.), (vol. 6, pp. 36-40). Research Digest: A Quarterly Journal of Higher Education.
Vigil, J.C., Carlson, C.L., Prosenjak, N., Griffin, J.,听 (1999). Strategies for Literary Reading, Writing and Research. Denver, Colorado: MSCD, Department of English.
Carlson, C. L., Vigil, J.C., Griffin, J., Prosenjak,听 N., (1998). A Research Writer’s Guide to ENG 1020: Writing, Research and Technology.
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesdays & Thursdays
from 12:15 pm-1:15 pm.
or online by appointment
Personal Biography
Lissa Cullen is a Lecturer in English and Education. She teaches First-Year Composition, leads a field experience course for pre-service teachers, and serves as a University Supervisor for student teachers. She has over 15 years of experience as an English teacher, instructional coach, and school leader in both public and independent schools.
Her background includes leading an instructional turnaround as Dean of Instruction and Assistant Principal at North High School, serving as a Writing Resource Teacher and Department Chair in Douglas County schools, and teaching English at Colorado Academy. Across these roles, she has designed literature and writing curricula, mentored teachers in workshop-based instruction, and developed professional learning communities that improved literacy outcomes.
Lissa is currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Her professional interests center on English and writing instruction, teacher preparation, and fostering student self-efficacy through reflective and engaging learning environments. She is also exploring how technology and artificial intelligence can be used to support effective teaching and learning.
Education
BA, English, University of Kansas
MA, Curriculum and Instruction with Aesthetics emphasis, University of Denver
Ed.S., Educational Leadership, University of Colorado

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
On Sabbatical.
Personal Biography
Critical race, feminist and gender studies scholar with a particular interest in American and multi ethnic women’s writing focusing specifically on literature, poetry and life writing.
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
American Literature, African American Literature, African American Women Writers, Women’s Literature, Hip-Hop and Literature, Composition, US Women of Color Literature, Life Writing and Auto/biography Studies
Research
African American Studies, American Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Critical Race Studies, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Hip-hop Studies, Life Writing Studies, Feminist Studies

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 10:00-12:00 pm via Teams
Tuesday 1:45-3:00 pm on campus
Thursday 10:00-11:00 am on campus
Personal Biography
BA and MA in English Linguistics – Linguistics University, Pyatigorsk, Russia, Ph.D. in Linguistics – Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Have taught numerous courses for the 海角社区 Linguistics program since 2002. Associate Professor in the English Department since Aug 2010. Professor of English since 2014. Advisor of the Linguistics Club.
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
Intro to Linguistics, Morphology and Syntax, Historical Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Typology, Phonology, Translation Studies
Research
Morphosyntax of English, text analysis, translation theory, grammaticalization, historical linguistics, literary semantics
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Fall 2026 Office Hours:
Personal Biography
I am an enthusiastic lifelong learner and am proud to teach and have taught English (composition, rhetoric, literature, and film classes) student-centrically at 海角社区 since fall 1999.
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
Composition, literature (specifically Victorian literature and culture, British Literature, children’s literature, mythologies, and horror/monster studies), cultural studies, film, folklore. My teaching philosophy is student-centric.
Research
Composition Studies, Monster Studies, Folklore, Mythology, British literature (Victorian, as well as 17th and 18th centuries), early American literature (17th-19th centuries), popular culture studies, extinction, rhetoric and pedagogical theory.
Education
PhD, English (Literary Studies), University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, 2015.
MA, English (Literature), University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, 1999.
BA, English, University of Colorado at Boulder,听 Boulder, Colorado, Magna cum laude. 1994.
Publications
Hoge, C. W., (2020). “Don’t…Don’t Believe the Hype! Vampiric Evolution in What We Do in the Shadows”. Vampire Films Around the World. In James Aubrey (Ed.), Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Hoge, C. W., (2020). “Monstrous Life Finds a Way: Jurassic Park and Monstrosity”. The Science of Sci-Fi Cinema: Essays on the Art and Principles of Ten Films. In Vincent Piturro (Ed.),听 (pp. 209-228). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Hoge, C. W., (2014). Crawling Out of the Middle Ages: The Deep Literary Roots of the Vampires in Richard Matheson鈥檚 I Am Legend.听 Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey. Cheyenne Mathews and Janet V. Haedicke, eds. Baltimore, MD: Rowman & Littlefield: 2014. Print. 1-13..听 In Cheyenne Mathews and Janet Haedicke (Ed.),听 ( pp. 1-13.).
Hoge,听 C.听 W. ,听 (2014).听 The Dodo in the Long Eighteenth Century: An Exploration of the Gray Ghost Outside of the English Sentimental Eye.听 In Lauren Beard and Antonio Viselli (Ed.),听 (3 ed.,听 vol. 83,听 pp. 687-704).听 Toronto, Ontario, CA听:听University of Toronto Quarterly.
Hoge,听 C.听 W. ,听 (2013).听 contributing editor.听听Writing Guide for ENG 1008/1009 and ENG 190G.听 In Roger Green, Jessica Parker, Luis Rivas, Jane Chapman Vigil, Charles Hoge (Ed.),听 Southlake, TX听:听Fountainhead Press.

Writing Center Director
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours
Monday 12:30-1:30 pm via Teams
Online in January (email for Teams link)
On campus after January
If you listen carefully, you鈥檒l catch just a bit of my Long Island roots in the way I say 鈥減eanut butter鈥 and 鈥渙range.鈥 I grew up just a short walk from the beach in Northport, NY, and then moved to the Washington, D.C. metro area when I was 9, where I learned the proper way to use the word 鈥測鈥檃ll.鈥 I moved to Illinois for college, earning a Bachelor鈥檚 degree in Latin American history from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and Master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in English Studies from Illinois State University.
After earning my Master鈥檚, I moved to Denver on a whim and began teaching at the Community College of Aurora and Red Rocks Community College. I eventually joined the full-time faculty at Red Rocks Community College, where I taught until 2008, when I joined the 海角社区 faculty.
My hobbies include 鈥 of course 鈥 reading and writing. Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, e.e. cummings, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, and Michael Chabon are some of my favorite authors. I also like to cook and bake. Desserts are my specialty (some might say obsession) 鈥 my family and friends like to play 鈥渟tump the dessert chef鈥 with me. Other hobbies include traveling (especially to Mayan ruins in Central America or any place with plentiful water); camping, rafting, and other outdoor pursuits; yoga, running, and working out; and lounging outside with smart companions and a tall glass of almost anything.
I am a stroke survivor and have low vision, face blindness, and some paralysis on my left side
I blog about grief, disability, and joy at .
disability studies, writing center theory/practice, rhetoric, ethnographic research methods
My teaching philosophy is here:听.
PhD in Composition/Rhetoric
Illinois State University
MS in Literature
Illinois State University
BS in History
Bradley University
You can find information about my research here: .
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2025 CWPA Best Book Award, Council of Writing Program Administrators, for听Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin (University Press of Colorado, 2024)
Pushcart Prize nomination for “All My New Friends Are Widows,”听Herstry, 2023
Best Emerging Writer, Masters Review, for “Driftwood,” 2024
SELECT SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS
Kleinfeld, E.A., Lee, S., and Prebel, J., editors.听Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin. University Press of Colorado, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “The No-Policy Policy.”听WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, 2023.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “Teaching Toward a More Just Citation Practice.”听Composition and Rhetoric in Contentious Times, edited by Jennifer Juszkiewicz and Rachel McCabe, 2022.
Kleinfeld, E.A., Lee, S., and Prebel, J. “Whose Voices Are Heard?: A Demographic Comparison of Authors Published in WLN 2005-2017 and Writers Interested in Publishing.”听WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, vol. 45, no. 7-8, 2021.
Braziller, A.S., and Kleinfeld, E.A.听The Bedford Book of Genres, 4th edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2025.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “From Great to Good Enough: Recalibrating Expectations as WPA.”听The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration, edited by Courtney Adams Wooten, Jacob Babb, Kristi Murray Costello, and Kate Navickas, Utah State University Press, 2020.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “Undergraduate Research and Labor Practices in Writing Studies.”听The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies, edited by Dominic DelliCarpini, Jenn Fishman, and Jane Greer, Parlor Press, 2020.
Kleinfeld, E.A., and Wright, A. “An Assignment Model for Teaching Students to Write from Sources.”听Currents in Teaching and Learning, vol. 11, no. 1, 2019.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “Growing Up Incarcerated: The Prison-Industrial Complex and Literacy as Resistance.”听Growing Up Postmodern: Neoliberalism and the War on the Young, edited by Ron Strickland, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.
SELECT CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS
Kleinfeld,E.A. “Tom’s Left Hand.”听RiverTeeth Beautiful Things, 2026.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “You May Not Notice My Disability, but My Low Vision Is Not Invisible.”听Open Secrets Magazine, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “Grief Is Hard. Not Talking about It Makes It Even Harder.”听The Boston Globe, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “All My New Friends Are Widows.”听Herstry, 2023. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “Listening to Kendi.”听Hindsight: Untold Stories from 2020, 2023.
Kleinfeld, E.A. “How to Eat a Strawberry.”听Bright Flash Literary Review, 2022.
You can learn more about me here: .

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 2:00-3:30 pm; in person
Tuesday 10:00-12:00 pm; online
Wednesday 2:00-3:30 pm; in person
PhD in Literary Studies
University of Denver
MA in English Studies
Western Washington University
BA in English
Montclair State University

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 1:00-2:00 pm (on campus)
Tuesday 10:00-11:30 am (online)
Thursday 10:00-11:30 am (online)
Professor Cynthia Kuhn teaches creative writing, literature, and film. She aims to offer student-centered courses that invite energetic and meaningful engagement with different texts, viewpoints, and voices.
Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Literary Hub, Copper Nickel, and other venues.
Scholarly books include Self-Fashioning in Margaret Atwood’s Fiction: Dress, Culture, and Identity and the co-edited Shirley Jackson: Influences and Confluences.
Novels include The Semester of Our Discontent, The Art of Vanishing, The Spirit in Question, The Subject of Malice, The Study of Secrets, How to Book a Murder, and In the Event of Murder.
Originally from upstate New York, she attended the University of Kansas, University of Colorado-Denver, and University of Denver.

Contact Info:
Area of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
All office hours are virtual
Tuesday & Friday from 12:00 pm-2:00 pm.
However, I am widely available by appointment.
Personal Biography and Education
J Eric Miller grew up in the mountains of Colorado and Montana.听 Educated at the University of Montana (Bachelor鈥檚 degree), the University of Southern California (Master鈥檚 degree), and the University of Denver (Doctoral degree), he has been a professor of Creative Writing since 2000.
He is a faculty advisor for the university literary journals, .
He believes in comfort of nostalgia, life choices that take animal welfare into account, the hypnotic effect of a good film or a book, second reads of everything, and the way a liberal arts centered education sets one up for success not just in a variety of career paths, but to be a thoughtful and thus useful citizen of the world.
Publications
His book length publications include Animal Rights and Pornography; Bloodletting and Fruits of Lebanon; and Decomposition.听 Decomposition.听 Animal Right and Pornography and Decomposition have been published in a variety of languages, including, French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, and Russian.听 Several short stories from the collection Animal Rights and Pornography as well as Decomposition have been optioned for film development.听 His short fiction has appeared in: 听American Short Fiction, Eclectica, decomP, Semaphore, Starry Night Review, Clementine Unbound, The The/tEmz/Review, Litbreak, The Scarlet Leaf Review, eFiction, and others. His short story 鈥淚nvisible Fish鈥 was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 1:00-2:00 pm; in person
Wednesday 1:00-2:00 pm; in person
and by appointment or email
Personal Biography
Laura Niesen de Abru帽a, Ph.D., is currently听 Professor of English and former Provost & Executive Vice President at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include academic programming, strategic planning, 听diversity, equity and inclusion, HSI/Minority Serving Institutions, Title V and Title III grants, digital learning, American Literature, and literature of postcolonial women writers. As both an administrator and a faculty member, her career focus has been on culturally responsive pedagogy, academic innovation, enrollment, and retention student success initiatives.
In addition to teaching, she is actively involved in several professional organizations, including the Association of Chief Academic Officers, where she served as President, the American Conference of Academic Deans, the Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, and a long-standing role as board member for Every Learner Everywhere (ELE) network of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.听听 She has published extensively in the areas of American literature, Caribbean literature, and academic administration, most recently having authored 鈥淏ecoming a Provost,鈥 featured in the Provost鈥檚 Handbook as well as 鈥淭he Role of the Dean in Decision Making at the University Level in The American Council of Academic Deans鈥 Handbook. She has published a scholarly text, The Refining Fire: Herakles and Other Heroes in T.S. Eliot鈥檚 Works as well as 32 additional publications and听 over 100 presentations nationally and internationally.
Before joining 海角社区, Niesen de Abru帽a had a twenty-seven-year career as a Provost and Dean at Dominican University of Chicago, York College of Pennsylvania, Sacred Heart University, Rober William University, ad Heidelberg University. 听She was the principal investigator on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation digital fellows project that supported more than 32 provosts at institutions around the country by implementing resources to improve undergraduate teaching and learning.听 She has brought in over $80 million in gifts and grants to her institutions.
Education
Niesen de Abru帽a earned her B.A. in English from Smith College.听 She received both her听 Ph.D. and Master of Arts in English Language and Literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In addition, she holds a MS. Ed in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Featured Publications
The Refining Fire: Herakles and Other Heroes in T. S. Eliot鈥檚 Works.听 New York, Munich, and Bern: Peter Lang, 1992.听 This is a scholarly monograph that analyzes the presence of heroic Greek values in the entire body of T. S. Eliot鈥檚 works.
Geography Lessons: Identity and Gender in the Literature of the English-Speaking Caribbean.听 (In Progress. The manuscript is half-completed and copies of the completed chapters are available upon request). This book investigates what writers from various islands in the Caribbean have in common e.g., the colonial heritage and attitudes toward gender, work, and family life.
Publications
鈥淗omi Bhabha as Public Intellectual at the Turn of the Millennium.鈥澨 Modern Language Studies. No. 1-2, Vol. 33, Winter-Fall (2003): 90-93. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, v. 285, 2009.
鈥淛oan Riley, Buchi Emecheta, and Other Sea Changes: African-Caribbean and African American Women Writers in England.鈥澨 British Women Writing Fiction.听 Ed. Abby H. P. Werlock. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: U of Alabama P, 2000.听 270-92.
鈥淛amaica Kincaid鈥檚 Writing and the Maternal-Colonial Matrix.鈥澨 Caribbean Women Writers: Fictions in English.听 Eds. Mary Conde and Thorunn Lonsdale.听 London: Macmillan, 1999.听 172-83.
鈥淒reams of Leaving: Mother and Mother Country in Jamaica Kincaid鈥檚 Fiction.鈥 The Woman, the Writer, and Caribbean Society.听 Ed. Helen Pyne-Timothy.听 Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, Center for African American Studies, 1998.听 164-75.
鈥淭he Ambivalence of Mirroring and Female Bonding in Paule Marshall鈥檚 Brown Girl, Brownstones.鈥 International Women鈥檚 Writing: New Landscapes of Identity.听 Eds. Anne E. Brown and Marjanne E. Gooze.听 Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995. 245-52.
鈥淕谤别别办 Arete and Heroic Figures in T. S. Eliot鈥檚 Poetry.鈥澨 Human Virtue and Human Excellence.听 Ed. Arthur A. W. Adkins.听 New York, Munich, and Bern: Peter Lang, 1991. 听95-129.
鈥淔amily Connections: Mother and Mother Country in the Fiction of Jean Rhys and Jamaica Kincaid.鈥 Motherlands: An Anthology of Critical Writing on Black Women Writers from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and Great Britain.听 Ed. Susheila Nasta.听 London: Women鈥檚 Press, 1990.听 This book was reprinted in the United States under the title of Motherlands: Black Women鈥檚 Writing from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia.听 Ed. Susheila Nasta.听 New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1992.听 257-89. Excerpts reprinted in Caribbean Women Writers.听 Ed. Harold Bloom.听 Ontario, Canada: Chelsea House.听 108-09; 144-145.
鈥淭he 鈥業ncredible Indigo Sea鈥 Within Anglo-American Fiction.鈥澨 Engendering the Word: Feminist Essays in Psychosexual Poetics.听 Ed. Temma Berg.听 Introduction by Sandra M. Gilbert.听 Urbana: U of Illinois P, Reprinted in Twentieth Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 138. Ed. Linda Pavlovski.听 NY: Gale Group, 2003.
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 2:00-3:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00-1:00 pm
Wednesday 2:00-3:00 pm
Available face-to-face, online,
and by appointment
Personal Biography
Rebecca Gorman O鈥橬eill is from Akron, Ohio, and she holds a BA in Drama and English from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.听 She has worked professionally in film and stage theatre for the last 20 years. Her plays have been published and produced and across the country. At 海角社区, she is a tenured professor whose expertise and courses cover playwriting, screenwriting, film and media studies, comics and the graphic novel, adaptation, and dramatic literature.
Publications
Selected Plays and Screenplays:
Lucia, Originally produced by Morehead Theater, Semifinalist, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference.
Picnic Under a Gibbet, Richard Corso Films, Dark Rabbit Theatre, released 2020 (writer and producer)
The Ghosts of Us. Originally produced by the Athena Project, published by Next Stage Press, 2020.
Mynx & Savage. Originally Produced by Vortex Theater, Winner of the American Association of Community Theatre AACT NewPlayFest.听 Published by Dramatic Publishing, 2018.
“The Green Crayon”. Originally Produced by And Toto Too Theatre Company, Published in Best Scenes for Kids Ages 7-15 In Lawrence Harbison (Ed.), New York, NY: Applause Books.
“Poison Control” originally produced by the InspiraTO Theatre, Toronto, Canada, Published by Heuer Publishing.
Selected Articles and book chapters:
鈥淭he Stuff of Legend: The Graphic Novel’s Re-imagination of Toy Literature.鈥 Toy Stories: The Toy as Hero in Literature, Comics, and Film. Tanya Pell Jones (Ed.). MacFarland & Company: MacFarland & Company.
“Y: The Last Man”. Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Heroes and Superheroes In Bart H. Beaty, Stephen Weiner (Ed.), (vol. 2, pp. 6p). Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press.
“I See What You Mean”: Using Visuals to Teach Metaphoric Thinking in Reading and Writing. The English Journal, 100(1), p92-99. 8p. (with Dr. Gloria Eastman)

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:15-12:00 pm and 1:50-2:50 pm
Thursday 10:00-11:00 am; online only
12:00-12:25 pm & 1:50-2:20 pm
Degree
PhD in English
University of Denver
MA in English
University of Denver
BA in English & Pre-medical Biology
Baylor University
Published Works

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesday 8:30-9:30 am
Thursday 8:30-9:30 am
Available face-to-face, online,
and by appointment
Personal Biography
Vincent Piturro, Ph.D., is a professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He received his doctorate in Film Studies from the University of Colorado Denver in 2008.
Piturro’s scholarship focuses on Westerns, science fiction, documentary film, Italian cinema, and Italian-American cinema. He edited and co-wrote The Science of Sci-Fi Cinema听(McFarland, 2021), a volume in which he co-wrote a chapter on each film alongside scientists who examine the real science behind iconic science fiction films.
Piturro co-founded the Science Fiction Film Series, which he co-presented for 13 years in partnership with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Film Society. He hosts the monthly Cube Cinema Showcase in Central Park. He writes the “Indie Prof” film column for The Front Porch and has served as co-chair of the university’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification task force.
Select Publications
Piturro, Vincent. “Reverse Transvestism and the Classic Hero: The Ballad of Little Jo听补苍诲 the Archetypal Western (Fe)male.” Love in Western Film and Television, edited by Sue Matheson, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 111-124.
Piturro, Vincent. “Documentary Film Rhetoric: Saving Face听补苍诲 the Public Sphere.” IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film, vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, doi.org/10.22492/ijmcf.2.1.03.
Piturro, Vincent. “The Beginning and the End: Gay Representations in Brokeback Mountain听补苍诲 3:10 to Yuma.” , edited by Scott F. Stoddart, McFarland, 2016, pp. 81-94.
Piturro, Vincent. “Genre, Decay, and Meta-Cinema: Only Lovers Left Alive听补苍诲 the Decline of Civilization.” , edited by Esther Heboyan, Artois Presses Universit茅, 2017.
Piturro, Vincent, editor. . McFarland, 2021.
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Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Personal Biography
Luis Rivas, Ph.D., is a Full Professor of English in the Department of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He received his doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition Theory from the University of Nebraska.
Rivas’s research focuses on rhetoric, composition, professional writing, and writing pedagogy. He has served as director of the College Assistance Migrant Program, overseeing daily operations and reporting to the Office of Migrant Education, and has presented at multiple Office of Migrant Education conferences to share program experience with other CAMP institutions.
Select Publications
Green, Roger, Jessica Parker, Luis Rivas, Jane Chapman Vigil, and Charles Hoge, editors. Writing Guide for ENG 1008/1009 and ENG 190G. Fountainhead Press, 2013.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 12:30-1:30 pm; in person
Tuesday 10:30-1:30 pm; in person
Wednesday 12:30-1:30 pm; in person
Thursday 10:00-11:00 am; online
Personal Biography
JJ holds a B.A. in English from Saint John’s University (MN) and an M.A. in Rhetoric and Teaching Writing from the University of Colorado Denver. He lives in Arvada, CO.
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
Composition, Rhetorical Theory, Literacy
Research
Composition and Rhetorical Theory, Pedagogy, Discourses, Language and Identity, Gender, Popular Culture and Rhetoric

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Tuesday 2:00-4:00 pm via Teams
Wednesday 1:00-3:00 pm on campus
Personal Biography
I am a composition and rhetoric scholar who enjoys making my two fields accessible and relevant to scholars from all educational backgrounds.
Teaching Interests/Philosophy
Climate Change Advocacy Writing, Rhetoric and Style, Scholarly Writing, First-Year Writing, Honors Writing
Research
Climate change activism rhetorics, 19th century rhetorical history, women’s rhetoric, rhetorical performance, student engagement & success

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Wednesday 2:00-3:00 pm & 5:20-6:30 pm
Thursday 5:10-7:00 pm
No office hours on April 1st and 2nd
Personal Biography
Craig Svonkin is Executive Director of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association and Full Professor of English at 海角社区. Craig is a fan of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, David Wilson鈥檚 meta-museum, Disneyland, the Muppets, and most things fake, faux, or simulated. Craig鈥檚 most recent publication is the co-edited听Bloomsbury Handbook of Contemporary American Poetry (2023), which includes his essay 鈥淔rom Shingled Hippo to Gay Unicorn: Self-Othering in Bob Kaufman and Other Beats,鈥 as well as interviews with quite a few American poets and poetry scholars.听Craig鈥檚 essays鈥攊ncluding 鈥淔rom Disneyland to Modesto: George Lucas and Walt Disney鈥; 鈥淎 Southern California Boyhood in the Simu-Southland Shadows of Walt Disney鈥檚 Enchanted Tiki Room鈥; 鈥淢anishevitz and Sake, the Kaddish and Sutras: Allen Ginsberg鈥檚 Spiritual Self-Othering鈥; 鈥淢elville and the Bible: Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale, Multivocalism, & Plurality鈥; and 鈥淔rom Robert Lowell to Frank Bidart: Becoming the Other; Suiciding the White Male 鈥楽elf鈥欌濃攅xplore American and children鈥檚 literature, poetry, culture, and film. He has or soon will publish on family structures as seen in literature, comics, and picture books; Jewish literature and film; Beat and mid-century American poetry; urban spaces and unusual museums; children鈥檚 poetry; and a variety of authors or filmmakers including Gertrude Stein, Bob Kaufman, Juan Delgado, J.K. Rowling, Mani Leyb, Saul Bellow, Sylvia Plath, Herman Melville, George Lucas, Walt Disney, Ernst Lubitsch, and John Fowles.
Teaching Interests
American Literature; Children鈥檚 Literature and Culture; American Film and Visual Culture; Poetry; Critical Theory
Research
American Literature; Children鈥檚 Literature and Culture; Poetry; American Film and Visual Culture
Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Monday 10:00-10:50 am
Tuesday 12:45-2:00 pm
Wednesday 10:00-10:50 am
Thursday 12:45-2:00pm
Friday by appointment
Face-to-Face or online and by appointment
Personal Biography
David Gasbarro Tasker teaches First-Year Writing at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He holds an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University, where his dissertation explored the assignments and language of student writing in the English department.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
All Office Hours are Online
Tuesday 12:10-1:30 pm via Teams
Wednesday 9:10-10:30 am via Teams
Friday 10:30-11:30 am via Teams
Personal Biography
H. Taylor, PhD (Southern Illinois 1994)
My areas of expertise are Medieval & Early Modern Literature, Mythology, Postcolonial Literature, and Online Education. I am also an internationally recognized scholar of the literature and mythopoeic postmodernism of the Oxford Inklings movement and serve as an Esteemed Advisor to the Owen Barfield Literary Estate.
Selected Publications
Barfield, Owen. The Tower: Major Poems and Plays. Ed. Leslie A. Taylor and J. H. Taylor. Clemson, SC: Parlor Press, 2021.
Taylor, J. H. and Leslie A. Taylor. The Influence of Boethius鈥 De Consolatione Philosophiae on John Milton鈥檚 Paradise Lost. Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 2017.
Taylor, J. H. 鈥淭he Dutch Translations of Boethius鈥檚 De consolatione philosophiae.鈥 in Vernacular Traditions of Boethius鈥檚 De Consolatione Philosophiae. Ed. Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr. and Philip Edward Phillips. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2016.
Gorlach, Marina, J. H. Taylor, and Leslie A. Taylor. 鈥淭he Hebrew Translations of Boethius鈥檚 De consolatione philosophiae.鈥 in Boethius and Vernacular Traditions of The Consolation of Philosophy. Ed. Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr. and Philip Edward Phillips. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2016.
Taylor, J. H. Four Levels of Meaning in the York Cycle of Mystery Plays: A Study in Medieval Allegory. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2006.
Taylor, J. H. 鈥淪ynthetic Tensions: Kenneth Burke鈥檚 Pentad Meets Mary Douglas鈥檚 Grid/Group Cosmology.鈥 KB Journal. 8 July 2004.

Contact Info:
Areas of Emphasis:
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Mondays & Wednesdays
from 3:30 pm-5:30 pm.
Personal Biography
Anthony Yarbrough is a Lecturer in English in the Department of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of Blue Mesa Review, the university’s flagship literary magazine. His short fiction has been published in Boulevard and Prairie Schooner.
Campus Location:
King Center
4th floor
Hours:
Mon-Thurs 8:00-5:00 PM
on campus
Friday 8:00-3:00 PM
by phone and email
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 173362
Campus Box 32
Denver, Colorado 80217-3362
Phone: 303-615-1800
Email: [email protected]