Pamela Blackmon, assistant professor of political
science, earned her doctorate from the University of
Miami. Her research interests include international
relations and international economics. She has
published articles in "International Studies Review," "Central Asian Survey," and "Women's Studies" while also contributing a
chapter on market liberalization policies in Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan to "The Politics of Transition in
Central Asia and the Caucasus" (Routledge, 2009). Her first book "In the Shadow of Russia: Reform in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan" is forthcoming with Michigan State University Press.

Bryce Britton is a full time instructor at Penn State Altoona, teaching musical theater, acting and interdisciplinary arts. He received his master of fine arts in theatre direction from Ohio University and has worked in many professional theaters throughout the country. Some of his favorite directorial credits include Dana Lynn Formby's "The Small of Her Back," "Wonder of the World," "West Side Story," "Pippin," "Into the Woods," "Extremities," "Sleuth," "The Dumb Waiter," "Compleat Female Stage Beauty," and his MFA thesis, "The Grapes of Wrath." Recently Bryce directed "Dead Man's Cell Phone" for Shepherd University and "A Voice from the Prairie - the Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder" for Ohio Valley Summer Theater. Next up is Engelbert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel" with Shepherd University's Music Department and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" this spring at Penn State Altoona. Bryce is also an Equity Stage Manager and has worked at Contemporary American Theater Festival, Seattle Children's Theater, Village Theater and Seattle Repertory Theater.

Dr. Roselyn Costantino is Associate Professor of Spanish and Women's Studies and 2011 Fulbright Scholar at La Universidad del Valle, Guatemala. She received her M.A. from Montclair State University (1988) in Spanish Peninsular Literature with a focus on 19th-century Spanish and Latin American narrative, and her Ph.D. from Arizona State University (1992) in Spanish with specialization in Latin American theatre and narrative; Latin American Studies; and Women's Studies.
Her areas of specialization include Feminist Theory; Performance Studies; Rape in War; Violence against women and femicide in Guatemala; Latin American Writers, Playwrights, and Performance Artists; Latin American and Latina Women in creativity and resistance; Latin American Studies. Her most recent publications include Holy Terrors: Latin American Women Perform (co-edited with Diana Taylor. Duke UP, 2003); "Guatemaltecas Have Not Forgotten: From Victims of Sexual Violence to Architects of Empowerment in Guatemala" in Rape: Instrument of War and Genocide, Eds. John Roth, Carol Rittner; Femicide, Impunity, and Citizenship: The Old and The New in the Struggle for Justice in Guatemala (Chicana/Latina Studies 6.1 Fall 2006); "Politics and Culture in a Diva's Diversion"; "Youth Movements in Mexico: Indigenous Youth of the Zapatista Rebellion"; and "Preserving the American Way of Life." She is completing a manuscript, "There are many ways to kill a woman": Structural Deformities, Femicide, and Transformative Collaboration in Guatemala's Narrative of Extreme Gendered Violence. She is a member of the Altoona College Arts and Humanities faculty; Women's Studies Faculty; and the University Graduate faculty.

Todd Davis, winner of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, teaches creative writing, environmental studies, and American literature at Penn State University�s Altoona College. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and have appeared in such journals and magazines as "Shenandoah", "The North American Review", "Iowa Review", "Indiana Review", "Gettysburg Review", "The Christian Science Monitor", "5 AM", "West Branch", "River Styx", "Arts & Letters", "Quarterly West", "Green Mountains Review", "Poetry East", "Orion", "Epoch", "Rattle", "Nebraska Review", "and Image." He is the author of three books of poetry - "The Least of These" (Michigan State University Press, 2010), "Some Heaven" (Michigan State University Press, 2007) and "Ripe" (Bottom Dog Press, 2002) - one chapbook, "Household of Water, Moon, and Snow: The Thoreau Poems" (Seven Kitchens Press, 2010), and co-editor of the anthology, "Making Poems: 40 Poems with Commentary by the Poets" (State University of New York Press, 2010). His poems have been featured on the radio by Garrison Keillor on "The Writer�s Almanac" and by Marion Roach on "The Naturalist�s Datebook," as well as by Ted Kooser in his syndicated newspaper column "American Life in Poetry." In addition to his creative work, Davis is the author or editor of six scholarly books, including "Kurt Vonnegut�s Crusade, or How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism" (State University of New York Press, 2006) and "Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory" (University Press of Virginia, 2001).

Mary G. De Jong received her Ph.D. in literature from the University of South Carolina. She has published many articles on American literature and culture, including four on the composition and performance of hymns and three on poet Frances S. Osgood's literary romance with Edgar Allan Poe. Her research interests and teaching now center on gender issues, especially in women's writing. Co-editor of "Popular Nineteenth-Century American Women's Writing and the Literary Marketplace" (2007), she is now co-editing "Sentimentalism Revisited: Emotions, Relationships, and Practices in Nineteenth-Century American Literature." Also in progress is a study of the letters exchanged by two antebellum American women reformers.

Daniel DiLeo received his Bachelor of Arts degree and his Ph.D. in political science from Temple University in Philadelphia. He teaches courses in American government and political philosophy. His research interests include the agendas and rhetoric of the governors of the American states, education policy in the American states and the political implications of religious doctrines.

Eleanor Hart (Noel) Feeley is the Theatre and Gallery Manager at Penn State Altoona and facilitates the administration and programming for a 400-seat theatre, galleries, dance studio, scene shop and conference spaces. She serves on the Board of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance, the Altoona Community Theatre and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. In the past, Noel has worked as a lighting designer, a grants program specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and as a theater and museum non-profit arts administrator.

Brooke Heidenreich Findley, Assistant Professor of French and Women's studies, earned her Ph.D. from Duke University. Her research specialty is in medieval literature, with a strong secondary interest in feminist theory and a particular focus on portrayals of medieval women. She is currently working on a book entitled "Poet Heroines in Medieval French Narrative: Gender and Fictions of Literary Creation." She teaches French language, literature and culture, medieval literature, and Women's Studies.

Sam Findley, instructor in classics and ancient
Mediterranean studies, earned his doctorate in the
Department of Classical Studies at Duke University.
His dissertation is entitled �Theognis, Tibullus,
and the Effacement of Poetic Self.� His teaching
interests include Latin, Greek, classical studies, and
mythology.

Julia Hudson-Richards, assistant professor of
history, earned her doctorate from the University of
Arizona. Her dissertation is entitled "The Orange
Proletariat: Social Relations in the Pais Valenciano,
1860-1939," and her research interests include
Modern European History, Comparative World
History, and Comparative Gender. She previously
served as adjunct professor in the Department of
Humanities and Human Sciences at Point Park
University.

Katherine Kellett received her doctorate in English from Boston College. Her research and teaching interests include Shakespeare, early modern literature, women writers, and gender studies. She has published articles in "Studies in English Literature 1500-1900" and "Milton Studies" on writers including Margaret Cavendish, Milton, and Shakespeare. She is currently working on a book on the figure of the mistress in early modern England.

Catherine Latterell earned advanced degrees in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological University (M.S. 1992, Ph.D. 1996). She teaches courses in advanced writing and rhetoric�often asking students to examine the impact of technology on communication and on their processes of problem-solving. Her research interests combine composition theory and cultural theory to explore, among other things, issues in teaching with technology.

Michael Lucas, associate professor of visual arts, received his MFA from Penn State in 1981. His pen and ink drawings have been included in numerous national shows over the past several years, winning several awards such as a purchase award at the Larsen Drawing Bi-annual Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee. His most recent work, a wall-size limestone carving, "The Byzantine Altarpiece," was exhibited in the Sheetz Gallery in the fall of 2005.

Ian Marshall is the author of "Story Line: Exploring the Literature of the Appalachian Trail," "Peak Experiences: Walking Meditations on Literature, Nature, and Need," "Walden by Haiku," and articles on writers as diverse as Henry Thoreau and Dr. Seuss. His specialties are American nature writing and ecocriticism. He received his B.A. and M.A. from West Chester University, PA (1977, 1983), and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware (1988).

A. Bill Miller, assistant professor of visual arts, earned his MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before joining Penn State Altoona, Bill served as an associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and as an instructor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. His nationally and internationally exhibited works include his acclaimed Gridworks Project, which comprises abstract ASCII drawings, ink drawings, animated GIFs, and video elements.

http://www.master-list2000.com/abillmiller/abillmiller.html

Dr. Mohammed teaches a blend of multimedia, theory, and introductory-level courses. He is author of "Communication and the Globalization of Culture: Beyond Tradition and Borders" (Lexington, 2011) and "The (Dis)Information Age: The Persistence of Ignorance" (Peter Lang, 2012). In addition, he has published in a wide range of scholarly journals, including "New Media and Society," "the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication," and "the Journal of Health Communication." He was previous head of the Communication Program at American University of Kuwait and earned tenure while at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has been an invited lecturer at many venues, including recent international presentations in Jamaica and India. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico, where his dissertation adviser was legendary communications scholar Everett Rogers.

Dr. Moist teaches courses that focus on culture, technology, journalism, media history, and popular culture, as well as introductory communication courses. He is the Popular Culture Association’s Research Chair for the Collecting and Collectibles area, and has published scholarship in many academic journals including "American Studies," "the Journal of Popular Culture," "Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal," and "Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly." He is currently working to finalize publication of a book that focuses on the nuances, culture, and complexities of artifact collection titled "Collecting and Collections: Objects, Practices and the Fate of Things." He is a member of the Editorial Boards for the "Journal of Popular Culture," and for "Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture," where he is editor of the music area. He has a background in music performance and theory, and has been both a musician and music writer, as well as doing audio engineering and production, and running a small CD label specializing in non-mainstream rock, folk, and experimental music. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and has taught at the University of Iowa and the Penn State School of Visual Arts before joining the Communication Faculty at Penn State Altoona.

Erin Murphy, associate professor of English and creative writing, is the author of four collections of poetry: "Word Problems" (Word Press, 2011), winner of the 2012 Paterson Prize for Literary Excellence; "Dislocation and Other Theories" (Word Press, 2008), winner of the 2009 Paterson Prize for Literary Excellence; "Too Much of This World" (Mammoth Books, 2008), winner of the Anthony Piccione Poetry Prize; and "Science of Desire" (Word Press, 2004), a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize for the best poetry book of 2004. With Todd Davis, she is co-editor of "Making Poems: 40 Poems with Commentary by the Poets" (State University of New York Press, 2010). Her awards include a $5,000 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, the Foley Poetry Award, the National Writers' Union Poetry Award judged by Donald Hall, the Normal School Poetry Prize judged by Nick Flynn, the WISE Women Tribute Award in Arts & Letters, and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Institute for Arts and Humanities. Her work has been featured on Garrison Keillor�s "The Writer�s Almanac," and her poems and creative nonfiction essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including "180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day," edited by Billy Collins (Random House), "The Art of Losing," edited by Kevin Young (Bloomsbury), and the "2009 Best of the Net" anthology, judged by Patricia Smith. She is the recipient of the Athleen J. Stere Teaching Award, the Grace D. Long Faculty Excellence Award, and the university-wide Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Nemanic designed the multimedia Communications Bachelor of Arts program at Penn State Altoona. She teaches visual communication theory courses, media studies, multimedia production and web design journalism, photojournalism, motion graphics and special effects. In 2003 she founded "LiveWire," Altoona’s online multimedia magazine, and currently serves as co-adviser. Dr. Nemanic received a master’s degree in Mass Communication and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Summa cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Minnesota. She has worked in media and documentary for more than 30 years and her work has been published in books, newspapers and magazines and aired on television. Her research interests include Media Studies, Cultural Studies and Cultural History. Her first book is titled "One Day for Democracy: Independence Day and the Americanization of Iron Range Immigrants" was published by the Ohio University Press in 2007. Dr. Nemanic co-edited her second book, "Cultural Production in Virtual and Imagined Worlds," with Dr. Tracey Bowen of the University of Toronto (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010). Dr. Nemanic and her husband Doug, an award-winning documentary producer, have worked independently in documentary for more than 25 years. . Their first feature-length documentary on cowboy/cowgirl culture, "Cattlemen's Days: the Granddaddy of Colorado Rodeos," won Best Feature-length Documentary at the 2009 Iris Film Festival. Their second feature-length film, “The Iron Range Family Album” was screened in 2011 at the International Northern Lights Music Festival, at the Iris Film Festival, and in Philadelphia at the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture/American Culture Association conference.

Lee Peterson received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in creative writing and her BA from Oberlin College in women's studies and English literature. Her poetic, research, and community interests center around issues of human rights, the experiences of women and girls in wartime, and trauma and recovery. She has published and presented her work widely and taught at the graduate, undergraduate and community college level. In 2004, Peterson held the position of Emerging Writer in Residence at Penn State Altoona, where she is now Instructor of English, teaching in the areas of academic, creative writing, literature, and women's studies. She also tutors students individually as the campus Writing Specialist.

Sandra Harbert Petrulionis received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Georgia State University; she specializes in 19th-century American Literature and the literature of slavery and abolition. She is the author _To Set This World Right: The Antislavery Movement in Thoreau’s Concord_ (2006), the editor of _Thoreau In His Own Time_ (2012) and Thoreau’s _Journal 8: 1854_ (2002), and the co-editor of _The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism_ (2010) and _More Day to Dawn: Thoreau’s Walden for the 21st Century_ (2007). In addition to Thoreau, she has also published on Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, and other American writers and reformers. She is currently working on two projects: a digital edition of Mary Moody Emerson’s manuscript Almanacks, which she is co-editing with Noelle Baker and in collaboration with the Brown University Writers Project, and which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is also underway in the research for a cultural biography of 19th-century activist, author, and editor Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Nicholas Pyeatt, assistant professor of political science, earned his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his dissertation, entitled �Ideology and Candidate Emergence: Entrants Against Congressional Incumbents,� he explores the direct and conditional effects of ideology on candidate behavior. His research interests include U.S. congressional nominations, candidate entry behavior, congressional behavior and representation, Canadian and European elections, race and representation, and macro politics.

Robin Reese, associate professor of theatre arts at Penn State Altoona, is a professional actor, director and playwright. She holds her masters of fine arts degree from the Actors Studio Drama School where she was the Teaching Fellow and received voice and acting scholarships. She is a recipient of new theatre and performance grants from the DIA Center for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Bread and Roses Community Fund. She served as a Panelist for the PA Council on the Arts, Inter-Disciplinary. Robin is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and has appeared off-Broadway, off-off Broadway and in regional theatres, playing classical, contemporary, musical theatre and experimental roles. She has traveled the United States and Italy performing her own written performance pieces. Her company affiliations include: Executive Artistic Director of The Women's Ensemble Theatre Company in Philadelphia, Co-Founding Director of Drunken Lotus Productions and Managing Director for New Legends Productions. As a director, Robin is a recipient of Merit Awards for Distinction in Directing from The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for her Penn State Altoona productions, "The Tempest," "Medea," and "Big Love," which was also selected to be fully presented at the Region II Festival in 2009. New York City directing credits include: "Othello," "Troilus and Cressida," "Rosemary with Ginger," and the Actors Studio premiere workshop reading of her own play "The Inquisition," with Tony Award winning actress Carlyn Glynn. Robin directed Robert Auletta's adaptation of "The Persians" for New York City's Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute/New York University and directed her own play "Mamma Was an Andalusian Jet Skier" at The Players Club in NYC. Robin is also a successful playwright and screenwriter. In 2008, she was named a Semi-Finalist for the prestigious O'Neill Playwright's Conference. In 2007, she was selected as one of five national playwrights to compete in The Cardboard Box Collaborative's SPEED THE MUSE competition, and her play, "Fungible," was performed at The Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Robin's one-act play, "The Inquisition," was produced at The Looking Glass Theatre in NYC. Robin has directed locally for Cresson Lake Playhouse.

Laura Rotunno received her MA and Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Her research and teaching interests include nineteenth-century British literature, the novel, narrative theory, cultural studies, and genre and gender studies. "The Long History of 'In Short': Mr. Micawber, Letter-Writers, and Literary Men," an article that foregrounds her interest in nineteenth-century correspondence customs, appears in Victorian Literature and Culture. Her book "Postal Plots in British Fiction 1840-1898: Readdressing Correspondence in Victorian Culture" is forthcoming from Palgrave.

Dr. Seymour teaches a broad array of courses which involve media, anthropology, gender studies, history, and culture. Her expertise in Middle Eastern culture has been featured in recent media coverage and in academic presentations. Before coming to Penn State Altoona, she served as Managing Editor of “Egypt’s Insight,” a monthly magazine, and Chief Operating Officer of the Pinnacle Group, an import/export firm, both based in Cairo, Egypt. She also served as Vice President of Marketing and Distribution for Founoon, an Egyptian Media Consortium. Prior to that she was Assistant Site Director of James Madison University’s Archaeological Research Center. She has published a book chapter in a text entitled “Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul: Essays on the Songs and Influence of a Cultural Icon” (McFarland, 2011). She has been a strong advocate for international study and currently serves as Penn State Altoona’s Interim Education Abroad Coordinator. She has been active in the Faculty Senate at the University and College levels. Dr. Seymour has earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Binghamton University.

Steven Sherrill teaches creative writing and integrative arts courses at Penn State Altoona. After receiving a Welding Diploma from Mitchell Community College (and the passing of a considerable amount of time) he went on to earn an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction in 2002. His first novel, "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break," has been published in eight languages. His second novel, "Visits From the Drowned Girl," published by Random House, US and Canongate, UK, was released in June of 2004, and was nominated by Random House for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. His third novel, "The Locktender's House," was released by Random House in April 2008. And November of 2010 saw the publication of "Ersatz Anatomy", a collection of poems. In his dream life, Steve is a ukulele busker.

Megan Simpson received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. She has an M.A. in creative writing from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in literature/creative writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Simpson is the author of "Poetic Epistemologies: Gender and Knowing in Women's Language-Oriented Writing." Her teaching and research interests include African American literature, multiethnic literatures of the U.S., poetry, women writers, and literary theory.

Rebecca Strzelec is coordinator of Visual Art Studies and an assistant professor of Visual Arts at Penn State Altoona. She received her BFA and MFA in Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM from Tyler School of Art, Temple University (2000 and 2002). Her work consists of wearable objects that are created via CAD and Rapid Prototyping. Her latest exhibitions include "Alternatives: Materials/Means, Contemporary Studio Jewelry" at Rhode Island College's Bannister Gallery and "Virtual/Tangible" at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She was the 2005 recipient of the Nancy Graves Fellowship at The Millay Colony for the Arts. Strzelec's work can be seen in the recent Lark Books publication "500 Brooches Inspiring Adornments for the Body," "Metalsmith Magazine" (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006), "American Craft Magazine" (Dec.2005/Jan. 2006), and the fall 2007 book "Body of Art."

Brittany Thaler, Technical Director, earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Penn State. Her previous credits for technical direction include the Altoona Junior and Senior High drama programs, Hollidaysburg Area Children’s Theatre, and Hollidaysburg Jr. Theatre; her lighting credits include Central Cambria High School, Bishop Guillfoyle High School, Great Commission Schools, Penn State Altoona, the Blair County Arts Foundation, and other assorted local productions. She also engaged in union work for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and sound and lighting for Freelance Audio.

Dr. Trumpbour teaches both theory and production classes. He has published two books, “The New Cathedrals: Politics and Media in the History of Stadium Construction” (Syracuse University Press, 2007), and “The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States: Cathedrals of Sport” (Routledge, 2010). He has written articles in scholarly journals and has been interviewed by national and local media sources. He has spoken in many venues including invitations to speak at Harvard Law School, AEJMC, and SABR. He periodically serves as a guest columnist for the Altoona Mirror and does occasional freelance work, including serving as field-producer on NFL broadcasts. He is active in several scholarly organizations, including AEJMC and NASSH. Dr. Trumpbour serves as vice chair for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's Council of Divisions and was past head of AEJMC's Cultural and Critical Studies Division. He has worked at CBS in New York and has taught at Western Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, and Saint Francis University. He earned a Ph.D. from Penn State University’s College of Communications.

Mr. Villani is recognized by many as one of the top audio professionals in the region. He has been recording and engineering music for almost three decades and has mixed and edited musical content alongside Grammy Award winners and nominees. He has composed and scored his own music, and has studied with Robert Moog, the legendary pioneer and inventor of the Moog Synthesizer. A recent project included editing and engineering voice tracks for the popular video game “Call of Duty” for game maker Activision. In addition to teaching audio production, he maintains and manages Data Music Services, a state-of-art audio studio and editing facility that is based in Altoona. He was one of the early adopters of non-linear digital technologies, and is recognized for his expertise in ProTools software. He has earned a Masters of Arts in Music Theory/Composition at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has also studied acoustics and music at Temple University, North Carolina University/Ashville, and North Texas State University. He has completed doctoral-level classwork at Boston University and hopes to fully complete his doctoral studies in the near future.

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is an Associate Professor of English. She is the author of four books of poetry: �Where the Road Turns,� (Autumn House Press, 2010), "The River is Rising" (Autumn House Press, 2007), "Becoming Ebony," (SIU Press, 2003) and "Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa" (New Issues Press, 1998). She has won several awards and grants, including the 2011 President Barack Obama Award from the Blair County NAACP, the 2010 Liberian Award for her poetry, a Penn State University AESEDA Collaborative Grant for her research on Liberian Women's Trauma stories, a 2002 Crab Orchard Award for her second book of poems, "Becoming Ebony," a 2006 College of West Africa Alumni Association Award for Literary Excellence, an Irving S. Gilmore Emerging Artist Grant from the Kalamazoo Foundation, a World Bank Fellowship, among others. Dr. Wesley has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and English from Western Michigan University, a MS in Eng. Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, and a BA in English from the University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia. She is a regular, featured Poet/Study Abroad faculty and speaker both in the US and internationally, and her poetry has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers and scholarly publications worldwide. She has also published dozens of individual poems and memoir articles in many US and international journals and anthologies, including the "New Orleans Review," "Crab Orchard Review," "English Academy Review of South Africa," "The Prometeo Magazine," Bedford St. Martin�s "Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking," among others. Her interests include creative writing, poetry, African, African Diaspora literature and the Liberian civil war. She is presently working on a memoir of her Liberian civil war experience.

Kenneth Womack was educated at Texas A&M University (BA, 1990; MA, 1992), the Moscow Institute of Communications, and Northern Illinois University (Ph.D., 1997). He has published widely on twentieth-century literary and popular culture. He serves as Editor of "Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory" and as Coeditor of Oxford University Press's celebrated "Year's Work in English Studies." His book-length publications include "Postwar Academic Fiction: Satire, Ethics, Community" (Palgrave, 2001), "Key Concepts in Literary Theory" (Columbia, 2001), "Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory" (Virginia, 2001), "Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four" (SUNY, 2006), "Postmodern Humanism in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Reconciling the Void" (Palgrave, 2006), "Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles" (Continuum, 2007), and "The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles" (Cambridge, 2009), among others.