Faculty & Staff
- Lisa Hermsen
- Lisa Diaz
- Sharon Beckford-Foster
- Doris Borrelli
- A.J. Caschetta
- Collette Caton
- Babak Elahi
- Catherine Faurot
- Robert Glick
- Gail Hosking
- Shelly Jansen
- Julie M. Johannes
- David Martins
- Stanley McKenzie
- Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm
- Amit Ray
- Linda M. Reinfeld
- John Roche
- Sandra Saari
- Richard Santana
- Michael Sarnowski
- Laura Shackelford
- Elena R. Sommers
- Thomas Stone
- Paulette Swartzfager
- Karen vanMeenen
- Selma Wilson Jacobson
- Dianna Winslow
Lecturer
A315 Liberal Arts
Phone: (585) 475-2467
Email: jmwgla@rit.edu
M.A., English Literature and Composition, University of Rochester (2004)
Thesis: An Examination of Don DeLillo's Work through the Lenses of Feminism, Modernism, and Postmodernism
B.A., English & Theatre, SUNY Geneseo (2002)
I am drawn to RIT's Department of English because of its reputation for a strong, supportive, multidisciplinary, and student-focused culture. I see the implementation of new and different pedagogical practices--including further integrating technology into my courses and exposing students to both its intrinsic values and pitfalls--as a way to better serve students and to make learning stimulating.
My professional and research interests include Rhetoric & Composition, Dante, Don DeLillo/Postmodernism, 20th & 21st Century American Popular Culture, Writing in the Sciences, Conspiracy Theory, The Bible as Literature, and Technical Theatre & Lighting Design.
An emerging research project focuses on strategies for utilising computer-game-specific tools in teaching RIT's technology-centric student body. Computer games, generally, and Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), specifically, have changed the ways that our students engineer their lives. Previously seen as exclusive, antisocial, and "hardcore" diversions, these games are now becoming a component of their daily schedule. Once relegated to dank basements and dark bedrooms, student-gamers are proliferating our campuses and widely gaining both popular and scholarly acceptance. Embracing rather than decrying such newfound openness reveals a promising space for composition pedagogy in the 21st century.
When I'm not writing, reading papers, or teaching, I enjoy international travel, playing badminton, attending Canadian Football League (CFL) games, cheering on RIT's Tigers and the Vancouver Canucks, and pursuing my ambition of becoming a private pilot and purchasing my own airplane.
SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
“Don DeLillo and the Postmodernist Problem: "The Degree Zero of Contemporary Culture", Publication Forthcoming.
“Teaching Citation and Attribution in the Digital Age,” Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), Atlanta GA, April 2011.
"Online Computer Games and First-Year Composition: Pedagogy for a New Generation." Conference Paper, CCCC 2009: San Francisco, 13 March 2009.
"Checklist of D.H. Lawrence Criticism and Scholarship, 1994-1995." D.H. Lawrence Review 31.2 (2003): 59-75.
