Derek Parker Royal, PhD Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2000 PhD English, Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) 1994 MA English, Purdue University 1991 MALS Liberal Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (all but thesis) 1986 BA Psychology and English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS
Faculty/Research 2015-Present Clinical Associate Professor of ATEC, The University of Texas at Dallas 2007-2010 Associate Professor of English, Texas A&M University-Commerce 2003-2007 Assistant Professor of English, Texas A&M University-Commerce 2001-2003 Assistant Professor of English, Prairie View A&M University 1998-2001 Assistant Professor of English, North Georgia College & State University 1992-1998 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Purdue University
Administrative 2006-2008 Director of Liberal Studies Program, Texas A&M University-Commerce 2002-2009 President and Founder, International Philip Roth Society
Publishing 2016-Present General Editor, Bloomsbury Comics Studies Series, Bloomsbury Academic 2014-2015 Editorial Director, Brown Books Publishing Group 2012-Present Editor, Producer, and Co-founder, The Comics Alternative 2003-2014 Executive Editor and Founder, Philip Roth Studies
AS FACULTY MEMBER: POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
• At UT Dallas, teach courses in arts, technology, emerging media, and narrative studies • At UT Dallas, maintain a rigorous research agenda, including scholarship surrounding comics studies, film, and narrative analysis • At A&M-Commerce, taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on specialized literary topics such as early, modern, and contemporary American literature; multi-ethnic American writing; comics studies; narrative theory; film studies; world literature; research methodology; and composition and rhetoric • At A&M-Commerce, served as mentor and advisor for both the undergraduate and graduate population, helping students devise their academic course plans and assisting them in entering the language-related professions • At A&M-Commerce, served on a variety of department-, college-, and university-level committees whose oversight ranged from departmental search committees to university- wide research evaluation and program analysis
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AS A FACULTY MEMBER: OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE OR LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Executive organizer of conference, “Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation,” for Purdue University’s Comparative Literature Program, 2009-2010 Coordinated all efforts related to the solicitation, promotion, budgeting, and running of the conference; oversaw the work of two graduate student assistants Membership Chair and member of the Executive Council, Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2003-2009 Coordinated all member-related efforts for large international organization (over 400 members); working with Treasurer to collect membership fees; serving as membership liaison to Society’s official journal, MELUS Co-founder and Co-sponsor the Junto, an English graduate student organization, 2004-2010 Oversaw the meetings (three per semester) and led mentoring efforts to promote graduate student professional development
AS A FACULTY MEMBER: RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE
• Member of Executive Committee, Comics and Graphic Narrative Discussion Group (part of the Modern Language Association). Elected position, 2009-2012. Serving as committee chair, 2011-2012 • Member of the Executive Council, the Philip Roth Society, 2009-2014 • Member of the Board of Directors, the John Updike Society. Elected position, 2009-2012 • Member of Executive Committee, Jewish American Literature Discussion Group (part of the Modern Language Association). Elected position, 2006-2010. Served as committee chair, 2009-2010 • Book exhibit coordinator, Multi-ethnic Literature of the United States Conference. Boca Raton, Florida, 2003
AS AN ADMINISTRATOR: POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
Liberal Studies Program, Texas A&M University-Commerce • Founded brand new bachelor-degree program in interdisciplinary studies • Organized and chaired the Liberal Studies Oversight Committee, an administrative guidance body • Coordinated the development of the Liberal Studies curriculum, both BA and BS, and the creation of four separate interdisciplinary concentrations (Global and Multicultural Issues, Child and Family Studies, Popular Culture Studies, and Ways of Seeing and Knowing) • Hired and supervised staff and faculty, and coordinated instructors from other departments teaching Liberal Studies courses • Managed the many online opportunities of the Liberal Studies major and coordinated with university educational technology to maintain online effectiveness • Oversaw all budgetary matters in the Program and directed its resources • Worked with existing departments to facilitate interdisciplinary curriculum and integrate these studies into the Liberal Studies major • Advocated for distance learning and oversaw the training and evaluation of online curriculum; coordinated with administrators at community colleges for on-site instruction • Advised all Liberal Studies majors; worked with Admissions to recruit incoming freshmen and transfer students
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• Oversaw all aspects of promotional material and program marketing • Grew the Liberal Studies Program to over 100 majors within its first year
Philip Roth Society • Founded brand new professional international organization devoted to the study and appreciation of Philip Roth; coordinated the organizational meeting; oversaw the creation of the organization’s constitution and by-laws, as well as the election of its officers • Oversaw the Society’s executive committee; chaired the committee’s annual business meeting • Coordinated Society-sponsored panels at a variety of national and regional conferences; worked with other professional societies to offer jointly sponsored sessions at conferences • Established the Society’s official newsletter and serve as its initial editor • Served as the Society’s representative in the American Literature Association
AS EDITOR: POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
Bloombury Academic’s Comics Studies Series • General editor for new college-level textbook series devoted to comics studies • Secure authors for genre- and theme-based, as well as author-centered, monographs • Developmentally edit organization and scope of each volume within the series • Work with Bloomsbury editorial team to ready all manuscripts for publication
The Comics Alternative • Co-founder, producer, and co-host of a weekly podcast devoted to the critical discussion of comics and graphic novels, and advocating the teaching and appreciation of comics studies • Edit and produce podcast episodes, including weekly review shows, interviews with creators, and monthly specialty episodes devoted to webcomics, manga, bandes dessinées, and comics for young readers • Oversee editorial content of the blog, including reviews, interviews, and critical commentary • Administer all financial and social sponsorships, marketing, and branding decisions associated with The Comics Alternative
Brown Books Publishing Group • Administered all editorial matters at Brown Books, overseeing all textual content from larger developmental edits to proofreading • Supervised the work of other editors and editorial interns at the press, as well as directing all activities of freelance writers and editors • Worked closely with authors to ready manuscripts for publication • Coordinated with team members to ensure development of projects from inception to publication
Philip Roth Studies • Founded new peer-reviewed journal; pulled together and oversee an internationally based editorial advisory board; coordinated with Purdue University Press the layout, design, advertising, and distribution of the journal • Oversaw the solicitation and evaluation of manuscripts; responsible for the complete editorial content of the journal, the inside as well as the cover design • Supervised the work of the journal’s associate editor, managing editor, book review editor, and editorial assistants
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SCHOLARSHIP
Books Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements in Recent Comics. University of Mississippi Press. Signed contract. Projected publication date, 2018. The Hernandez Brothers: Conversations. University of Mississippi Press. Signed contract. Projected publication date, 2017. Visualizing Jewish Narrative: Jewish Comics and Graphic Novels. Editor and contributor. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Unfinalized Moments: Essays in the Development of Contemporary Jewish American Narrative. Editor and contributor. Purdue University Press, 2011. Philip Roth’s American Pastoral. Atlande, 2011. Coauthor, along with Patrick Badonnel and Daniel Royot. Philip Roth: New Perspectives on an American Author. Editor and contributor. Praeger- Greenwood, 2005.
Series Editor Bloomsbury Comics Studies Series. Bloomsbury Academic/Bloomsbury Publishing. New critical textbook series on comics and graphic novels focusing on themes, genres, and authors. 2015 - Present.
Guest Editor, Special Issues of Scholarly Journals Comics Anthologies. Spec. issue of ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. Projected publication date, 2018. Devoted to the serialized and book-length comics anthologies. American Humor in the Funnies. Spec. issue of Studies in American Humor. Projected publication date, 2018. Devoted to humor comics. The Hernandez Brothers. Spec. issue of ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 7.1 (2013). Guest editor, along with Christopher Gonzales. Devoted to the comics of the Hernandez brothers.
Essays in Peer Reviewed Journals “Visualizing the Romance: Uses of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Narratives in Comics.” Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 39.2 (2013): 126-53.
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“The Worlds of the Hernandez Brothers.” ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 7.1 (2013). Web. “Cyrillic Cycles: Uses of Composite Narrative in the Russian Émigré Fiction of Ellen Litman and David Bezmozgis.” Studies in American Jewish Literature 31.2 (2012): 236-53. “Falsifying the Fragments: Narratological Uses of the Mockumentary in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives and Sweet and Lowdown.” Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities 31.2 (2012): 53-65. “Sequential Sketches of Ethnic Identity: Will Eisner’s A Contract with God as Graphic Cycle.” College Literature 38.3 (2011): 150-67. “There Goes the Neighborhood: Cycling Ethnoracial Tensions in Will Eisner’s Dropsie Avenue.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 29.2 (2011): 120-45. “Native Noir: Genre and the Politics of Indigenous Representation in Recent American Comics.” ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 5.3 (2010). Web.
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Essays in Edited Book Collections – Invited Contributions in Progress “Complicating the Autobiographic Voice Gabrielle Bell’s Comics.” The Comics of Julie Doucet and Gabrielle Bell. Ed. Tahneer Oksman and Seamus O’Malley. University Press of Mississippi. “Narrative Platform or Publishing Springboard?: The Curious Place of Webcomics.” Teaching Comics and Graphic Novels: A Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Guide to the Twenty First Century Classroom. Ed. David Seelow. Publisher forthcoming. “Adaptation Madness: The Art of Parodic Translations in the Early Mad Comic Books.” Preparing for submission to edited collection on Mad magazine. Ed. Judith Yaross Lee and John C. Bird. Publisher forthcoming.
Essays in Edited Book Collections – In Print or Forthcoming “Fragmenting the Post- Holocaust Subject: Uses of the Short-Story Cycle in Thane Rosenbaum’s Elijah Visible.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 231. Detroit: Gale, Cengage, 2016. 175-82. “Illustrating the Uncertainty Within: Recent Comics Adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe.” Drawn from the Classics: Essays on Graphic Adaptations of Literary Works. Ed. Stephen E. Tabachnick and Esther Bendit Saltzman. McFarland Publishing. 2015. 60-81. “Paying Attention to the Man behind the Curtain: Philip Roth and the Dynamics of Written and Unwritten Celebrity.” Roth and Celebrity. Ed. Aimee Pozorski. Lexington Books, 2012. 11-28. “Drawing Attention: Comics as a Means of Approaching U.S. Cultural Diversity.” Teaching Comics and Graphic Narratives: Essays on Theory, Strategy and Practice. Ed. Lan Dong. McFarland Publishing, 2012. 67-79. “Strategies of Narration in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Spider-Man: Blue.” Web-Spinning Heroics: Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man. Ed. Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner. McFarland Publishing. 2012. 81-89. Essays on the Hernandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets and Will Eisner’s Dropsie Avenue in Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Heroes and Superheroes. Ed. Bart Beaty and Stephen Weiner. Salem Press. 2012. 212-15, 517-24. “Plotting a Way Home: The Jewish American Novel.” A Companion to the American Novel. Ed. Alfred Bendixen. Blackwell P, 2012. 241-58. “Gentile on My Mind: Updike, Bech, and the Limits of Ethnic Representation.” John Updike: Critical Insights. Ed. Bernard F. Rodgers, Jr. Salem Press, 2011. 33-48. “Plots against America: Language and the Comedy of Conspiracy in Philip Roth’s Early Fiction.” Playful and Serious: Philip Roth as Comic Writer. Ed. Jay L. Halio and Ben Siegel. U of Delaware P, 2010. 117-32. “Contesting the Historical Pastoral in Philip Roth’s American Trilogy.” American Fiction of the 1990s. Ed. Jay Prosser. London: Routledge, 2008. 121-34. “Portnoy’s Neglected Siblings: A Case for Postmodern Jewish American Literary Studies.” Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts. Ed. David S. Goldstein and Audrey Thacker. Seattle: U of Washington P, 2007. 250-69. “Roth, Literary Influence, and Postmodernism.” The Cambridge Companion to Philip Roth. Ed. Timothy Parrish. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. 22-34. “Texts, Lives, and Bellybuttons: Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock and the Renegotiation of Subjectivity.” Turning Up the Flame: Philip Roth’s Later Novels. Ed. Jay L. Halio and Ben Siegel. U of Delaware P, 2005. 68-91. (Reprint from Shofar 19.1 [2000]: 48-65) “Fouling Out the American Pastoral: Rereading Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel.” Upon Further Review: Sports in American Literature. Eds. Michael Cocchiarale and Scott D. Emmert. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. 157-68.
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“Rebel with a Cause: Albert Camus and the Politics of Celebrity.” Car Crash Culture. Ed. Mikita Brottman. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 285-303.
Published Panel Discussions “Contemporary American Fiction and the Confluence of Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and John Updike: A Roundtable Discussion.” Ed. Derek Parker Royal. Philip Roth Studies 7.2 (2011): 145-69. (With Yvonne Atkinson, Marshall Boswell, David Brauner, Steven Frye, Marni Gauthier). “Zuckerman Unsound?: A Roundtable Discussion on Philip Roth’s Exit Ghost.” Ed. Derek Parker Royal. Philip Roth Studies 5.1 (2009): 3-30. (With Alan Cooper; Bernard F. Rodgers, Jr.; Michael Rothberg; Ruth Knafo Setton; and Debra Shostak). “Grave Commentary: A Roundtable Discussion on Everyman.” Eds. Derek Parker Royal and Bernard F. Rodgers, Jr. Philip Roth Studies 3.1 (2007): 3-24. (With David Brauner; Bernard F. Rodgers, Jr.; Mark Shechner; and Debra Shostak).
Forewords Foreword for Haunted Horror: The Screaming Skulls! and Much More! Ed. Craig Yoe and Clizia Gussoni. IDW Publishing, 2017. 3-7. “Foreword; Or, Reading within the Gutter.” Foreword for Approaches to Multicultural Comics: From Zap! to Blue Beetle. Ed. Frederick Luis Aldama. U of Texas P, 2010. ix-xi. “Foreword: Of Panels and Patrons.” Foreword for Graphic Novels in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History and Cataloging. Ed. Robert G. Weiner. McFarland, 2010. 3-4. “Foreword; Or, A Fine Romance.” Foreword for Philip Roth’s Postmodern American Romance: Critical Essays on Selected Works. Jane Statlander. Peter Lang, 2010. ix-xi.
Bibliographic Scholarship “The Hernandez Brothers: A Selected Bibliography.” ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 7.1 (2013). Web. “Annual Bibliography, Philip Roth Criticism and Resources.” Published annually in the fall issues of Philip Roth Studies, 2004-present. “Philip Roth: A Bibliography of the Criticism, 1994-2003.” Studies in American Jewish Literature 23 (2004): 145-59. “Contemporary Jewish American Narrative: A Selected Bibliography.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 22.3 (2004): 121-30. Philip Roth: A Bibliography and Research Guide. Ongoing. Philip Roth Society.
Interviews Interview with Ben Katchor (along with Andrew J. Kunka). Ben Katchor: Conversations. Ed. Ian Gordon. UP of Mississippi. Projected publication date, 2017. Interviews with various comics artists, including R. Sikoryak, Terry Moore, Richard Corben, Joe Ollmann, Seth, and Tim Lane. The Comics Alternative. 2013-Present. Web. “Heroes and Martyrs.” Interview with Peter Bagge. Peter Bagge: Conversations. Ed. Kent Worcester. UP of Mississippi, 2015.142-57. “Behind ‘The Glowing Belly of the Little Beast’: An Interview with Kim Deitch.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 3.1 (2012): 85-116. “Nine Questions for Woody Allen: An Interview.” Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities 31.2 (2012): 9-11. “Margins within Margins: An Interview with Ruth Knafo Setton and Farideh Dayanim Goldin.” Unfinalized Moments: Essays in the Development of Contemporary Jewish American Narrative. Purdue University Press, 2012. 203-22.
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“Picturing American Stories: An Interview with Ben Katchor.” Unfinalized Moments: Essays in the Development of Contemporary Jewish American Narrative. Purdue University Press, 2012. 223-43. “Palomar and Beyond: An Interview with Gilbert Hernandez.” MELUS 32.3 (2007): 221-46. “Tugging at Jewish Weeds: An Interview with Steve Stern.” MELUS 32.1 (2007): 139-61. “An Interview with Thane Rosenbaum.” Contemporary Literature 48 (2007): 1-28. “The Blood before the Stain: An Interview with Joel Rapp.” Philip Roth Studies 2.1 (2006): 3- 11.
Book Reviews Review of Manga in America Transnational Book Publishing and the Domestication of Japanese Comics, by Casey Brienza. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. To be published 2018. Web, Review of Forging the Past: Seth and the Art of Memory, by Daniel Marrone. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. To be published 2017. Review of The Graphic Novel: An Introduction, by Jan Baetens and Hugo Frey, and On the Graphic Novel, by Santiago García. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. To be published 2017. Web. Review of The Dark Night Returns: The Contemporary Resurgence of Crime Comics, by Terrence R. Wandtke. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. To be published 2017. Web. Review of Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel, by Anya Ulinich, and Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol. East European Jewish Affairs 46.3 (2017): 402-04. Review of American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s, by Jason Sacks. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 8.4 (2016). Web. Review of Studying Comics and Graphic Novels, by Karin Kukkonen. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 7.3 (2014). Web. Review essay on The Jewish Graphic Novel, edited by Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer- Sherman; From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, by Arie Kaplan; and Jewish Images in the Comics, by Fredrik Strömberg. MELUS 38.4 (2013): 247-52. Review of Siegel and Shuster’s Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman, by Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 4.2 (2013): 363-66. “Review of Recent Books from Gilbert Hernandez.” Rev. of The Adventures of Ventures, Julio’s Day, and Marble Season. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies 7.1 (2013). Web. Review of Projections: Comics and the History of Twenty-First Century Storytelling, by Jared Gardner. College Literature 40.4 (2013): 155-58. Review of Comics and the U.S. South, edited by Brannon Costello and Qiana J. Whitted. Studies in American Humor 3.27 (2013): 235-37. Review of African-American Classics: Graphic Classics, Vol. 22, edited by Tom Pomplun and Lance Tooks, and The Silence of Our Friends, by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, and Nate Powell. Studies in Comics 3.1 (2012): 143-147. Review of A Comics Studies Reader, edited by Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester. Studies in American Humor 3.25 (2012): 203-206. Review essay on 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide, by Gene Kannenberg; and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, by Danny Fingeroth; The 101 Best Graphic Novels, by Stephen Weiner; and Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know, by Paul Gravett. International Journal of Comic Art 12.1 (2010): 483-492. Review of Two Covenants: Representations of Southern Jewishness by Eliza R. L. McGraw. The Journal of Southern History 72 (2006): 727-28. Review of Up Society’s Ass, Copper!: Rereading Philip Roth by Mark Shechner. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 24.1 (2005): 152-55.
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Review of Philip Roth — Countertexts, Counterlives by Debra Shostak. Studies in American Jewish Literature 24 (2005): 222-24. Review of The Visionary Moment: A Postmodern Critique by Paul Maltby. Symplokē: A Journal for the Intermingling of Literary, Cultural and Theoretical Scholarship 10.1-2 (2002): 208- 10. Review of Woody Allen: A Casebook by Kimball King, ed. Film Criticism 26.3 (2002): 77-80. Review of Latent Destinies: Cultural Paranoia and Contemporary U.S. Narrative by Patrick O’Donnell. Symplokē: A Journal for the Intermingling of Literary, Cultural and Theoretical Scholarship 9.1-2 (2002): 195-97. Review of The Soup Has Many Eyes: From Shtetl to Chicago – A Memoir of One Family’s Journey through History by Joann Rose Leonard. Studies in American Jewish Literature, 19 (2000): 82-83.
OTHER EDITORIAL EXPERIENCES
Journals and Other Publications Edited 2004-2014 Executive Editor and Founder, Philip Roth Studies. Published by Heldref Publication, 2004-2007; Purdue UP, 2008-present. 2002-2004 Editor and Founder, Philip Roth Society Newsletter. 1998 Editorial Assistant at Kappa Delta Pi, an International Honor Society in Education. West Lafayette, Indiana. Publications edited: The Educational Forum, Kappa Delta Pi Record, New Teacher Advocate. 1989-1990 Editorial Intern at Dissent magazine. New York, New York.
Editorial Board Membership 2016-Present Contributing Editor, Studies in American Humor. 2013-Present Editorial Board member, Studies in American Humor. 2011-Present Editorial Board member, Studies in Comics. 2010-Present Editorial Board member, Forum for World Literature Studies. 2010-Present Editorial Board member, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 2010-2015 Editorial Board member, The John Updike Review. 2008-Present Editorial Board member, International Journal of Comic Art. 2008-Present Editorial Board member, Saul Bellow Journal. 2008-Present Editorial Board member, MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. 2008-2011 Editorial Board member, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews. 2007-Present Editorial Board member, ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. 2005-Present Editorial Board member, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 2005-2012 Editorial Board member, Studies in American Jewish Literature.
New Media Publishing and Oversight 2000-2014 Web content manager for various educational programs and professional societies, including the English departments at North Georgia College and State University and Prairie A&M University, and the Philip Roth Society.
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CONFERENCE WORK
Formal Papers Delivered at Conferences “Paying Attention to the Man behind the Curtain: Philip Roth and the Dynamics of Written and Unwritten Celebrity.” MLA Convention. Los Angeles, California. January 2011. “Strategizing Popular Genre in the Works of the Hernandez Brothers.” MLA Convention. Los Angeles, California. January 2011. “The Lighter Side of the ‘Sinister Collectivity’: Humor and the Urban Landscapes in Philip Roth’s Fiction.” MELUS Conference. Scranton, Pennsylvania. April 2010. “(Real) Life, in Pictures: Creating Counterselves in the Autobiographic Fiction of Will Eisner.” MLA Convention. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. December 2009. “Bringing It All Back Home?: Placing Indignation within Roth's Oeuvre.” ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2009. “What a Body of Work!: Sexuality and the Latino Subject in Jaime Hernandez’s Recent Comics.” MELUS Conference. Spokane, Washington. April 2009. “More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: The Function of Metadiegetic Narrative in the Works of Kim Deitch.” Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2009. “Amazing Adventures in Adaptation: Constructing History in Michael Chabon's Escapist Comics.” MLA Convention. San Francisco, California. December 2008. “‘Other’ Illustrations: Using Graphic Narrative to Teach Ethnoracial Literature.” MLA Convention. San Francisco, California. December 2008. “Detecting Discourse: Adaptation and Narrative Voice in City of Glass: The Graphic Novel.” ALA Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2008. “To Be Continued...: Serialization and Its Discontent in the Graphic Narrative of Gilbert Hernandez.” International Conference on Narrative. Austin, Texas. May 2008. “Drawing Attention or Slumming in the Gutters?: Representing the Ethnic Other in Jessica Abel’s La Perdida and Mark Kalesniko’s Mail Order Bride.” MELUS Conference. Columbus, Ohio. March 2008. “Reading between the (Panty) Lines: The Body as Ethnographic Text in Jaime Hernandez’s Recent Narratives.” University of Florida Conference on Comics. Gainesville, Florida. March 2008. “Comic(s) Relief?: Capturing Mark Twain in Recent Graphic Narrative.” Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2008. “Narrating a Lay of the Land: Space and the Ethnic Subject in Ben Katchor’s The Jew of New York.” MLA Convention. December 2007. “Comedy Beyond the Pale: ‘Working’ the Jewish in Curb Your Enthusiasm.” MELUS Conference. Fresno, California. March 2007. “What’s in a Name?; or, Gutter Talk: The Problem of Critical Language in the Study of Comics.” Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2007. “Falsifying the Fragments: Narratological Uses of the Mockumentary in Woody Allen’s Films.” Film & History Conference: The Documentary Tradition. Dallas, Texas. November 2006. “Cycling the Schlemiel: Uses of the Short-Story Cycle in Gerald Shapiro’s Bad Jews and Other Stories.” American Literature Association Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2006. “There Goes the Neighborhood: Recycling Ethnic Tensions in Will Eisner’s Dropsie Avenue.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. April 2006.
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“Composite Sketches of Ethnic Identity: Will Eisner’s A Contract with God as Cycle Narrative.” Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2006. “(Re)cycling Tradition: Uses of the Short-Story Cycle in Recent Jewish American Fiction.” Modern Language Association Convention. Washington, D.C. December 2005. “Looking at Bellow, Reading the Academy.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2005. “What Nathan Knew; or, Narrative Secrets in The Human Stain.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2005. “Structuring Post-Holocaust Identity: Thane Rosenbaum's Elijah Visible as Short-Story Cycle.” American Literature Association Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2005. “Toward a Workable Futility: Uses of Eastern Europe in Thane Rosenbaum’s Second Hand Smoke.” American Literature Association Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2005. “Lost, in a Sense: Traumatic Fragmentation in Thane Rosenbaum’s Elijah Visible.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Chicago, Illinois. April 2005. “Philip Roth as Science Fiction Writer?: Negotiating (Alternate) Histories in The Plot Against America.” Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2005. “Plotting America in The Plot Against America.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2004. “Why Philip Roth Will Probably Never Be Read in Oprah’s Book Club (and Why That May Not Be Such a Bad Thing).” American Literature Association Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2004. “Gentile on My Mind; or, Bech, a Bulba?” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. San Antonio, Texas. March 2004. “Ethnoracial Constructions in Philip Roth's American Trilogy.” Modern Language Association Convention. San Diego, California. December 2003. “Fouling out the Pastoral in Philip Roth's and Bernard Malamud's Baseball Novels.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2003. “But Some of My Best Friends Are…: The Place of Jewish American Literature in Multi-Ethnic Literary Studies.” American Literature Association Conference. Cambridge, Massachusetts. May 2003. “Fragmented Home-Place in Thane Rosenbaum’s Second Hand Smoke.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. April 2003. “Framing the Ethnic Subject in Philip Roth's The Human Stain.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2002. “Steve Stern, Thane Rosenbaum, and the Dialects of Cultural Memory.” American Literature Association Conference. Long Beach, California. May-June 2002. “Creating Narrative Golems in Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.” American Literature Association Conference. Long Beach, California. May-June 2002. “Literary Genre as Ethnic Resistance in Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Seattle, Washington. April 2002. “The Burdens of Cultural Memory: Thane Rosenbaum and the Weight of Post-Holocaust Writing.” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. February 2002.
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“Hemorrhaging Memories: Steve Stern and the Fabula of Return.” American Literature Association’s Jewish American & Holocaust Literature Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. October 2001. “The Uses of Memory in The Joy Luck Club.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Knoxville, Tennessee. March 2001. “Engendering Cultural Memory: Ethnicity, Gender, and Paternal Relationships in Philip Roth’s Patrimony.” Conference on Film and Literature. Tallahassee, Florida. February 2001. “Deconstructing Harry and the Disintegration of Identity.” The West Georgia University’s International Conference in Literature and the Visual Arts. Atlanta, Georgia. November 2000. “Fictional Realms of Possibility: Reimagining the Subject in Philip Roth’s American Pastoral.” Conference on Film and Literature. Tallahassee, Florida. January 2000. “Eruptions of Performance: Hank Morgan and the Business of Politics.” The West Georgia University’s International Conference in Literature and the Visual Arts. Atlanta, Georgia. November 1999. “The Romance of War in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V.” Conference on Film and Literature. Tallahassee, Florida. January 1999. “The Texts That Bind: Philip Roth, Claire Bloom, and the Autobiographical Impulse.” Conference of the Midwest Modern Language Association. St. Louis, Missouri. November 1998. “The Construction of Maleness in Philip Roth’s Middle Fiction." Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. February 1998. “Idol Words: Cynthia Ozick and the Construction of a Postmodern Jewish Ethnicity.” American Comparative Literature Association Conference. South Bend, Indiana. April 1996. “Portnoy’s Neglected Siblings: The Case for Postmodern Jewish American Literary Studies.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS) Conference. Greensboro, North Carolina. April 1996. “An Absent Presence: The Rewriting of Hawthorne’s Narratology in John Updike’s S.” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. February 1996. “Texts, Lives, and Bellybuttons: Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock and the Renegotiation of Subjectivity.” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. February 1995. “Mark Twain and Politics of Authority: The Example of Pudd’nhead Wilson.” Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference. Chicago, Illinois. April 1994. “The Centripetal and Centrifugal Search for Identity in Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep and Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus.” Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 1993. “Identity in Twentieth-Century Jewish American Literature.” American Studies Symposium on Race and Ethnicity in America. Purdue University, March 1993. “Literary Terms of the Cultural Cold War: Sartre, Camus, and the American Intelligentsia.” Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. March 1992.
Serving as Roundtable Participant and Panel Discussant at Conferences “The Comics Canon: Reloaded! Fire!” Roundtable participant, HeroesCon. Charlotte, North Carolina. June 2016. “Teaching Comics through a Historical Context.” Roundtable participant, HeroesCon. Charlotte, North Carolina. June 2015. “Why Teach Batman in College?: Comics and Academia.” Roundtable participant and chair, Wizard World Con Austin. Austin, Texas. October 2014. “Comics Goes to College.” Roundtable participant, Wizard World Con San Antonio. San Antonio, Texas. August 2014.
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“Philip Roth’s The Humbling: A Round Table Discussion.” Roundtable participant, ALA Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2010. “Contemporary American Fiction and the Confluence of Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and John Updike: A Roundtable Discussion.” Roundtable organizer participant, ALA Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2010. “Roundtable: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Getting Your Essays Accepted for Publication and Your Books Reviewed.” Roundtable participant, MELUS Conference. Scranton, Philadelphia. April 2010. “Roundtable Discussion of Graphic Novels in Libraries.” Roundtable participant, Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2010. “Trends in Jewish American Literature.” Roundtable participant, MLA Convention. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. December 2009. “The Future of American Author Societies.” Roundtable participant, ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2009. “Then and Now—Portnoy's Complaint at 40: A Roundtable Discussion.” Roundtable participant, ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2009. “Roundtable Discussion: The Term Graphic Novel?” Roundtable participant, Southwest/Texas Regional Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2009. “Roundtable Discussion on Philip Roth’s Exit Ghost.” Roundtable organizer and participant, ALA Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2008. “The Post-Traumatic World of Thane Rosenbaum: A Roundtable Discussion.” Roundtable participant, ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2007. “Saul Bellow and His Influences: A Roundtable.” Roundtable participant, ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2007. “Sabbath’s Theater and the ‘Discomfort’ of Readers: A Roundtable Discussion.” Roundtable organizer and participant, ALA Conference. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2007. “Complicating Constructions: A Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Ethnic American Literature.” Roundtable participant, MELUS Conference. Boca Raton, Florida. March 2007. “The Bellow Legacy: Saul Bellow’s Place in the Western Canon.” Roundtable participant, American Literature Association Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2006. “Philip Roth’s Everyman: A Roundtable Discussion.” Roundtable organizer and participant, American Literature Association Conference. San Francisco, California. May 2006. “Editors of Literary and Academic Journals.” Roundtable participant, Langdon Weekend Conference for the Langdon Review for the Arts in Texas. Stephenville, Texas. September 2005. “The Rhetoric of Publishing: Everything You Wanted to Hear (and not Hear) About Publishing.” Roundtable participant, Federation of North Texas Area Universities Annual Symposium in Rhetoric. Denton, Texas. February 2004. “One True Thing.” Session discussant, Conference on Women and Medicine: Facts and Concepts. Dahlonega, Georgia. March, 1999. “Philip Roth and Claire Bloom: Texts of a Relationship.” Panel Discussant, Conference of the Midwest Modern Language Association. St. Louis, Missouri. November, 1998. “Is There a Self in This Text? Autobiography in the Wake of Post-Structuralism.” Panel Discussant, Conference of the Midwest Modern Language Association. Chicago, Illinois. November, 1994.
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INVITED LECTURES
“Race and Identity in Graphic Novels.” Tarrant County College Southeast. Arlington, TX. April 2017. “Escaping the Gutter Ghetto; Or, the Challenges of Reading Transnationally.” Keynote address. University of Florida Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels. Gainesville, FL. April 2016. “Philip Roth at 80: A Critical Look at the Evolution of American’s Premier Novelist.” Program for Jewish Civilization. Georgetown University, Washington, DC. March 2013. “‘How could a maniac give up what he does?’: Understanding Philip Roth’s Not So Retiring Presence.” Amram Scholar Series. Washington Hebrew Congregation, Washington, DC. March 2013. “Philip Roth and the Shaping of Contemporary Jewish American Identity.” Rita and Earl Mazo Memorial Lecture Series. Temple Sinai, Washington, DC. March 2013. “Philip Roth’s Plot Against the Chaos.” The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies. University of Maryland, College Park, MD. March 2013. “This Talk Contains Graphic Content: Exploring Jewish Comics and Graphic Novels.” Philip and Muriel Berman Center Lecture Series. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. October 2011. “Using Comics to Explore Issues of American Race and Ethnicity.” Un Ambiente Fatto a Strisce. University of Naples “L’Orientale.” May 2011. “Drawing Attention: Comics as a Means of Approaching U.S. Cultural Diversity.” Engaged Citizenship Common Experience Speakers Series. University of Illinois at Springfield. November 2009. “Philip Roth: Jewish American Novelist?” Philip and Muriel Berman Center Lecture Series. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. October 2006. “Philip Roth’s American Pastoral.” Nextbook/American Library Association’s Jewish Literature Discussion Series. Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. October 2006. “Philip Roth’s Ambiguous Pastoral.” Jewish Studies Lecture and Discussion Series. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. April 1998.
EVENT PLANNING
“Roth@80.” Philip Roth Society. Newark. March 2013. • Serving on the conference coordinating committee, helping to administer all aspects of the event • Helping to oversee the development and distribution of documents surrounding the conference, including a call for papers and a general event announcement “Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation.” Comparative Literature Program, Purdue University. Sept. 2010. • Coordinated all aspects of the conference venue, budgeting, and scheduling • Secured guest speakers and the participation of leading scholars in the field • Advertised the event and solicited for international scholarly participation • Arranged all entertainment events as well as conference-related meals • Coordinated with local businesses for sponsorship and joint-participation opportunities • Solicited funding from various organizations and departments “William A. Owens Centennial Celebration.” Texas A&M University-Commerce & Paris Junior College. Nov. 2005. • Served on the conference planning committee
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• Conducted research for the event at Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library & Archives in the William A. Owens collection • Helped to advertise the conference in the northeast Texas media Philip Roth Society. 2002-2009 • Solicited, organized, and oversaw society-sponsored panel sessions for the American Literature Association Conference, the University of Louisville Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture Conference, the Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium, and the American Literature Association’s Symposium on American Fiction “Frame by Frame Film Series.” North Georgia College and State University. 1999-2001. • Coordinated an art film series sponsored by the Department of Language and Literature at NGCSU and open to the general public • Worked with faculty members throughout the university to present and contextualize various films in the series • Oversaw the publicity and marketing for the film series in the local community Composition Textbook Fair. Purdue University. 1995-1997. • Managed all aspects of the bi-annual textbook fair sponsored by the Composition Program in the English Department, Purdue University • Coordinated efforts to ensure publisher participation, create the event layout, and find space for all representatives to display their textbooks • Oversaw publicity as well as managed the refreshments and other supplemental incentives for the textbook fair • Worked with Composition Program coordinator to market the book fair to the university community • Directed the efforts of graduate students assisting in the event
ACADEMIC HONORS AND GRANTS
2008 H. M. Lafferty Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship and Creative Activity, Texas A&M University-Commerce 2007-2008 Faculty Research Enhancement Grant, Graduate School, Texas A&M University- Commerce 2006 H. M. Lafferty Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship and Creative Activity, Texas A&M University-Commerce 2006 Texas A&M University-Commerce’s nominee for the Council of Graduate School’s Gustave O. Alt Award for a Book in the Humanities 2005-2006 Faculty Research Enhancement Grant, Graduate School, Texas A&M University- Commerce 2004-2007 Graduate Studies and Research Mini-Grant, Texas A&M University-Commerce (a total of four individual mini-grants) 1995 Purdue University’s Nominee for the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award 1986 UNC-Charlotte Psychology Department’s Outstanding Senior Award
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TEACHING
2015-Present The University of Texas at Dallas Courses taught: Undergraduate: Storytelling for New Media I; Digital Content Design and Usability; Introduction to Computer-Mediated Communication
2003-2010 Texas A&M University-Commerce Courses taught (including online and distance education classes): Graduate: Recent American Fiction, Contemporary Literature, Multicultural Literature and Languages, Modern American Literature, American Literary Realism, American Renaissance, African American Literature, Race/Ethnicity and Comics, Contemporary American Drama, Narrative Theory, Bibliography and Methods of Research, as well as advanced seminars on Philip Roth, Mark Twain, and Nathaniel Hawthorne Undergraduate: Survey of American Literature II; The American Novel after WW I; The American Novel before WW I; African American Literature; Multi-Ethnic American Literature; Literary and Research Methods; Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels; American Ethnicity through Comics; Introduction to Literature; Written Argument and Research; College Reading and Writing; Introduction to College Reading and Writing.
2002 Houston Community College System Course taught: Introduction to Literature
2001-2003 Prairie View A&M University Courses taught: The Novel, American Literature I, Advanced Composition, English Composition I, English Composition II
1998-2001 North Georgia College & State University Courses taught: Modern and Contemporary American Literature, American Literature II, World Literature II, Introduction to Film Studies, Literary Research and Writing, English Composition I, English Composition II
1994-1995 Ivy Tech Community College Courses taught: English Composition I, English Composition II
1992-1998 Purdue University Courses taught: Great American Books, The Movies (introduction to film), Science Fiction and Fantasy, Sports and Literature, Composition I, Composition II
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SELECTED PAST SERVICE ACTIVITIES
(The following is a list of service activities performed at The University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M University- Commerce. Previous service at Prairie View A&M University included membership on the University Distance Learning Council and the Department of Languages and Communications’ Strategic Planning and Curriculum Development Committees. Service at North Georgia College & State University included work on the University Student Grade Appeal Committee, the Visiting Writer Committee, and the Department of Language and Literature’s Publications Committee.)
The University of Texas at Dallas
School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication Service Committee Member 2015-Present ATEC Undergraduate Group on Narrative
Student Organizations Service 2015-Present Faculty advisor for Comic Creations Club
Texas A&M University-Commerce
University-wide Service Committee Chair 2007-2010 Graduate Council’s Graduate Faculty, Research, and Instruction Committee
Committee Member 2008-2010 University Research and Creative Activities Advisory Committee 2007-2010 University Hearing Committee 2006-2009 Graduate Council (Elected position) 2005-2010 Academic Appeals Committee 2004-2005 William A. Owens Committee (planning committee for the 2005 William A. Owens Celebration)
Department of Literature and Languages Service Committee Chair 2008-2010 Literature Area Committee 2008-2009 Departmental Advisory Committee
Committee Member 2009-2010 Workload Reduction Feasibility Committee 2007-2009 Scholarships Committee 2006-2008 Graduate Committee 2006-2007 Undergraduate Committee 2005-2006 Professional Development Committee 2004-2005 Executive Committee 2004-2005 Student Development Committee 2003-2004 Undergraduate Recruitment Committee 2003-2004 Curriculum Committee
Search Committees 2006-2007 Department Head Search Committee 2004 Modern British Literature Search Committee