1987: Ph.D., English, Princeton UniversityDissertation: "The Motions of Grace: Flannery O'Connor's Typology"1982: M.A., English, Princeton UniversityMajor Period: 18th-century English literature1980: B.A., cum laude, Pomona College, Claremont, California
Major Author: Samuel Johnson
Minor Period: 19th- and 20th-century British literatureMajor: English
Comprehensive Examinations passed with distinction
A Wreck on the Road to Damascus, Foreword by Jill P. Baumgaertner. (Loyola University Press, 1989)
"Do Facts Matter on a CD-ROM?" Papers on Language & Literature. Fall 2001, 438-442.
"Daredevil Charity: Flannery O'Connor's 'The Comforts of Home,'" Proceedings: Northeast Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, ed. Joan F. Hallisy and Mary-Anne Vetterling (Regis College, 1998), 102-107.
"Converging Liturgies: A Methodist Mass?" The Anglican Digest, Spring 1998, 35-39.
"'Another Woman and Another Room'' Men, Women, and Flannery O'Connor," The Journal of Contemporary Thought, 4(1994), 37-53.
"Semiotics and Heraldry," Semiotica, 100-1 (1994), 5-34.
"A Wretch Like Who?" America, CLXXX(3):8-11, January 29, 1994; republished in a substantially revised version as "Hymns Mean Something" in The Anglican Digest, XXXVI(4): 35-38, 1994; republished as "Today's Hymns and the 'Vaporization of Religion'" in the Australian journal AD 2000 VII(7):12-13, 1994.
"Motions of Grace: Flannery O'Connor," Family, December, 1994.
"An Uncanonical Classic: The Politics of the Norton Anthology," Christianity & Literature, XL (4):471-479 (Published 1994).
"Grace and Grotesques: Recent Books on Flannery O'Connor," Papers on Language & Literature, Summer 1991, 386-98.
"Chaucer, Jean de Meun, and Proverbs 30:20" Notes and Queries, September, 1988, 295-95.
"Lessons from Biden's Plagiarism," op-ed page, The New York Times, September 25, 1987, A39 (reprinted elsewhere).
"The Baby Jesus and the Angel of Light," The Christian Century, Vol. 112 No.36, 1212-1216, December 13, 1995.
"'We Have Always Gone West': Automobiles, Innocence, and All the King's Men," To Love So Well the World: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert Penn Warren. ed. Dennis L. Weeks (Peter Lang, 1992), 189-96.
"Vikram Seth," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. CXX: American Poets Since World War II, ed. R.S. Gwynn (Gale, 1992), 281-85.
"Vikram Seth," Forthcoming in A Companion to 20th Century American Poetry.
"W.H. Auden," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"Wendy Cope," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"William Cowper," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"John Galsworthy," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"George Herbert," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"A.E. Housman," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"Nicolas Monsarrat," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"John Henry Newman," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"Siegfried Sassoon," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"Charles Wesley," Forthcoming in the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature.
"W.H. Auden," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 58-59.
"Malcolm Cowley," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 228-229.
"Caroline Gordon," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 454.
"Donald Hall," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 473-474.
"John G. Neihardt," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 815-816.
"Vikram Seth," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 1018-1019.
"Genevieve Taggard," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1997) 1120-1121.
"Allen Tate," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 1125-1126.
"Tom Wolfe," Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature (Continuum, 1999) 1258-1289.
"Altar," Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1998) 20-21.
"Offering," Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1998) 602-3.
"Continents of Exile (Mehta)," Issues and Identities in Literature. Salem Press, 1997, 278-279.
"Ved Mehta," Issues and Identities in Literature. Salem Press, 1997,647-648.
"All The King's Men (Warren)," Issues and Identities in Literature. Salem Press, 1997, 49-50.
"The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton)," Magill's Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. (Salem Press, 1996), 592-93.
"Mary Gordon," The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States, ed. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin (Oxford University Press, 1995), 358-59.
"Arnold Dolmetsch," The 1890's: An Encyclopedia of British Culture, ed. George A. Cevasco (Garland, 1993), 165-66.
"Rudyard Kipling." The Saint James Press Guide to Biography. St. James Press, 1991, 440-42.
"W.H. Auden," The Saint James Press Guide to Biography . St. James Press, 1991, 32.
Flannery O'Connor by Sarah Gordon. Forthcoming in ANQ.
What Became of Wystan: Change and Continuity in Auden's Poetry by Alan Jacobs. Christianity and Literature 49.2 (2000): 249-250.
Hymns of Prudentius: The Cathemerinon; or, The Daily Round, translated by David Slavitt. Christianity and Literature 49.2 (2000): 265-267.
The Lion and the Cross: Early Christianity in Victorian Novels by Royal W. Rhodes, Victorian Studies 39.3 (1996): 459-461.
The Underground Stream: The Life and Art of Caroline Gordon by Nancylee Novell Jonza, American Literature 68.1 (1996): 257.
When We Sing: Conversations with Alice Parker (Video Tape published by Liturgy Training Publications), Modern Liturgy, April, 1995, 38-40.
Dorothy Day: With Love for the Poor by Jim O'Grady and Searching for Christ: The Spirituality of Dorothy Day by Brigid O'Shea Merriman, America, July 30-August 6, 1994, 28-30.
Trollope: A Biography by N. John Hall, Victorian Periodicals Review, Spring 1994, 70-72.He Knew She Was Right: The Independent Woman in the Novels of Anthony Trollope by Jane Nardin, Victorian Periodicals Review, Spring 1993, 51-52
The Chronicler of Barsetshire: A Life of Anthony Trollope by R.H. Super, Victorian Periodicals Review, Summer 1991, 92-93
"Deluxe Music Construction Set for the Apple Macintosh," The American Recorder, November 1988, 159
"Racism and Works-Righteousness: What Moral Scheme Applies to Flannery O'Connor?" Scheduled for presentation at a conference on the Achievement of Flannery O'Connor sponsored by Århus University, Denmark, July 2002.
"Tom Wolfe's Religious Vision," International Popular Culture Conference, Downing College, Cambridge University, August 2001.
"Class Markers in American and British Universities," International Popular Culture Conference, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, August 1999.
"Hearing Voices: The Value and Limits of Bakhtinian Readings of Flannery O'Connor," American Literature Association Conference, Baltimore, MD, May 1999.
"The M'Naghten Rule and Victorian Fiction," 1997 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention, Atlanta, GA, November 1997.
"A Methodist Mass? The Converging Liturgies of America's Churches," International Popular Culture Conference, University College of Ripon and York St. John, York, England, July 1997.
"Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown, Miss O'Connor and Mrs. Woolf: Belief, Literary Form, and Literary Generations," 1997 American Literature Association Convention, Baltimore, MD, May 1997.
"Love and Social Work: Flannery O'Connor's Attack on Charity," 1997 Western Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, Seattle University, April 1997; earlier version presented at the 1995 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention, Atlanta, GA, November 1995.
"Flannery O'Connor's Internal Dialogues," 1996 Modern Language Association Convention, Washington, D.C., December 1996.
"'The Hun is at the Gate': Rudyard Kipling's Poetry of the First World War," Poetry and History Conference, the University of Stirling, Scotland, June 1996.
"Daredevil Charity: Love and Family in O'Connor's "The Comforts of Home," Northeast Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, Regis College, Weston, MA, October, 1996; earlier version presented at the 1996 American Literature Association Convention, San Diego, May 1996.
"Hymns Ancient and Modern, British and American," International Popular Culture Conference, St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, July 1995.
"Running Men and Rural Matriarchs: Gender Roles in Flannery O'Connor," Western Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, Santa Clara University, May 1995.
"Of Us We Sing: The Changing Focus of American Hymns," 1995 American Culture Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, April 1995.
"Driving Away from Depravity: Automobiles and the Myth of Freedom," 1994 Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association Meeting, Bates College, October 1994.
"Another Room and Another Woman': Flannery O'Connor and Feminism," 1994 Popular Culture/American Culture Association of the South Meeting, Charlotte, NC, October 1994; earlier version presented at the Conference on Christianity and Literature Meeting at Oklahoma University of Science and Arts, October 1994.
"Coats of Arms and Semiotic Theory," Fifth Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies, Berkeley, CA, June 1994.
"'Anchor Chains, Plane Motors, Train Whistles': It's a Wonderful Life and the American Adam," 1994 Popular Culture Association Convention, Chicago, IL.
"Red and Yellow Ribbons: AIDS Victims as War Heroes," Midwest Popular and Midwest American Culture Associations Meeting, East Lansing, MI, October 1993.
"Freaks and Whole Men: Flannery O'Connor and Her Idea of Ultimate Reality and Meaning," Seventh Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Human Ideas on Ultimate Reality and Meaning, Toronto, August, 1993.
"Two Tailors Make a Man: Cather and Stein on Immigrant and Sexual Identities," Fifth International Cather Conference, Hastings, NE, June, 1993.
"A Wretch Like Who? Bowdlerizing Traditional Hymns," 1993 American Culture Association Convention, New Orleans, April 1993.
"Christ in the Trenches: War and Sacrifice in Kipling, Owen, and Sassoon," South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention, November 1992, Knoxville, TN.
"'Sounding Brass': Artists, Writers, and Mothers in Mary Gordon's Men and Angels," Mid-West Modern Language Association Convention, October 1992. St. Louis, MO.
"God the Father, Rudyard Kipling, and the Western Front," Mideast Christianity and Literature Conference, Grantham, PA, October 1992.
"TV, AIDS, and Retribution," Popular Culture Association Convention, Louisville, KY, March 1992.
"An Uncanonical Classic: The Politics of the Norton Anthology," Western Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature at Seattle University, May 1992; earlier version presented at the Conference on Christianity and Literature Meeting at Texas Tech University, September 1991.
"Automobiles, Innocence, and All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren Commemorative Celebration, Saint Louis University, March 1991.
"'And What's Dead Stays That Way': The Soteriology of the Church Without Christ," 1990 Modern Language Association Convention.
"'The Spirit, Lady, is Like an Automobile': Flannery O'Connor's 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own,'" 1988 Mid-Hudson MLA Conference.
"The Baby Jesus and the Angel of Light," 1995 Mid-West Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, Greenville College, March 1995.
"Flannery O'Connor's Place in American Literature."
"How Tom Wolfe Changed American Literature," English-Speaking Union, St. Louis Branch, January 15, 2002
"Ruyard Kipling and the First World War," English-Speaking Union, St. Louis Branch, January 11, 2001; Dialogue with Senior Citizens, SIUE, October 17, 2001.
Panel of Scholarly Editors at Ball State University's "Beyond 'Here Be Dragons'" Conference, October 24, 1997.
"A Wretch Like Who?," Interview with Elaine Middendorf on "Dangers of Apathy" (radio program), July 1999.
"Singing Out: Revisions Steal Poetry, Meaning from Hymns, Professor Says," Interview with Patricia Rice, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/21/97, A 31.
"A Wretch Like Who?," Dialogue with Senior Citizens, SIUE, November 2, 1994.
"War in Mesopotamia: Life and Literature," SIUE Forum on the Gulf War, February 5, 1991.
"Automobiles and Original Sin: Flannery O'Connor's Fiction," lecture delivered to the Editors of U.S. Catholic magazine, March 15, 1990.
"Writers in Conversation," Chicago Public Library, January 25, 1990.
Appearance on "Book Break," Channel 21, Chicago, January, 1990.
Professor of English, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 2000-
Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1994-2000
Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1988-93(Appointed to the Graduate Faculty, 1989)
Lecturer, Princeton University, 1984-1988
Lecturer, Bryn Mawr College, 1986-87
Assistant in Instruction, Princeton University, 1982-1984
Sabbatical Leave, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2001.
Summer Research Fellowship, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2000.
American Mirror speaker, Missouri Humanities Council, for 1995 & 1996.
Sabbatical Leave, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Spring 1995.
Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, 1994 (Active for Life Member).
Summer Research Fellowship, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1994.
American Mirror speaker, Missouri Humanities Council, for 1992.
Faculty Fourth Quarter Research Fellowship, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1990.
New Faculty Research Fellowship, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1988.
Board Member, Conference on Christianity & Literature, 2006-
College Board AP English Literature Committee, 2005-
Board Member, Friends of Sou'wester, 2002-
Executive Coordinator, American Literature Section, Modern Language Association, 1999-
Chair, Nominating Committee, Conference on Christianity and Literature, 1998Member, Editorial Board, The Flannery O'Connor Review, 2001-
Vice-President, American Religion and Literature Society, 1997-2001
Member, Editorial Board, The Flannery O'Connor Bulletin, 1997-2001
Chair, Flannery O'Connor Society's Session on the "Letters to 'A.,'" American Literature Association Convention, San Diego, CA, May 1998
Manuscript Assessor, Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, 1996
Director of Graduate Studies, English Department, SIUE, 1996
Member, Modern Language Association Delegate Assembly, 1994-1996
Faculty Advisory Committee to Illinois Board of Higher Education (ac hoc SIUE representative at several meetings 1993-1995)
Editor, Papers on Language and Literature, 1992- (with Jack Voller, 1992-1996)
Reader, SAT-II Writing Test, Educational Testing Service, 1994, 1996, 1997
Assistant Editor, Victorian Periodicals Review, 1991-1993
Chair, Special Session: "Art is Not Enough: Tensions Between Life and Art in 20th-Century American Women Novelists," 1992 Mid-West Modern Language Association Convention
Manuscript Reader, Loyola University Press, The South Atalantic Review, Papers on Language & Literature (prior to editorship), Victorian Studies, Christianity & Literature
Editor, Department of English Newsletter, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1992-93
Chair, Special Session: "The Figure of the Preacher in Twentieth-Century American Literature," 1990 Modern Language Association Convention
Selected Committee Assignments at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville:University Research and Development Committee, 1999-2000
College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee, Spring 1999, Spring 2000
SIUE Teaching Excellence Awards Committee, 1997
SIUE Phi Kappa Phi Chapter Board, 1996-99
Department of English Chair Search Committee, 1994-1995
School of Humanities Executive Committee, 1993-94
School of Humanities Research and Projects Committee, 1992-94 (Chair 1993-94)
School of Humanities Faculty Welfare Committee, 1992-94 (Chair 1993-94)
English Department Executive Committee, 1990-1992, 1996
American Culture Association (Life Member)
American Religion and Literature Society (Co-Founder)
American Studies Association (Life Member)
Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (Life Member)
Conference on Christianity and Literature (Life Member)
English-Speaking Union of the United States (St. Louis Chapter Board Member, 2000-)
Flannery O'Connor Society (Life Member)
Heraldry Society (Life Member)
Popular Culture Association (Life Member)