AND

Education

1991 Ph.D., English Language and Literature, Rutgers University
1983 M.A., English Language and Literature, Rutgers University
1981 B.A., English and Journalism, Indiana University
1977-79 McGill University

Employment

1998-present Associate Professor, English, University of Maryland
1992-98 Assistant Professor, English, University of Maryland
1991-92 Assistant Professor, English, Howard University
1988-90 Instructor, English, Howard University

Books

Willa Cather: Queering "America" (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).

Edited Collections

The Cambridge Companion to Willa Cather (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
With an introduction, chronology, and bibliography by the editor.

Editions

Willa Cather's My Ántonia (Norton Critical Edition, under contract).
Willa Cather's O Pioneers! with introduction, notes, and chronology (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Willa Cather's Alexander's Bridge with introduction, notes, and chronology (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Selected Chapters and Articles

• "Cather's 'Elastigirls': Reckoning with Sex/Gender Violence in the Woman Artist Stories" in Merrill Skaggs and Joseph Urgo, eds., Cather, Violence, and the Arts (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2007) 190-203.
• "Fear of a Queer Mesa?: Faith, Friendship, and National Sexuality in ‘Tom Outland's Story'" in John Swift and Joseph Urgo, eds., Willa Cather and the American Southwest (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2002) 43-54.
• "Disagreeing to Agree: A Reply to John Murphy and Joe Urgo." The Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter and Review 45.2 (Fall 2001): 46-8.
• "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Witch?: Queer Studies in American Literature." American Literary History (Fall 2000): 757-70.
• "'It Ain't My Prairie': Gender, Power, and Narrative in My Ántonia" in Sharon O'Brien, ed., New Essays on Willa Cather's My Ántonia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999) 111-35.
• "Fear of a Queer Prairie: Figures of the Body and/as the Nation in Willa Cather's Early Fiction" in Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter and Review 42.2 (Fall 1998): 30-35.
• "Willa's Case" in The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 3.1 (Winter 1996): 20-22. Rpt. in Richard Schneider, Jr., ed., The Best of The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997) 198-204.
• "'This Woman Can Cross Any Line': Power and Authority in Contemporary Women's Fiction" in Temma Berg, ed., Engendering the Word: Feminist Essays in Psychosexual Poetics (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1989) 105-24.

Invited Lectures, Radio and TV Interviews

• “Queering the Turtle: Building LGBT Studies at Maryland – and Beyond.” Plenary Address. Bodies of Knowledge Symposium, University of South Carolina Upstate, April, 2008.
• “On the Internet, Everybody Thinks I’m a Dog: The Queer Adventures of an English Prof in the Blogosphere.” Graduate English Alumni Lecture, Rutgers University, November, 2007.
• "'Almost Without Tenderness': Sex /Gender Violence in Cather's Woman Artist Stories." Plenary Address. Willa Cather International Seminar, Red Cloud and Lincoln Nebraska, June, 2005.
• "'Just Plain Billy': Cather as Queer Icon." Plenary Address. Willa Cather International Seminar, Bread Loaf, VT, May, 2003.
• Panel on tolerance on college campuses. Good Morning America. ABC-TV. 23 Oct. 1998.
• Panel on Willa Cather's My Ántonia. The Diane Rehm Show. Natl. Public Radio. 1 Oct. 1999.
• "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Witch?: Queer Studies in American Literature." Lecture for Department of English, Penn State University. 2 Dec. 1999.
• "LGBT Issues on Campus." Talk for University of Nebraska Committee on GLBT Concerns, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 15 Nov. 2001.

Selected Fellowships, Grants, and Awards

• 2007 Michael Lynch Service Award, Gay/Lesbian/Queer Caucus, Modern Language Association
• 2002 Champion of Our Community Award, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Staff & Faculty Association, UM
• 1999 Diversity Initiative Achievement Award, Faculty Category, UM
• 1998-99 Instructional Improvement Grant--$4,000 grant from Undergraduate Studies and the Center for Teaching Excellence to develop permanent courses in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Studies for the English department
• 1993 Graduate Research Board Summer Research Award, UM
• 1990 Faculty Graduate Study Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, National Endowment for the Humanities (Spring & Fall)
• 1989-90 Research Grant, University-Sponsored Faculty Research Program, Howard University (Summers)
• 1988-89 Louis Bevier Fellowship, Graduate School, Rutgers University
• 1988 Research Grant in Women's Studies, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
• 1987-88 American Fellowship, American Association of University Women (Fall & Spring)

Advising/Administration

• 1995-9 Faculty Advisor for the English department's Undergraduate Studies Program.
• 1999-2003 Associate Director of Graduate Studies for the English department.
• 2002-04 Interim Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies.
• 2005- Director, LGBT Studies (appointed for a 3.5 year term in January, 2005)

Professional Service

• Advisory Board, Cather Archive, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• Selection Committee, American Association of University Women American Fellowships Program, March 2005 and March 2006
• MLA Delegate Assembly, 3-year term January 1999-2002
• Screening Committee, Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Grants in Women's Studies, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, 2000-
• Planning committee and faculty member for "Discovering New Worlds: Multicultural Texts for the Twenty-First Century," summer institute for Maryland and New Jersey high school English teachers, sponsored by CAST, the Center for Renaissance and Baroque Studies, and Rutgers University, at Rutgers, 1996

Selected University Service

Departmental

• Co-chair (with Robert Levine), 20th-Century Americanist Search Committee, 2000-01
• Chair, American Literature Area Group, Department of English, 2000-
• Chair, Lesbian/Gay Studies Area Group, Department of English, 1993-
• Ph.D. Admissions Committee, Department of English, 1993,1994, 2005, 2006
• M.A. Admissions Committee, Department of English, 1996 and 1999
• M.A. Examination Committee, Department of English, 1994 and 1996-7
• M.A. Program Review Subcommittee, Department of English, 1996-7
• English Department Chair Search Committee, S 1998
• Graduate Committee, Department of English, 1997, 1999-
• Salary Committee, Department of English, 1992-5, 1997-1999
• Personnel Committee, Department of English, 1995-6, 2006-08
• Curriculum Committee, Department of English, 2006-08
• Placement Committee, Department of English, 1993-4 and 1994-5

College and Divisional

• Asian American Studies Director Search Committee, Division of Undergraduate Studies, 2005-06
• First Year Book Selection Committee, Division of Undergraduate Studies, 2005-06
• MITH Administrative Council, ARHU, 2005-06
• Diversity Living/Learning Program Steering Committee, Division of Undergraduate Studies, 2004-05
• College of Arts and Humanities Programs, Curricula and Courses Committee, 2000-01
• Collegiate Council, College of Arts and Humanities, 1993-94

Campus and University

• Provost’s Commission on Learning Outcomes Assessment, College Coordinator (UGST), 2007-08
• Provost's Task Force on Latino/a Studies, 2005-06
• Leadership Education and Administrative Development Program (year-long seminar administered through the Office of the Provost), 2004-05
• Provost's Task Force on CORE Diversity, 2003-04
• Chair, Graduate Council Programs, Curricula and Courses Committee, 2002-04
• Graduate Council, 1999-04
• Graduate Council Programs, Curricula and Courses Committee, 2000-04
• President's Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues, 2002-
• Faculty Oversight Committee, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Undergraduate Certificate Program, 2001-
• CORE Faculty Course Review Working Group on Humanities and the Arts, 1998-99