Research/Areas of Interest:

American Literature
Environmental Humanities
U.S. Literature and Race Studies

Education

  • PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, United States, 1974
  • MA, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, United States, 1966
  • BA, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, United States, 1964

Biography

B.A., M.A., University of Cincinnati, 1964, 1966; Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1974; part-time and adjunct teaching positions at various institutions before coming to Tufts in 1976 as an Assistant Professor; Dean for Arts and Humanities at Tufts 1994-96; Harriet H. Fay Professor of Literature at Tufts, 1996 to the present; Chair of the English Department, 1991-1994; Director of the First-Year Writing Program at Tufts, 1998-2003; Director of Graduate Studies, 2015-2019; numerous departmental and university committees, including Tenure and Promotion and co-chair of the Equal Educational Opportunity Committee; recipient of Mellon, National Endowment for the Humanities, and American Association of University Women faculty fellowships; Phi Beta Kappa; recipient of Tufts University Multicultural Service Award, 1996; Fulbright Lecturer in Japan, summer 2003, giving lectures in Tokyo and Kyoto on American literature; WISE Speaker, England, summer 2006; Outstanding Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award 2011.