faculty
Linda Benson
Jessica Berman, Chair
Ryan Bloom
Arnold Blumberg
Margaret Brofman
Helen J Burgess
Margie Burns
Christopher Corbett
Mamadou Diallo
Brian Dunnigan
Raphael Falco
Michael Fallon
Robin Farabaugh
Jean Fernandez
Carol Fitzpatrick
Sean Flanigan
Sarah Gardenghi
Ivy Goodman
Piotr Gwiazda
Linda Harris
Mary Hickernell
Mahbub Jamal
Kathleen Kidd
Donald Killgallon
Mitzi Mabe
Philip Macek
Jennifer Maher
Lucille McCarthy
Anthony McGurrin
Kathryn McKinley
Vicki Meade
Gail Orgelfinger
Michele Osherow
Nicole Pekarske
Diane Putzel
Jennie Ray
Danika Rockett
Seth Sawyers
James Eric Sentell
Jody Shipka
Sally Shivnan
Yashoda Singh
Almeta Sly-Thompson
Orianne Smith
Carole Stewart
Kevin Stewart
Paul Taylor
Ray Terhorst, Jr
April Walters
Kenneth Weiss
Rachel Wilkinson
EMERITI
Kenneth H. Baldwin
Leeds Barroll
William Edinger
Joan Korenman
The English Department takes great pride in our combination of award-winning research and deep commitment to students and teaching. Our faculty are among the most productive researchers at UMBC and have interests in a wide range of specialties in literature, writing, communication, and technology. Special strengths of the department include: Literature and Culture, Literature and Science, Cultural and Historical Studies, Composition Theory and Practice, Journalism and Communication, and the Literature of Diversity. Among English faculty are past and present winners of Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Fulbright Fellowships as well as recipients of the American Studies Network Prize, the James Thurber Prize for Comic Fiction, the James N. Britton Award for Inquiry in the Language Arts, and Baltimore Magazine's Best of the Web award.
Our faculty are deeply committed to teaching, from first-year seminars to senior capstone research courses and beyond. We emphasize student engagement in reading, discussion, and writing and encourage active learning among our students. Students acknowledge the superior teaching in our department by awarding English faculty high teaching evaluations. They consistently praise the power of English courses to change their thinking and writing throughout their college careers and later in the workforce. We pride ourselves on our accessibility. Every English Department course offers an opportunity for close contact between students and faculty. Our office doors are usually open, and we urge students to drop by. We take formal advising and mentoring seriously. As a result English majors are well-prepared to compete for graduate school admission, major fellowships, and top jobs. We also actively encourage students to engage in research and to submit their work to conferences and journals. Faculty mentors have helped students complete work that has appeared in the UMBC Review, at national undergraduate research conferences, and in newspapers and journals.
Core Faculty
Ms. Linda Benson, Instructor
(American literature;
composition and rhetoric; women's studies)
Dr. Jessica Berman, Associate Professor & Chair
(20th
century narrative; cultural studies; literary and feminist theory)
Dr. Helen J Burgess, Assistant Professor
(New media authoring, communication & culture, electronic literature, digital humanities)
Mr. Christopher Corbett, Professor of the Practice
(Journalism;
news and feature writing)
Dr. Raphael Falco, Professor
(English Renaissance
literature; 20th century American poetry)
Mr. Michael Fallon, Senior Lecturer & Associate Director, Writing and Rhetoric Division
(creative writing;
20th century poetry; American literature)
Dr. Robin I. Farabaugh, Senior Lecturer
(English Renaissance
literature; Shakespeare; fiction writing)
Dr. Jean Fernandez, Assistant Professor
(Victorian
Literature; Literature and Empire; narratology, autobiography)
Ms. Carolyn H. Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer and Director, Writing
and Rhetoric Division
(American literature; rhetoric
and composition)
Dr. Piotr K. Gwiazda, Associate Professor
(American literature and culture; modern and contemporary poetry; poetic theory and translation; creative writing)
Ms. Linda R. Harris, Instructor
(Composition;
technical writing)
Ms. Mary Hickernell, Instructor and Coordinator
of the Writing Center
(Composition and rhetoric; technical
writing)
Ms. Mitzi Mabe, Instructor
(Composition; interpersonal
communication; applied behavioral science)
Dr. Jennifer Maher, Assistant Professor
(rhetoric of technology, critical theory, qualitative research methods, and professional communication)
Dr. Lucille McCarthy, Professor
(rhetoric and
composition; writing in the professions)
Mr. Anthony M. McGurrin, Instructor
(20th century
poetry; verse drama; creative writing)
Dr. Kathryn McKinley, Associate Professor
(Medieval literature)
Dr. Gail Orgelfinger, Senior Lecturer
(Medieval Studies;
Shakespeare)
Dr. Michele Osherow, Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities; Director of the Humanities Scholars Program
(Shakespeare; drama; the Bible as literature; Jewish American literature)
Dr. Jody Shipka, Assistant Professor
(Rhetoric and Composition; Multimodal Discourse; Activity Theory; Play Theory)
Ms. Sally Shivnan, Senior Lecturer
(creative writing;
English as a second language)
Dr. Orianne Smith, Assistant Professor
(British Romanticism)
Dr. Carole Stewart, Assistant Professor
(American literature)
Emeritus Faculty
Dr. Kenneth H. Baldwin, Associate Professor Emeritus
(American literature; autobiography; popular fiction and film)
Dr. J. Leeds Barroll, Professor Emeritus
(English
Renaissance drama and poetry)
Dr. William Edinger, Associate Professor
(Samuel
Johnson; 18th century literature)
Dr. Joan Korenman, Professor Emerita
