Faculty Of The Department Of English

Amanda Adams, Assistant Professor of English

Dr. Adams received her Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of Oregon. Her specialty is nineteenth century American literature. She teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, the American literature surveys,nineteenth-century American literature, and other courses.

Andre DeCuir, Associate Professor of English

Dr. DeCuir's Ph.D. is from the University of Kentucky. He teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, developmental English, advanced writing, and business and technical writing. Dr. DeCuir joined Muskingum in 1997. His areas of interest are Victorian and Edwardian Literature. He is a recipient of the William Rainey Harper Award for Scholarship.

Donna M. Edsall, Professor of English

Dr. Edsall joined the Muskingum faculty in 1989. She has a Ph.D. from Ohio University in Athens, specializing in Medieval literature. She teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, the British literature surveys, Chaucer, and Medieval literature courses. She serves as chair of the English Department and coordinator of the university's art and humanities course (IDIS 150). She is a past recipient of the university's award for Excellence in Teaching and also the Cora I. Orr Service Award. The author of Unified Vision: The Art of Jianmin Dou and co-author of A Song of the Seasons: Paintings by Jianmin Dou, her interests are eclectic. Her play, Making Sausage, was performed on Muskingum's campus in October 2007.  Most recently she has published a textbook called Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo: A Textbook for Language Structure and Usage.

Kekoa Kaluhiokalani, Assistant Professor of English and Humanities

Dr. Kaluhiokalani has a Master's Degree from Brigham Young University (Utah) in British Literature, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University (2001) in English and Anglo/Irish literature. He has a special interest in theater and interdisciplinary studies. Dr. Kaluhiokalani teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, non-western literature, twentieth century British fiction, and IDIS 150:Arts and Humanities in the Western World.

Jane Varley, Associate Professor of English

Dr. Varley teaches creative writing, advanced creative writing, composition, modern poetry, and masterpieces of literature. She has an M.A. from the University of Idaho and a Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota. Her specialization is in poetry. She is the author of Flood Stage and Rising, published by the University of Nebraska Press. A past winner of the William Oxley Thompson Excellence in Teaching Award and a two-time William Rainey Harper Scholarship Award winner (most recently in Fall 2011), Dr. Varley is advisor to the university's literary annual, First Circle. Her chapbook of poetry called View from Naesti Bar was published in Summer 2011, and she co-wrote and edited You Must Play to Win: A Coach's Life from the Pit to the Pinnacle, a memoir by Donna Newberry, published in January 2011.

Vivian Wagner, Associate Professor of Journalism

Dr. Wagner is a past winner of the Sheridan Barker Advisor of the Year Award, given by the Society of Collegiate Journalists. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has a great deal of experience as a freelance journalist. Her articles have appeared in a variety of regional and national publications. She advises the weekly student newspaper, The Black and Magenta, and teaches journalism courses, such as introduction to journalism, news story types, feature and editorial writing, editing and make-up, public relations writing, and journalistic ethics. She recently won first-place honors in a competition held by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Her book, Fiddle: One Woman's Search for Tunes, Grit, and Authenticity was recently published by Citadel Press and she is hard at work on a new book about the world of bikers. She serves as coordinator for the university's writing across the curriculum program. She also has a Ph.D. in American literature and teaches composition and Modern and Contemporary American Fiction for the English department.

James Wells, Assistant Professor of English

Dr. Wells has a Ph.D. from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (2002) and a Master's from the University of South Carolina (1994). He comes to Muskingum from Belmont University in Tennessee, where he was an associate professor and director of the graduate program in English. He now serves as the Muskingum University Renaissance literature specialist and teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, and senior seminar.

Megan Wynne, Instructor of English

Professor Wynne has an MFA from Ohio State University (2001). She advises the school yearbook and teaches composition, masterpieces of literature, and post-modern literature.

"MY LITHUANIAN ANCESTORS..." Dr. Varley displays a photograph that illustrates a point she is making about her latest memoir. She read from the memoir in the spring First Circle faculty reading.	"I FEEL IT IN MY SOUL!" Dr. Edsall appears to be praying, but she's actually explaining how she came to write a two-act farce, performed in October 2007 in Thompson Theater.

ANOTHER PERFECT YEAR has ended. Dr. Chaffee, Ms. Farquhar, Dr. Williamson, Ms. Wynne, Dr. DeCuir, Dr. Wagner, and Dr. Varley on the deck of Dr. Edsall's house as they celebrate the end of the school year.	TRUE GRIT. Professor Vivian Wagner reads from her memoir at the Library Author Talk series. Her book, Fiddle: One Woman's Search for Tunes, Grit, and Authenticity, was published by Citadel Press.

FEATURED AUTHOR. Professor Andre DeCuir reads from a fictional work he had published in First Circle. He was the featured faculty author in the journal that spring.

ANOTHER FINE FEAST. Students and faculty pose at Old Market House Inn, where the English Department hosted a dinner for this year's scholarship winners. Caitlin Schultz and Allison Maykuth won the Amos Award in Print Journalism; Zak Gress and Nathania Johnson won the Beulah Brooks Brown Award in Creative Writing. Danielle Mathes and Kate Reese won the Matilda Bailey Award in English studies. Steve Dade won the Sara Wilhelm Award in Literary Studies. A fine time was had by all.