Southeastern Louisiana University

Department of English Faculty

Natasha Lee Whitton, Ph.D.

Phone: 985-549-2413
Fax: 985-549-5021
e-mail: nwhitton@selu.edu
URL: http://www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/nwhitton/

Present rank:
Instructor
Department of English
Southeastern Louisiana University

Curriculum Vita

Academic degrees: 

  • Ph.D., 2005, Modern History & Literature, Drew University, Madison, NJ
    “The Excitement of Possibility: The Life and Writing of Bobbie Ann Mason”
  • M.Phil., 1999, Modern History & Literature, Drew University, Madison, NJ
  • M.A., 1996, British and American Literature, Murray State University, Murray, KY
  • B.S., 1995, Major in Biology and Minor in English, Eureka College, Eureka, IL
  • Certificate, 1993, Japanese Literature and History, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

 

Professional Experience: 

·         Instructor, Department of English, Southeastern Louisiana University, Composition and English Literature, 2000-present

·         Technology Liaison, Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project, 2005-present

  • Instructor, Upward Bound, Southeastern Louisiana University, Developmental English, Debate and Journalism, Summer 2001
  • Research Assistant, Dr. Theda Skocpol, Harvard University, Civic Engagement Project, 1999-2000
  • Adjunct Faculty, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Core IV: Global Issues, Spring 2000

 

Print Publications:

  • Forthcoming, “A Rat in the Garden: Teaching Valerie Martin’s ‘The Consolation of Nature.’ Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction 9 (Fall 2008)
  • Co-author. Using a Handbook in the Composition Classroom. New York: Longman, 2007.
  • Co-editor. Roots to Branches: An Ecology of Writing and Reading. New York: Pearson, 2007.
  • “Leroy Moffitt.” Student’s Companion to American Literary Characters. Eds. M.J. Bruccoli and R. Layman. Columbia, SC: Manly, Inc., 2007.
  • “Why I Teach” and “Blackout.” Musings. Hammond: SLWP, 2005.
  • “A Case Study of Bobbie Ann Mason as Life Writer: The Peggy Jo Stories.” Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction 5 (Spring 2005): 55-72.
  • “A Limitless Passion to Explore: Teaching Joyce Carol Oates with Multimedia,” Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction 3 (Spring 2003): 78-86.
  • “’The Excitement of Possibility:’ Mason’s ‘Shiloh,’” Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction 1 (Fall 2000): 108-119.
  • Review of The Life and Letters of Annie Leake Tuttle, by Marilyn Fardig Whitely and Emma Speaks Out: Life and Writings of Emma Molloy, be Martha M. Pickrell. Methodist History 38 (April 2000): 213-214.

 

Online Publications:

  • Review of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards. Women Writers. Spring 2007 <http://www.womenwriters.net/spring07/memory.html>.
  • Review of Buddha Da, by Anne Donovan. Women Writers. Spring 2007 <http://www.womenwriters.net/spring07/Buddha_Da1.htm>.
  • Review of Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. Women Writers. Spring 2007. < http://www.womenwriters.net/spring07/Traveling-Mercies.htm>.
  • Review of An Atomic Romance, by Bobbie Ann Mason. Women Writers Summer 2006. <http://www.womenwriters.net/summer06/atomicromance.html>.
  • Review of Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi Women Writers Summer 2006. < http://www.womenwriters.net/summer06/readinglolita.html>.
  • Review of The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, by Sue Monk Kidd. Women Writers Summer 2005. <http://www.womenwriters.net/summer05/bookreviews/TheDanceoftheDissidentDaughter1.htm>.
  • “’Me! Books! And Cleverness:’ Stereotypical Portrayals in the Harry Potter Series.” Women Writers Summer 2004. < http://www.womenwriters.net/summer04/reviews/HarryPotter.htm>.
  • “Sylvia Plath: A Search for Self.” Women Writers Winter 2004. <http://www.womenwriters.net/editorials/whitton0500.htm>.
  • Review of Disobedience, by Jane Hamilton. Women Writers Winter 2001. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/hamilton.htm>.
  • “A 20-C Inheritance: From Woolf to Murdoch and Winterson.” Women Writers Summer 2001. <http://www.womenwriters.net/may2001/20CWoolf.htm>.
  • Review of The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. Women Writers Winter 2000. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/whitton0100.htm>.
  • Review of Clear Springs, by Bobbie Ann Mason. Women Writers Summer 2000. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/Mason.htm>.
  • Review of The House of Gentle Men, by Kathy Hepinstall. Women Writers Summer 2000. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/whitton0700.html>.
  • Review of Bruno’s Dream and A Fairly Honourable Defeat, by Iris Murdoch. Women Writers Winter 1999. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/whitton1099.htm>.
  • “Quilters.” Women Writers Winter 1999. <http://www.womenwriters.net/archives/whitton1199.htm>.
  • Review of Paradise, by Toni Morrison. Women Writers Summer 1999. <http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/whitton2.htm>.
  • “Evelyn Fox Keller: Historical, Psychological and Philosophical Intersections in the Study of Gender and Science” Women Writers Summer 1999. <http://www.womenwriters.net/archives/whittoned1.htm>.

 

Presentations:

  • “Creative Writers Read,” National Library Week, Southeastern Louisiana University, April 2008.
  • “Course Portfolios for Reflection and Peer Review.” Southeastern Louisiana University, Center for Faculty Excellence, April 2008.
  • “Mary Reilly: A Community Read Discussion.” Southeastern Louisiana University Women’s History Month Presentation, March 2008.
  • “Lying in the American Memoir: From Franklin to Frey.” Christwood Arts and Lecture Series, February 2008.
  • “Using Music to Inspire Memory.” Young Writer’s Camp. Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project, June 2007.
  • MLA Workshop, Southeastern Louisiana University Writing Center, In the Center Workshop, April 2007.
  • “Using Rubrics to Assess Project-based Learning,” Southeastern Louisiana University, Center for Faculty Excellence, March 2007.
  • “Facilitating Online Response Groups.” National Writing Project, November 2006.
  • Special Session Chair, “It’s Always Greener: Utopian Gender Space,” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2005.
  • “The Intersection of Auto/Bio and Fact/Fiction: The Living of Bobbie Ann Mason,” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2005.
  • “Quilters: The Method, The Madness, the Musical?” Southeastern Louisiana University Women’s History Month Presentation, March 2005.
  • “Morrison’s Utopic Vision: A Season in Paradise,” Southeastern Louisiana University Writing Center, In The Center Workshop, February 2005.
  • “Teaching Towards a Test?” Louisiana Association for College Composition Annual Conference, February 2005.
  • "For Love or Money: A Pride and Prejudice for the 21‑C," American Cultural Association and Popular Culture Association Joint National Meeting, April 2004.
  • “The Sacred and the Profane: Nature in the work of Bobbie Ann Mason,” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2003.
  • “‘Me! Books! And Cleverness!’: Stereotypical Portrayals in the Harry Potter Series,” American Cultural Association and Popular Culture Association Joint National Meeting, April 2003.
  • “Bobbie Ann Mason: A Life of Writing,” Southeastern Louisiana University Writing Center, In The Center Workshop, April 2003.
  • Panel Chair, Autobiography and Biography Session, South Central Modern Language Association, November 2002.
  • “Snake or Rat: Reality Television and Issues of Gender,” American Cultural Association and Popular Culture Association Joint National Meeting, March 2002.
  • “Mixing Media: Tape, Text, Theater,” South Central Modern Language Association, November 2001.
  • Panel Secretary, Autobiography and Biography Session, South Central Modern Language Association, November 2001.
  • “Bobbie Ann Mason: A Life of Writing,” Tulane University Visiting Scholars Series, October 2001.
  • Panel Chair, “Cinematic Adaptations: Shakespeare, Dickens & In Country” and Presenter “In Country: An Examination of the Vietnam Conflict in Fact and Fiction,” American Cultural Association and Popular Culture Association Joint National Meeting, April 2001.
  • “Women Writers on the Web: A Roundtable of Web Editors and Contributors,” Society for the Study of American Women Writers First International Conference, February 2001.
  • “Glancing Backwards: (Re)Teaching Twentieth Century British Fiction,” South Central Modern Language Association Annual Conference, November 2000.
  • “Clear Spring to the Past: A Life of Writing,” Interdisciplinary Conference on Language and Literature, Texas A&M University, October 2000.
  • “‘Gigging Her Metaphorical Frog’: Female Writing in the Academy,” Craft, Critique, Culture: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Writing in the Academy, University of Iowa, September 2000.
  • “Quilters: A Pattern of Female Resistance,” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference, June 2000.
  • “Female Imagination in the Ivory Tower,” American Culture Association and Popular Culture Association Joint National Meeting, April 2000.
  • “The Price of Exclusion: Decay in Morrison’s Paradise,” Third Annual Graduate English Association Conference, Fordham University, April 2000.
  • “Still Waters Run Deep: Autobiography and the Fictions of Bobbie Ann Mason,” Tenth Annual Mardi Gras Conference on Language and Literature, Louisiana State University, March 2000.

 

Awards:

·         Fellow, Institute for Teaching and Professional Development, SLU, 2006-2008

·         Fellow, National Writing Project: Writing About Technology Retreat, 2006

·         Summer Institute Fellow, Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project, 2005

  • Woman’s Studies Visiting Scholar, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 2001-2002
  • National Women’s Studies Association, Travel Grant, 2000
  • Dean’s Scholarship, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 1996-2003
  • Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, 1993-present
  • Jesse Stuart Fellowship, Murray State University, Murray, KY, 1995-1996
  • Ronald Reagan Scholarship, Eureka College, Eureka, IL, 1992-1995

 

University Service:

  • Task Force on Tenure & Promotion Guidelines (Mentoring New Faculty and Teaching, Observation & Mentoring), 2007-2008
  • Diversity Committee, co-Chair, 2007-present
  • English Department Website Committee, 2007-present
  • University Library Committee, 2006-present
  • Center for Faculty Excellence Book Club, 2006-present
  • Sophomore English, 2005-present
  • Instructional Technology Committee, 2005-present; co-Chair, 2007-present
  • Advising Committee, 2005-present
  • Academic Honesty Committee, Chair, 2004-present
  • English Department Handbook Committee, Chair, 2004-present
  • Gender Studies Committee, 2004-2005
  • English Day Committee, 2004-2005
  • Women’s History Month Committee, 2004-present; Chair, 2006-present
  • Freshman Advisory Committee, 2003-present
  • Faculty Sponsor, English Club, 2000-2005
  • President, Graduate Student Association, 1999-2000
  • Representative to University Senate, 1999-2000
  • Middle States Evaluation Team, 1999-2000
  • Drew University Expenditure Committee, 1998-2000
  • Treasurer, Graduate Student Association, 1998-1999
  • Editor, News and Notes: The Voice of Drew’s Graduate School, 1997-1998
  • Drew Graduate School Language Committee, 1997-1998

 

 

Membership in Professional Societies:

  • American Cultural Association
  • American Historical Association
  • Modern Language Association
  • National Council of Teachers of English
  • National Women’s Studies Association
  • Society for the Study of American Women Writers

 

Fields and Interests:

  • American Literature, 19th and 20th Century
  • American Intellectual and Cultural History, 19th and 20th Century
  • Asian Literature
  • Comparative Literature
  • Composition
  • Cross-Cultural Studies
  • History of Science
  • Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Women’s Studies
  • Comprehensive Exams in Twentieth Century American History, Twentieth Century American Literature, Twentieth Century British Literature, and Toni Morrison.

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