News — 2007-2008
Students
Molly Leedom — Won the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Life of the Scholar Spring Symposium, Gardner-Webb University. Also received a Title III grant for further research on Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.
Graduates, Winter 2007 — Sabrina Greene, Dawn Proffitt (Burnsville, NC)
Graduates, Spring 2008 — Adam Bachmeyer (Candler, NC), Maryanne Brown (Roebling, NJ), Chris Brunton (Alpharetta, GA), Andrew Chilton (Mount Airy, NC), Kristin Newton (Cleveland, NC), Daniel Planker (Cape Coral, FL)
Alumni/-ae
(For more information about these and other graduates, please see the Alumni/-ae page.)
Alex Miller ’75 — Appointed Vice President for Institutional Advacement, North Greenville University, Greenville, South Carolina.
Dalene Vickery Parker ’81 — Named “Teacher of the Year” for 2007-2008 in Spartanburg (South Carolina) School District 3.
Kimberly Myers ’83 — Appointed Associate Professor of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, with joint appointment in English at Penn State University.
April Phillips Boone ’93 — Completed PhD program in English at University of Tennessee. Appointed Assistant Professor of English at North Greenville University, Greenville, South Carolina.
Eydie Pittman Jones ’01 — Completed MDiv program at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia.
Blaise Shaw Hartman ’04 — Won “Best Script” award for “A Study in Red” in the Chiller Dare 2 Direct Short Film Contest 2007.
Gaelyn Byrnes Jenkins ’05 — Completed MLIS program at University of South Carolina.
Erin McKee ’06 — Awarded the James Andrew Purdy Prize by Hollins College of Virginia for her short story “Southbound,” which will appear in The Southeast Review 27.1.
Kristen Newton Lail ’08 — Accepted a teaching position at West Rowan High School.
Homecoming 2007 — A special gathering of former English majors and former and current faculty members was held during Homecoming 2007. Seven alums — Martha Kimsey Bennett, Bob Burnette, Carla Bunn Isaacs, Jason Martin, Roy McGinnis, Alex Miller, and Dalene Vickery Parker — joined emeritus faculty members Ed Cheek and Betty Hughes and current faculty members Carol Boggess and Noel Kinnamon. The weather cooperated splendidly for this first gathering. We may not have such bright, mild weather in October 2008, but all are invited to attend — watch for details later in the year.
Faculty
Carol Boggess — Awarded a John B. Stephenson short-term fellowship by the Appalchian College Association for work on her biography of writer James Still, under contract with the University Press of Kentucky. Published two articles on Still in James Still: Critical Issues on the Dean of Appalachian Literature (McFarland, 2007). Presented at the Appalachian Studies Association Annual Conference.
Virginia Bower — Coauthured online tutoring manual.
Noel Kinnamon — Awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend to edit the letters of the seventeenth-century noblewoman Dorothy Percy Sidney for Ashgate Press. Published three articles Robert Sidney in Sidney Journal 25 (2007). Appointed Chair of the English Department.
Hal McDonald — Winner of the first TruTV (formerly CourtTV) “Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” contest, leading the publication of his first novel, The Anatomists (Harper Collins, 2008), chosen by the Book of the Month Club and Mystery Guild Book Club. At work on a sequel and on a composition textbook.
Jason A. Pierce — Appointed Chair of the Humanities Division. Attended the Association of American Colleges & Universities Institute on General Education, the Best Practices in Institutional Effectiveness Conference, the Appalachian College Association Summit X, and the Council of Independent Colleges Chairs Workshop. Published an article on Scottish playwright James Bridie in The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Columbia UP, 2007).
Joanna T. Pierce — Appointed Director of the Regional Studies Program. Had article on Elizabeth Bowen accepted in forthcoming anthology Murmurs that Come Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts. Presented at the Appalachian Studies Association Annual Conference.
Emeriti/-ae
Ed Cheek (retired 1996) — Former department chair. Extensively involved in church and community activities, as well as caring for grandchildren. Currently living in Weaverville, North Carolina.
Lucille Goodwin (retired 1983) — Currently living in Ozark, Alabama.
Betty Hughes (retired 1993) — Former department and division chair. Author of family memoirs. Stays busy with four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and church activities. Currently living in Weaverville, North Carolina.
Joe Schubert (retired 1995) — Currently living in Dania, Florida.
Pat Verhulst (retired 1998) — Published You Know My Baby Will Fly (Firefly, 2007). Currently living in Mars Hill.