Unpacking Your Potential
No matter what career goals you set, comprehending written materials – whether a technical textbook or a classic work of literature – is essential to your success. The English Department is dedicated to providing you with the skills you need to better comprehend all types of texts and write about them in a meaningful way. Rather than focus solely on fiction, our Department also helps you unpack works of non-fiction. This well-rounded approach can serve as a foundation for your success in college and beyond.
The English Department features a full spectrum of courses, ranging from developmental composition and reading; to advanced literature, writing, and interdisciplinary electives; to honors and online offerings. We serve the needs of students with a wide range of life experiences and academic preparation by providing:
- Both developmental and college-level composition in a nurturing and outcomes-oriented environment. This approach helps you to develop, improve, and refine reading, writing, and analytical thinking skills needed for success in college, the workplace, and the wider world
- College-level courses for high school students under the College’s Concurrent Enrollment Program (CEP)
- Advanced literature, writing, and interdisciplinary electives to give students the chance to study focused topics, fields of inquiry, genres, and/or periods in ways that allow for more advanced perusal of literature and diverse cultures
As a student you will be introduced to new experiences, ideas, and varied options for learning within an open-minded academic environment that both celebrates cultural and personal diversity and fosters collaboration and interpersonal understanding. You’ll gain intellectual sophistication in a rapidly changing world in which fields of knowledge are increasingly interrelated.
Effective writers are needed everywhere. The ability to write clearly and comprehend complex information is a universal skill that will serve you well, whether you enter the business world, academia, education, science or the arts.
Our graduates have transferred to such prestigious schools as Columbia University, Rutgers University, The College of New Jersey and Rider University.
Susan Arvay, Department ChairRead More
Charlie BondhusRead More
Michelle J BrazierRead More
David ChaseRead More
Jessica Darkenwald-DeColaRead More
Justin FelixRead More
Karen GaffneyRead More
Andrew MannoRead More
Alexa OffenhauerRead More
Christine Pipitone-HerronRead More
Anita RosenblitheRead More
Lisa M. TuckerRead More
Ronald A. TysonRead More
Izabela ZiebaRead More
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D., M.A., B.A., Rutgers University
Publications: • “The Role of Literature in the Composition Classroom.” Teaching Literature in Community College Classrooms: Traversing Practices. Ed. Margaret Barrow and Manya Steinkoler. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012. Presentations: • “Helping Students Learn to be Students.” Co-Presenter with Gwen Kane, Christine Pipitone and David Ross (RVCC). Faculty of the Future, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA. May 30, 2014. • “Supporting Sixty: Challenges and Best Practices for Adjuncts.” Co-Presenter with Karen Gaffney, Charlie Bondhus, Justin Felix, and Gwen Kane (RVCC). Faculty of the Future, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA. June 1, 2012. • “The Role of Literature in the Composition Classroom.” Transitions and Transactions: Literature Pedagogy in Community Colleges Conference, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York City, NY. April 21, 2012. • “‘I See What You Mean’: Using Visual Strategies to Help Basic Writers.” Basic Composition in the Works: North Eastern Regional Composition Conference, Felician College, Lodi, NJ. February 28, 2009. • “‘Face to Face’ with God: Levinasian Ethics at the Limits of the Affective Devotional Project.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 5-8, 2005. • “Compassion Envy: Rhetorics of Suffering in Late Medieval Devotional Texts.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 8-11, 2003. • “Pain, Pleasure and the Devotional Imagination.” Convivium Conference, Siena College, Loudonville, NY. October 11-12, 2002. • “Public Memory, Private Devotion, and the Subject of Contemplation.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 3-6, 2001. • “Soulful Performances: Margery Kempe and the Contemplative Tradition.” Wrinkles in Time Conference, Philadelphia, PA. October 7, 2000.
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D. University of Massachusetts; M.F.A., Goddard College; B.A., St. Anselm College
2014 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry 2013 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award 2008/2009 Brickhouse Books Stonewall Book Award
Associate Professor
Ph.D., M.A., Rutgers University; B.A., Yale University
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D., M.A., University of California; M.A., University of Illinois; B.A., Wheaton College
RVCC Sabbatical Leave Award UCLA English Department Dissertation Research Fellowship UCLA Graduate Division Summer Research Fellowship Travel Grant, Graduate Research Fund in American Literatures and Cultures Sawyer Seminar on Sexual Identities and Identity Politics Illinois State Scholar
Instructor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ed.M., Rutgers University; Graduate Certificate in Composition Studies, Indiana University
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: M.A., B.A., Kent State University
Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D., M.A., University of Delaware; B.A., Wesleyan University
Blog: Divided No Longer http://dividednolonger.com/ • Awarded sabbatical to complete book project, a racial justice handbook, Spring 2016 • Democracy for America Scholarship Winner, Netroots Nation Conference, Detroit, July 2014 • Recent Publications: “Whiteness as Cursed Property: An Interdisciplinary Intervention with Joyce Carol Oates’s Bellefleur and Cheryl Harris’s ‘Whiteness as Property’.” Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies 2.3 (2015). Web. “Navigating the Gender Box: Locating Masculinity in the Introduction to Women and Gender Studies Course.” Men and Masculinities 14.2 (2011): 190-209. Web. Co-written with Andrew J. Manno. “Ideology and Otherness in Lost: ‘Stuck in a Bloody Snow Globe.” The Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together, Die Alone. Ed. Sharon Kaye. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. 187-204. Print.
Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D., Lehigh University; M.A., B.A., Trenton State College
--Gaffney, Karen, and Andrew J. Manno. "Navigating The Gender Box: Locating Masculinity In The Introduction To Women And Gender Studies Course." Men & Masculinities 14.2 (2011): 190-209. --“Poker, Masculinity, and Economic Inequality: How the Popularity of ‘America’s Favorite Card Game’ Discourages Systemic Change.” Individual Panel Presentation for “Fighting Inequality: Class, Race, and Power” Conference” (Joint Conference of the Labor and Working-Class History Association and the Working-Class Studies Association, May 2015, Georgetown University) --"You Can Take it with You: Transforming Teaching and Encouraging Social Action in the Intro Course.” Co-Presenter with Dr. Karen Gaffney. Mid-Atlantic Women's Studies Association Conference (March 2009, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.) --"Making Masculinity Visible: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack in the Intro Course." Co-Presenter with Dr. Karen Gaffney. Mid-Atlantic Women's Studies Association Conference (March 2008, Penn State Abington) --"Men's Studies is from Mars, Women's Studies is from Venus, But Not If We Can Help It: Bridging the Gap in the Intro. Course." Co-Presenter with Dr. Karen Gaffney. National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (March 2007, Boston) --"Guts and Glory on the Felt: Poker's Popularity and the Crisis of Masculinity." National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (April 2006, Atlanta) "Cheaters Might Never Prosper, but Liars Sure Do: Masculinity, Poker Culture, and the Valorization of Deception." National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (March 2004, San Antonio) --"Gambling Men with Poker Faces: Poker and Representations of Masculinity in Books, Films, and Suburbia." National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (April 2003, New Orleans) --"Professing Masculinity: Negotiating Classroom Space as Male Instructor of Masculinity in Literature." National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (March 2002, Toronto)
Instructor
Academic Degrees Achieved: M.A.T., Western Carolina University; B.A., Rutgers University
Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ed.M., Rutgers University; M.A., The College of New Jersey; B.A., Brigham Young University
Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D., University of Illinois; M.A., New York University; B.A., English, University of Akron; Advanced Diplomas in Applied Linguistics and 20th Century French Literature, Université de Paris III (Sorbonne)
Sabbatical award, “Putting More of the World in World Literature: An Interdisciplinary, Transnational Approacy, ” to do research and writing related to modern African and Caribbean literature • Presented paper “Female Textuality in Zoë Wicomb’s David’s Story” for the seminar “Body and Textuality in Context: Bringing a Comparative Perspective,” at the American Comparative Literature Association 2015 Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, March 26- 29, 2015. • Presented paper “’Something inside is laid wide like a wound’: Decentered Storytelling i in No Telephone to Heaven” for the panel “Questioning Boundaries: New Applications of Black Transnationalism” at the Northeast Modern Language Association 46th Annual Convention, Toronto, April 30-May 3, 2015. • Presented paper “The Challenge to Colonial Epistemic Violence in Zoë Wicomb’s October and Playing in the Light: A Feminism for the New South Africa” in a panel of the Women’s Caucus of the African Literature Association, University of Bayreuth in Germany, June 3-6, 2015. • Princeton University Mid-Career Fellowship • Fulbright Lectureship in English, Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico • Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar for College Teachers, Argentina • National Endowment for the Humanities One-Year Fellowship in Residence for College Teachers, New York University • Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires: Sabbatical Project: “The Role of the Writer in Argentine Society” • National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers, Graduate Center, City University of New York • Project Director, NJ Education of Language Minority Students (ELMS) Grant • Member, Middle States Association Evaluation Team at the University of Puerto Rico- Bayamón • Selected for Writers of the Americas Second Annual US-Cuba Writers Conference, Havana and Matanzas, Cuba
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: M.A., Teachers College, NY; M.A., Rutgers University; B.A., William Smith College
Diversity Certificate, Cornell University Holocaust & Genocide Advisory Board, Raritan Valley Community College Big Brother Big Sister mentor Admissions volunteer, Hobart & William Smith Colleges Minority Student Careers Panel volunteer, Hobart & William Smith Colleges National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) member
Associate Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: M.A., Rutgers University; B.A., City College of New York-CUNY
Assistant Professor
Academic Degrees Achieved: Ph.D. University of Miami, M.A. University of Miami, M.A. University of Wroclaw, B.A. University of Wroclaw, B.Sc. Wroclaw University of Technology
Lynne Alleger Lynne.alleger@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.E.D., Rutgers University
Susan Allen Susan.allen@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.F.A., University of Arkansas Fayetteville
Lucia Barbieri lbarbier@raritanval.edu
B.S. English Education, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
M.A. English Literature, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
Writing Workshop Program, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Executive Management Program, Duke University, Raleigh-Durham, NC
Leadership Management, Aspen Institute, Colorado
Karly Berezowsky karly.berezowsky@raritanval.edu
B.A. English, B.A. Communication (with a specialized concentration in Journalism), minor in Art History from Flagler College
M.A. English Literature. and Graduate Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, The College of New Jersey
Celia Bonadies Celia.bonadies@raritanval.edu
B.A., English, Manhattanville College
M.A., Rutgers University
Ellen Brain ebrain@raritanval.edu
Masters of the Humanities and Secondary English Education, Kean University
Jessica Brent jbrent@raritanval.edu
Ph.D. English, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
Rebecca Campbell Rebecca.campbell@raritanval.edu
B.A., English Literature, University of Maryland, College Park
M.A., Secondary English Education, New York University
Nancy Castello Nancy.castello@raritanval.edu
B.A., Rutgers University
M.A., Montclair State University
Denise Cimpko-Beller DCimpko@raritanval.edu
B.A. English, Rutgers University
M.A. English, The College of New Jersey
Abigail Davis Abigail.davis@raritanval.edu
Scot Ebner Scot.ebner@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.L.I.T., Drew University
Anne Ehrhart Anne.Ehrhart@raritanval.edu
B.A. English, Westminster College, Missouri
M.A.T. Secondary English, University of Louisville
Suanne Fetherolf Suanne.Fetherolf@raritanval.edu
B.A., San Diego State University
M.A., Drew University
Melanie Frances Melanie.frances@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.A., College of New Jersey
Patricia Hamill Patricia.hamill@raritanval.edu
B.A., Liberal Studies/Medieval English Lit., Pace University
M.A., English/Medieval Irish Studies, New York University
Kendra Hansis Kendra.Hansis@raritanval.edu
B.A., University of Connecticut
M.A., University of Connecticut
Ph.D. (ABD), University of Massachusetts
Alicia Harabin Alicia.harabin@raritanval.edu
Karen Hoffman karen.hoffman@raritanval.edu
B.S., East Stroudsburg University
M.Ed., East Stroudsburg University
Dr. Ann C. Kane akane@raritanval.edu
A.A., Raritan Valley Community College
B.A., Kean University
M.S., Walden University
Ed.D., Walden University
Maria Kayal Maria.kayal@raritanval.edu
B.A., English/Philosophy, University of Scranton
M.S., TESOL, City College of New York
Sabrina Mahfouz Sabrina.Mahfouz@raritanval.edu
B.A., English/Elementary Ed, Kean University
M.A., English/Gifted Education, Columbia University
Julie Mainka julie.mainka@raritanval.edu
B.A. English, University of Texas at San Antonio
M.A. English, Literature and Language, University of Northern Colorado
Thomas A. Makin, Ph.D. tmakin@raritanval.edu
Ph.D., Univ. of Pennsylvania
M.A., Univ. of Pennsylvania
B.A., Manhattan College
Dr. Robin Mako Citarella rmako@raritanval.edu
Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A., Drew University
B.A., University of Dayton
Kristine Manganelli kmangane@raritanval.edu
B.A. English Literature & Secondary Education, University of Rhode Island
M.A. Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London
Vanessa Markota Vanessa.markota@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.A., English, Seton Hall University
Raymond Masullo Raymond.masullo@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.A., English, William Paterson University
Kellie McKinney Kellie.mckinney@raritanval.edu
M.A., University of Denver
Nina McPherson Nina.mcpherson@raritanval.edu
B.A., Yale University
Kathalyn Messano kmessano@raritanval.edu
B.A., in English, Fairleigh Dickinson
M.A.T., Fairleigh Dickinson
M.A. Education Leadership, Management and Policy, Seton Hall
Ed.D (ABD) Curriculum Leadership, Northeastern University
Elizabeth Michels Elizabeth.michels@raritanval.edu
Thomas E. Moomjy tmoomjy@raritanval.edu
PhD., Candidate in American Studies (ABD), Rutgers University-Newark
B.A., M.A., English, Rutgers University
William Nadolski William.nadolski@raritanval.edu
B.A., English, Rutgers University
M.A., English, Northeastern University
Sara Pampinto spampint@raritanval.edu
M.A. English Language and Literature, NYU
B.A. English and Secondary Education, TCNJ
Jamie Parmese Jamie.parmese@raritanval.edu
B.A., M.A., Rutgers University
Melody Pazian Melody.pazian@raritanval.edu
M.S.,, M.S.Ed., Adol. Education English, College of Staten Island
Nina Presuto Nina.presuto@raritanval.edu
A.A., Liberal Arts, Raritan Valley Community College
B.A., Elem. Education/English Writing, Kean University
M.A.Ed., Prof. Development Pgm., Seton Hall University
Patricia Rutledge prutledg@raritanval.edu
B.S., M.Ed., Rutgers University
Mary Saarmann msaarman@raritanval.edu
A.A. Humanities/Social Science, County College of Morris
B.A. English, Montclair State University
Post B.A. Teaching Certification English, Montclair State University
M.A. Speech and Theatre, Montclair State University
Post-Graduate Study in England, Shakespeare and Theatre, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Amy Sawford Amy.sawford@raritanval.edu
B.A., English, The University of Florida
M.A., English - Comparative Literature, Brooklyn College
Tracey Schuller Tracey.schuller@raritanval.edu
Eric Specian Eric.specian@raritanval.edu
Julie Stine Julie.stine@raritanval.edu
B.A., Art History, Rutgers College
M.Ed., English Education, Rutgers University
Cathline Tanis Cathline.tanis@raritanval.edu
M.Ed., English/Language Arts, Rutgers University
Christine Taylor christine.taylor@raritanval.edu
Master of Library and Information Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
M.A. English Literature, National University
B.A. English and Pan African Studies, Drew University
Chris Teixeira Christopher.Teixeira@raritanval.edu
B.A. in English from Montclair State University
M.A. in American Literature from Montclair State University
Myra Thomas Myra.thomas@raritanval.edu
M.F.A., Fairleigh Dickinson University
Alison Ward Alison.ward@raritanval.edu
B.S. Secondary Education in English, University of Rhode Island
M.A. in Teaching and Learning, Nova Southeastern University
Valerie A. Wheatley Valerie.wheatley@raritanval.edu
B.A., William Paterson College/University
M.A., The George Washington University
Education Specialist from The George Washington University
The College hosts a chapter of the English Honor Society Sigma Kappa Delta that promotes and sponsors activities to enhance the study of English and the English major.
Nota Bene, an annual online journal, provides an opportunity for students to showcase academic achievements.
Expand your love for literature and writing by joining the College’s Literary Club. Members share their written work with other members.
Career Coach – Learn more about career opportunities.
Contact Information:
Cynthia Coulbourne
cynthia.coulbourne@raritanval.edu
908-526-1200 x8816