Faculty Listing and Profiles
For general information or for assistance contacting an English faculty member, please contact the department at English@wcupa.edu.
A

Aguiló-Pérez, Emily (she/her/ella) 
Professor 
Main Hall 550 | EAguilo-Perez@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University 
Interests: Children’s and Youth Literatures and Cultures; Childhood Studies; Barbie
                                          Studies; Representation and Diversity in Children’s Literature and Media; Toys and
                                          Media Studies; Girlhood Studies; Latinx Identities and Representation; Children’s
                                          Rights; Popular Culture; Disney Studies

Alnes, Jacqueline 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 528 | JAlnes@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
Interests: Creative Nonfiction, Literary Journalism, Memoir, Poetry, Disability Studies,
                                          Intersections between Composition, Creative Writing, and Literature

Anderson, Amy (she/her)
Professor 
Main Hall 534| AAnderson@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Kentucky 
Interests: Visual Rhetoric; Multimodal Composition; History of Rhetoric; The New Rhetoric
                                          Project; Digital Rhetoric; Byzantine Iconography; Rhetoric and AI 

Ashley, Hannah M. (she/her)
Professor 
Main Hall 109 | HAshley@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., Temple University 
Interests: Community Organizing and Public Humanities; Ecological Humanities; First-generation
                                          and Working-Class University Students; Basic Writing; Bakhtinian Voicing Theory; Critical
                                          Discourse Analysis; Critical Pedagogy; Community and Academic Literacies

Awuyah, Christian 
Professor 
Main Hall 517 | CAwuyah@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., University of Alberta 
Interests: African Literature; World Literature; Comparative Literature; Ghanaian
                                          Literature
B

Banner, Rachel (she/her)
Associate Professor
Main Hall 507 | RBanner@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania 
Interests: 19th-century African American Literature; Frederick Douglass; 19th-Century
                                          U.S. Literature; 19th-Century Aesthetic Theories; Law and Literature

Bense, Brendan 
Instructor 
Main Hall 404 | BBense@wcupa.edu
Education: M.F.A., University of California, Irvine
Interests: First-Year Writing; Poetry; Fiction; Literature

Betz, B. G. 
Instructor 
Main Hall 312 | BBetz@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Delaware 
Interests: Popular Women's Fiction; the Victorian Novel; Composition; Local History

Blake, Michelle 
Assistant Professor
Main Hall 510 | MBlake@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., Columbia University 
Interests: Developmental Writing; First-Year Writing; Online Writing Instruction;
                                          First-Year Experience; Student Engagement; Peer Mentoring

Burns, Michael (he/they)
Associate Professor; Department Chair  
Main Hall 532 | MBurns2@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign 
Interests: African American Rhetorics; Composition and Rhetoric; Rhetoric and the
                                          Built Environment; Teaching Non-Traditional College Students
C

Cooke, Laquana 
Professor; Director of iCamp Media Academy icampwcu.org 
Main Hall 115 | LCooke2@wcupa.edu
Education:Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
Interests: Generative STEM Education; Digital Rhetoric; Critical Literacy and Pedagogy;
                                          Digital-Based Learning; Games Studies; Design Research; Game Design; Usability Studies

Cream, Randall 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 544 | RCream@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Connecticut 
Interests: Digital Humanities; Data Mining; Gaming; Technologies of Writing; Early
                                          Modern Philosophy and Literature; Distance Education
D

Dodson-Robinson, Eric 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 515 | EDodson-Robinson@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign 
Interests: Reception Studies; Revenge Drama; Seneca; Tragedy; Shakespeare's Reception
                                          of the Classics; Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Ancient World; Archaic Greek Poetry

Dougherty, Tim 
Associate Professor; Assistant Chair For Students and Student Learning 
Main Hall 542 | TDougherty@wcupa.edu | 610-436-1682
Education: Ph.D., Syracuse University 
Interests: Histories of Rhetoric; Cultural Rhetorical Theories; Intersectional Feminist
                                          Rhetorics; Critical Ethnic and Settler Colonial Studies; Irish Studies; Labor Issues
                                          in Writing Program Administration; Contemplative and Antiracist Writing Pedagogy

Duval, Peter 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 551 | PDuval@wcupa.edu
Education: M.F.A., Boston University; M.A. (Literature), University of Illinois; M.A.
                                          (Film Studies), New York University 
Interests: Short Fiction; Creative Writing; Film Studies; Book and Web Design; Editing
E

Ersheid, Alison
Assistant Professor
Main Hall 104 | AErsheid@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D. Literacy, St. John’s University; M.F.A. Fiction Writing, George Mason
                                          University
Interests: Retention and persistence in underprepared writers; First year writing;
                                          Professional and Technical Writing; Mentoring Programs; Short fiction

Ervin, Kristine 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 102 | kervin@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of Houston; M.F.A., New York University 
Interests: Creative Nonfiction; Poetry; Memoir; Intersections between Literature,
                                          Creative Writing, and Composition

Ervin, Margaret (she/her)
Professor 
Main Hall 103 | MErvin@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University at Albany, State University of New York 
Interests: Composition; Rhetoric; English Education; Business Writing

Esch, Stacy 
Assistant Professor
Main Hall 535 | SEsch@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., West Chester University of Pennsylvania 
Interests: General Education; Composition and Rhetoric; Popular Culture Studies; Contemporary
                                          Topics in Literature
F

Famiglietti, Andy 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 538 | AFamiglietti@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Bowling Green State University 
Interests: Digital Writing and Rhetoric; Critical Approaches to New Media; Digital
                                          Culture; Wikipedia; Digital Humanities
H

Halko, Gabrielle 
Professor; Assistant Chair for Faculty Evaluations and Elections
Main Hall 543 | GHalko@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2371 
Education: Ph.D., Western Michigan University; M.F.A., Bowling Green State University
                                          
Interests: Building scholarly collaboration and community – including with students!;
                                          Diversity and Representation in Childhood Studies; Children's Experiences of War/Internment/Occupation
                                          in Children's Literature; Japanese American Incarceration in Children's Literature;
                                          Pedagogy of Poetry; American Poetry

Hyson, Sarah 
Instructor
Anderson Hall 508 | SHyson@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A. (Creative Writing), West Chester University of Pennsylvania, M.S.
                                          (Historic Preservation), University of Pennsylvania 
Interests: First-Year Writing, Fiction Writing, Poetry, Representation in Children's
                                          and Young Adult Literature, Shakespeare, Service Learning
J

James, Patrick Clement (he/him)
Instructor 
Main Hall 502 | PJames@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Interests: Composition; LGBTQIA+ Rhetorics; Archival Studies; Queer Literacy; Creative
                                          Writing
K

Kahn, Seth (he/him)
Professor 
Main Hall 520 | SKahn@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Syracuse University 
Interests: Composition and Rhetoric; Qualitative Research Methods; Labor Organizing
                                          and Rhetoric; Teaching and Scholarship as Activist Work; Marxism; Cultural Studies;
                                          Punk Rock Music; Counterculture

King, Julie (she/her)
Instructor 
Main Hall 522 | JKing2@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., Roskilde University, Denmark 
Interests: First-Year Writing, Composition Pedagogy, Scandinavian Literature and Languages,
                                          Nordic Cultural Studies

Kondrlik, Kristin (she/her)
Associate Professor; Graduate Coordinator; Publishing Certificate Coordinator 
Main Hall 541 | KKondrlik@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University 
Interests: Health Communication; Health Humanities; Professional and Technical Writing;
                                          Rhetorics of Health and Medicine; Medicine and Literature; Women's Writing; Print
                                          Culture Studies

Konigsberg, Lisa 
Assistant Professor 
Main Hall 508 | LKonigsberg@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 
Interests: General Education Writing; Composition and Rhetoric; Student Teaching Supervision;
                                          British Literature (Poetry); Creative Writing (Poetry); Film; Teaching Writing about
                                          Popular Culture; Business Writing; First Year Writing; Themes in Popular Culture:
                                          Economies of Need

Kuebrich, Ben 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 542 | BKuebrich@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Syracuse University 
Interests: Podcasting, Community Journalism, Rhetoric for Social Justice, Popular
                                          Education
M

Mader, Rodney (he/him)
Professor 
Main Hall 131 | RMader@wcupa.edu | 610-436-1688
Education: Ph.D., Temple University 
Interests: 18th-Century American Culture; William Bartram; Ecocriticism; Feminisms;
                                          Queer Theories; Film and Television

McCann, Lauren 
Instructor 
Main Hall 311 | LMccann@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A, West Chester University 
Interests: First-Year Writing; Online Writing Instruction; Composition and Rhetoric;
                                          Writing Centers

McVeigh Trainor, Maureen (she/her)
Assistant Professor 
Main Hall 508 | MMcveigh@wcupa.edu
Education: M.F.A., Rosemont College; M.A.West Chester University of Pennsylvania 
Interests: Creative Writing; Fiction Writing; James Joyce, especially Dubliners; Utilizing Creative Writing and Composition Techniques in Both Classrooms

Mrkich, Shannon 
Professor; Director of First Year Experience 
Main Hall 510 | SMrkich@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Temple University 
Interests: First Year Experience; Distance Education and Pedagogy; Student Engagement;
                                          Writing Assessment and Dictated Commentary; Post-apocalyptic and Dystopian Literature.
N

Neary, Dyan 
Associate Professor
Main Hall 523 | DNeary@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., Florida State University 
Interests: Literary Journalism; Creative Nonfiction; Investigative Reporting; Prisons
                                          and Mass Incarceration; Prison Education and Community Literacy; Environmental and
                                          Public Health; Documentary Film; Composition Studies
P

Panagiotidou, Maria-Eirini 
Professor
Main Hall 500 | MPanagiotidou@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., The University of Nottingham 
Interests: Literary Linguistics/ Stylistics; Cognitive Poetics; Sociolinguistics;
                                          Intertextuality; Ekphrasis; Iconicity; Multimodality

Patriarca, Ashley (she/her)
Associate Professor; First Year Writing Director  
Main Hall 506 | APatriarca@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 
Interests: International Business Writing; Crisis Communication; Organizational Use
                                          of Social Media; Risk Communication; Grant Writing; Usability; Visual Rhetoric

Pearson, Nancy 
Associate Professor
Main Hall 502 | NPearson@wcupa.edu
Education: MFA Poetry, George Mason University; MFA Nonfiction, University of Houston
Interests: Poetry; Memoir; Creative Nonfiction; Disability & Queer Theory

Perry, Merry G. 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 511 | MPerry@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of South Florida 
Interests: The Study and Teaching of Popular Culture; Cultural Studies in Rhetoric
                                          & Composition and Literature; Feminist Theory and Pedagogy; Masculinities and Men's
                                          Studies; Early Modern Drama, especially Christopher Marlowe

Pollard, Cherise 
Professor 
Main Hall 529 | CPollard@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2959 
Education: Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh 
Interests: African American Literature; Poetry; Rhetoric and Composition; Literary
                                          Theory; Black Historical Fiction; Black Feminist Literary Criticism; Slave Narratives
R

Raclaw, Joshua (they/them)
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 530 | JRaclaw@wcupa.edu
University of Colorado, Boulder 
Interests: English Linguistics; Conversation Analysis; Linguistic Anthropology and
                                          Sociolinguistics; Language, Gender, and Sexuality; Queer and Trans Linguistics; Language,
                                          Gesture, and the Body

Rademaekers, Justin 
Professor; Writing Across the Curriculum Director 
Main Hall 543 | JRademaekers@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2371 
Education: Ph.D., Purdue University 
Interests: Writing across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines; Writing Program
                                          Development; Environmental Rhetoric and Ecocriticism; Postmodern Science Communication;
                                          Critical Theory; Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration. 

Ray, Timothy D. 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 108 | TRay@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Bowling Green State University 
Interests: Computers and Writing; the Rhetoric of Technology and Digital Culture/Cyberculture;
                                          the Rhetoric of Counterculture and the Grateful Dead Subculture

Rodríguez, Yanira 
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 101 | YRodriguez@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., Syracuse University 
Interests: Third World Women and Hip Hop Feminisms; Community Literacy/Publishing;
                                          Intergenerational Social Movement Principles, Histories and Rhetorics; Media Representations;
                                          Community Accountable Scholarship; Organizer Ethos Formation in the Academy; Printmaking
                                          and other Multimodal Literacies; The Underground Press

Rutherford-Morrison, Lara 
Instructor 
Main Hall 312 | LRutherford-Morrison@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
Interests: 19th-Century British Literature; Neo-Victorian Studies; Theories of Gender
                                          and Sexuality; Popular Culture & Culture Studies
S

Sancak-Marusa, Ilknur 
Assistant Professor; Writing Center Director
Main Hall 100 | ISancak-Marusa@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., Millersville University 
Interests: Composition & Rhetoric; Basic Writing; Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Sargent, Andrew (he/him)
Professor; Program Coordinator, African & African American Literature Minor
Main Hall 536 | ASargent@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles 
Interests: African American Literature; American Literature; Literature and Culture
                                          of the Civil Rights Era; Film and Popular Culture; Race, Masculinity, and Criminal
                                          Justice

Schoettler, Megan (she/her) 
Assistant Professor
Main Hall 524 | MSchoettler@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D. English, Composition and Rhetoric. Miami University, 2022. Certificate:
                                          Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Interests: Feminist Rhetorics and Literacy Practices; Professional and Technical Writing;
                                          Composition Pedagogy; Social Justice Activism and Advocacy; Community-Engaged Research;
                                          Teacher Preparation and Support; Undergraduate Research

Schugar, Jordan
Professor
Main Hall 537 | JSchugar@wcupa.edu 
Education: Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park
Interests: Digital Storytelling; Mobile Pedagogy; Wearable Technologies; Reading Comprehension
                                          (Digital and Traditional); Figurative Language; Learn-to-Code/Coding Literacy; Emerging
                                          Technology; Education Abroad

Sorisio, Carolyn 
Professor
Main Hall 516 | CSorisio@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2892 
Education: Ph.D., Temple University 
Interests: 19th-Century U.S. Literature; reform (social justice writers); life writing;
                                          Romanticism; critical regionalisms; multi-ethnic literature;  African American literature;
                                          Native American literature; print cultural studies; feminist studies; postcolonial
                                          studies; transnational studies
T

Taylor-Storm, Daniel
Instructor
Main Hall 411 | DTaylor@wcupa.edu 
Education: M.A., Columbia University
Interests: Fiction Writing; Creative-Nonfiction Writing; Popular Culture; Film Studies;
                                          Young Adult Literature

Tischio, Victoria 
Professor 
Main Hall 106 | VTischio@wcupa.edu | 610-436-1055 
Education: Ph.D., University at Albany, State University of New York 
Interests: Rhetoric and Composition; Critical Theory and Pedagogy; Service-Learning;
                                          Popular Culture (Representations of Schooling, Gender, Politics, Parody); Film Studies;
                                          Writing Program Administration; Writing Center Pedagogy and Administration; Study
                                          abroad
V

Vanfosson, Jason (he/him)
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 519 | jVanfosson@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Western Michigan University 
Interests: Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture; Comics Studies; Gender
                                          and Sexuality Studies; Road Literature; Writing for Children and Young Adults; Appalachian
                                          Studies; LGBTQIA+ Literatures and Cultures

Vealey, Kyle P.
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 530 | KVealey@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., Purdue University 
Interests: Technical Communication; Rhetoric of Science; Visual Rhetoric; Comics and
                                          Graphic Novels; Museums and the Imagination

Verderame, Carla (she/her)
Professor 
Main Hall 501 | CVerderame@wcupa.edu | 610-436-0013 
Education: Ph.D., University of Michigan 
Interests: Native Literature; Women Writers of the American South; Young Adult Literature;
                                          Literature Pedagogy; Literature of the Holocaust

Vilceus, Sophia S.
Assistant Professor 
Main Hall 104 | svilceus@wcupa.edu
Education: PhD, University of Delaware
Interests: Critical Pedagogy; Culturally Relevant Pedagogies; Black Studies; First-Year
                                          Writing; Memoir Writing; Educating the Marginalized 
W
 
Walters, Kuhio (he/him)
Associate Professor 
Main Hall 509 | KWalters@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2467
Education: Ph.D., University of New Hampshire 
Interests: Composition and Visual Rhetoric; the Photograph as an Aspect of Literacy;
                                          theories and Histories of Photography; Veterans Studies

Wanko, Cheryl L. (she/her or they/their) 
 Professor 
Main Hall 503 | CWanko@wcupa.edu | 610-436-2126 
Education: Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University 
Interests: Sustainability & English Studies; 18th-Century Literature and Popular Culture;
                                          Academic Advising; Community sustainability planning

Wood, Virginia
Assistant Professor
Main Hall 528 | VWood@wcupa.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of North Texas
Interests: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Multi-ethnic literature

Woodlief, Jamie
Assistant Professor; Academic Success Program Coordinator
Main Hall 535 | KWoodlief@wcupa.edu
Education: M.A., West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Interests: Developmental Composition and Rhetoric; Pop Culture Studies

 
  
 