Department of English

Faculty

Department of English and Foreign Languages

Chimegsaikhan Banzar, Associate Professor of French; B.A., Moscow Linguistic University, Russia; M.A., State Pedagogical University of Mongolia; Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dr. Banzar teaches introductory and upper-level French courses, and she is fluent in Mongolian, Russian, and French. Some of her classes were taken at the Sorbonne. She has published articles on Franco-phone women’s writing and feminist theory, and she recently received a summer grant to study Baudelaire.

Catherine Bonner, Lecturer, Department of English and Foreign Languages; B.A., University of Southwestern Louisiana (ULL); M.A., Louisiana Tech University. Ms. Bonner is an accomplished teacher specializing in African American literature and history. Aside from her M.A., she has satisfied most of the requirements to earn the PhD.  In recent years, Bonner has been awarded NEH fellowships to Harvard University, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Virginia; she has been specially selected to teach experimental classes.

James Clawson, Associate Professor of English; B.A., Denison University; M.Sc., Ph.D., University of Edinburgh. Dr. Clawson’s research focuses on twentieth-century literature, especially Lawrence Durrell, James Joyce, and contemporary Scottish authors, with further interest in the digital humanities. In addition to his work in the classroom, Dr. Clawson has co-organized conferences and conference panels​ in the United States, Scotland, and Greece. His monograph, Durrell Re-Read: Crossing the Liminal in Lawrence Durrell’s Major Novels (2016), was published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Miguel Ángel De Feo, Assistant Professor of Spanish; B.A., M.A., University of Central Florida; Ph.D., University of Florida. He graduated summa cum laude and received the Medal of Honor for the highest GPA in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Florida.  Dr. De Feo teaches introductory and upper-level Spanish courses, and he has published an assortment of articles, essays, and reviews on Hispanic literature in books, journals, and literary magazines and anthologies in Puerto Rico, Panama, Argentina, Spain, and the United States. Dr. De Feo specializes in Caribbean and South American literature, particularly the essay genre in twentieth-century Argentinian culture. Before coming to Grambling, De Feo founded, organized, and chaired the Hispanic Film Society at Louisiana Tech University.

Bernie Morris Evans, Lecturer; B.A., Mississippi Valley State University; M.S., Iowa State University; M.A.T., and 54 doctoral hours in Educational Leadership at Grambling State University. Ms. Evans is an experienced journalist: she worked as an advertising coordinator in Public Relations for the Chicago Tribune, one of the top newspapers in the country. She teaches composition and world literature classes and has recently published a study of the conflict between Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Dubois entitled Garvey and DuBois – A Race to Nowhere: A Feud to Change All Time (2014).

Mica Dawn Gould, Associate Professor of English; B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Purdue University. Dr. Gould is a skilled medievalist who can read more than ten medieval languages and their dialects. She has organized panels at the main medievalist conference and published a variety of articles, chiefly on medieval literature and languages. Gould has helped Grambling win an NEH grant for nearly $100,000 and she works with students on grant research. She has additional interests and expertise in technical writing, fiction writing, linguistics, comparative mythology, and ancient literature and cultures.

Brenda Lewis, the Administrative Assistant for the department, is a fully-qualified civil servant with years of experience. Ms. Lewis is a key contact for the Department of English and Foreign Languages. Administratively savvy, Ms. Lewis is a consummate professional who helps to keep the department running smoothly.

Ruby Lewis, Professor of English: B.S., M.Ed., Southern University; Ph.D., Kansas State University. For decades, Dr. Lewis has trained Grambling students in the essentials of proper grammar and composition. Her expertise is legendary, and faculty members defer to her.  Her course is tough, but students come back years after graduation to thank her for how much she helped them. Dr. Lewis, general editor of Black Orpheus: Rhetoric and Readings (1st ed. 1996; 2nd ed. 2002), donated approximately $60,000 to the department from the proceeds of this text for academic scholarships, scholastic awards, scholarly programs and events, computer equipment, faculty travel, and professional development.    

Darren Mathews, Lecturer; B.S., Louisiana Tech University; M.A., M.A., Louisiana Tech University. Mr. Mathews majored in math and he holds two Master’s degrees: one in English and one in History. He finished most of the work for the doctorate in medieval studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A natural intellectual, Mathews is one of the best-read members of the department.

Beatrice McKinsey, Coordinator, Department of English and Foreign Languages/Associate Professor of English; B.A., M.A., Grambling State University; Ph.D., Kansas State University.  Dr. McKinsey is the departmental coordinator; she is a popular teacher who specializes in the humanities of the South and composition; her reputation with students is excellent because she works diligently with them to make sure they learn to write. She has written and presented essays on works by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Ernest Gaines.  She has also published essays with the Mississippi Philological Association.  Dr. McKinsey manages the department, advises students and tries to resolve all reasonable grievances with the milk of human kindness.

Jennifer McMullen, Associate Professor of English; B.A., M.A., University of Mississippi; Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. McMullen specializes in African American literature. She has presented some papers on black drama, and she has an article in Southern Quarterly on Gail Godwin.

Charles Snodgrass, Tenured Assistant Professor of English; B.A., M.A., The University of Texas-Pan American; Ph.D., Texas A&M University.  His articles and chapters on Sir Walter Scott, John Galt, James Hogg, and Susan Ferrier have appeared in the Scottish Literary Journal, Studies in Hogg and His World, Studies in Romanticism, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, and in essay collections from Bucknell and Toronto university presses. He was a contributing editor of Selected Criticism, 1820–25 of Pickering & Chatto’s 6-volume Blackwood’s Magazine, 1817–25, and he served as Editorial Assistant for The Norton Critical Edition of John Keats, edited by Jeffrey N. Cox.  From 1997 through 2007, Dr. Snodgrass was Co-Editor of the online book review feature Romantic Circles Reviews; and he co-founded with Ian Duncan and Cairns Craig the MLA Discussion Group on Scottish Literature.  His 2016 MLA Convention presentation was published by the Association of Scottish Literary Studies at: https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/authors/charles-snodgrass/.

Thomas J. Tracy, Associate Professor of English; B.A., Roosevelt University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Oregon. Dr. Tracy specializes in English literature of the Romantic and Victorian eras with an emphasis on the novel. Aside from assorted periodical articles, he has published Irishness and Womanhood in Nineteenth-Century British Writing (2009).

Hugh F. Wilson, Professor of English; B.A., John Hopkins University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago. Associate Member of the Graduate Faculty. Dr. Wilson is a Renaissance scholar specializing in the work of Shakespeare, Milton, and Donne. He has published articles on Shakespeare, Milton, Anne Southwell, Ben Jonson, and David Masson, the great Victorian Miltonist. He has presented papers in France and Spain that were subsequently published. His essays have appeared in Milton Quarterly, Milton Studies, SEDERI (Spain), Ben Jonson Journal, Quidditas, SCN, ANQ and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Two of his essays were chosen to lead off two collections of essays on Milton that were published by Peter Lang in Switzerland. He helped win two grants for summer institutes at Grambling from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Evelyn Shepherd Wynn, Tenured Assistant Professor of English; B.S., Grambling State University; M.A., Louisiana Tech University; EdD., Grambling State University. Dr. Wynn is currently pursuing a second doctorate, the Ph.D. in Literature and Criticism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, specializing in African American literature; she recently completed all coursework, passed a four-part candidacy exam and is studying for the comprehensive exam. During her tenure at GSU, she has published several books, book chapters and journal articles. Her most recent publication is Voices of Historical and Contemporary Black American Pioneers (2012), a co-edited multivolume set. Dr. Wynn has also co-edited the book, Teaching Culturally Diverse College Students in a Pluralistic Society (2002).  She is currently authoring a book manuscript entitled Collaborative Learning Techniques: Using Collaborative Writing to Teach Underprepared Students.  She has presented papers on blended learning, collaborative writing , and plagiarism.