American Studies at Kennesaw State University

American Studies

Faculty

Jane Barnette, Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies
B.S. Northwestern University
M.A. University of Texas--Austin
Ph.D. University of Texas--Austin
Train culture; Chicago history; theatre history; 1870-1920; dramaturgy; feminist and performance theory.
Webpage:
Email: jbarne48@kennesaw.edu

Jesse Benjamin, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice
B.A. Friends World College, Long Island University
M.A. S.U.N.Y. Binghamton
Ph.D. S.U.N.Y. Binghamton
Critical race theory, post-colonial theory, whiteness studies, pan-Africanism, world systems theory and epistemology.
Webpage:
Email: jbenjam2@kennesaw.edu

Ed Chan, Associate Professor of English
B.A. University of California, Riverside
M.A. California State University, Fullerton
Ph.D. University of Rochester
20th / 21st C. American literary, film, and cultural studies; critical race studies; utopian and science fiction.
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: echan@kennesaw.edu

Jim Elledge, Professor of English
B.A. Eastern Illinois University
M.S.L.S. Eastern Illinois University
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Chicago
Creative writing, queer studies (U.S., 1880-1945), outsider artist Henry Darger, contemporary U.S. poetry, prosody, small press and literary publishing Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: jelledg1@kennesaw.edu

Emron Esplin, Assistant Professor of English and American Studies
B.A. Brigham Young University
M.A. Brigham Young University
Ph.D. Michigan State University
Inter-American Literary Studies/Literatures of the Americas, 19th-20th Century U.S. Literature, 20th Century Spanish American Literature, The Mexican Revolution.
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: eesplin@kennesaw.edu

Donald Fay, Associate Professor of English
B.A. Shimer College
M.A. Emory University
20/21st C. American literature and cultural Studies; jazz and blues; African American literature; Jalaluddin Rumi; middle eastern literature
Webpage:
Email: dfay@kennesaw.edu

Dorothy Graham, Professor of English
B.A. Mercer University
M.A. University of Georgia
Ph.D. Georgia State University
19th-Century American Literature-intellectual history and Jungian perspectives; film Studies--genre, film adaptation, and women in film
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: dgraham@kennesaw.edu

Hannah B. Harvey, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Artistic Director of The KSU Tellers
B.A. Furman University
M.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Performance ethnography; storytelling; the body in performance; cultural performance; adaptation of literature; oral and labor history; the politics of performance.
Webpage:
Email: hharvey3@kennesaw.edu

Timothy Hedeen, Associate Professor of Conflict Management
B.A.  Syracuse University
M.A.  Syracuse University
Ph.D.  Syracuse University
Community dispute resolution; social movements; American justice; program evaluation; democratic pedagogy; collaborative decision-making
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkhedeen/
Email: tkhedeen@kennesaw.edu

LeeAnn Lands, Associate Professor of History and American Studies
B.S.E. University of Florida
M.A. Florida Atlantic University
Ph.D. Georgia Institute of Technology
Urban studies; housing inequality; housing cultures; geographies of race and class
Extended Biography
Email: llands@kennesaw.edu
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~llands/

Catherine M. Lewis, Associate Professor of History
B.A. Emory University
M.A. University of Iowa
Ph.D. University of Iowa
Museums and public history; women’s history; sports history; immigrant Literature, 1840-1940; the Holocaust
Extended Biography
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~clewis1/
Email: clewis1@kennesaw.edu

Kenneth F. Maffitt, Assistant Professor of History
B.A. Washington University in St. Louis
M.A. Stanford University
Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
Modern Mexico, 20th / 21st C. Latin American and U.S. history; working-class studies, immigration, cities and suburbs, consumption and leisure, citizenship and rights.
Webpage:
Email: kmaffitt@kennesaw.edu

Nina Yermakov Morgan, Associate Professor of English and Asst. Director of the Center for the Development of Asian Studies
B.A. University of California, Riverside
M.A. University of California, Riverside
Ph.D. University of California, Riverside
Critical theory; Asian American literature; 20th C. American literature; globalization and labor; women’s studies
Webpage:
Email: nmorgan@kennesaw.edu

Linda Grant Niemann, Associate Professor of English
B.A. University of California at Santa Cruz
Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley
Regional literature; border studies; travel literature; memoir; non-fiction; literature of the Americas
Webpage:
Email: lniemann@kennesaw.edu

Elsa A. Nystrom, Professor of History
B.A. Judson College
M.A. Loyola University of Chicago
Ph.D.  Loyola University of Chicago
19th and 20th century social and cultural history, colonial america, popular culture, comic strips and sports, history of auto racing, NASCAR, EU-US cultural relationships
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~enystrom/
Email: enystrom@kennesaw.edu

Daniel S. Papp, President, Kennesaw State University
Political Science and American Studies
B.S. Dartmouth College
Ph.D. University of Miami
International security policy, U.S. and Russian foreign and defense policies, international system change, and the impact of information and communication technologies on national security and the international system
Extended Biography
Webpage: http://www.kennesaw.edu/president/index.html
Email: dpapp@kennesaw.edu

Daniel J. Paracka, Jr., Assistant Professor of University Studies, Director of International Services and Programs
B.A.  St. Andrews Presbyterian College
M.S.  West Chester State University
Ph.D. Georgia State University
America in the world; media studies
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: dparacka@kennesaw.edu

David B. Parker, Professor of History
B.A. Duke University
M.A. University of North Carolina
Ph.D. University of North Carolina
American and southern social/cultural history; American religion
Webpage:
Email: dparker@kennesaw.edu

Randall L. Patton, Professor of History
B.A.  University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
M.A. University of Georgia
Ph.D. University of Georgia
Southern studies, business and labor history
Webpage:
Email: rpatton@kennesaw.edu

Jim Piecuch, Assistant Professor of History
B.A. University of New Hampshire – Manchester
M.A. University of New Hampshire,
Ph.D. The College of William & Mary
Colonial and Revolutionary America, US foreign relations, Native American history, and Early Republic (1787-1850)
Webpage:
Email: jpiecuch@kennesaw.edu

Kay A. Reeve, Professor of History
B.S.Ed.  Texas Tech University
M.A.  Texas Tech University
Ph.D.  Texas A&M University
History of the American West, with social, cultural and environmental emphases; the American West in image and imagination; historiography of the west; the gilded age and progressive movement, social and cultural emphasis
Webpage:
Email: kreeve@kennesaw.edu

Sarah Robbins, Professor of English and English Education
B.A. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
M.A. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Writing in American culture; American literary history; community studies; gender, race and class in American culture; educational issues in American culture; popular culture; civic engagement; interdisciplinary methods
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: srobbins@kennesaw.edu

M. Susan Rouse, Professor of Philosophy
B.A.  Florida State University
Ph.D.  Florida State University
American Philosophy, American pragmatism, history of western philosophy
Webpage:
Email: srouse@kennesaw.edu

Thomas A. Scott, Professor of History
B.S. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
M.A. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Ph.D. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Suburban history, southern history, local history
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tscott/
Email: tscott@kennesaw.edu

Ernesto Pierre Silva, Assistant Professor of Spanish
B.A. University of California, Irvine
M.A. University of California, Irvine
Ph.D. University of California, Irvine
Contemporary Spanish/Latin American film, literature, and theater; cultural studies; immigration issues
Webpage:
Email: esilva@kennesaw.edu

Linda Stewart, Assistant Professor of English
B.A. University of New Hampshire, Durham
M.A.T. University of New Hampshire, Durham
M.A. University of New Hampshire, Durham
Cultural landscape studies; visual culture; Chicago history; Suburbia; Community-based interdisciplinary studies; War critic Virginia Woolf
Extended Biography
Website:
E-mail: lstewar2@kennesaw.edu

Eva M. Thompson, Associate Professor of English and American Studies
B.A. Winston-Salem State University
M.A. The Ohio State University, Columbus
Ph.D. The Ohio State University, Columbus
Literature of slavery in the Americas; 19th century autobiography of the African diaspora; cultural/social/literary movements of the 1950s and 1960s, e.g., the modern civil rights movement, black power movement and black arts movement; historical fiction
Webpage:
Email: ethompso@kennesaw.edu

Ugena Whitlock, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Adolescent Education
B.S. Ed. Athens State University, Athens, Alabama
M.Ed. Coppin State College, Baltimore, Maryland
Ph.D. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Curriculum studies; southern Studies; women’s and gender studies; queer studies; race, class, gender in social, political, and educational contexts; pop culture; teacher education
Webpage: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~rwhitlo3/
Email: rwhitlo3@kennesaw.edu

Dede Yow, Professor of English and American Studies
B.A. Agnes Scott College
M.A. University of Georgia
Ph.D. University of Georgia
Southern mythmaking in literature and history; rural and blue collar Southern writers; civil rights movement in the South; status of women in the Old South and the New South
Extended Biography
Webpage:
Email: dyow@kennesaw.edu

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