English Minor

Brandon D. Fralix

Ph.D. in English from Drew University (NJ) in 2011
Dissertation: “Cymru and the Court: The Welsh in Seventeenth Century Masques”
M.A in English from Clemson University (SC) in 2003
Thesis: “Claiming Identity: Acquiring Language in Lyly’s Gallathea”
B.A. in English from Presbyterian College (SC) in 2001

What I teach:

• ENG 203 Survey of British Literature I
• ENG 249 Advanced Grammar
• WRT 106 Analytic and Argumentative Writing
• WRT 107 Synthesis and Research Writing

I am a long time member of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), and the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), and I regularly present at these organization's annual conferences. Much of my research is focused on the National Census of Writing, a survey of 900 institutions of higher education that asks how writing programs are taught and administered. For this work, I have received an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant and the Extraordinary Service Award from the CWPA.

Fiona (Freddie) Harris Ramsby, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Rhetoric and Composition. The University of Utah, May 2015
Dissertation: Theory in the Body: Language and Power on the Rhetorical Stage
M.A. Rhetoric and Composition. California State University San Bernardino, Sept. 2007
Outstanding Thesis Award: The Habermas/Foucault Debate: Implications for Composition.
B.A. English/Linguistics. Highest Honours. California State University San Bernardino, Sept. 2005.

What I teach:

• Writing 95
• Writing 105 and 107
• Philosophy/Writing 229: Language and Society: Western Rhetoric in Contemporary Use
• English 252: Art of Drama
• English 281: Literature, Theory, and Film

Areas of research include rhetorics of the body and performance, classical rhetorics, critical discourse analysis, ethnography of performance, and critical literacy. She also specializes in developmental writing, multi-modal writing, and exploring the intersection between pop culture and theory. Dr. Ramsby is particularly interested in conducting research with Bloomfield students, as well as collaborating with students on a new theatre project at the College. Recent publications include: "Theory in the Body: Language and Power on the Rhetorical Stage". Routledge Press. (Forthcoming 2021) With Bloomfield College students Steven Hawkins and Shammoi Brown, “I Prefer Ladies with More Experience”: Sex, Death, and the Post-feminist Demon.” Death in Supernatural: Essays on the Television Series. McFarland Publishing Company (Forthcoming Fall 2017). Also, with Bloomfield student Mubarak Muhammed, “Warning! Monster Metaphors and the Urban Black Body.” Brill Press. (Spring 2019).

NORA MCCOOK

Ph.D., English Rhetoric, Composition, and Literature. The Ohio State University, June 2017

Dissertation: "Literacy Volunteer Preparation in a Service Learning and Community Literacy Training Program: Historicizing Literacy Campaigns, Volunteers, and Schools"
M.A. English Literature. University of Delaware, May 2011
B.A. English, Minor in Music. Belmont University, May 2008

What I teach:
First Year Writing (WRT 102, 105, 108, and 109)
Intro to Professional and Technical Writing (WRT 205)
Digital Media Writing (WRT 251)

Special Topics in Writing Studies (WRT 233) 

My research and teaching interests focus on social and historical contexts of writing/literacy learning and instruction. I write about language biases and beliefs, histories, and contact zones where diverse language speakers engage and transform language and literacy practices. I bring historical and sociolinguistic perspectives to my writing classroom research and teaching praxis. My research interests also include writing transfer, digital media, professional and technical writing, community engagement, and inclusive pedagogies. I urge students to engage and present their research at on- and off-campus venues, including national conferences (such as the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference and Our Digital Humanity: Storytelling, Media Organizing, and Social Justice).

Paul M. Puccio

M.A. and Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dissertation: Brothers of the Heart: Friendship in the Victorian and Edwardian Schoolboy Narrative
A.B., St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia

What I teach:

• Introduction to Western Literature
• Survey of British Literature II
• Shakespeare in Performance
• Children’s Literature
• Gothic Literature
• The Art of Fiction
• Selected Topics in British Literature (Past Topics: Threat and Peril in the British Novel; Women of Mystery in the British Novel; E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and Bloomsbury; Family Troubles in Victorian Fiction)
• Senior Capstones (Past Topics: E. M. Forster, The Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen)

I regularly teach classes in British literature and Western European literature. Those might seem like very foreign subjects, but one of the key goals of my teaching is to explore how literature communicates compelling questions about our humanity and how those questions transcend time and space. My students and I explore these questions in conversation and in writing that is frequently personal as well as “academic.” At the heart of my teaching is a desire to stimulate the imagination (my students’ and my own) because the imagination gives us our capacity for innovation, wonder, and sympathy. These are qualities that enrich our careers, our lives, our relationships, and our world. My publications include articles on the British school novel, contemplative learning and teaching, composition pedagogy, and music theatre; my current research focuses on British children’s literature. As Holley Professor of Applied Ethics, I organize lectures and forums about ethical issues across the work and life of the college.