English Department Faculty

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
M 11-12, F 1-2 and by appointment

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition
LING 3015 - Intro to Editing and Publishing

Suzanne Black (Ph.D., University of Michigan), came to Oneonta in Fall 2008 after several years teaching in Indiana and Minnesota. She teaches courses in modern world literature, professional writing, and composition. In addition to her background in French and comparative literature, she has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and experience as a grant writer.

She remains interested in popular science writing and in more humanistic aspects of the sciences, such as scientific images and overlaps between literature and the sciences. Her current research focuses on visuals in molecular biology and on the influence of scientific inquiry on the poets W. H. Auden, Fernando Pessoa, Francis Ponge, Muriel Rukeyser, Paul Valery, and William Carlos Williams. She is also revising a translation of Julio Dinis's 1868 novel An English Family, about British wine merchants in Portugal.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
M-F 9:30-4:30 via phone

Courses(Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition (2 sections)

Martin Christiansen earned an M.A. from Central Michigan University in 1998.

View Martin Christiansen's CV

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 6:30-7:30


Courses (Spring 2023):
LITR 4006 - Children's Literature

Laura Dohner earned a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Binghamton, 2017.

View Laura Dohner's CV.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
MWF 10-10:45, M 1-2 and by appointment

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition
LING 3022 - Varieties of American English
LITR 3037 -Fantasy

Dr. Doughty joined the faculty in Fall 2006 after spending several years teaching at Lake Superior State University in Michigan. She earned her MA from Indiana State University and her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. A generalist, she has taught classes in linguistics, composition, and literature, particularly children's literature, fantasy, and folk literature. She is the author of Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children (2006) and "Throw the book away": Reading versus Experience in Children's Fantasy (2013). Dr. Doughty's research interests are varied but lean toward the intersection of literature and linguistics, as well as language in popular culture.

Her research includes papers examining magic and technology in the Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Faerie Wars series; language attitudes about the Junie B. Jones series; environmentalism in children's and YA fantasy; gender in urban fantasy by women; and storytelling, fate, and self-determination in Robin McKinley's folktale revisions. She is the Area Chair of the Children's and YA Literature and Culture area of the Popular Culture Association and the editor of the collection Children's and Young Adult Literature and Culture: A Mosaic of Criticism (2016).

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 5:15-6:45

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 2050 - Intro to Creative Writing
LITR 3044 - Contemporary Literature
WLIT 2001 - Renaissance to 18th Century

View Mark Ferrara's CV

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
T 10-11, W 1:30-2:30


Courses (Spring 2023):
ELIT 2070 - Shakespeare
ELIT 3041 - The English Renaissance


Dr. Finin joined the English Department in 2003, after teaching Shakespeare and Literary/Critical Theory for several years as a part-time instructor at SUNY-Oneonta.In 2001, she received the college’s Simphiwe Hlatswayo Award for Excellence in Part-Time Teaching. Dr. Finin received her doctorate from Binghamton University in 1997, earning the Distinguished Research Award for her work on English Renaissance Drama. She has presented many scholarly papers at The Shakespeare Association of America, as well as other conferences, and published several essays on plays by Shakespeare, Webster, and Middleton.

Dr. Finin's teaching interests include courses on Shakespeare, Early Modern English literature, literary and critical theory, and various introductory survey courses. Currently, Dr. Finin is involved in two major research projects: one on Shakespeare’s female icons and a second on early modern English writers’ representations of Ireland and its people in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. She is developing courses on Spenser's The Faerie Queene and the notoriously fluid genre of Romance in English Literature. In addition to her teaching and scholarly interests, Dr. Finin is a trained labyrinth facilitator who offers various community labyrinth walks, lectures and workshops.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 12-1


Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition (2 sections)

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
T 10-12, W 10-11

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 4060 - Advanced Poetry Workshop
LITR 3050 - Approaches to Literature
WLIT 4094 - SpTp: Films of Hayao Miyazaki

Dr. Hecht joined the English Department as an Assistant Professor in 2006, after teaching literature and creative writing as a full-time lecturer at SUNY, Oneonta for several years. Dr. Hecht earned his MFA in Poetry from the University of Arizona (1990) and his Ph.D. from Syracuse University (2002). His dissertation addressed the intersection of politics and landscape representation in early American literature. He has published essays on James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

His books include two edited anthologies: The Erie Canal Reader: 1790-1950 (Syracuse University Press, 2004)-literary writings about the Erie Canal-and Freemen Awake!: Rally Songs and Poems from New York's Anti-Rent Movement (Delaware County Historical Association (2017). His poetry has been published widely in literary journals and websites, such as Denver Quarterly, Prick of the Spindle, Sheila-Na-Gig on-line, and Yes Poetry. His first poetry collection is Talking Pictures (Cervena Barva Press, 2012). Dr. Hecht is currently researching a book on environmental themes in the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. He teaches courses in American literature, Literary/Critical Theory, and Creative Writing.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
W 12-3


Courses (Spring 2023):
ALIT 3017 - Contemporary American Fiction
COMP 2050 - Intro to Creative Writing
LITR1050 - Intro to Literary Studies


George Hovis earned a Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 and was on the faculty at Murray State University before coming to SUNY Oneonta in 2006, where he is currently a professor of English. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of American literature, fiction writing, creative writing, and literature of the American South, especially as it addresses issues of race in America.

His debut novel, The Skin Artist (SFK Press, 2019), was nominated for the 2019 Sir Walter Raleigh Award. His short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has been honored as a 2018 prize winner in The Carolina Quarterly’s national contest “Wake and Dream Again,” selected by Daniel Wallace. His nonfiction has received the 2007 Denny C. Plattner Award from Appalachian Heritage magazine. His stories, essays, and poetry have appeared widely, in anthologies and in journals such as Southern Cultures, The North Carolina Literary Review, The Mississippi Quarterly, The Fourth River, Stone Canoe, The Southern Literary Journal, The Thomas Wolfe Review, New Madrid, Appalachian Heritage, and The Carolina Quarterly. His book of literary scholarship Vale of Humility: Plain Folk in Contemporary North Carolina Fiction was published in 2007 by the University of South Carolina Press. George has served as President of the Thomas Wolfe Society and has attended the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. In 2017 he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. More information available at www.georgehovis.net

George Hovis CV

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
MWF 11-12

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 -Composition (2 sections)

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 9-9:50


Courses: (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition
COMP 3011 - Writing About Nature & Environment

Joshua Lewis has taught composition at various institutions, such as SUNY Broome Community College, Hartwick College, and SUNY Oneonta. He received his Ph.D. in English from Binghamton University, and he has been part of the Greater Binghamton Community for over 13 years. In his spare time, he writes poetry and fiction along with facilitating poetry workshops at the Broome County Arts Council, an organization dedicated to serving the arts.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
Virtually by appointment

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition (2 sections, online)

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
MWF 11:30-12:30

Courses (Spring 2023):
ALIT 2050 - African-American Literature
COMP 4098 - Capstone in English

Sheena Mason earned her Ph.D. in English literature from Howard University, her M.A. from the University of Houston, and her B.A. from SUNY Plattsburgh. Before coming to SUNY Oneonta, she taught at the College of William and Mary, California Lutheran University, and Howard University. Her forthcoming book, Theory of Racelessness: A Case For Antirace(ism) is expected to print in early 2022. Additionally, she co-authored “The Harlem Renaissance,” a chapter of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Artexamining what, if anything, is the proper role of race in the aesthetic productions of or about members of racialized populations. “‘A WHITE SLAVE:’ Albinism in Barbara Chase-Riboud’s Sally Hemings” from Cosmopolitanisms, Race, and Ethnicity(2019) analyzes how race functions as racism in Chase-Riboud’s Sally Hemings. Dr. Mason works actively to decolonize language and, therefore, our thoughts. In “No Malcolm X in My History Text” (2018), she examines the iterations of the folklore figure Stagger lee, the figure’s relation to the public sphere, and racism. Ultimately, she concludes that Stagger lee persists in the American imagination and is a simultaneously and paradoxically subversive and stereotypical figure, highlighting the pervasiveness of racism and society’s response to racism. In her teaching, scholarship, and service, Dr. Mason consistently and unwaveringly promotes anti-racism, though her “anti-racism” necessarily differs from traditional thought and practices.

Her sustained interest in understanding systemic racism and being a change agent for social justice resulted in her primary specialization in African American literature. Her secondary specializations are American and Caribbean literature. Through her teaching, research, and service, Dr. Mason inspires and informs individuals and organizations on anti-racism and provides revolutionary anti-racist initiatives and policy-changing efforts. One of her mantras is “freeing ourselves together,” which she aims to cultivate: healing, unification, and recognition of shared humanity.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 9-9:50, 12-12:50, 2:30-3:30

Courses
ALIT 2008 - Environmental Literature
COMP 2050 - Intro to Creative Writing
LITR 1050 - Intro to Literary Studies

Since Dr. Payne began teaching at SUNY Oneonta in the fall 2001 semester, he has created several new courses including creative writing workshops in screenwriting and creative nonfiction, and courses in American and environmental literature such as Hawthorne and Melville, Environmental Literature, Rachel Carson, and The River as Metaphor and Reality. Prior to teaching at SUNY Oneonta, Dr. Payne earned a J.D. at Albany Law School, and his experience as a practicing attorney included service as Counsel to the New York State Senate Transportation Committee. He then completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo, where his dissertation was a multidisciplinary study of American Nature Writing and Environmental Politics.

His book-length works include Voices in the Wilderness: American Nature Writing and Environmental Politics (1996); The Palgrave Environmental Reader (2005); Writing the Land: John Burroughs and His Legacy (2008); Why Read Thoreau’s Walden? (2013); and Orion on the Dunes: A Biography of Henry Beston (2016). Dr. Payne also directs the biannual John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference & Seminar, commonly referred to as the “Sharp Eyes” Conference, at SUNY Oneonta. In 2012, Dr. Payne was honored with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Office Hours (Spring 2023:
M 3-5


Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition
COMP 2039 - Technical & Professional Writing

CV
Lit Art Sound CV

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
On Sabbatical

Courses (Spring 2023):

Jonathan Sadow is a specialist in eighteenth-century British literature who received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He teaches classes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literature that emphasize shifting conceptions of fiction, poetry, theater, gender, print culture, philosophy, and empire, as well as courses on literary theory, postmodernism, and irony. He has published articles and book chapters on genre, gender, puppets, and bagels. His recent chapter "Moral and Generic Corruption in Fenwick's Secresy" is part of the book collection Didactic Novels and British Women's Writing, 1790-1820, ed. Hilary Havens (Routledge 2017). He is affiliated with the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, and his current research interests primarily involve eighteenth-century women writers like Eliza Fenwick, Charlotte Smith, and Eliza Haywood.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
W 3:30-6:30

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 2045 - Writing About Literature
ELIT 3040 - Medieval English Literature
LITR 3008 - Queer Literature

James Staples received his Ph.D. from New York University in 2019, where he also served as a Teaching Fellow. His teaching interests include Middle English and other medieval literatures, gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, and theology. His research takes seriously the productive intersection of theology—specifically mystical theology—and poetry in the development of alternative modes of critical thinking in the late Middle Ages. In his current book project, he focuses on the intricate poetry of the mysterious Pearl-Poet to show how conclusions drawn from the praxis of mystical theology license the poet to make radical arguments about sexual freedom, gender identity, and other social issues we might consider “modern.” Dr. Staples’s teaching frequently draws on these interests, and he has taught courses on pleasure in the Middle Ages, medieval Otherworlds, “queer Shakespeare,” and Chaucer.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
MWF 10:30-11:30

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition
​​​​​ELIT 4064 - Dickens
LITR 1000 - Themes in Literature

Dr. Tredennick is a specialist in nineteenth-century British literature, especially the novel. Her dissertation explores a materialist metaphorics of death prevalent in this era. She continues to like texts with corpses in them. Prior to coming to SUNY, Oneonta, Dr. Tredennick taught at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. In addition to creepy Victorian stuff, her interests include composition (no, really), the Seattle Mariners, and Grand Theft Auto. She is the author of the predictably morbid "'A Labor of Death and a Labor against Death': Scott's Cenotaphic Paratexts" (European Romantic Review) and "Some Collections of Mortality: Dickens, the Paris Morgue, and the Material Corpse" (Victorian Review), and she is the editor of the less cadaverous Victorian Transformations, 2011.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 10-11:15 Milne Library, 1st Fl.


Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition (2 sections)

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
TTh 5:30-6:30

Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 1000 - Composition (2 sections)

Andrew Tully earned an M.F.A. from Emerson College, 1994.

Office Hours (Spring 2023):
MF 10-10:50, W 9-10


Courses (Spring 2023):
COMP 2045 - Writing About Literature
WLIT 2013 - Roman Literature

Akira Yatsuhashi joined the English Department in 2011 after teaching Classics in the Upper Midwest. He earned his Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Duke University (2010) and also holds MAs in Classics (Tufts, 2003) and Comparative Literature and Japanese Poetics (Dartmouth, 2001). He teaches courses in Greek and Roman literature, Greek and Latin language, and composition. His research focuses on the uses of literature and scholarly writing in shaping and defining cultural and ethnic identity in colonial and imperial contexts. He is currently researching the role the Library of Alexandria and its literary products played in allowing elites reimagine and reorder their cultural pasts in the wake of the conquests of Alexander of the Great.