English Department Faculty

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
Tues 10 am-noon and by appt in SCHU 210B. You may also use my Navigate link

Courses (Fall 2026):
3012 WLIT 2002-01 I8TH Century to Present…MWF 11-11:50

Suzanne Black (Ph.D., University of Michigan) came to Oneonta in Fall 2008 after working in Indiana and Minnesota. She teaches courses in modern world and British 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. Her current research focuses on two novels by the Anglo-Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela and work by the Mozambican writer and environmental consultant Mia Couto.

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
9-12am M-F. email, and BrightSpace

Courses (Fall 2026):
Composition / COMP 1000–17 / CRN 1419   ONLINE
LITR 1000–02 / CRN 538 / Themes in Literature   ONLINE

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

View Martin Christiansen's CV

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
T/R 1:30-2:30 Fitzelle T/R 351A

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-15 Composition TR 2:30-3:45
COMP 1000-16 Composition TR 4-5:15

Dr. Iris Cushing is a poet, educator and founding editor for Argos Books, an independent poetry press. Her poems and critical writings have appeared in Granta, Frieze, Fence, and the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series. She is recently the editor of Mary Norbert Korte's Jumping into the American River: New and Selected Poems Vol. I & II (Argos Books/TKS) and is the author of The First Books of David Henderson and Mary Korte: A Research (Ugly Duckling Presse) and the poetry collection Wyoming (Furniture Press Books). Among her research interests are New American poetry, archival scholarship and feminist literary lineage.

http://www.iriscushing.net

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
MWF 10:00-10:45, MW 1:30-2:00, and by appointment

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 3037: Writing Fantasy and SF (CRN 3013) MWF 11:00-11:50
LITR 4006: Children’s Literature (CRN 3014) MWF 12:00-12:50
LING 3010: Traditional Grammar: English (CRN 540) MWF 9:00-9:50

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 (Fall 2026)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11 AM - 12PM and/or by appointment -Fitzelle 351

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-12 Composition TR 1-2:15
COMP 1000-14 Composition TR 2:30-3:45

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
T-Th, 1pm to 2:30pm

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 2050: Intro to Creative Writing 
TTH, 2:30 PM-3:45 PM
WLIT 3060: The Bible as Literature 
T-TH, 4:00PM-5:15PM
WLIT 4094: Special Topics-Fiction into Film   T-TH, 11:30 AM-12:45 PM

View Mark Ferrara's CV

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
 

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-04 Composition

Racheal Fest (PhD) is a writer, critic, and educational developer based in Central New York. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Binghamton University and a PhD in English from the University of Pittsburgh. Her critical and creative work has appeared in venues such as Colorado Review, Lemonwood Quarterly, Entropy, Mediations, boundary 2, and Jump Cut. She hosts Writers Salon (Community Arts Network of Oneonta), a literary reading series featuring established and emerging writers local to the Catskills and beyond. At SUNY Oneonta, she supports faculty pedagogy and teaches courses in English.

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
TU 12:30-2:30 and by appointment

Courses (Fall 2026):
LITR 2094-01 Special Topics in Literature
ELIT 4071-01 Shakespeare and Culture

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(Fall 2026):
TTH 1-1:30 

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-11: Composition
TTH 11:3012:45

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
Tues. 10-12, Weds. 12-1 

Courses (Fall 2026):
ALIT 3040-01 The American Renaissance 
MW 4-5:15
COMP 3060-01 Poetry Workshop
T 5:30-8:00
LITR 1050-01 Intro to Literary Studies 
MW 5:30-6:45

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 (Fall 2026):
Sabbatical Fall 2026

Courses (Fall 2026):
Sabbatical Fall 2026

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 (Fall 2026):
MW2:45-3:45PM or by appointment (phone and Zoom are possibilities for meeting outside of office hours)

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-07 Composition
MW 5:30-6:45
LITR 1000-01 Themes in Literature
MW 4-5:15

CV

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
TTH 9-9:50

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-09 Composition 
TTH10-11:15
COMP 2050-02 Intro to Creative Writing
11:30-12:45

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 (Fall 2026):
N/A

Courses (Fall 2026):
Not teaching

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
Monday & Wednesday 12  PM to 2 PM| Virtual Appointment Required 

Courses (Fall 2026):
ALIT 3086-01 African-America Women Writers CRN 3042 MWF 2-2:50
COMP 1000-18 CRN 3233 Online

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 (Fall 2026):
Mondays 2:00 – 4:00 pm & by appointment

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-04 Composition 
MWF 11-11:50
COMP 1000-05 Composition
MWF 1-1:50

Dr. Peters' CV
Lit Art Sound CV
 

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
MON 1:30PM-2:30PM, TUES 11:30AM-12:30PM and by appointment

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-03 CRN 608   TTH 10-11:15
ELIT 2000-01 Beginnings to Renaissance
CRN 2390 TTH 2:30-3:45
LITR 3034-01 The Folktale Tradition 
CRN 3027 TTH 1-2:15

Dr. Basil Arnould Price joined the English department as Assistant Professor of Queer and Medieval Literature in 2025. Prior to joining the English department, Dr. Price was the inaugural John W. Baldwin Postdoctoral Fellow in the CMRS-Center for Early Global Studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of York in 2024, where he is now an Associate Researcher in the Centre for Medieval Studies.

Dr. Price's research and teaching interests broadly include the history and literatures of medieval to early modern England and Scandinavia; medieval languages, especially Old Norse, Old English, Middle English, and medieval Latin; theories of empire and colonialism; critical race and Indigenous studies; trans and queer theories and literatures. He is currently working on two monographs, the first of which examines how late medieval Old Norse sagas contested the nascent colonial relationship between Iceland and its Norwegian sovereigns not through polemics or outright resistance, but through the strategic expression of negative affects in rewritings of the political past. His second project charts how trans negativity provides a methodological rubric for understanding how concepts of ‘transness’ were defined, developed, and deployed across medieval Fennoscandia (including Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) and Sápmi, the traditional lands of the Sámi).

Dr. Price is the first editor of the co-edited volume Medieval Mobilities (Palgrave: 2023) and is also an Associate Editor for the peer-reviewed journal Medieval Feminist Forum. For more about Dr. Price and his work, see his website

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
Monday/Wednesday 12-1 Fitzelle 351B or by appointment 

Courses (Fall 2026):
ELIT 2001-01 Renaissance to 18th Century MWF 1-2

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 (Fall 2026):
Tues & Thurs 2:30-3:30, Wed 1:30-2:30, and by appointment

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 2045-01 Writing about Literature TR 1-2:15
ELIT 2075-01 Jane Austen TR 10-11:15
LITR 1000-03 Themes in Literature TR 4-5:15

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 (Fall 2026):
Faculty Office Hours: Please know I am available whenever needed!!Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays: Before and after class AND 11:00am-12:00pm: Milne Library 1st floor OR Teams/Zoom Link provided with scheduled appointments available anytime M-F. Office Location: Fitzelle 351 by appointment only

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-15 Composition 
COMP-1000-17 Composition

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
MW1PM-2PM or by appointment (phone and Zoom are possibilities for meeting outside of office hours)

Courses (Fall 2026):
COMP 1000-18 Composition 
COMP 1000-19 Composition

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

Office Hours (Fall 2026):
Sabbatical Fall 2026 

Courses (Fall 2026):
Sabbatical Fall 2026

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.