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Literature Faculty and Staff (A-L)

Last name starts with B

Cynthia Bair Van Dam Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Cindy Bair Van Dam is a compositionist who joined the Department of Literature faculty in 1995. In addition to teaching in the Writing Studies Program, from 2015-2022 Cindy served as the Chair of the

  cbair@american.edu

  (202) 885-2983

Sandra Beasley Visiting Writer-in-Residence CAS | Literature

Sandra Beasley is the author of four poetry collections (Made to Explode; Count the Waves; I Was the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Theories of Falling, winner of the New Issues

  sbeasley@american.edu

Bruce Berger Adjunct Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

MFA in Creative Writing, American University, May 2018. Certificate of Outstanding Academic Achievement 2018.

  berger@american.edu

Arielle Bernstein Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Arielle Bernstein is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature at American University, where she also co-directs the MA in Literature, Culture, and Technology. She is a writer and cultural cri

  arielle@american.edu

Mandy Berry Assistant Professor CAS | Literature

Amanda Berry’s articles and essays include “desire vomit emptiness: Cymbeline’s Marriage Time,” Shakesqueer (ed. Madhavi Menon 2010); “The Altar of the Dead,” The Critical Companion to Henry James , (

  aberry@american.edu

  (202) 885-2960

Andrew Bertaina Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Andrew Bertaina is the author of the short story collection One Person Away From You (2021), which won the Moon City Short Fiction Award, and the forthcoming essay collection, The Body is a Temporary

  bertaina@american.edu

  (202) 885-6784

Fiona Brideoake Assistant Professor CAS | Literature

Fiona Brideoake’s teaching and research focuses on British literature and culture of the long eighteenth century. Her particular interests include Bluestocking feminism, queer historiography, Jane Aus

  fbride@american.edu

  (202) 885-2998

Danielle Bryant Adjunct Instructor CAS - Literature

Rae Bryant is the author of the short story collection, The Indefinite State of Imaginary Morals (Patasola Press). Her stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in print and online at The Paris Review

  db3765a@american.edu

  (202) 885-2938

Last name starts with C

Mike Cabot Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

A native of the State of New Mexico, Mike Cabot earned his MA from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Before coming to AU in 2011, Mike taught courses in college writing, literature, and techn

  cabot@american.edu

  (202) 885-6524

Zainab Cheema Adjunct Professorial Lect

Research interests include Anglo-Spanish literary circulations, print culture and the history of the book, entangled alliances and transimperial relations, early modern translation, and anti-racist pe

  cheema@american.edu

Amanda Choutka Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Amanda Choutka holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from American University and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Dickinson College. She is working on a novel. Amanda Choutka's teaching and r

  choutka@american.edu

Edward Comstock Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Edward Comstock holds a PhD from American University's School of Education, Teaching, and Health, as well as an MA in Literature. At the intersection of rhetoric, writing studies, educational psycholo

  ecomst@american.edu

  (202) 885-2975

Charles Cox Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Chuck Cox joined AU’s faculty in 1998, as part of the Writing Studies Program, where he teaches the full range of first-year writing courses. His writing seminars typically use pop culture to explore

  ccox@american.edu

  (202) 885-2909

Last name starts with D

Angela Dadak International Student Coordinator CAS | Literature

In her position with American University's Writing Studies Program, Angela Dadak primarily works with English-as-an-Additional-Language students, both international and domestic, adjusting to US acade

  adadak@american.edu

  (202) 885-2915

Kyle Dargan Associate Professor CAS | Literature

Kyle G. Dargan is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently ANAGNORISIS (Northwestern, 2018), HONEST ENGINE (UGA, 2015) and LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA (UGA,2010). His debut, THE LISTENING (UGA 2

  kd6017a@american.edu

  (202) 885-2933

Benjamin Djain Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Benjamin Djain is a Professorial Lecturer in the Writing Program and the Department of Literature at AU. He is a comparative early modernist who focuses on English and Spanish theatre. Professor Djain

  djain@american.edu

Erik Dussere Professor CAS | Literature

Professor Dussere's teaching and research are primarily focused on the literature, film, and culture of 20th- and 21st-century America. He has published two critical studies, Balancing the Books (a st

  dussere@american.edu

  (202) 885-2428

Last name starts with E

Laura Ewing Professorial Lecturer CAS - Literature

Laura Ewing's research focuses on technical communication, intercultural communication, and rhetoric & technology. Before coming to AU, Laura spent five years in Japan, writing and consulting with int

  ewing@american.edu

Last name starts with F

Paul Fileri Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Paul Fileri (he/him/his) is Professorial Lecturer in the Cinema Studies program in the Department of Literature at American University, in Washington, DC. He received his doctorate in Cinema Studies f

  pfileri@american.edu

  (202) 885-2428

Dustin Friedman Associate Professor CAS | Literature

Dustin Friedman's fields of research and teaching are Victorian and modernist literature, aestheticism and decadence, queer theory, the history and theory of aesthetics, and global nineteenth-century

  dustinfr@american.edu

  (202) 885-2963

Last name starts with G

Caimeen Garrett Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Caimeen Garrett has an MFA in Fiction from Syracuse University, and a PhD in Creative Writing from Florida State University. Her academic interests include crime writing, the Lindbergh kidnapping, epi

  cgarrett@american.edu

  (202) 885-3796

Stephanie Grant Assoc Professor CAS - Literature

Stephanie Grant is an author of fiction and creative nonfiction. She has written two novels, The Passion of Alice (Houghton Mifflin 1995) and Map of Ireland (Scribner 2008) and sever

  sgrant@american.edu

  (202) 885-2930

Neisha-Anne Green Senior Director, Academic Support UEAS | Student Disability Support

Academic Interests: Social Justice Pedagogy, Writing Center Theory and Practice, Writing Center Tutor EducationWhat began as volunteer work has blossomed into passion for Neisha-Anne. Outside of her g

  ngreen@american.edu

  (202) 885-6574

Lindsey Green-Simms Professor and Department Chair, Literature CAS | Literature

Lindsey Green-Simms’ teaching and research focuses on film and literature from the Global South, with a particular emphasis on African cultural production. Professor Green-Simms' most recent book, Que

  lgs@american.edu

  (202) 885-2901

Andrew Gretes Adjunct Professorial Lect

Andrew Gretes is the author of How to Dispose of Dead Elephants (Sandstone Press, 2014), a novel which explores epilepsy through fables. His writing has appeared in The New England Review, Willow Spri

  gretes@american.edu

Last name starts with H

Edward Helfers Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Edward Helfers joined the Literature Department in 2015. His courses help students use the tools of rhetoric to engage in debates over ownership—of property, of culture, and of ideas. Research interes

  ehelfers@american.edu

  (202) 885-2796

Chelsea Horne Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Dr. Chelsea L. Horne's areas of research encompass communication, digital culture, information integrity, privacy, internet governance, AI policy, and cultural and performance studies. Recent work has

  horne@american.edu

  (202) 885-2825

Xiaofang Huang Adjunct Professorial Lect

Dr. Xiaofang Huang's research interests include American Southern literature, modern literature, comparative literature, writing studies and ESL pedagogy.

  huang@american.edu

Last name starts with J

Leah Johnson Assistant Prof Emerita

Leah Johnson holds an MA in Literature from American University and an MA in Music from The University of Connecticut. She has been teaching in the Department of Literature since 1996. In previous inc

  (202) 885-2947

Jermaine Jones Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

C. Jermaine Jones is the author of From Poverty to Prosperity: A Ghetto Exit Strategy as a Rite of Passage, which won the 2013 Best Male Author/Best Nonfiction book of the Year Award. His orations, pu

  charlesj@american.edu

  (202) 885-2909

Kelly Joyner Director, Writing Studies Program CAS | Literature

Patrick Kelly Joyner began teaching at American University in 2000. His writing courses have thematic links to history, linguistics, psychology, and film. He has presented at the Conference on College

  pjoyner@american.edu

  (202) 885-2980

Last name starts with K

Despina Kakoudaki Associate Professor and Director, Humanities Lab CAS | Literature

Professor Kakoudaki teaches interdisciplinary courses in literature and film, visual culture, and the history of technology and new media. Her interests include cultural studies, science fiction, apoc

  kakoudak@american.edu

  (202) 885-2796

David Keplinger Professor CAS | Literature

A professor of Literature at AU since 2007, David Keplinger is the recipient of the 2022 American University Teacher/Scholar of the Year Award. He is the author of eight collections of poetry, most re

  keplinge@american.edu

  (202) 885-2748

George Koors Adjunct Instructor University Library

George received his Masters in English from Truman State University in 2014 and his MLIS from The Catholic University of America in 2017. In 2015, he published his first novel Always the Wanderer. He

  gkoors@american.edu

  (202) 885-3241

Last name starts with L

Keith Leonard Associate Professor CAS | Literature

Keith D Leonard is the author of Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights. His publications, presentations, and courses have revolved around his study of

  kdl@american.edu

  (202) 885-2961

Daisy Levy Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Literature

Dr. Levy's work focuses on embodied rhetorics, particularly how they intersect with cultural rhetorics and decolonial theory and practice. She joined AU in the fall of 2019, and has felt at home ever

  levy@american.edu

  (202) 885-2909