CV
Academic Appointments
College of the Ozarks
Associate Professor of English, 2024-present.
Interim Director of the Writing Center, 2024.
Assistant Professor of English, 2018-2024.
Saint Louis University
Adjunct Instructor in Professional Writing, 2018.
Graduate Instructor in English, 2010-2014.
Publications
Books
Leaves of Healing: A Year in the Garden. Belle Point Press, 2024.
Essays
“Literary Landscapes: John G. Neihardt in Branson, MO.” Forthcoming in The New Territory.
“Literary Landscapes: Ted Kooser’s Seward County, NE.” The New Territory, 22 December 2020. Forthcoming fall 2025 reprint in Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest, 3 Fields Books.
“Empty Words: Against Artificial Language.” Mere Orthodoxy Journal (Fall 2024). Published online 13 November 2024.
“Notes on Leaving an Orchard.” Pomona Winter 2024.
“Composition as the Art of Loading Brush.” Front Porch Republic, 26 May 2023.
“Suppose Him to be the Gardener.” Fare Forward 19, 01 June 2022.
“On Country Cemeteries.” Whale Road Review 24 (Fall 2021), 10 September 2021.
“Milkweed Prayer.” The Windhover 25.1, February 2021.
“Ravining.” Front Porch Republic, 11 January 2021.
“In the Country I Know by Heart.” Critical Read, 5 October 2020.
“Crossing Flatwater.” Big Muddy, 29 May 2020.
“Tropical Fruits of the Lower Midwest.” Front Porch Republic, 8 January 2020.
“Learning to Die in the Garden.” Front Porch Republic, 15 July 2019.
“Reading Seed Catalogs for Pleasure and Profit.” Front Porch Republic, 27 March 2019.
“On the Costs and Rewards of Planting Fruit Trees.” Front Porch Republic, 2 January 2019.
“Holy Clutter.” Comment, 1 November 2018.
“#NewNebraskaSlogan and a New Rhetoric for the Midwest.” Curator, 21 October 2011.
“A Passion for the Possible.” Curator, 15 July 2011.
Literary Reviews
Review of Rachel S. Gross, Shopping all the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America. Forthcoming in Mere Orthodoxy.
“Finding a Home Field.” Review of Tiffany Eberle Kriner, In Thought, Word, and Seed, Front Porch Republic, 26 February 2024.
“A Right to Imperfection.” Review of Jon K. Lauck, The Good Country, and Jon K. Lauck and Gleaves Whitney, North Country. Front Porch Republic, 10 November 2023.
“Christ the Gift.” Review of Emily Beth Hill, Marketing and Christian Proclamation in Theological Perspective. Fare Forward, 22 March 2022.
“Seeing the Midwest New.” Review of Matthew Milliner, The Everlasting People. Front Porch Republic, 14 March 2022.
“In Defense of Nature Writing.” Review of Tom Springer, The Star in the Sycamore. Front Porch Republic, 2 March 2022.
“Thinking Little about Climate Grief.” Review of Hannah Malcolm, ed. Words for a Dying World. Fare Forward, 28 July 2021.
“Making Meaning in the Haunted Midwest.” Review of Zachary Michael Jack, The Haunt of Home, and Steven Wingate, The Leave-Takers. Front Porch Republic, 12 May 2021.
“Finding Rest in the Immanent Frame.” Review of Tish Harrison Warren, Prayer in the Night. Front Porch Republic, 21 January 2021.
“A Penitent Midwestern Regionalism.” Review of Kwame Dawes, Nebraska, and Phil Christman, Midwest Futures. Fare Forward, 30 December 2020.
“Can Whimsy Save the Small-Town Novel?” Review of Leif Enger, Virgil Wander. The University Bookman, 11 October 2020.
“When Home is No Home.” Review of Patrick Laurie, Native: Life in a Vanishing Landscape. Front Porch Republic, 12 August 2020.
“A Restored Midwestern Landscape: On Mark Shepard’s Restoration Agriculture.” Review of Mark Shephard, Restoration Agriculture. The Cleveland Review of Books, 12 June 2020.
“How the Land Can Heal.” Review of Charles Massy, Call of the Reed Warbler. The University Bookman, 8 March 2020.
“Moral Reasoning in an Acceptable Time.” Review of Madeleine L’Engle, The Kairos Novels. The University Bookman, 8 April 2019.
“A Kind of Giant and Intricate Poetry.” Review of David Lyle Jeffrey and Gregory Maillet, Christianity and Literature: Philosophical Foundations and Critical Practice. Intégrité 16.1 (2017).
Academic
“Large Language Models and Good Work.” Forthcoming in Faithful Lives.
“The World Does Not Need Words.” Faith + Life: Faith-Filled Reflection on the Five Pillars of College of the Ozarks. Ed. Eric W. Bolger and William R. Osborne. College of the Ozarks, 2022.
Review of Mari Lee Mifsud, Rhetoric and the Gift. Present Tense 8.2 (2020).
“George Herbert’s The Country Parson as a Resource for Christian Rhetorical Theory.” Journal of Communication and Religion 42.3 (2019).
With Paul Lynch. “Twenty-five Years of Faith and Writing: Religion and Composition, 1992-2017.” Present Tense 2.6 (2017).
Review of Roger Grainger, Suspending Disbelief: Theatre as Context for Sharing. In Ecumenica Journal of Theatre and Performance 6.1 (2013).
Review of Sarah Beckwith, Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness. In Ecumenica Journal of Theatre and Performance 4.2 (2011).
Newsletter
Education
Ph.D. English
Saint Louis University, December 2017, with distinction
Primary Area: Rhetoric and Composition
Dissertation: Why Rhetoricians Don’t Get Religion: a Counter-history of Sacred Rhetoric.
M.A. (Research) English
Saint Louis University, May 2012, with distinction
Thesis: Gift Exchange in Early English Drama: Rhetoric and Sacrament.
B.A. English and Religion
Oklahoma Christian University, December 2009, summa cum laude
A.A. English
York College, Nebraska, May 2007, with highest honors
Other Relevant Experience
Content Marketing and Technical Communications Consultant, 2010-present.
Research Strategist + Technical Writer, MarketPlace, the Food Marketing Agency, 2014-2018.
Teaching Experience
Seminar in Rhetoric: Wendell Berry, College of the Ozarks, fall 2023.
Seminar in Rhetoric: Rural Writing, College of the Ozarks, fall 2020.
The American Novel: Land, Community, Race, and Spirituality, College of the Ozarks, two sections, fall 2021, fall 2022.
Interdisciplinary Special Topics: Speaking Christian, College of the Ozarks, spring 2023.
Survey of American Literature II, College of the Ozarks, fall 2019.
Creative Writing: Nonfiction, College of the Ozarks, three sections, spring 2019, spring 2021, fall 2023.
Technical Writing, College of the Ozarks, five sections, fall 2018, springs 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. Also taught spring 2020 as an independent study.
Agricultural Engineering Fundamentals: Technical Writing Lab, College of the Ozarks, spring 2020.
Readings in Western Civilization, College of the Ozarks, nineteen sections, fall 2018-fall 2024.
College Composition, College of the Ozarks, twenty-eight sections, fall 2018-fall 2024.
English Porfolio independent study, six sections, fall 2020-spring 2024.
English internship, spring 2024.
Business and Professional Writing, Saint Louis University, spring 2018.
Introduction to Literary Studies, Saint Louis University, spring 2014.
Advanced Strategies of Rhetoric and Research, Saint Louis University, six sections, fall 2011-fall 2013.
Media
Panelist, with Jeffrey Bilbro and Ashley Hales, discussing Thoreau’s Walden for Gracy Olmstead’s publication Granola. 16 December 2022.
Appeared on nationally syndicated program “Constant Wonder” discussing the ethics of planting trees.
Quoted by Mic.com as an expert source on food marketing.
Conferencing
“Toward a Rhetorical Gift Aesthetics for Literary Nonfiction.” Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture: Art Seeking Understanding, 26 October 2022.
Invited participant, Orion Magazine environmental writing workshop with Christopher Merrill, six weeks in spring 2022.
Accepted participant, “Apart, and Yet Apart” writing workshop with Michael N. McGregor, Collegeville Institute, summer 2020. Declined participation.
Accepted co-leader of discussion circle on “Rural / Remote / Isolated Writers” at the Festival of Faith and Writing, Calvin College, April 2020. Conference cancelled due to pandemic.
Accepted paper: “Exploring the Anthropocene: Branson Mountain Village.” You are Here Interdisciplinary Conference, March 2020. Conference cancelled due to pandemic.
Participant, “Front Porch Republic: the Legacy of Wendell Berry,” University of Louisville, 2019.
“Against Belief, or, the Liturgies of the Classroom.” Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) 2017.
“Attitudes toward Religion: (Theological) Gnosis / (Liturgical) Incarnation.” The Kenneth Burke Society Conference 2014.
“The Material Rhetoric of George Herbert’s The Country Parson.” Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium 2014.
“How to Teach an Ars: Bodily Pedagogy in Fighting and Rhetoric.” St. Louis Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies 2013.
“Educating the Dwelling Sophist.” Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium 2013.
Invited participant, THATCamp Southeast Missouri, digital humanities unconference with a special focus on rural issues, Arcadia, Missouri, 2013.
“The Dangerous Gift of Speech: Fraudulent Rhetoric in Troilus and Criseyde.” New Chaucer Society Biennial Congress 2012.
“Charity and Gift Exchange in the York Doomsday.” International Congress on Medieval Studies 2012.
“Richard Miller’s Secular Eschatology.” CCCC 2011.
“Working and Playing at Mass: the Eucharist as Gift in the York Corpus Christ Play.” Midwest Modern Language Association Conference 2011.
“Bad Weather: Kathleen Norris’s Critical Perspective on the Midwestern Pastoral.” Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium 2011.
“The Sublime and the Beautiful in The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien’s Theological Aesthetic as a Continuing Spiritual Resource.” Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature 2010.
“The Death of Chivalry: Hotspur and Machiavelli.” Sigma Tau Delta International Conference 2009.
“‘To Hell with Truth!’: Faith, Nihilism, and Death in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh.” Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature 2008.
Local Presentations
“AI-Resistant Assignments and Teaching Writing as a Living Act,” Ozarks Area Writing Symposium, College of the Ozarks, 8 March 2024.
“Lively Words,” College of the Ozarks micro-convocation, 21 September 2023.
Panelist, “Faithful Use of Artificial Intelligence,” Faculty Workshops, College of the Ozarks, August 2023.
Panelist, “Composition Instructor Panel,” College of the Ozarks Writing Center Orientation, 2023.
“Teaching Writing as the Art of Loading Brush,” plenary opening session, Ozarks Area Writing Symposium, College of the Ozarks, 10 March 2023.
“Remembering Gifts,” Remembering to Remember: A Symposium on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, College of the Ozarks, 2 February 2023.
Panelist, “Composition Instructor Panel,” College of the Ozarks Writing Center Orientation, 2022.
Panelist, “Inductive Essay Roundtable,” Ozarks Area Writing Symposium, College of the Ozarks, March 2022.
Panelist, “Teaching Students Professionalism,” Faculty Workshops, College of the Ozarks, January 2022.
“Digital Writing: a Primer.” Invited guest lecture for Dr. Kalah Kemp’s MCC 353: Social Media Campaigns course, College of the Ozarks, spring 2022.
“Writing as Humility, Humility as Play, Play as Love,” College of the Ozarks Writing Center Orientation, 2021.
Panelist, “Assessment Update,” Faculty Workshops, College of the Ozarks, 2021.
Panelist, “New Faculty Experiences,” New Faculty Orientation, College of the Ozarks, 2019.
“The World Does Not Need Words: Notes on Faithfully Teaching Technical Writing.” Presentation to the faculty of College of the Ozarks, 2019.
“Psychoanalytic Criticism and the Elegy.” Invited Guest Lecture for Dr. Matthew Bardowell’s English 202 course, Introduction to Poetry, Saint Louis University, 2013.
“Mapping Your Way through Prezi.” Saint Louis University Writing Program Workshop Series 2011.
“Using the Computer-Aided Instruction Lab.” Saint Louis University Writing Program Orientation 2011.
Memberships
Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
North American Fruit Explorers
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)
Editorial
- Contributing Editor, Front Porch Republic, 2024-present.
- Editor/coordinator, College of the Ozarks writing awards webzine, 2020.
Academic Service
- Appointed member, Library Advisory Committee, College of the Ozarks, 2022-present.
- Appointed member, Assessment Committee, College of the Ozarks, 2021-present.
- English department hiring committee, College of the Ozarks, 2022.
- English department composition committee, College of the Ozarks, 2018-present.
- New faculty mentor, College of the Ozarks, 2021-2022.
- Elected alternate Academic Council Representative, College of the Ozarks, 2020-2021.
- Coordinator, Writing and Rhetoric minor, College of the Ozarks, 2019-present.
- Member, English Department curriculum committee, College of the Ozarks, 2018-19.
- Member, Organizing Committee, the Kenneth Burke Society Conference, Saint Louis University, 2014.
- Member, Organizing Committee, There and Back Again: a Symposium on Seventy-Five Years of The Hobbit, Saint Louis University, 2012.
- Elected Undergraduate Committee Representative, English Graduate Organization, Saint Louis University, 2011-2012.
- Member, Local Arrangements Committee, CCCC 2011.
- Session organizer, “Gateways through the Apocalypse: a Panel Response to Richard Miller’s Writing at the End of the World,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2011.
Honors and Awards
- Awarded College of the Ozarks summer enrichment funding, 2024. $300
- Awarded College of the Ozarks summer enrichment funding, 2023. $300
- Awarded College of the Ozarks summer enrichment funding, 2023. $350
- Awarded College of the Ozarks summer enrichment funding, 2022. $515.
- Awarded College of the Ozarks summer enrichment funding, 2021. $900.
- Winner, Seerveld Prize for New Writers, Comment. $1,500 CAD.
- 2016 Addy Certificate of Excellence for my work as strategist and copywriter on ParkerProducts.com.
- First place, Humanities Paper Competition, Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium, 2014. $250.
- First runner-up, Humanities Paper Competition, Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium, 2013. $125.
- First runner-up, Humanities Paper Competition, Saint Louis University Graduate Research Symposium, 2011. $125.
- Clarence H. Miller Award for outstanding incoming MA student, Saint Louis University Department of English, 2010. $1,000.