Faculty & Staff

Leadership Team

Alexandra Kay - Associate Professor, Department Chair
MSEd (Secondary Education/English) Mount Saint Mary College; MA (Print Journalism) New York University; BA Pace University

Teaches Freshman English 1 & 2, Honors Freshman English 1, Writing for Media, World Literature: Enlightenment to Modern, and Women Writers.

Research Interests: teaching pedagogy

Susan Rosalsky - Asst. Professor, Interim Assistant Chair
ABD, MA, MPhil (Amerian Studies) Yale University, BA (English and History) Wellesley College

Research Interests:  Noir detective fiction, slave narratives, the contemporary short story.

Teaches: Writing and reading skills (English 098), Freshman English 1,

African American Literature, and the Contemporary Short Story.

Publications:  "The Loaded Gun: Idiomatic Language in the Writing of Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald" (Fall 2018)

 

 

Anne Sandor - Associate Professor, Writing Consultancy Coordinator
MFA (Creative Writing) Vermont College; BA (English) Vassar College; AA (Liberal Arts) SUNY Orange

Teaches Technical Writing (OTA), Creative Writing Fiction, and Contemporary Novel.

Mary Warrener - Professor, Co-requisite Learning Coordinator
ABD, MA (English) University at Buffalo; BA (English) Mount Saint Mary College

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, World Literature, Introduction to Mythology, Shakespeare, Technical Writing, and online courses

 

Full-Time Faculty

Melissa Browne - Assistant Professor
MA (Teaching of English) Teacher’s College; BA (English) Ohio Wesleyan University

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, Technical Writing 1 & 2 (Human Services), Women Writers, British Literature: 14th through 18th Century, and British Literature: 19th and Early 20th Century

Deborah Chedister - Assistant Professor
MS (Second Language Learning) SUNY New Paltz; BA (English) Colorado State University

Teaches ESL Reading & Writing, Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, and ESL for CAPE.

Advises International Club

Amanda Crowell - Associate Professor
ABD (American Studies) Saint Louis University, MFA (Creative Writing), MA (English) University of Missouri - St. Louis; BA (English) Truman State University

Teaches Freshman English 1, American Literature to the Civil War, American Literature 1865 to Present, and Honors Seminar: The Apocalypse.

Advises Creative Writing Club

Research Interests: poetry, creative writing, community service, publications, literature in context, science fiction, writing in context.

Professional and Community Service: English department Poetry Month, biannual food drives, Trash 2 Treasure events

Tony Cruz - Associate Professor
MSEd (English) Fordham University; MAT (Music Education) CUNY H. Lehman College; BA (Music Education) CUNY Graduate Center

Teaches Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, and Contemporary Short Story

Sheila Donnelly - Associate Professor
MA+ (English, concentrated studies on Southern Literature) SUNY New Paltz; BA (English) Mount Saint Mary College

Teaches Freshman English 1 & 2, Contemporary Poetry, American Literature: To the Civil War, British Literature: 14th-18th Century, Women in Literature, and Analysis & Interpretation of Literature.

Research Interests: American Southern Writers including William Faulkner and Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Contemporary Short Story and Fiction Writers, 17th Century British Writers (John Milton), the Metaphysical Poets.

Talbot Peter Frawley III - Instructor
MA (English), MAT (Secondary Education: English), BA (English) SUNY New Paltz, AA (Liberal Arts) SUNY Orange

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Basic Writing Skills, Pre-Semester Accelerations, Freshman English 1 & 2, Contemporary Short Story and other literature courses

Research interests: cognitive literary studies, literary theory and criticism

Professional and community service: counselor for at-risk and homeless adolescents in transitional living programs, instructor for higher education in prison programs

Sandra Graff - Associate Professor
MAT (English and Education) Fairleigh Dickinson University; BA (English; minors in Art and German) SUNY Albany; Post-Graduate Study (Education and Literacy) Jersey City State College, Seton Hall University, SUNY New Paltz, and Sam Houston State University

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, Creative Writing: Poetry, and Contemporary Poetry

Publications: poetry and chapbook

Research/Other Interests: writing, sustainability, gardening, vegetarian cooking

Alexander Jakubowski - Professor
MA (English) Binghamton University; BA (English) SUNY Oswego

Teaches Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, Technical Writing Module 1 & 2, American Literature to the Civil War, American Literature 1865 to Present, Journalism: Survey of Mass Media, Fantasy Fiction (Tolkien, Arthurian Literature), and Science Fiction

Research Interests: American literature, science fiction/fantasy fiction, journalism issues, creative writing

Kristen Katzin-Nystrom - Assistant Professor
MA (English/Medieval anchorites, visionaries & philosophers) University of Massachusetts; BA (English/Women’s Studies) San Francisco State University

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, World Literature, and variety of literature courses

Research Interests: Medieval philosophy and religion

Dr. Stephen Meagher - Associate Professor
PhD (Eighteenth Century British Literature) University of Buffalo; MA (Contemporary Canadian Novel), BA (Drama and Theatre) McGill University

Teaches, Freshman English 1 & 2, Contemporary Short Story, British Literature 14th through 18th Century, Drama, and Ethics

Research Interests: Currently revising his dissertation, Promise in Early, Eighteenth Century England: Reading Hobbes and Addison, for publication. He has presented papers at NeMLA and ASECS conferences on Canadian and British literature.

Christina Nelson-Brozycki - Instructor
MA (English, NYS Certification English 7-12) SUNY New Paltz, BA (English) Vassar College

Teaches Freshman English 1 & 2 and Contemporary Short Story.

Kate O’Callaghan - Instructor
MA (English), BA (English) SUNY New Paltz

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Pre- & Post-Semester Interventions, Summer Institute, College Success Seminar, Career Planning, Freshman English 1, and Freshman English 2.

Research Interests: Shakespeare, British literature, gender, cultural studies, memoir, novel, women writers

Community Service: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, food drives

Sue Pendergast - Assistant Professor
MSEd (Special Education, reading coursework emphasis), BA (English) Mount Saint Mary College; AA SUNY Orange

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, and Basic Writing Skills

Geoffrey I. Platt - Professor
MA (English & Comparative Literature), MPhil (English & Comparative Literature) Columbia University; BA (English) Long Island University

Teaches Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, Philosophy, Ethics, Introduction to Mythology, Film & Literature, Contemporary Short Story, Honors seminars & honors sections, and Introduction to Humanities 1 & 2

Publication: Developmental Writing textbook

Research Interests: Hudson Valley, cross-disciplinary studies, Vienna 1900, Ancient World, cinema

Rebeca C. Rivera-Robayo - Instructor
Doctoral Candidate (English) Drew University; MA (English) Brooklyn College, CUNY; BA (Creative Writing - Poetry) Hunter College, CUNY.
Teaches Basic Writing Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, and Contemporary Short Story
Research Interests: Poetry; creative writing; critical thinking; multicultural studies; early 20th-century literature
Clubs: Creative Writing Club (co-advisor)

 

Anna Rosen - Assistant Professor
MS (Literacy Education) Long Island University; MFA (Creative Writing) Sarah Lawrence College; BS (Psychology and Early Childhood Education) CUNY Hunter College

Teaches Reading & Study Skills, Freshman English 1 & 2, and Honors Seminar: Memoir

Ándrea Laurencell Sheridan - Associate Professor
MA (English) SUNY New Paltz; MA (Humanities & Social Thought: Literary Cultures) New York University; BA (English) Russell Sage College

Teaches Freshman English 1 & 2, Honors Freshman English 2, Film & Literature, Contemporary Short Story, Contemporary Novel, Honors Service Learning, and Honors Seminars: “Beautiful Little Fools & All That Jazz,” “‘And But So’: Post- and Post-postmodern America,” “Oh! The Horror!”

Advises Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA), Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society

Publications: Chapters in Literary Geography: An Encyclopedia of Real and Imagined Settings; chapters in Contemporary American Literature in Context (forthcoming)

Research Interests: metafiction, experimental fiction, post-irony/New Sincerity

Awards: President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2018); SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2018)

Professional Service: Vice President, International David Foster Wallace Society; Managing Editor, Journal for David Foster Wallace Studies

Christopher Slichta - Assistant Professor
MA (English, American Literature concentration) SUNY Buffalo; BA (English) Rutgers University

Teaches Freshman English 1 & 2, World Literature: Enlightenment to the Modern Age, American Literature: To the Civil War, American Literature: 1865 to Present, Technical Writing Module 1 & 2, and Faculty Tutor in the Writing Center

Research Interests: American Literature

Elaine Torda - Professor; Honors Program Coordinator; Chair: Interdisciplinary Studies
MA (English) Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec); BA (English) St. Michael’s College; Graduate Certificate (Teaching Language Arts as a Second Language) St. Michael’s College

Teaches Honors Freshman English 1 & 2, World Literature: Enlightenment to the Modern Age, International Literature, Honors International Literature, Accelerated Contemporary Novel, Honors Contemporary Poetry, Children’s Literature, Honors Philosophy, Honors Seminars, Introduction to Humanities 1 & 2, American Civil Rights Movements, and Introduction to Gender.

Awards: National Collegiate Honors Council Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence (2015); President’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service (2013); SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service (2013); National Collegiate Honors Council Fellow (2013)

Professional Service: Vice President of National Collegiate Honors Council

 

Stephanie Wish - Assistant Professor
MAT (Literature) Bard College; MFA (Creative Writing) Oregon State University; BA (English) Vassar College

Teaches Basic Writing Skills Freshman English 1 & 2, Contemporary Short Story, Creative Writing, and Children’s Literature