My primary areas of intellectual interest are twentieth-century American literature, with an emphasis in poetry and environmental writing, and the teaching of reading and writing. I also write about the profession of English studies, with a continuing concern for making visible faculty work in the small college department. My scholarly work was recognized with the 2009 award for Faculty Distinction for Research and Scholarship at Keene State College.
I the fall of 2008 I completed work on the collection of essays, Teaching North American Environmental Literature, a book published in the Modern Language Association’s Options for Teaching Series. My contributions to the volume included working with authors and compiling resources for the sections on the environmental literatures of Canada and Mexican and Mexican-American environmental literature. This section of the book, “Resources for Teaching Environmental Literature: A Selective Guide,” includes an introduction and over twenty topical bibliographical essays. Teaching North American Environmental Literature will provide a center of access to the great diversity of pedagogical possibilities for teaching environmental literature.
Currently I serve as an associate editor for the journal Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. This profession-wide journal, founded in 2001 by my colleagues Jennifer Holberg and Marcy Taylor, reverses the longstanding marginalization of teaching and the scholarship produced around it and asserts the centrality of teaching to the work of scholars and professionals in the field of English studies. As assocaite editor, I am responsible for the book review section of three issues published each year. I recruit reviewers, solicit reviews, edit individual and roundtable reviews, and serve as a liaison with book publishers. This summer and fall I will be working on a special issue of the journal Pedagogy dedicated to the small college English department. The issue will foreground the ways the small college department continues to generate its own conditions for innovative pedagogy, curriculum development, and the integration of the professional activities of reading, writing and teaching. My additional forthcoming writing includes an extended essay on ecology and poetry for the collection Reading in Contemporary America, and a review of Mary Oliver’s Thirst that will appear in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment.
Since joining the department of English in 1998, I have delivered over one hundred presentations-from international and national conferences to book discussions at public libraries throughout the state of New Hampshire. For a list of local presentations please see the “Community” page.
Books Teaching North American Environmental Literature, eds. Laird Christensen, Mark C. Long, Fred Waage. New York: MLA
Journal Special Issues Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, special issue on the Small College Department, ed. Mark C. Long (forthcoming). Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy, special issue on Ecocriticism and the Practice of Reading, ed. Mark C. Long, (Fall 2005)
Journal Articles “Shifting Ground: The Emergence of the Bioregion and the Watershed in the Teaching of North American Environmental Literature,” Indian Journal of Ecocriticism. “Ecocriticism as a Practice of Reading,” Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy 53 (Fall 2005): 4-24. ”Where Do You Teach?” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 5.3 (Fall 2005): 371-77 ”Affinities of Faith and Place in the Poetry of Denise Levertov,” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 6.2 (Summer 1999): 29-40 “‘no confusions-only difficulties’: William Carlos Williams’s Poetics of Apposition,” William Carlos Williams Review 23.2 (Fall 1997): 1-26 ”Reading American Literature, Rethinking the Logic of Cultural Work,” Pacific Coast Philology 32.1 (Fall 1997): 87-104 “Graduate Students, Professional Development Programs, and the Future(s) of English Studies,” WPA: Writing Program Administration 20.1-2 (Fall/Winter 1996): 66-78
Book Chapters “Getting Real: Reading, Writing, and Teaching in Context,” Academic Cultures: Professional Preparation and the Teaching Life. New York: MLA (forthcoming) “Ideas as Forms of Beauty: William Carlos Williams’s Paterson and A. R. Ammons’s Tape for the Turn of Year,” Rigor of Beauty: Essays in Commemoration of William Carlos Williams, Peter Lang, 2004. 365-92 “William Carlos Williams, Ecocriticism, and Contemporary American Poetry,” Ecological Poetry: A Critical Introduction, Salt Lake City, U of Utah P, 2002. 58-74 ”Education and Environmental Literacy: Teaching Ecocomposition in Keene State College’s Environmental House,” Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches, Albany: State U of New York P, 2001. 131-45
Reference Entries “Ecopoetry,” Reading in Contemporary America (forthcoming) “Theodore Roethke,” Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poetry (forthcoming) ”A. R. Ammons,” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Nature Writing: Poetry (forthcoming) ”Mary Oliver,” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. New York: Checkmark, 2005. 356. ”W. S. Merwin,” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. New York: Checkmark, 2005. 315-17. ”William Carlos Williams, ‘Spring and All,’” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. New York: Checkmark, 2005. 470-71. ”Gary Snyder, ‘Riprap,’” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry. New York: Checkmark, 2005. 425. ”Denise Levertov,” Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Ed. Bron Taylor. New York: Continuum, 2005. ”John McPhee,” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-Century Nature Writers: Prose. Vol. 275. Eds. Roger Thompson and J. Scott Bryson. New York: Gale, 2003. 208-22.
Book Reviews Essays in Ecocriticism, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (forthcoming) Mary Oliver, Thirst, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (forthcoming) Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems; Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays; New and Selected Poems: Volume One; Long Life: Essays and Other Writings; Why I Wake Early, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 12.1 (Winter 2005): 257-59 Paul S. Piper and Stan Tag, eds., Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 11.1 (Winter 2004): 265-66 Mary Oliver, What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 10.1 (Summer 2003): 289-90 John Elder, The Frog Run: Words and Wildness in the Vermont Woods, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 9.2 (Summer 2002): 280-81 Anne Curzan and Lisa Damour, “On Becoming a Teacher: First Day to Final Grade: A Graduate Student’s Guide to Teaching,” for the journal Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 2.1 (Winter 2002): 135-41 Mary Oliver, The Leaf and the Cloud, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 8.2 (Summer 2001): 277-78 Kenneth Laine Ketner, His Glassy Essence: An Autobiography of Charles Sanders Peirce and Richard A. Smyth, Reading Peirce Reading, for the journal Nineteenth-Century Prose 28.1 (Spring 2001): 155-161 David H. Richter, Falling into Theory: Conflicting Views on Teaching Literature, second ed., for Style, a quarterly journal of aesthetics, poetics, stylistics, and interpretation of film and literature, 34.3 (Fall 2000): 530-35 W. S. Merwin, The River Sound, for the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 7.2 (Fall 2000): 288-89
National and International Presentations “The Elusiveness of the Interdiscipline: American Literature, Disciplinarity, and the Environmental Humanities,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2009; “The Profession and the Liberal Arts,” A Discussion of the MLA’s Academic Cultures: Professional Preparation and the Teaching Life, a special session arranged by the MLA Publications Committee, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, December 2008; “John Muir and the Mountains of California,” Department of English, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India, February 2008 ”Ecocritical Theories, Multicultural Perspectives,” Department of English, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India, February 2008 ”Notes on Environmental Criticism,” Department of English, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India, February 2008 ”A Terrain of Geography and Consciousness: The Watershed and the Bioregion in North American Environmental Literature,” Departments of English and Botany, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, India, February 2008 ”An Introduction to Bioregionalism,” Department of Zoology, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, India, February 2008 ”John Muir, The Nature Essay, and the Idea of Wilderness,” Organization for the Study of Literature and the Environment (OSLE) India Study Circle, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, India, February 2008 ”Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring,” Ornithology Class, Garware College, Pune, India, February, 2008 ”Shifting Ground: The Emergence of the Bioregion and the Watershed in the Teaching of North American Environmental Literature,” Plenary Address at the III International Conference of OSLE-India on Land, Culture, and Knowledge Systems, St. Ann’s College for Women, Hyderabad, India, January 2008 ”Contingency and Language,” Technical Session on Culture is a Matter of Land Use, III International Conference of OSLE-India on Land, Culture, and Knowledge Systems, St. Ann’s College for Women, Hyderabad, India, January 2008 ”The Science and Literature of Plants,” Teaching Ecology in the Face of Disciplinary Specialization, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, June 2007 ”Scholarship and Related Professional Activities,” Navigating New Terrain: Graduate Students and the Changing Face of the Profession, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, June 2007 ”Oliver’s Extravagance,” Ecopoetics, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Eugene, Oregon, June 2005 “Thinking Small,” Working Landscapes: A Workshop on Professionalization for Graduate Students, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Eugene, Oregon, June 2005 ”What is Theory Good For?” The Small-College Department: Jobs for Generalists, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania December 2004 ”The Architecture of Praise: Mary Oliver’s Sources,” Reading Mary Oliver, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, June 2003 ”From Teaching Environmental Literature (1985) to Teaching North American Environmental Literature (2006),” Poster Session, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, June 2003 ”Keene State College’s Summer Institute on the Teaching of Writing: Placing the Self as Teacher, Placing the Student at Writer,” Transforming Faculty Attitudes About Writing at a Small Public, Liberal Arts College,” Conference on College Composition and Communication,” New York, New York, March 2003 “The Place of Writing in Ecocomposition,” Special Interest Group on Ecomposition, Conference on College Composition and Communication,” New York, New York, March 2003 ”Narratives from the First Year: A Plea for Visibility,” Professional Rights and Personal Responsibilities: Narratives from the First Year of Faculty Life, the MLA Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Rights and Responsibilities, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, New York, New York, December 2002 ”Pedagogy in the Public Domain,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, Illinois, March 2002 ”All the News That’s Fit to Print: Pedagogy in the Public Domain,” Making Pedagogy Visible, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 2001 ”Beyond Technique: Training Graduate Students in the Art of Teaching,” the MLA Ad Hoc Committee on the Professionalization of PhDs, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 2001 ”William Carlos Williams, Pragmatism, and Contemporary Ecopoetics,” Modernist Environs, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, June 2001 ”The Small Department, Distinctiveness, and Narratives of Professional Identity,” The Small Department: What’s Distinctive, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Washington, D. C., December 2000 ”Old Patterns, New Directions: Ecocriticism and the Study of Environmental Literature,” Literature and Environment: Pursuits of Theory, Pedagogy, and Justice, American Literature Association Conference, Long Beach, California, May 2000 “Walking and the American Poet,” Environmental Poetics, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 1999 “Tending to the Imagination: Perspective and Incongruity in William Carlos Williams and Kenneth Burke,” William Carlos Williams Society panel, Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Toronto, Canada, December 1997″Constructing the Literature and Environment Syllabus,” Constructing the Canon of Nature Writing, The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Biennial Conference, Missoula, Montana, July 1997 “On the Origins of a Democratic Literacy,” Critical Thinking, Critical Pedagogy, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Phoenix, Arizona, March 1997″Collaboration, Community and Culture,” The Metaphors Composition Lives By: Examining Central Concepts in Composition Theory, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 1996″The Dialectic of Rights and Obligations: Graduate Students, Professional Development, and the Future(s) of English Studies,” Writing Program Administrators Summer Conference, Bellingham, Washington, July 1995 “Welcome to the Jungle: Graduate Students as Administrators,” The Shifting Ground of Power and Authority in Writing Programs, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Washington D.C., March 1995
Regional Confernce Presentations “The Locations of Composition,” Teaching Environmental Literature, “Northeastern Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 2004 “The Job Market,” Faculty Respondent, The Graduate Student Caucus Roundtable, Northeastern Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, April 2002 ”The Literary Scholar: On Defining a Professional Identity,” Literary Scholars: The Next Generation, The Graduate Student Caucus Roundtable, Northeastern Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Hartford, Connecticut, March 2001 ”Languages of Place in the Poetry of William Carlos Williams, Robert Hass and Adrienne Rich,” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Portland, Oregon, November 1999 “The Pedagogy of William Carlos Williams’s Long Poem Paterson,” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Scripps College, Claremont, California, November 1998 ”Kenneth Burke and Three Strategies for Criticism: Euphemism, Polemicism and Debunking,” New Perspectives in American Studies, The Sixth Annual Conference of the American Studies Colloquium, University of Washington Department of English, Seattle, Washington, May 1998 ”Notes Toward a Poetics of Walking,” Pacific Northwest American Studies Association Conference, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, April 1999 ”A Poetics of Walking: William Carlos Williams, A.R. Ammons and Gary Snyder,” Environmental Poetry and Prose,” North American Interdisciplinary Conference on Environment and Community, Reno, Nevada, February 1998 “Denise Levertov: Affinities of Faith and Place in the Pacific Northwest,” Association of Literature and the Environment Panel, Midwestern Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 1996 ”Reading, American Literature and the Logic of Cultural Work,” American Literature Panel, Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, University of California, Irvine, California, November 1996 ”Reinventing the Liberal Arts,” Teaching the Humanities: Institutions and Individuals, Traditions and Innovations, The Western Humanities Conference, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, October 1996 ”Developing a Sense of Where You Are,” Invited Faculty Speaker for The First Lecture Series, University of Washington Orientation Program, University of Washington, August 1997
