Professors: Colby, Duncan, Grathwohl, Jackson, Walton
Associate Professors: Fine, Johnson
Assistant Professors: Britt, McNamee, Roberts, Wofford
Adjunct faculty: Beaty, Becksford, Hogan
Director, Learning Center: Carmen Christopher Caviness
Recently retired: English, Gilbert, Rosser, Webb

Freda Beaty, Ph.D. (2006)
Adjunct faculty. A.B., A.M. Florida Atlantic University; Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Beaty teaches English 200.

Lisa Becksford (2009)

Adjunct Faculty.  A.B. Meredith College (2007),  A.M. North Carolina State University.  Ms. Becksford's graduate studies have focused on medieval literature, her thesis addressed the Middle English poem Sir Tristrem. She belongs to a book club comprised of fellow Meredith English alums, and she is delighted to be back in the halls of Joyner.  She likes to bake breads and tweak old recipes.  She also makes beaded jewelry.  She will be teaching ENG111.

Suzanne Britt, A.M. (1987)
Assistant Professor of English. A.B. Salem College; A.M. Washington University. Ms. Britt teaches literature, writing courses, and Core 100. Ms. Britt also advises The Meredith Herald and The Colton Review. Her poems have appeared in literary magazines; her essays and articles have appeared in various newspapers and magazines. She is the author of several books, including Show and Tell, A Writer’s Rhetoric, and Images: A Centennial Journey. Her essays have been widely reprinted in college textbooks. She has recently completed a novel and is currently working on her poetry.

Carmen Christopher Caviness (2007)
A.B. University of North Carolina at Greensboro; A.M. North Carolina State University. Ms. Christopher teaches English composition. Her reviews and articles have been published in Issues in Writing, The Writing Lab Newsletter, and the National Academic Advising Association Journal. She loves writing, reading, playing guitar and boating. 

Robin Colby, Ph.D. (1988)
Professor of English. A.B. Meredith College; A.M. North Carolina State University; Ph.D. Duke University. Dr. Colby specializes in nineteenth-century British literature, and she is currently serving as department head. She teaches British literature European seminar, Victorian literature, and Techniques of Research. Her book, Some Appointed Work to Do: Women and Vocation in the Fiction of Elizabeth Gaskell, was published by Greenwood Press in 1995. She enjoys gardening, collects pottery, and loves all things Victorian.

Rebecca Duncan, Ph.D. (1997)
Professor of English. A.B., A.M. Ohio University; A.M. University of South Florida; Ph.D. Florida State University.
Dr. Duncan is the Norma Rose Professor of English.  She teaches British literature, professional writing courses, and Core 400. She has published essays on Margaret Atwood, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Chaucer, contemporary literary theory, and hypertext. In the summer of 2003, she spent two weeks teaching English in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon. In the summer of 2009 she traveled to Morocco to meet Leila Abouzeid, an author whose fiction she teaches in her course on colonial/postcolonial literature. Click here to view photos of her visit.  Her essay entitled "Life of Pi as Postmodern Survival Narrative appeared in Mosaic in June 2008.  Her essay entitled "Recovering Innocence in Slumdog Millionaire appeared in the Journal of Commonwealth Literature in June 2011.

Sarah English, Ph.D. (1979)
Professor emerita of English. A.B. Duke University, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. English teaches courses in British literature and film. Dr. English has written about Larry McMurtry and Anne Tyler and admires both writers. She loves traveling, walking on the beach, going to plays and movies, and reading fiction. Dr. English is on leave for fall semester 2008.

Laura Fine, Ph.D. (2007)
Associate Professor of English. B.A. University of Minnesota; M.A., Ph.D. University of California, Davis. Dr. Fine teaches American literature and core courses. She has published articles on Southern literature and on autobiography. She enjoys music, movies, watching and playing soccer and tennis, and chasing her toddler.

Susan Gilbert, Ph.D. (1966)
Professor emerita. A.B. Duke University, A.M. University of Virginia, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Gilbert teaches American literature, twentieth-century literature, Southern literature, and world literature.

Eloise Grathwohl, Ph.D. (1990)
Professor of English. A.B., A.M., Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Grathwohl specializes in Old and Middle English language and literature. In 1999 she received the Laura Harrill Presidential Award for her work as director of the Honors Program. She teaches Old English, Chaucer, English 202, and composition.  She recently led a study abroad program in Iceland.

Ashley Hogan (2001)

Adjunct faculty. A.B. Appalachian State University, A.M. North Carolina State University. Ms. Hogan teaches composition and literature classes. She also organizes and facilitates Meredith's annual summer creative writing workshop for women and the Meredith Young Writers' Camp for girls. When Ms. Hogan is not spending time with her husband and three children, you will find her reading, writing, or sewing. When Ms. Hogan is not being creative or productive, you will find her watching bad reality television, playing silly games on her iPhone, or reading blogs.  

Jean Jackson, Ph.D. (1983)
Vice President for College Programs, Professor of English. A.B. Meredith College; A.M., Ph.D. University of Illinois. Dr. Jackson takes time from her administrative duties to teach American literature and Romantic poetry. She also directs a faculty performance of Alice in Wonderland every four years.

Alisa Johnson, Ph.D. (1998)
Associate Professor of English. A.B. Guilford College; A.M., Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Johnson teaches American and African American literature, as well as feminist theory. Her essays and entries on African American writers have been published in Modern Fiction, The Reference Guides to Modern and Short American Fiction, and The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing. She loves movies, dance, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Martin P. McNamee, Ph.D. (2011)
Assistant Professor of English. A.B. University of Scranton; M.A., Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. McNamee specializes in British Romanticism; his academic interests include professional writing and management communication. A Danforth Fellow, he taught at Chapel Hill, where he also served as the Writing Center Director, and at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Kelly Roberts, Ph.D. (2006)
Assistant Professor of English. A.B. Meredith College; A.M. North Carolina State University, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Roberts teaches composition and literature classes, as well as The Methods of Teaching English.  Dr. Roberts serves as program coordinator for 6-9 and 9-12 English licensure for prospective teachers.  Her research interests include written reflections of pre-service and in-service teachers, portfolio assessment, teacher education, composition studies in secondary and post-secondary settings, and retention of beginning teachers.

Garry Walton, Ph.D. (1983)
Dean, School of Arts and Humanities and Professor of English. A.B., A.M., Ph.D. University of Virginia.
Dr. Walton has served as head of the department and director of the college Honors program. He has published essays on Shakespeare, performance, and pedagogy and teaches courses on Shakespeare and other British authors.

Betty Webb, Ph.D. (1971) (1974)
Professor emerita and Director of International Program in Sansepocro, Italy. A.B. Meredith College; A.M. North Carolina State University, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Webb teaches Irish literature and modern poetry, as well as Honors courses, including What’s News. As director of the Study Abroad program, she helps students see the world through study in foreign countries. A Danforth Fellow, she has been the recipient of the Pauline Perry Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Dr. Webb will be spending the semester in Sansepolcro, Italy, where the college offers a semester-long study abroad program. 

Joe Wofford, Ph.D. (2005)
Assistant Professor of English. A.B., A.M. North Carolina State University; Ph.D. UNC Greensboro
He teaches composition and English 200.