Dean Swinford
Department of English and Foreign Languages
Fayetteville State University
1200 Murchison Road
Fayetteville, NC 28301
Department: (910) 672-2425
http://faculty.uncfsu.edu/dswinfor/
Education
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL). Ph.D in Medieval and Early Modern Studies. May 2004.
Dissertation: Through the Daemon's Gate: Kepler’s Somnium, Medieval Dream Narratives, and the Polysemy of Allegorical Motifs
Director: James J. Paxson
Fields: Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Critical Theory, History of Science and Technology.
Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium). Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Student. Department of French Literature. 2002-03.
Sponsor: Fernand Hallyn
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL). M.A. in English. May 1999. Thesis: “The Poetics of Irrealism.”
Fields: Narrative Theory, World Literature.
Florida International University (Miami, FL). B.A. in English. Magna Cum Laude with Honors. December 1995.
Academic Employment
Assistant Professor of English, Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville, NC). 2007-Present.
Instructor, University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL). 2004-2007.
Graduate Instructor, University of Florida (Gainesville, FL). 1998-2004.
Academic Honors and Grants
Graduate Faculty Member, Fayetteville State University, 2008.
Occasional Lecturer Program Grant, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, 2005.
J. William Fulbright Fellowship, 2002-03.
Gerson Dissertation Fellowship, University of Florida, 2002.
Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Florida, 2001.
Publications
Books
Through the Daemon’s Gate: Kepler’s Somnium, Medieval Dream Narratives, and the Polysemy of Allegorical Motifs. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Articles
“The Portrait of an Armor-Plated Sign: Reimagining Samsa's Exoskeleton.” in Kafka’s Creatures. Eds. Marc Lucht and Donna Yarri. (Forthcoming)
“The Invisible Monster: Italo Calvino and the Contemporary City.” in Approaches to Teaching Italo Calvino. Ed. Franco Ricci. Modern Language Association. (Forthcoming)
“Review of Ladina Lambert’s Imagining the Unimaginable: The Poetics of Early Modern Astronomy.” Revue d’Histoire des Sciences 58 (2005): 465-67.
“Where the Fusang Grows: A Response to an Interview with Cheryl Glotfelty.” in Writing Environments: Rhetoric, Texts, and the Construction of Nature. Eds. Sid Dobrin and Chris Keller. Albany: SUNY Press, 2004. 279-85.
“Review of John Aberth’s A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film.” Journal of Film and Video 56:4 (2004): 54-56.
“Form and Representation in Beowulf and Grettis Saga.” Neophilologus 86 (2002): 613-20.
“Recursivity: Navigating Composition and Space.” Co-authored with Jason Snart. AGORA: Online Graduate Humanities Journal. 1.1 (2001). <http://www.humanities.ualberta.ca/agora>.
“Defining Irrealism: Scientific Development and Allegorical Possibility.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 12.1 (2001): 77-89.
“Over-Reading: Implications for Humanities Teaching.” Eds. Dean Swinford and Jason Snart. Special issue of Inventio: Creative Thinking About Learning and Teaching. Spring 2003. <http://www.doiiit.gmu.edu/inventio>.
“J.G. Ballard.” Contemporary Novelists. 7th ed. Eds. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Detroit: St. James Press, 2001. 56-60.
Eighteen articles in Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery Vol.1-3. Eds. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
Selected Presentations and Panels
“Pestilence of the ‘Medieval’ Body: A Rhetorical Analysis of New Research on Plague Causes.” International Congress on Medieval Studies. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. May 2008.
“The Process of Stellification in Chaucer's The House of Fame." International Congress on Medieval Studies. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. May 2007.
“A Choir of Monstrous Voices: Kepler’s Daemon in the Trading Zone.” MLA Convention. Philadelphia, PA. December 2004.
“The Speech of Daemons: Kepler’s Somnium and the Polysemy of Allegorical Motifs.” The Fourteenth Biennial New College Conference on Medieval-Renaissance Studies. New College, Sarasota, FL. March 2004.
“(Over)Reading Space: Political Critique and Urban Form.” Blue Ridge International Conference on the Humanities and the Arts. Appalachian State University. Boone, NC. April 2002.
“'Remedios Varo, entre el surrealismo y la alquimia': Translation of an Article by Isabell Castells.” Souths: Global and Local. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. April 2001.
“Defining Irrealism: Scientific Development and Allegorical Possibility.” First International Conference of the Society for Literature and Science. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. April 2000.
“Science Fiction and Science Possibility.” Society for Literature and Science Conference. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. November 1998.
Teaching Experience
Assistant Professor: Fayetteville State University, 2007-Present
Shakespeare and the Silver Screen, Fall 2008.
Analyzed major dramas, including comedies, histories, and tragedies. Linked Shakespeare's thematic concerns to early modern social and cultural history. Discussed adaptation and translation as interpretive acts. Examined filmed Shakespeare as a way to consider questions of authorship, interpretation, and the cultural power of canonical texts.
Survey of Medieval and Early Modern British Literature, Fall 2007, Spring 2008.
Considered historical and cultural events informing literary production. Focused on development of English language through analysis of original texts and sound recordings. Analyzed literary genre and the origins of the novel.
World Literature II: From the Enlightenment to Postmodernism, Spring 2008.
Studied major works of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Focused on representative genres and drew student attention to related developments in the arts. Attention to world cultures enabled students to connect literary developments to political and social movements.
World Literature I: The Ancient World, Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, Fall 2007.
Surveyed major works from the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Used a global perspective that incorporated western classics and works from diverse cultures. Invited visiting Fulbright scholars to discuss literary traditions in their countries.
College Writing: Environmental Issues Learning Community, Fall 2008.
Emphasized expository writing forms appropriate to the university and the work place. Used local and global environmental issues to encourage thoughtful and analytical writing. This course, paired with Comprehensive Physical Science and Freshman Seminar, belongs to a program that offers a series of thematically linked general education courses in small-sized class settings.
Writing the 2008 Presidential Election, Spring 2008.
Used the presidential election to provide student practice in argumentation and research. Students analyzed national and international issues related to the war on terror and compared research based solutions with those offered by the presidential candidates.
Composition and Contemporary Issues, Fall 2007.
Developed skills in argumentation and research. Students analyzed questions of race and class and produced essays that explored, mediated, and proposed solutions to contemporary issues.
Instructor: University of North Florida, 2004-2007
Shakespearean Self-Fashioning: Gender and Class in the Renaissance, Spring 2006.
Introduced students to Shakespearean drama through new historicist and feminist approaches to scholarship. Explored issues such as the political implications of cross-dressing in early modern English drama as well as the relationship between Aristotelian discourse on women's bodies and the gendering of nature.
Survey of British Literature: Gender and Politics in Medieval and Early Modern British Literature, Spring 2007, Fall 2005.
Covered a broad range of literary and historical texts from Beowulf to Milton. Approached textual analysis through new historicist and feminist theory to examine topics in the transformation of homosocial power dynamics, the development of Christian attitudes toward marriage, and the sexualized rhetoric of conquest and exploration.
Special Topics in Literature: Dystopia Now! Dystopia, Utopia, and Social Transformation, Summer 2007, Summer 2006, Spring 2005.
Examined a series of dystopian novels, including 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Fight Club. Familiarized students with the literary history of the genre through readings from Plato, Thomas More, and St. Augustine.
Special Topics in Literature: World Literature and Political Critique, Fall 2004.
Examined the novel as a tool of political change through a survey of works by Achebe, Atwood, Hesse, Kundea, and Márquez. Discussed literary genres, including realism, expressionism, surrealism, and magic realism.
Introduction to Literature: Tellings and Retellings, Spring 2007, Spring 2006, Fall 2005, Spring 2005.
Introduced students to three genres of world literature: drama, poetry, and the novel. Course readings emphasized the retellings of similar stories in different forms, including Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Cèsaire’s A Tempest.
College Writing: Ecocomposition and the Psychology of Place, Fall 2006, Fall 2005.
Explored relationship between human behaviour and the natural environment through a combination of written argumentation and scientific investigation. This course, paired with Introduction to Psychology, belongs to a program that offers a series of thematically linked general education courses in small-sized class settings.
College Writing: Composition and Contemporary Issues, Fall 2006, Summer 2005, Fall 2004.
Examined governmental policy on a range of domestic and international issues. Students participated in a series of formal policy debates based on the team debate format used by the National Forensic League.
Graduate Instructor, University of Florida, 1998-2004
Shakespeare Survey: Shakespeare and Gender, Summer 2004.
Shakespeare Survey: Alternate Cosmographies: Shakespeare and the Other, Fall 2003.
Advanced Technical Communication for Accounting Graduate Students, Spring 2004.
Survey of World Literature: The Supernatural and the Surreal, Fall 2001, Spring 2000.
Survey of American Literature: Mapping America(s), Fall 2000, Summer 1999.
Writing About Literature: Text and Hypertext, Fall 2000, Spring 1999.
Writing About Literature: The Mythic in Contemporary Literature, Summer 1998, Spring 1998.
College Composition: Interpreting Nature, Summer 2000.
College Composition: Effective and Persuasive Writing, Fall 1999, Fall 1998, Fall 1997.
College Composition: Achievement in Mainstreaming Program for At-Risk Students, Fall 1998.
Academic Service at Fayetteville State University
Catalog Officer, Provost’s Office. 2009-Present.
Member, Faculty Senate. 2007-Present.
Member, Faculty Senate—Faculty Welfare Committee. 2008-Present.
Member, Faculty Senate—Academic Affairs Committee. 2008-Present.
Member, Core Curriculum Review Committee. 2008-Present.
Member, Learning Community Program. University College. 2008-Present.
Member, Undergraduate Curriculum (BA-Track) Committee. Department of English and Foreign Languages. 2008-Present.
Member, Diversity Committee. Foundations of Excellence Task Force, The Policy Center on the First Year of College. 2007-08.
Academic Service at the University of North Florida
Faculty Scholarship Advisor. Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Program, 2006-07.
Undergraduate Committee. English Department, 2006-07.
Departmental By-Laws Revision Committee. English Department, 2006-07.
Truman Fellowship Candidate Selection Committee. Honors Program, 2006.
Freshman Interest Group (FIG) Program, Faculty Participant. College of Arts and Sciences, 2005-06.
Fulbright Fellowship Campus Interview Committee. Honors Program, 2005-06.
Rhodes Scholarship Campus Interview Committee. Honors Program, 2005.
Fulbright Alumni Council Lecture Series, Organizer. International Center, 2005.
Faculty Search Committee, Member. English Department, 2005.
Actors From The London Stage Residency Program, Faculty Participant. 2005.
Related Professional Experience
Prospective Book Reviewer, Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society, 2007-08.
Manuscript Reviewer, Thomson Learning, 2006.
Editorial Assistant, Saving Place: An Ecocriticism Reader. Ed. Sid Dobrin. Mc-Graw Hill, 2004.
Editorial Assistant, Writing Environments: Rhetoric, Texts, and the Construction of Nature. SUNY Press, 2004.
Technical Editor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, 2004.
Technical Editor, Gleim Publications, 2002-03.
Conversation Group Leader, English Language Institute, University of Florida, 1998.
Languages
Modern:
Spanish: Advanced reading and spoken knowledge
French: Intermediate reading and spoken knowledge
Dutch: Intermediate reading and spoken knowledge
German: Reading knowledge
Pre-modern:
Latin: Reading knowledge
Old Norse: Reading knowledge
Old English: Reading knowledge
Middle English: Reading knowledge