Dr. Amy Berke
- Director of the Honors Program
- Coordinator, CIT Program
- Associate Professor of English
- Dr. Berke’s Homepage
- email: amy.berke@maconstate.edu
Amy Berke completed her Ph.D. in English at The Florida State University in 1995 and joined the faculty at Macon State College in 1998. Currently, Dr. Berke is Associate Professor of English and serves as Coordinator of the Communications and Information Technology Bachelor’s Degree Program and as Director of the Honors Program. Her major area of study is American Literature post 1875. She has published articles in Frank Norris Studies, South Central Review, The Companion to Southern Literature, and The Ellen Glasgow Newsletter.
Dr. Heather Braun
- Assistant Professor of English
- email: heather.braun@maconstate.edu
Heather Braun received her Ph.D. in English from Boston College (2007), her M.A. from Claremont University (1999), and her B.A. from Lafayette College (1997). She joined the Macon State faculty in 2007 and taught previously at Boston College, Harvey Mudd College, and Azusa Pacific University. Her research interests include nineteenth-century British literature, the vampire tale, and revivals of medieval romance. She has published essays on Victorian humor, David Mamet, Sydney Owenson, and minor Victorian poet, Mary E. Coleridge. She is currently working on a manuscript entitled “Fatal Forms: The Nineteenth-Century Femme Fatale.”
Dr. Patrick Brennan
- Assistant Professor of English
- patrick.brennan@maconstate.edu
Dr. Patrick Brennan earned his B.F.A. in Film & TV Production from New York University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. He joined the faculty of Macon State College in the fall of 2002 and teaches courses in English, film history, film theory, and digital video production and serves as a faculty advisor to the college television station, MSCTV. Dr. Brennan has published and presented papers on the American underground cinema, world cinema, and classic Hollywood cinema. He is currently examining the emergent Canadian feature film industry of the late nineteen-sixties and its relationship to American underground film practices.
Dr. Nancy Bunker
- Assistant Professor of English
- Web Site
- nancy.bunker@maconstate.edu
Dr. Nancy Bunker earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Speech from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She holds a Master of Arts in English from Missouri State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Tulsa. Her core course teaching includes English 1101, 1102, British Literature 2121, 2122, and Introduction to Ethics. She designed two new courses specifically for the CIT program, Mystery and Detective Fiction and Shakespeare and Love. Dr. Bunker’s essay “Feminine and Fashionable: Regendering the Iconologies of Mary Frith’s Reputation” was awarded Explorations in Renaissance Culture’s Most Distinguished Article of 2005. Her current research explores Renaissance drama’s contribution to Elizabethan views of a legal self identity. Chosen as a 2008 Governor’s Teaching Fellow, Dr. Bunker’s project addresses advancing student literacy through close reading, correct writing, and careful computing.
Dr. Kevin Cantwell
- Professor of English
- kevin.cantwell@maconstate.edu
Kevin Cantwell has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Utah (1991). A regular reviewer of poetry collections, he edited Quarterly West magazine while in graduate school. His poems have appeared in such places as The New Republic, Poetry, Metre (UK), Commonweal, Antioch Review, and The Paris Review. One of his poems was reprinted in The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Dinner, Death, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953 (Picador, 2003). In 2002, his book Something Black in the Green Part of Your Eye was published by New Issues Press at Western Michigan State University. He has won the Academy of American Poets Prize; has twice won the River City Poetry Award; has won a Tennessee Williams Scholarship; and has won the Agnes Scott Poetry Prize. He currently teaches creative writing, composition, professional writing, the literature of the workplace, and print history.
Dr. Yunsuk Chae
- Assistant Professor of Spanish
- yunsuk.chae@maconstate.edu
Dr. Chae received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish from Vanderbilt University. She joined the faculty of Macon State College in 2005. Her teaching experience includes courses in Spanish language, Spanish culture and civilization, and Spanish literature. She has done research in the areas of Baroque poetry and Modern and Contemporary peninsular literature with specialization in poetry. Her current research projects examine the themes of metapoetry and experimental semantics in the poetry of Pedro Salinas.
Ms. Sydney Chalfa
- Associate Professor of Theatre
- sydney.chalfa@maconstate.edu
Sydney Calfa joined the faculty of MSC in 1990 as Director of the Imprompttu Players after serving in that role for 13 years and directing such show as ANGELS IN AMERICA (PARTS I & II), LONELY PLANT, TOMMY (THE ROCK OPERA), WEST SIDE STORY, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, ASSASSINS, INHERIT THE WIND, THE NIGHT THOREAU SPENT IN JAIL, CABARET, WAITING FOR GODOT, among many other productions. She is an Associate Professor in Theatre and Communications and now concentrates on teaching Digital Storytelling, which she learned from Joe Lambert at the Center for Digital Storytelling at Berkeley, California. In addition to making her own digital stories, Sydney continues to direct plays around the middle Georgia area as a guest in various theaters and lectures on her favorite films as part of the Reel to Reel Film Series held at the Cox Capitol Theatre.
Dr. Loretta Clayton
- Assistant Professor of English
- email: loretta.clayton@maconstate.edu
Dr. Loretta Clayton has a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. Clayton has taught English as part-time faculty at The New School University in New York City and was awarded attendance to the NEH Summer Seminar at UCLA for Summer 2007. She has taught at Fordham University in the Bronx and at Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Sharon Colley
- Assistant Professor of English
- sharon.colley@maconstate.edu
Dr. Sharon E. Colley earned a B.A. from Mercer University, a M.A. in English from the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. Before joining the faculty at Macon State College, she served as a Lecturer at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. Currently an assistant professor at MSC, she serves as a board member for the Georgia Poetry Circuit. Her research interests include social class and status, Southern, Appalachian, African-American, and American literature. She teaches courses in composition, American literature, World literature, and Southern literature.
Dr. Edward Winslow Corson
- Instructor of English
- edward.corson@maconstate.edu
Ed Corson earned his B.A. at Amherst College (1954), the M.Div. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1963) and the Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia (1975).
After serving as a navigator (captain) in the Air Force for nine years, Corson earned tenure teaching at Mercer University (1968-1977), and then continued to teach part time at Mercer and other Middle Georgia colleges and universities while employed by The Macon Telegraph, mostly as editorial page editor and columnist, until his retirement in 2001.
At that time he returned to full-time teaching as an associate professor at Georgia College and State University for two years, and now at Macon State College.
He currently teaches English 1101, 1102 and 2111. His main academic interests lie in the teaching of writing, Shakespeare and Early Romantic English literature, Biblical studies and the history of the English language. For better or worse, he also continues to write a newspaper column.
Dr. Laura Guglani
- Assistant Professor of Spanish
- laura.guglani@maconstate.edu
Laura Guglani earned an MS in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Nazareth College, and an MA in Spanish Linguistics from the University at Buffalo. She has taught in both K-12 and postsecondary contexts, most recently at the University at Buffalo and Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. Her research interests include minority language maintenance in immigrant communities, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, language contact, and bilingual and multicultural education. Her current investigation considers the role religious institutions play in supporting the conservation of the Spanish language in Latino communities in the US.
Dr. Shereé Keith
- Assistant Professor of Speech and Communication
- sheree.keith@maconstate.edu
Shereé Keith earned her B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies from Texas Tech University and her Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa. Her interests are in public address, journalism, social movements, particularly the suffrage and civil rights movements, and in mediated representations of women. Dr. Keith also serves as a faculty advisor to the college newspaper, the Matrix.
Ms. Rebecca Lanning
- Coordinator of Music
- rebecca.lanning@maconstate.edu
Rapidly gaining notoriety as a soloist, Rebecca Lanning is noted for her rich, distinctive sound. She has performed in recital, opera, and oratorio throughout the U.S. and in France. She was named the 2004-2005 Young Artist of the Year by the Gretchen Benche Endowed Recital Series. In 2002, she was a national semi-finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Auditions, where she received the Irvin Bushman Award. Recent appearances include the Ocala Symphony, Valdosta Symphony, Albany Symphony, Cobb Symphony, Macon Symphony, the Birmingham Museum of Modern Art, and the Emerging Artists Series at Kennesaw State University. Devoted to modern music, she presented the world premiere of McNair’s newly orchestrated Judas Wind with the Macon Symphony Orchestra and the Georgia premier of Einhorn’s The Spires, The City, The Field with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. As a member of Robert Shaw’s Chamber Singers and Festival Singers, she has performed several times at Carnegie Hall.
A versatile musician, Ms. Lanning received degrees in Voice and continued with graduate studies in Music History at Ohio University where she studied with Ira Zook, Margaret Stephenson and Richard Wetzel. She received her operatic training from Metropolitan Opera baritone, Edward Thomas Payne.
Ms. Lanning is the leading scholar of American composer, Kathleen Lockhart Manning. For her research of Ms. Manning, she received the John Houk Research Grant. She received a commission in 2003 to write program notes for Jane Foster’s CD, “To the Mart of Dreams: The Songs of Kathleen Lockhart Manning.”
An active choral conductor, Ms. Lanning has presented choral master classes and clinics throughout Georgia. She was music director/conductor of the Macon Civic Chorale from 1994-2001. She is currently Head of the Music Department and director of the Chamber Singers at Macon State College.
Dr. Karmen Lenz
- Assistant Professor of English
- karmen.lenz@maconstate.edu
Karmen Lenz received her BA from Willamette University, her MA from St. John’s Graduate Institute, and her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. She teaches courses in composition, literature, and medieval manuscripts. Her research interests are Old English poetry, early medieval poetry, and medieval manuscript studies. She won the Tom L. Popejoy dissertation prize for the best dissertation submitted in Languages and Literatures from 2002-2004 at the University of New Mexico. She will teach in the Summer 2007 Study Abroad in London Program through the European Council.
Dr. Gerald Lucas
- Assistant Professor of English
- Deputy Editor, The Mailer Review
- Web Site
- Contact Information
Dr. Gerald Lucas received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of South Florida and joined the faculty of Macon State College in the Fall of 2002. His research and teaching interests include new media, computer-assisted pedagogy, online virtual environments, twentieth-century American and British literature and theory, and the epic genre. Dr. Lucas’ current work focuses on digital expression and online pedagogies in the humanities.
Dr. Lucas serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Norman Mailer Society and as Deputy Editor of The Mailer Review.
Dr. Debra Holmes Matthews
- Chair, Department of Humanities
- Associate Professor of English
- debra.matthews@maconstate.edu
Dr. Debra Holmes Matthews, Associate Professor of English, has a B.S. in English Education from Albany State University; an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Teaching, Secondary, from Howard University, and a Ph.D. in English from Georgia State University. She is a recipient of the 2006 Macon State College Award for Outstanding Teaching and currently serves as the Humanities representative on the Macon State College Teacher Education Council and the Board of Regents Academic Advisory Committee on English. Her research interests are writing apprehension, American Realism and Naturalism, and African American literature.
Dr. Derrilyn Morrison
- Assistant Professor of English
- derrilyn.morrison@maconstate.edu
Derrilyn Morrison was born in Jamaica where she taught High School English before earning her M.Phil. degree at UWI, Mona, in 1996. Three years later, in 1999, she migrated to Atlanta, Georgia and in 2004 she received her Ph.D. degree from Emory University. Currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Humanities at Macon State College, she offers humanities courses that focus on the study of literatures written in English, English related dialects, and creoles, with special attention to African American and Caribbean Literature.
Dr. Clay Morton
- Assistant Professor of English
- Curriculum Vitæ
- clay.morton@maconstate.edu
Clay Morton (Ph.D., University of Georgia, 2005) has teaching and research interests in the history and theory of media, nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, southern cultural studies, folklore, and composition-rhetoric. He has published essays on William Faulkner (Storytelling), William Gilmore Simms (Southern Studies), the Southern Agrarians (Conflict in Southern Writing), and nineteenth-century rhetorical education (South Atlantic Review).
Dr. Benita Muth
- Assistant Professor of English
- email: benita.muth@maconstate.edu
Dr. Benita Muth earned a BA from The University of the South (Sewanee) and an MA and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the faculty of Macon State in 2007, she taught at Wesleyan College, Westminster College, and Tennessee Wesleyan College. Her interests include Renaissance drama (both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean), 17th century lyric poetry, and Southern literature.
Dr. Chip Rogers
- Assistant Professor of English
- email: chip.rogers@maconstate.edu
Chip Rogers received his B.A. from Duke (1985), M.A. from UNC-Charlotte (1992), and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee (2002). Before joining the MSC faculty in 2007, Chip taught at the University of Tennessee, the College of Charleston, The Citadel, and Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. His research and teaching interests include narrative theory and history of the novel, 19th-century British literature, and Russian literature. Chip has published articles on Charles Dickens, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, John Fowles, and Frank O’Connor, among others. He is currently working on essays examining narrative technique in Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych” and Charles Dickens’s Bleak House.
Dr. David Sidore
- Assistant Professor of English
- david.sidore@maconstate.edu
Dr. David Sidore received his M.A. in English and a Ph.D. in Critical and Cultural Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, with Ph.D. certificates in both Film Studies and Cultural Studies. He teaches courses in English, cultural studies, media studies, video analysis and production, and is faculty advisor to the college television station, MSCTV. His interests include technology studies, game theory, and television studies. His current work focuses on examining the post-Cold War period through media representations and governmental policies.
Dr. Shane Trayers
- Assistant Professor of English
- shane.trayers@maconstate.edu
Dr. Shane Trayers earned her B.A. at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, her M.A. from American University in Washington, D.C., and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Her research areas include contemporary Irish literature, gender studies with an emphasis in masculinity, post-colonial studies, film and popular culture.
Dr. Mary McCartin Wearn
- Assistant Professor of English
- Web Site
- mary.wearn@maconstate.edu
Having earned a B.S. from Case Western Reserve University, Mary Wearn began her career working in biomedical and electrical engineering. After receiving a Ph.D. in American literature from UGA in 2003, she served as a post-doctoral fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Wearn began teaching at MSC in 2004, and she currently serves as advisor to the new English Studies Organization (ESO).
Dr. Wearn’s research interests include gender studies, abolitionist writing and slave narratives, maternal theory, and electronic pedagogy. She recently published the book Negotiating Motherhood in Nineteenth-Century American Literature(Routledge, 2008), and she has an article on Harriet Jacobs forthcoming in an international essay collection entitled, The Personal to the Political: Towards a New Theory of Maternal Narrative (Caporale and O’Reilly eds., Susquehanna UP). Wearn’s newest research project concerns religious rebellion in literature by nineteenth-century American women.
Dr. Kelly Whiddon
- Assistant Professor of English
- Web Site
- kelly.whiddon@maconstate.edu
Kelly Whiddon completed her Ph.D. at The Florida State University in 2002 and joined the faculty at Macon State College in 2006. She has published poems in Crab Orchard Review, Meridian, Poetry International, Spoon River Poetry Review, and South Dakota Review, among others. Dr. Whiddon’s interest include creative writing (poetry and fiction), twentieth century American literature, and women’s studies.
Dr. Monica M. Young-Zook
- Assistant Professor of English
- monica.youngzook@maconstate.edu
Dr. Monica M. Young-Zook graduated with distinction from New York University. Her dissertation, Cryptic Fathers: Paternal Loss in Victorian Literature, has been turned into an article for Victorian Literature and Composition entitled “Sons and Lovers: Tennyson’s Fraternal Paternity” and a book since submitted for publication. She now teaches at Macon State College where her interests include Composition, British Literature, Victorian Literature, Gender Studies, Culture Studies, Narratives of Monstrosity, Science Fiction of both the 19th and 20th centuries, Psychoanalytic Criticism and Film.




















