Margaret E. Mitchell
605 Rome St.
Carrollton, Georgia 30117
mmitchel@westga.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Margaret E. Mitchell
November 5, 2009
Education
PhD, English, University of Connecticut, 2004.
MA, English, University of Connecticut, 1995.
BA in English, Cornell University, 1992.
Publications
Scholarly articles
“Beautiful Creatures”: The Ethics of Female Beauty in Du Maurier’s Fiction. Special
Issue of Women: A Cultural Review, guest edited by Rebecca Munford and Helen Taylor. 2009.
“‘Children of the Street’: Reconfiguring Gender in Gissing’s London.” Gissing and
the City: Cultural Crisis and the Making of Books in Late-Victorian
England. Palgrave Macmillan. John Spiers, ed. 2005.
Forthcoming:
“Reforming Beauty in Brontë’s Shirley.” Gender and Reform: A book collection of
selected essays from the 2006 Victorians Institute Conference, Cambridge
Scholars Press, ed. Anita Rose. 2009.
“Jennifer Egan.” Encyclopedia of Contemporary Fiction. 2008-09.
Fiction
“Parties.” Southern Indiana Review, Winter, 2008.
“Closing the Barn Door.” Saranac Review, Summer 2007.
"The Widow Boddington." American Literary Review, Spring 2007.
"Shadows." Green Mountains Review. XIX.1, 2006.
“Ice Fishing.” Blueline. Spring 2004.
Before West Georgia:
“Preface: ‘The Mirror is Doubtless Defective.’” Special Issue: Nineteenth-Century
British Literary Realism. Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory. Guest
Editor. 14.3 (2003): 179-84.
“Fay Weldon.” British Writers: Supplement IV. New York: Scribners, 1997. 521-
40.
Conference Papers
(since appointment to UWG)
“Transformative Bodies: Modeling Pain, Speaking Beauty in Egan and Gaitskill.”
Louisville Conference on Language and Literature Since 1900. Louisville,
KY. February 2009. (Also chair and organizer.)
“Representing Beauty: The Ethics of Opposition in Victorian Fashion Plates.
NAVSA/VSAWC. University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. October,
2007.
“’Beautiful Creatures’: The Ethics of Female Beauty in du Maurier’s Fiction.”
Daphne du Maurier International Centenary Conference. Fowey, Cornwall,
UK. May 2007.
"Reforming Beauty in Brontë’s Shirley." Victorians Institute: Gender and Reform.
Converse College, Spartanburg, SC. October, 2006.
“'To defy her very self': Narrating Beauty in Dombey and Son." Narrative: An
International Conference. Ottawa, Canada. April, 2006.
“Policing The Whirlpool: Gissing, Gender, and Narrative.” Narrative: An
International Conference. Louisville, Kentucky. April, 2005.
Panel Chaired
"The Beautiful and the Good: Exploring the Beauty Controversy in Contemporary
Fiction." SAMLA. Atlanta, Georgia. November, 2009.
Editorship
Coeditor of LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory. A Routledge journal published by Taylor and Francis. With Regina Barreca of the University of Connecticut.
Work in Progress
Reforming Beauty, a book project examining representations of feminine beauty in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century novel, investigating the relationship between beauty, ethics, feminine subjectivity, and narrative. By working by ideas out in a series of articles and conference papers (see above), I am refining my approach to the book, assembling material, and devising an effective structure.
Winter People, a collection of linked short stories. Under consideration.
Honors
LRC Faculty Research Grant—funded research at the British Library for a project
entitled “Subversive Beauty and the Divided Self in Victorian Fashion Plates.” (Summer 2006)
Finalist, Ohio State University Short Fiction Award (2004)
Finalist, Spokane Prize. Eastern Washington University's book-length short story
competition (2004)
Teaching
University of West Georgia, 2004-
ENGL 1102 Composition
ENGL 2120H Honors British Literature Survey (Fall 2004, Spring 2006)
ENGL 2120 British Literature Survey (Fall 2005)
ENGL 2190 Survey of Literature by Women (Fall 2004)
ENGL 2300 Practical Criticism: Research and Methodology (Fall 2004, Fall 2006)
ENGL 3200 Introduction to Creative Writing (Fall 2006, Spring 2008)
ENGL 3200 Intermediate Creative Writing, Fiction.
ENGL 4106 Genre: Fiction (Spring 2005, Fall 2005)
ENGL 4108 Studies in the British Novel.
ENGL 4109 Film as Literature: The 19th-Century Novel on Film (Summer 2005, Spring 2007)
ENGL 4188 Major Author: Virginia Woolf (Summer 2007)
ENGL 4130 Eighteenth-Century British Literature (Fall 2005, Spring 2008)
ENGL 4145 Victorian Literature (Fall 2006, Spring 2005)
ENGL 4381: Victorian Literature on Film (2 separate independent studies, Spring 2006)
ENGL 4381: Creative Writing: Fiction and Creative Nonfiction (Fall 2006)
ENGL 6105: ‘Frightful Indecencies’ and the Rewards of Virtue--Or, Gender and Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Novel (Spring 2008)
ENGL 6115 Repression and Reform in the Victorian Social-Problem Novel: Graduate Seminar (Spring 2006)
University of Connecticut, 1993-2002
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century British Literature (Fall 2002)
Literature and Composition. (Fall 2001)
Modern British Literature (Fall 1998)
Literature and Composition (8 sections, 1994-1998).
Composition. (6 sections, 1993-1997)
Other teaching-related activities
SRAP
I was awarded a grant to employ an undergraduate English major to work on Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, the journal I edit. Essentially an informal course in editing and publishing (Fall 2006-Spring 2007).
GA
During six semesters I have worked with graduate students as research assistants.
Service to Institution
COAS
Dean Search Committee (Fall 2008-Spring 2009)
University of West Georgia
University Senate (Spring 2006)
Graduate Research Award Committee (Spring 2006)
University of West Georgia Department of English
Department Advisory Committee (Spring 2009-present)
Curriculum Committee (Fall 2008-present)
Chair, 18th Century British Literature Search Committee (Fall 2007-Spring 2008)
Chair, Events Committee (Fall 2007-Spring 2008)
Creative Writing Committee Spring 2006-present.
18th Century British Literature Search Committee (Fall 2006-Spring 2007)
Graduate Program Committee (Fall 2006-Spring 2007)
Chair, Graduate Program Committee (Fall 20005-Spring 2006)
Creative Nonfiction Search Committee (Fall 2004-Spring 2005)
Program Review Subcommittee (Fall 2004-Spring 2005).
Counseling Experience
Faculty Mentor to new assistant professor Patrick Erben.
Faculty Mentor to graduate students Jessica Wise, Shelley Decker.
Advisement of Student Organizations
Co-Adviser, Sigma Tau Delta (Fall 2005-present)
Graduate Thesis and Oral Exam Committees
current
Candace March (Exam Committee)
Ben Brown (member of thesis and exam committees)
Deb Brons (member of thesis committee)
complete
Jessica Wise (thesis director)
April Oglesbee (member of thesis and exam committees)
Andrew St. John (member of exam committee)
Margaret Sullivan (member of thesis committee)
Diana Sullivan (thesis and exam committees)
Marni Federer (member of oral exam committee)
Other Contributions to Academic Community
Spelling competition moderator, GISA Literary Meet, Oak Mountain Academy.
2009, 2008, 2007.
Neva Lomason Library: Presentation on Myra Goldberg’s novel Bee Season for
Jewish Literature/Film club.
Faculty Works in Progress Talk: Presented and discussed with faculty colleagues an
early version of my Victorians Institute Conference presentation.
Sigma Tau Delta Benefit Reading for the Carroll County Soup Kitchen. Co-organizer
(four times); twice a featured reader.
Graduate School Information Session. Participated in Panel sponsored by Sigma Tau
Delta (Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Spring 2008).
Observed and consulted with first-year writing instructor Crystal Shelnutt.
Arms and Letters Conference sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages.
Fiction Panel (Fall 2005)
Atlanta Gallery Project: Presenter and member of organizing committee for “An
Evening of Creative Writing,” sponsored by the Department of English (Fall
2005)
Invited Speaker: "Pushing Sisyphus's Boulder: Experiences of a First Year Assistant
Professor." University of Connecticut. English Graduate Student Alliance's
Professional Development Lecture Series (March 2005)
Shadow Day: A local middle school student attended my classes and solicited ideas
and advice about a career as a teacher and writer.
Served on committee formed by the Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures to evaluate the future of JAISA: Journal for the
Interdisciplinary Study of the Arts (Spring 2005)
Spoke on guest panel In Dr. Rob Snyder’s publishing class (Nov. 2004)
Professional organizations
Modern Language Association
North American Victorian Studies Association
Victorians Institute
Associated Writing Programs
Society for the Study of Narrative Literature