Chair, English, Foreign Language and Humanities Department, Professor of English 

Northwestern - Alva 
Vinson Hall 210
Phone: (580) 327-8470
kelane@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2009
• M.A., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2002
• B.A., Southeastern Louisiana University, 1999

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 1113: Composition I
• ENGL. 1213: Composition II
• ENGL. 2123: Foundations of English Studies
• ENGL. 2653: British Survey II (1800-forward)
• ENGL. 3303: Popular Literature: Victorian Detective Fiction
• ENGL. 3173: The Romantics and Victorians
• ENGL. 3403: World Literature I
• ENGL. 4103/5103: 19th Century British Novel
• ENGL. 4113/5613: Creative Writing
• ENGL. 4263/5263: 20th & 21st Century British Novel
• ENGL. 4453: English Capstone
• ENGL. 4470: Independent Study (Nonfiction; Playwriting)
• HUM 2423: Introduction to Film
• HUM. 4480: Humanities, Study Abroad
  • 2012: Ireland, Wales, & England
  • 2013: Germany
  • 2014: Rome, Tuscany, Barcelona, & Madrid
  • 2017: New Zealand and Australia
  • 2018: Global Citizenship

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Lost Victorian Authors
• Popular Culture Studies
• Virginia Woolf
• Feminist Theory
• Fiction Writing

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• NWOSU’s John Sheffield Outstanding Teacher Award, 2015

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I love to cook and experience new cuisines. I’m always up for trying a new recipe or restaurant. I love to travel and am normally planning a trip—even for a day—to explore someplace new. Reading is not only my occupation but my passion. I’m one of those people with a TBR (to be read) pile that is constantly growing—which is about the only thing I do grow as I seem to kill all of my attempts at gardening.

FAVORITE QUOTE

• “All the world is a book and those who do not travel, read but one page.” --St. Augustine

Assistant Professor of English

Northwestern - Alva
Vinson Hall 214
Phone: (580) 327-8428
mmlambert@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 2017
• M. A., University of South Alabama, 2009
• ​B. A., University of North Carolina at Asheville, 2004

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 1113: Composition I
• ENGL. 3433/5433: Nineteenth Century American Novel

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• American Literature
• Environmental Literature
• African American Literature
• American Indian Literature
• Crime Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Film
• Cultural Studies

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Panel Chair, “Depression-era Environmental Literature,” Modern Language Association Annual Conference, 2021
• Author, ““Critical Reception of Ellison’s Essays,” Ralph Ellison in Context, Cambridge UP, 2021
• Author, The Green Depression: American Ecoliterature of the 1930s and 40s, UP of Mississippi, 2020
• Author, “The Self-Reflectivity of Silliness: Sullivan’s Travels’ Critique of the Classical Hollywood Film,” Journal of Popular Film and Television, 2016
• Author, “‘That sonofabitch could cut your throat’: Bigger and the Black Rat in Richard Wright’s Native Son,” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 2016

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I am married and have two cats.  When not teaching, I am usually reading, writing, watching movies, listening to music, or playing my guitar.  I also enjoy hiking—whether on the quiet trails of a nature preserve or the crowded sidewalks of a city.

FAVORITE QUOTE

• “…in Wildness is the preservation of the World.” – Henry David Thoreau

Instructor of English

Northwestern - Alva
Vinson Hall 215
Phone: (580) 327-8469
dfallen@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• M.F.A., University of Nebraska, 2008
• B. S., Pittsburg State University, 1980

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 1113: Composition I
• ENGL. 1213: Composition II
• ENGL. 3503: Mythology
• ENGL. 3513: Technical Writing
• ENGL. 3523: Advanced Composition
• ENGL. 4113: Creative Writing

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I can’t cook, but I had the good sense to marry a man who can. I have two sons, two daughters-in-law, four grand-dogs, two grand-cats, and a furry mutt of my own.  My husband and I have horses and recently relocated so we can enjoy them every day. My parents live close and have been among my biggest writing supporters. Unfortunately (for them), they also provided a lot of fodder for my stories.

Instructor of English, Program Coordinator English Education

Northwestern - Alva
Vinson Hall 212
Phone: (580) 327-8472
lmcherry@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• M.A., University of Central Oklahoma, 2014
• B.A., University of Central Oklahoma, 2009  

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 1113: Composition I
• ENGL. 1213: Composition II
• ENGL. 4173/5173: English Usage
• ENGL. 4093: Young Adult Literature
• ENGL. 4333: Teaching English in the Secondary School
• HUM. 2413: Introduction to Literature

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Modernism
• Poststructuralism
• Hyperreality and Simulation
• Feminist Theory
• American Literature post 1900
• American Indian Literature
• Music and Poetry

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Author, “Eliot and Godard,” Reading With Jean-Luc Godard, Caboose, expected publication 2020 
• Author, “Woolf and Godard,” Reading With Jean-Luc Godard, Caboose, expected publication 2020
• Recipient, Innovation in Teaching Award, Redlands Community College, 2019
• Invited Speaker, Association of Career and Technology Education National Conference, 2018
• President, Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Services-Special Populations, 2015 - 2018
• Recipient, Most Outstanding Graduate Student, University of Central Oklahoma, 2013-2014
• Author, “Curiosity,” Edgar Allan Poe in Context, Cambridge UP, 2013
• Recipient, Outstanding Paper Presented by a Graduate Student, College English Association, 2010

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I am a mother of two brilliant daughters and two giant dogs. I love taking road trips with my husband; we often travel to music festivals and try to attend Austin City Limits at least every other year. Teaching and learning are my true passions, and being able to do both for a living is a dream realized.

FAVORITE QUOTE

• “For words, like nature, half reveal / And half conceal the soul within” - Alfred, Lord 

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies,
Professor of English

Northwestern - Alva
Ryerson Hall 212
Phone: (580) 327-8589
spholliday@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Indiana Univeristy of Pennsylvania, 1999
• M.A., Marshall University, 1993
• B.A., Marshall University, 1991

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 2883: American Literature Since Whitman
• ENGL. 3303/5413: Popular Literature: The Western
• ENGL. 3343/5433: 19th Century American Novel
• ENGL. 3463/5463: American Literature: Twain & James
• ENGL. 4163: Literary Criticism
• ENGL. 4203/5203: Contemporary Poetry
• ENGL. 4273/5273: 20th & 21st Century American Novel
• ENGL. 4480/5180: Seminar (20th Century American Playwrights; Jazz and American Literature)
• HUM. 4900: The History of Rock and Roll

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• American Realism and Naturalism
• Modernism
• Appalachian Literature
• Literature of the American West
• Music and Literature
• Literary Criticism

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS               

• Recipient, Oklahoma Humanities Council Opportunity Grant to give a series of talks on the Oklahoma poets laureate at high at schools, museums, and libraries around the state of Oklahoma, 2014. 
• Recipient, Everett T. Helm Fellowship to support research using the Clifford Odets papers at Indiana University’s Lilly Library, 2008.
• Recipient, Zelda and Paul Gitlin Literary Prize for best article published on Thomas Wolfe in 2006, 2007.      
• Recipient, William B. Wisdom Grant in Aid of Research to support research using the Thomas Wolfe papers at Harvard University’s Houghton Library, Thomas Wolfe Society, 2006.
• Recipient, Berger Foundation Grant to Teach Abroad for a semester in London, England, 2005.
• Recipient, Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award, Alice Lloyd College, 2003.
• Fellow, Salzburg Seminar session in Contemporary American Literature, 2003. Faculty Mentor: Shirley Geok-lin Lim.

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I spend most of my time away from work writing conference papers, articles, and books on different aspects of American literature. Besides that, I love to cook, grill, read, travel, and spend time with my wife and daughter. I also enjoy playing the bass guitar. The Beatles are a special passion of mine, too.

FAVORITE QUOTE

• “Each of us is all the sums he has not counted: subtract us into the nakedness and night again, and you shall see begin in Crete four thousand years ago the love that ended yesterday in Texas.” --Thomas Wolfe

Assistant Professor of English

Northwestern - Alva
Vinson Hall 208
Phone: (580) 327-8474
rjjames@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• Ph. D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2014
• M.A., Northwestern State University, 2008
• B.A., Northwestern State Univeristy, 2009
• B.A., Louisiana State University, 2006

COURSES TAUGHT

• ENGL. 1113: Composition I
• ENGL. 1213: Composition II
• ENGL. 3303/5413: Popular Literature: The Dirty, The Scary, and The Scandalous
• ENGL. 3423: Multicultural Literature
• ENGL. 3503: Mythology
• ENGL. 4413: Restoration and 18th Century English Literature 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Romantic and Victorian Literature
• Restoration and Eighteenth Century British Literature
• American Literature to circa 1900
• Children’s Literature
• Dirt Theory and Studies

FAVORITE QUOTE

• "But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men know him not—and to know not is to care not for." --Bram Stoker

Professor of Spanish

Northwestern - Alva
Vinson Hall 202
Phone: (580) 327-8466
rcvest@nwosu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Purdue University, 2018
• M.A., Purdue University, 2012
• B.A., Northern Michigan University, 2010

COURSES TAUGHT

• SPAN. 1114: Spanish I
• SPAN. 1224: Spanish II
• SPAN. 2151: Spanish Pronunciation
• SPAN. 2183: Conversation/Reading I
• SPAN. 2193: Composition/Grammar I
• SPAN. 3103: Introduction to Hispanic Literature
• SPAN. 3113: Peninsular/Spanish American Culture
• SPAN. 3183: Conversation II
• SPAN. 3193: Composition/Grammar II
• SPAN. 4103: Survey of Peninsular Literature
• SPAN. 4183: Conversation III
• SPAN. 4193: Composition/Grammar III
• SPAN. 4223: Survey of Spanish American Literature

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Realism/Naturalism in Latin American Literature
• Literature of the Boom/Post-Boom
• Latin American short story
• Science and Literature

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Helping lead a study abroad in Madrid, Spain
• Helping plan and pull off cultural activities with Spanish Club
• Publishing an article in an academic journal as an undergraduate with a great faculty advisor

WHO AM I AWAY FROM WORK?

• I love to travel every chance I get. My favorite place to travel is Mexico, especially Mexico City and Guanajuato. When I am not traveling, I am normally reading a new book or looking for people to play board games.

FAVORITE QUOTE

• "What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it." - Gabriel García Márquez