Meet Our Faculty at USC Upstate

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Meet Our Faculty

Our faculty are committed to innovative teaching, significant scholarship, and the creation and maintenance of a collegial community.  If you have any questions, please stop by to see us in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center (HPAC), Room 222, or call us at 864-503-5688.

Full-Time Faculty in English, World Languages, and African American Studies

Full-Time Faculty in English, World Languages, and African American Studies

Dr. Celena E. Kusch, Chair

Associate Professor of American Literature
Teaching and Research Areas: Modernism, Postmodernism, Postcolonial Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, Literary Theory

Dr. Araceli Hernandez-Laroche, Assistant Chair of World Languages

Associate Professor of Modern Languages
Teaching and Research Areas: French Language and Literature, Existentialism, Immigration, Francophone Africa, the Global South

Brock Adams

Senior Instructor of English, Director of the Writing Center
Teaching and Research Areas: Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Meggan Burton

Senior Instructor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish, Spanish for Business, Language Acquisition through Video

Dr. Catherine Canino

Professor of English, Director of the Honors Program
Teaching and Research Areas: Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, Shakespeare and Film

Dr. Warren Carson

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English, Interim Director of African American Studies
Teaching and Research Areas: African American Literature, Harlem Renaissance, Black Masculinity

Dr. June Carter

Professor of Spanish, Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and Director of the Reflections Workshop for Language Instructors
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language and Literature, Latin American Literature and Culture, Spanish and Social Justice, K-16 Language Learning

Dr. Peter Caster

Professor of English, Director of the First-Year Writing Program
Teaching and Research Areas: Film Studies, Disney, Masculinity Studies, Prison Studies, Cultural Studies

Dr. David Coberly

Assistant Professor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language and Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning Assessment

Gabrielle Drake

Senior Instructor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language and Spanish for Specific Purposes, Spanish for Criminal Justice

Maria Francisco Monteso

Instructor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language, Translation and Interpreting, Spanish in the Community and the Professions, Study Abroad to Spain

Dr. Esther Godfrey

Associate Professor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: Victorian Literature, Women's and Gender Studies, Women's Literature

Douglas Jackson

Senior Instructor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language, Spanish for Specific Purposes, Spanish for Nursing and Health Professions, Peace Corps Prep Program, Study Abroad in Central America

Dr. Beth Keefauver

Instructor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: Composition, Creative, and Professional Writing, Women's and Gender Studies, Environmental Literature

Dr. Marilyn Knight

Associate Professor of English, Faculty Advisor for Writers Inc.
Teaching and Research Areas: Creative Writing, Short Fiction, Gothic and Horror Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Southern Literature, Women's and Gender Studies

Dr. Guimei Li

Visiting Confucius Scholar, Associate Professor of Chinese
Teaching and Research Areas: Chinese language, linguistics, second language acquisition

Dr. Alexander Lorenz

Assistant Professor of German
Teaching and Research Areas: German Language and Literature, German for the Professions, German Language Acquisition, German and STEM, Translation Studies

Dr. David Marlow

Professor of English, Director of the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement
Teaching and Research Areas: Linguistics, English for Speakers of Other Languages, Dialect Diversity, Service Learning, Study Abroad in Nicaragua

Dr. Thomas McConnell

Professor of English, Internship Coordinator
Teaching and Research Areas: Creative Writing, Novel, Long Story, Autobiography and Memoir, Contemporary Literature

Dr. Richard Murphy

Associate Professor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: Irish Literature, Postcolonial Literature

Dr. Colleen O'Brien

Professor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: American Literature, African American Literature and African American Studies, Women's and Gender Studies

Dr. Shannon Polchow

Associate Professor of Spanish
Teaching and Research Areas: Spanish Language and Literature, Golden Age Spain, Study Abroad in Spain and Costa Rica

Wayne Robbins

Senior Instructor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: Composition, Creative, and Professional Writing, Song Writing

Dr. Monika Shehi

Associate Professor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: Rhetoric and Composition, Discourse Analysis, Intercultural Studies in Composition

Tasha Thomas

Senior Instructor of English, Director of the Spartanburg Writing Project
Teaching and Research Areas: Composition and Creative Writing, English Education, Young Adult Literature, Teaching with Technology, Digital Storytelling

Dr. George H. Williams

Associate Professor of English
Teaching and Research Areas: 18th Century British Literature and Culture, History of the Book, Digital Technologies, Digital Humanities, Disability Studies

Part-Time Faculty in English, Film and World Languages