Provost and Professor of English   

• PhD in English, University of Houston
• M.A. in English, Texas A&M University
• B.A. in Modern Languages (Spanish), Texas A&M University

Personal Statement:
I am currently conducting research for a manuscript relating to grave digging and burial traditions in Louisiana and am collecting data for the Linguistic Survey of North Louisiana. Additionally, I write many grants yearly to produce the Natchitoches/NSU Folk Festival and to support the MA in English. I teach courses in linguistics and folklore. Currently, I serve as the advisor to Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society.

Research and teaching interests:

• Folklore
• Linguistics
• Contemporary American and British literature

Courses:
• Introduction to Linguistics
• Language in Society
• Advanced Grammar
• Folklore
• Southern Folklore
• Language and Gender
• Contemporary American Novel
• Discourse Analysis

Selected publications:

Journals Edited:

Louisiana Folklife.  General Editor of Volumes 19-to the present.

FACES: People, Places, and Cultures, (2004).Consulting editor.

The Fifth Annual Kate Chopin International Conference Proceedings.  Special Issue.  Southern Studies, 30.1 (2001). Guest editor with Suzanne Disheroon-Green, David J. Caudle, and Susie Scifres Kuilan. 

Books:

Voices of the American South. Associate Editor: Lisa Abney.   Ed. Suzanne Disheroon-Green. New York: Longman P, 2005.