About
I have taught English and philosophy at the college level for over 30 years. An author and editor of several books, essays, and articles, my research interests lie at the intersection of literature and philosophy, with specialties in author and philosopher Walker Percy, contemporary American literature, southern literature, existentialism, semiotic, and ethics.
I presently serve as Assistant Professor of English at South Carolina State University teaching literature and writing, and I have also taught in the areas of philosophy and education.

Dissertation
Walker Percy and the Magic of Naming: The Semeiotic Fabric of Life
http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/76/
Committee: Dr. Thomas McHaney, Dr. Kenneth Laine Ketner, Dr. Pearl McHaney
Walker Percy thought a paradigm for the modern age, human beings, and life does not exist, and no paradigm vying for supremacy (religion, scientism, new age physics and philosophies) succeeds. He sought to create a “radical anthropology” to describe human beings and life. His anthropology has existential roots and culminates in the philosophy and semeiotic of American pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce. Unlike any other creature, humans have symbolic capacity, first manifested in a child’s naming and demonstrated in human being’s unique language ability, the ability to communicate through symbol and not just sign. Percy conveyed his anthropology in his last three novels through a number symbolism corresponding to the theme of each novel based on Peirce’s Cenopythagoreanism, viewing the world through the paradigm of number. In Lancelot, Percy uses the symbol of the inverted three to illustrate Lancelot’s inverted search for evil. In The Second Coming, he uses diamonds and squares and fours to illustrate community and authentic communication in the novel. In The Thanatos Syndrome, he uses twos and sixes to represent the search for dyadic solutions to triadic problems. Percy sees a synechistic and synchronistic interconnected “fabric of life” to the universe, enabled by human symbolic capacity, or Peirce’s concept of relations.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57709/2102168
URL: http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/76/
Awards &
Recognitions
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2021-2022 EAC Department Professor of the Year, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
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2022 Flash Fiction Award, Speculative Fiction Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp, August 2022
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2020 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
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2020 Scholarly Publications Award, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
Teaching
Philosophy
“Here in St. Cloud's, I have come to understand that promises are rarely kept, that the battle isn't so much against evil as ignorance, and that being successful can't hold a candle to being ‘of use.’” ~ Dr. Wilbur Larch, in Cider House Rules by John Irving.​
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Like Dr. Larch, I believe our highest calling is to be "of use." Being "of use" varies from individual to individual, but for me, that includes all that is involved in being a college professor, writer, and editor. Read more here:
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Certifications
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South Carolina 7-12 Teaching Certificate
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eFellowes Online Teaching Certificate
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Online Course Development Lab
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Blackboard Components