Feiyan
Zhao, Instructor of Chinese:
I am the exchange
professor from Xi’dian University in China. I received my Bachelor’s and
Master’s Degrees from Xi'an International Studies University (Xi'an, China)
with a focus on applied linguistics. I have been teaching at Xi’dian
University for 13 years. I have even received the teaching prize. My daughter
and I will be here for the academic year. I like teaching, and I love my
students. I feel really energetic to be with them.
Dr. Daniel Gilden, Instructor of
Spanish:
I completed my PhD in Spanish
Literature at the University of California, Irvine and have taught literature
and coordinated Spanish language programs at Pitzer College and USC, and more
recently at the University of Denver. I specialize in Latin American
narrative as well as second-language pedagogy. I also have interests in
interdisciplinary teaching, and in 2010 the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in
Teaching Program allowed me to study the intersection between higher education
and organic farmers in northern Argentina and produce a documentary about local
farmers and educators in Bella Vista (Corrientes). I also have extensive
experience teaching Spanish to native speakers at the high school level.
Dr. Rocío
Rubio Moirón, Assistant Professor of Spanish:
I am
from Galicia (Spain). I earned degrees in Latin and Greek as well as in
Hispanic Studies from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. My PhD in
Spanish is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and my MA is from the
University of Colorado-Boulder. My research focuses on Medieval Iberian
Literature. More specifically, my work analyzes the connections between humor
and the human body in thirteenth century poetry, including productions in
Galician-Portuguese, Catalonian and Castilian. I most recently taught at the
University of Denver. I also taught Spanish Literature and Language in Bulgaria
for Spain’s Ministerio de Educación.
Florion Pichon,
Fulbright Instructor of French:
I am from Saint
Etienne. I recently completed my Master's degree in English speaking studies with
my master's thesis entitled "James M. Cain's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice: A
Neo-naturalistic Diagnosis." I am fascinated by the American literature,
cinematography and civilization. I also enjoy travelling and treading the
boards as often as possible. This experience as a teacher in the Midwest is a
very interesting opportunity before starting my PhD and to approach the
American way of life from a one-of-a-kind perspective.
Jennifer Jackson, Instructor
of English:
I am originally from
Frankfort, IL. I earned a BA in English and a BA in Political Science at
Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois in 2009 and my MA in Writing and
Rhetoric from Missouri State University in 2011. Since then, I have taught in
colleges in Arkansas and Mississippi before finally landing right back in
Missouri with my husband David and son Henry. I enjoy presenting at regional
and national conferences on issues of rhetorical pedagogy, gender, feminism,
and pop culture. Most recently, I presented at the College English Association
conference in New Orleans this past spring on a multimodal DIY magazine (aka “zines”)
project that I assign in my classroom; I will be presenting on the exploration
and rejection of toxic masculinity in the horror film Mandy at the Southwest American Culture/Pop Culture Conference this
February. Finally, I am constantly reading something (and enthusiastically give
and take recommendations), love Bruce Springsteen, and am excited to be back in
the Midwest after a long absence.
Tomas Garcia Rico, Fulbright Instructor of Spanish:
I hold a BA in English education from the Benemérita y
Centenaria Escuela Normal del estado de San Luis Potosí. I have worked as
an English teacher for a public high school and at the Universidad Autonoma de
San Luis Potosi for the past 7 years. In 2016, I traveled to the USA as a
member of a teaching assistant program in Arizona State University. I love
technology and like to find ways of implementing various technological tools in
the classroom to foster motivation amongst students.
Kelly Lock McMillen, Instructor of
English:
Seriously, I’ve been recycled.
In 1996, when I finally graduated
from MWSU, people joked that I deserved tenure. I had 164 credit hours under my
belt; I was a non-traditional student, graduating college 10 years (gasp) after
high school graduation. Let’s just say, I’ve taken Robert Frost to heart.
My friends would tell you I had a penchant for masochism rather than following
those less traveled roads.
I
loved taking classes from Dr. McCay. There was nothing better than
listening to her read Chaucer as it originally would have sounded and nothing
more terrifying than hearing her voice call me, at home, my last semester of
college, because my best friend couldn’t complete an assignment, and I pinky
swore that I’d stand in solidarity with her against the evils of yet another
outrageous McCay assignment. Don’t tell my friend, but hearing Dr. McCay on the
other end of the phone convinced me solidarity was overrated.
I also believed that the diaries of
women could be viewed as literature (I know, that’s blasphemy as the men in
History Department called it), so I took every class about women’s diaries, and
I traveled to England to sit in a graveyard so I could commune with Vera
Brittain and her WWI diaries.
As a student worker in the
department, I anointed Dr. Karen Fulton my queen and Dr. John Gilgun my spirit
animal. My office door is laced, yes, laced with the drug of Fulton and Gilgun.
I saved every postcard they ever sent me in hopes that I would someday have an
office in Eder (aka SSC) 222M.
Who makes their goal a non-tenure
track instructor position? I do. I did. My college advisor cringes every time I
post something on Facebook about getting my “dream job.” I can hear him take
his hands and run them over the top of his head (he is nearly bald because of
this repetitive motion) and say, “Kelly, dream bigger.”
I did dream bigger. I’ve spent the
last 24 years teaching every English class in 7-12 education, plus ENG 100,
104, 108, 210 (another blasphemous thing). And graduate courses for teachers.
I’ve encouraged and forced and coerced students to read and write, and because
of that I’ve been voted most influential or best teacher of the year multiple
times. When I worked full time on campus, I was the College101 coordinator--aka
University 101. Sorry if you’all hate that one, but my vision landed in a poppy
field outside of Oz. I’ve devoted my life to public education, and now, I
have my dream job: I can actually teach, like real life teach. On top of that,
I can wear jeans without donating money to receive a “Jeans Ticket.” I can go
to the bathroom at will, and I have an office with a door that will shut, but I
haven’t shut it yet because the postcards my queen and spirit animal gave me
are taped there. I want to see them every day as a reminder of Gilgun handing
me a Monet’s Haystack postcard because I had a poem that was accepted to Alaska
Quarterly and that edition’s cover was haystacks. I want to remember my
queen sending me Pre-Raphaelites every few days as she was on sabbatical in
London because she understood that to a young mother like me, attending college
years after she should have been, MWSU was like my Goblin Market.
I’m
recycled (except for the wrinkles and extra pounds that are brand spanking
new), but I’m as good as new.
