Nixon, Jessie
Teaching Assistant, 786-4355

Jessie Nixon is from Illinois, where she completed her BA in English from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She is currently a teaching assistant in the English department and recently taught ENLG 111. Her current interests include literature in exploration of culture, travel, and identity. After graduating in Spring 2009, Jessie plans to pursue international teaching opportunities.

Schowen, Ryan
Teaching Assistant, 786-4355

Ryan A. Schowen is a teaching assistant and candidate for the Master of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He earned his B.A. in Communication and Media Studies from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. His research interests include the mind/body problem in contemporary continental philosophy and the relationship to discursive practices, cultural studies, critical discourse analysis, and the epistemology of discourse. He is currently at work on an article-length manuscript about social and post-process composition pedagogies and the epistemology of the academy’s dominant reporting structure—the thesis-driven essay.

Sery, Theo
Teaching Assistant, 786-4355

Theo W. Sery is a graduate student from Antigo, Wisconsin who completed his BA in literature from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. He is currently a first-year Teaching Assistant and is teaching one section of English 111. His main research interest is with the relationships between environment, art and identity, and is looking into writing his Masters Thesis on Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. After his intended graduation date of Spring 2009, Theo intends on pursuing a PhD. in literature, yet he is unsure at this time as to where.

Skrobecki, Jodi

Strayhorn, David

Swears, William
Adjunct, PSB 208G, 786-4366

Bill Swears flew military helicopters for twenty-two years, served as an education/training officer in both the Army and Coast Guard. He has taught classes ranging from flight regulations, to online database operations, to Stephen R. Covey's "Seven Habits for Highly Effective People." He is developing his MA in English Literature thesis which focuses on different approaches to mythic tropes in literary and genre fiction, and marketing two novel-length manuscripts.

Veth, Erika
Teaching Assistant, SMH 118A, 786-4355

Erika Susan Veth is from Middletown, New Jersey. She completed her BA in English Literature and Psychology from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. She is a teaching assistant in the English department and is currently teaching two sections of English 111 with an ecocompositional theme. She is the president of the Alpha Epsilon Nu chapter of Sigma Tau Delta and a tutor in the writing center. She is primarily interested in environmental literature and ecocriticism. Erika is graduating in Spring 2008 with a literature focus.

Winkler, Cierra
Teaching Assistant, PSB 207C, 786-4353

Cierra Winkler is currently finishing her MA in English with an emphasis in Literature while teaching English 111: Methods of Written Communication at UAA. She is also studying early American Gothic conventions for her thesis work. Cierra received her BA in English Literature from North Georgia College and State University and plans to return home to Georgia to continue teaching and eventually pursue a Ph.D in Victorian Studies.