Education
- PHD, Literature, Ball State University (2012)
- MA, Creative Writing (Fiction), Ball State University (2007)
- MA, Literature, Ball State University (1998)
- BA, English, Anderson University (1995)
Career Highlights
Publications or presentations aside, the accomplishments I’m most proud of are the relationships I’ve built with my students. I now have friends all over the world because of the work we’ve done together here.
Biography
Advice to Incoming Freshmen
Give yourself a chance to acclimate to living here, to studying at this level, to learning in ways you’ve never learned before. Worry less about what job you’ll get eventually and concern yourself instead with what you can learn right now. Try to figure out how you learn and how to find and develop your voice; try to determine why you think the way you do. Use this time in college to discover who God made you to be. What comes after college will, with God’s provision, take care of itself.
Why I Enjoy Teaching at Taylor
We have here what is for me a perfect combination of opportunities: to study at a high level of academic expectation, to proclaim a relationship with Christ, and to get to know our students well as individuals and to invest in their lives. I need all three components to be the professor and the human being I’m wired to be. I love the challenge of our classes here, the freedom we have to discuss spiritual concerns, and the degree to which my life is enriched by the relationships I build with my students. This is a great place to teach and learn.
Hobbies
Hanging out with my wife, Sua, and kids, Scottie and Alvia. I also enjoy reading, cooking, carpentry, golf, and watching the Reds play baseball. A little known fact about me is that I shave my head as a penance for the mullet I had in high school. This may or may not be true.