Introductions

ASIAN AND NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES

RACHEL LIU, assistant professor of Chinese, comes to us with eight years of experience teaching Chinese. She received her BA and PhD from Sun Yat-sen University in China, with emphases on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Linguistics, and Applied Linguistics. She is not new to BYU, having taught as a visiting professor in the Chinese Flagship Center from 2010-2013, prior to which she also served as an instructor in the “Princeton in Beijing” intensive language program. She and her husband Ryan have a son, Mason. In her spare time she likes to take pictures and cook.

STEVE MOODY, assistant professor of Japanese language, received BAs in economics and Japanese from Brigham Young University in 2006, an MA in economics from The Ohio State University in 2009 and an MA in Japanese from the University of Hawaii in 2012. He will finish his PhD in Japanese, also at the University of Hawaii, in December this year. Prior to embarking on his doctoral studies in language he worked as a financial analyst, but eventually found a stronger interest in sociolinguistics. His current research centers around a sociolinguistic analysis of American workers in Japan. Steve is a native of American Fork, Utah, and comes to Provo with his wife, Melissa, a Utah State graduate and Utah native, and their daughter Katelynn. They are expecting another daughter at the end of the year.

XINYI WU, visiting instructor of Chinese, Dr. Wu was born and raised in Nanjing, China. She received her PhD in Comparative and International Development Education from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Her research interests include cultural foundations of education, educational policy and practice, critical discourse analysis, curriculum development, and language assessment. She is particularly interested in the issues of ethnicity, ethnic identity, educational inequality, cultural reproduction and production in education, and academic engagement and performance. Prior to joining the BYU Flagship team, she has taught Chinese in the Confucius Institute at Minnesota, Defense Language Institute at Monterey, and in our department. She also worked as a language proficiency test assessor as well as a Chinese intensive course developer and immersion specialist. She is happy to return to BYU and prepare Flagship students to be culturally and linguistically competent before their pursuit of China-related careers in the future. She enjoys reading, traveling, hiking, biking, and cooking.

JEN POLLEI is replacing Cally Andrus as the office supervisor in A&NEL. No stranger to the college, Jen has served as the secretary of the International Cinema Program, and, at BYU, as the administrative assistant for General Education, an exhibit researcher on the Education in Zion project, curatorial assistant for the Museum of Art, and as a reference librarian in the Harold B. Lee Library. Jen has most recently been serving as the administrative assistant for the Department of Philosophy & Humanities at UVU. She has two boys, Henry and Edward, and likes to be in Zion National Park, put together puzzles, play Mario Kart, rock hound, and watch movies.

ENGLISH

NEW HIRES

JONATHAN M. BALZOTTI, assistant professor of English, received his PhD from Iowa State University with a dissertation on the study of Roman spectacle during the reign of the emperor Diocletian. His scholarly work explores some of the visual and material aspects of Hellenistic Rome, and one of his principle interests lies in the force of oversized objects to inspire admiration in the spectator. His current research project is a book about the rhetoric of speaking loudly in contemporary dialects, concentrating on interrelations among visual practice, ritual, and politics.

The other main focus of his work is on the impact of new and emerging technologies in computer-aided design and the construction of web-based learning environments, particularly simulation pedagogy and various learning management systems. His research in this area centers on interface design such as augmented reality (AR), simulated pedagogy, and the potential value of play and application of game design to create new forms of writing instruction and learning. In short, Jon strives to create “immersive” learning environments for students to engage with realistic issues. He also enjoys adventures in the outdoors, painting, and engaging in mindful dialogue with anyone who will listen.

MARY EYRING graduated from BYU as an English major in 2006. She received her MA (2010) and PhD (2012) in literature from the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on the texts that documented, promoted, or constituted benevolent work in transatlantic seaports—urban centers that hosted the commercial activity, along with its negative externalities of poverty and disability, that sustained charitable industry during the zenith of American shipping during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Mary has a particular interest in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cultural productions of American women, disability theory (including Deaf studies), and transatlantic print culture. She has lived in New York City since 2009, with the exception of a year that she passed pleasantly and occasionally profitably in London. She and her husband, Jacob, are delighted now to return to their academic home.

JARICA WATTS holds a PhD from the University of Utah and specializes in twentieth-century British literature, the modern British short story, and literature of the First World War. Jarica also works on early and mid-twentieth century middle- to low-brow writing and enjoys teaching neglected authors from this time period. She has published work on James Joyce, Zadie Smith, Joseph Conrad, and Chinua Achebe; she is also the editor of the book collection Here Lies Lalo, which brings into the prominence the works of Chicano poet Abelardo “Lalo” Delgado (Arte Público, 2011). Fashion (Italian shoes), fitness (half-marathoner), photography (Canon 5D), and her two children (Saylor, 6; Bauer, 1) are the things that engage her with life.

NEWLY RETURNING

JOHN TANNER is returning to the English Department after a mission to Brazil and many years as academic vice president. He is very much looking forward to teaching and research again in early modern British literature and in religious and philosophical approaches to literature. He also is looking forward to hiking and biking and being with grandchildren.

VISITING FACULTY

TARA BOYCE is a visiting faculty member with a MA in Rhetoric and Composition and a BA in English Literature. Her research explores how narrative works shape identity through Kenneth Burke’s concept of form and how this understanding impacts teachers of English. She is the proud mother of the loudest one-year-old in the world, Lydia, and the wife of a man who weirdly resembles Walter White, Ryan. In addition to loving her career and spending time with family and friends, she enjoys writing poetry and essays, hosting book clubs, studying church history, debating, playing piano, interior designing, acrylic painting, hiking, biking, volleyballing, basketballing, and let’s be honest: watching Netflix or some other form of non-interrupted television without children and with a variety of foods (depending on the mood and time of the day).

REBECCA (BECCA) HAY, a graduate of Brigham Young University, earned her MA in American literature, with her research focusing on nostalgia theory in contemporary American poetry. Her interests include fairy tale, American poetry, folklore, trauma and nostalgia theory, and Western literature. As a native to Texas, Becca’s mild Dr. Pepper addiction fuels her as she teaches fitness classes (particularly the spicy, Latinbased Zumba), shops, swims, and lays out in the sun either pool or beachside.

DAVE FIFE completed a MA in American Literature at BYU prior to setting out to seek his fortune and prove to his grandmother that he could be successful with a degree in English. Having won that particular wager, he began to pine for the thrill of the classroom and, like a prodigal son, returned to BYU in 2014 (though, out of respect for his environmental sympathies, no fatted calf met its doom). He enjoys researching and teaching about the ways language and literature drive and create human relationships, especially those characterized by an unequal power dynamic, and his current research focuses on the changing moves and methods of the American sermon in its attempt to mediate the relationship between human and deity. Dave enjoys thinking about organic gardening, iron man triathlons, and cheese. He then often eats cheese.

FRENCH AND ITALIAN

SARA PHENIX, a visiting assistant professor, is a native of Richmond, Virginia. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University, where she majored in English and French and minored in women’s studies. After earning a master’s degree in French at BYU, she completed her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. Her dissertation is entitled “Designing Women: Fashion, Fiction, and Femininity in Second Empire France” and focuses on the intersection of canonical nineteenthcentury novels and the presse féminine. Her research interests include travel literature, spy novels, and the Empress Eugénie.

GERMAN AND RUSSIAN

TALITA WIENER-OSMAN has accepted a one-year appointment as a visiting faculty member in German. Talita graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in German literature and anthropology. She received her master’s degree in German literature from the University of Utah. Talita has experience teaching German grammar courses as well as phonetics, advanced literature, and culture classes. She has also worked as a translator for Novations, Inc. and for the LDS Church, among other organizations. Talita will be teaching third-year German grammar courses at BYU.

LINGUISTICS AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE

JESSE EGBERT has accepted a one-year appointment as a visiting faculty member in Linguistics and English Language. He graduated with a BA in Linguistics from BYU, later pursuing his graduate studies at Northern Arizona University, where he earned an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language and a PhD in Applied Linguistics. Most of his research falls into one of two categories: corpus linguistic analysis of register variation and quantitative methods in applied linguistics. He will be teaching courses on corpus linguistics, linguistic and statistical tools, and programming for text processing and analysis. He enjoys spending time with his wife and his four children. His hobbies include rock climbing, backpacking, reading, and dog training.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER

DEBORAH DE HOYOS is an instructor, vocabulary coordinator, and member of the Executive Council for the English Language Center. She received her MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Brigham Young University in 2013. Her thesis focused on designing a survey that contextualized reading strategies for low-proficient ESL readers. When not teaching, she enjoys cooking, traveling, quilting, and reading.

BROOKE EDDINGTON was born and raised in Northern California. Throughout her childhood, her father’s work brought her to travel to and/or live for short times in 47 countries on six continents. Traveling abroad comprised the majority of her formative years and is the source of her fondest family memories. As a result of these travels, she grew to deeply love cultures and peoples, and from a young age developed an intense fascination with the numerous unique languages that exist in the world. This led Brooke to pursue a BA in Linguistics and then an MA in TESOL, both from BYU. She truly loves working with ESL learners. It is one of her greatest passions and one of the most rewarding things she’s been privileged to do in her life. Brooke’s research interests include second language writing and grammar, specifically error correction and written corrective feedback

HEIDI HEALY grew up in Sandy, Utah. She received her BA from Utah State University in Elementary and Early Childhood Education with an emphasis in Spanish and ESL. She received her MA in TESOL from Brigham Young University in 2012. She has taught English to international students at the English Language Center at BYU and Utah Valley University. She also was a volunteer English tutor at Guadalupe School in Salt Lake. Heidi enjoys spending time with her family camping and hiking. She likes to watch Pixar and Bollywood movies and Korean dramas. She loves to read. She also loves to quilt.

PHILOSOPHY

JUSTIN WHITE grew up in Provo, Utah, with brief stints in Lamoni, Iowa and Bryan, Texas. He graduated from BYU with a double major in philosophy and English with University Honors. He received an MA in philosophy from University of California, Riverside in 2012. While at UC Riverside, he has twice received the department award for teaching excellence. During the 2014-2015 academic year, he will be working on his dissertation with support from a research fellowship from the Templeton Foundation. His areas of specialty are 19th and 20th century European philosophy and contemporary philosophy of agency (at the intersection of ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind). In the last two years, he has presented work at Oxford University, University of Sussex, Claremont Graduate University, University of New Mexico, University of Calgary, and Brigham Young University. He is married to Anna Snyder White and they have three children.

DEREK HADERLIE graduated from BYU Idaho with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy. He spent two years teaching English at BYU-Idaho before continuing his education at Virginia Polytechnic and State University where he received an MA in Philosophy in May, 2014. His research interests include metaphysics of normative realism, moral epistemology and methodology, metaethics more broadly, normative ethics, and philosophy of literature. Haderlie has won multiple awards for his teaching of undergraduates. He will join the philosophy adjunct faculty starting fall 2014.

SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE

BRIAN PRICE, (PhD University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. Before coming to BYU, he worked for seven years at Wake Forest University. His areas of scholarly interest include 20th and 21st-century Mexican literary, film, and cultural studies; Latin America’s historical novel; Hispanic appropriations of Anglo-American high modernism; urban youth subcultures; countercultural movements; and rock and roll. He is the author of Cult of Defeat in Mexico’s Historical Fiction: Failure, Trauma, and Loss (Palgrave, 2012) and has published articles and book chapters on Mexican literature in Comparative Literature, Latin American Literary Review, Explicación de Textos Literarios, AlterTexto, Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea, Materias dispuestas: Juan Villoro ante la crítica (Ed. José Ramón Ruisánchez & Oswaldo Zavala, Cadaya, 2011), and Cristina Rivera Garza: Ningún crítico cuenta esto… (Ed. Oswaldo Estrada, Eón, 2010). He is also the coeditor of TransLatin Joyce: Reading James Joyce Globally in Ibero-American Literature (Palgrave, 2014) as well as the editor of Asaltos a la historia: Reimaginando la ficción histórica hispanoamericana (Eón, 2014). Brian is currently working on a new book project, ¡Viva Rockotitlán!: Rock ‘N’ Roll and Mexican Literature and Film, 1960-2010, on the trajectory of literary representations of rock music in recent Mexican fiction and cinema.

MAC WILSON, assistant professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Mac did his doctoral work at Rutgers University where he specialized in ecopoetry from Spanish America. He has published an ecocritical study of globalization, urbanization, and the anti-pastoral mode. His scholarly interests include ecocriticism, visual culture, poetry, and Southern Cone culture and literature. Originally from Eden, Utah, Mac graduated from BYU with a BA in Latin American Studies with a double major in Horticulture. He also graduated with an MA in Spanish from BYU. Formally a professional arborist, Mac worked as an arborist at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and still enjoys looking and occasionally climbing up trees. Currently, Mac lives with his wife, Priscilla, and their four children in Provo.