Dr. Thabiti Lewis Assistant Professor of English Ph.D. in English, Saint Louis University, 2001 M.A.T. in English Education, University of Rochester, 1991 B.A. in English, University of Rochester, 1990 B.A. in History with Honors, University of Rochester, 1990 Office: Eaton Hall 201 Phone: (503) 370-6233 or (503) 530-9019 Email: lewist@willamette.edu

TEACHING INTERESTS

Non-Fiction Prose, Twentieth-Century American Literature, African American Literature and Cultural History, Gender Studies, Popular Culture, Race and Sports, and Film.

COURSES

ENGL 116 American Literature Since 1914
ENGL 242W-01 The Essay: Race, Sports, and Contemporary American Culture
20th Century Black Women Writers
The African American Novel 1940-1985
Senior Seminar: The Salt Eaters

DISSERTATION

Spiritual Wholeness in the Fiction of Toni Cade Bambara: Negotiations and Transformations of Feminism, Nationalism, and African American Discourse

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Willamette University, Assistant Professor, English Department:
2001-present: African American Literature; Popular Culture (Race Theory and Sports); American Literature; The Essay; Writing Center Consultant.

Indiana University, Visiting Fellow, English Department:
Summer 2000: American Literature since 1914. Focused on American literature after World War I, the rise of modernism, and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as complex nature of the meaning of "American."

Saint Louis University, Graduate Instructor, English Department:
1997 - 1998: Taught freshman composition. Focused on political and social issues emphasizing reader response/collaborative writing, critical thinking and community writing techniques.

Harris-Stowe State College, Saint Louis, Adjunct Instructor, English Department:
8/94 - 6/96: Taught freshman and advanced compostition by focusing on multicultural issues and experiences (expository and persuasive writing using writing groups and reader respones techniques).

Saint Louis Community College at Florrisant Valley, Adjunct Instructor, English Department:
Fall 1994: Developmental English and Writing I (Developmental course was essentially a grammar course and the writing course that focused on paragraph development to prepare students for composition courses).

Fontbonne College, Saint Louis, MO, Adjunct Instructor, English Department:
Fall 1994 & Spring 1996: "African American Lieterature." (Introduced the writings of early African Americans such as Wheatly, Dunbar, Equiano, Douglass, and Brent, as well as Wright, Petry, Ellison and Morrison within the context of identity, black vernacular, and the social/cultural dynamics each writers' period of production.

GRANTS AND AWARDS

Willamette University Junior Faculty Research Leave, Spring 2004

Willamette University Hewlett Grant, 2002-2003

Indiana University Minority Faculty Fellowship, Summer of 2000

Dissertation Tuition Award, Saint Louis University, 1999-2000

University of Rochester 5th Year in Teaching Scholarship, 1990-91