Melinda Backer
Faculty, post-doc lecturer
Biography
Melinda is a post-doctoral lecturer with her doctorate from the University of Tennessee in English with a concentration in Contemporary and Postcolonial literature.
Research
20th and 21st Century novels
Contemporary Literature
Postcolonial Literature
Ecological Literature
Education
Ph.D. University of Tennessee, 2019
M.A. University of Cincinnati, 2010
B.F.A. Thomas More College, 2008
B.A. Psychology, Thomas More College, 2008
Publications
“Review: Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements.” ASAP/J, December, 2018.
Professional Service
2018 Evaluation Committee Member, “Experienced GTAs
2018 Hodges Award Committee, “Experienced GTAs”
2018 Nexus Conference Chair
GSE Communications Director 2016
Writing Center Tutor/Online Tutor for UT’s Writing Center 2015-2017
Beale Editorial Assistant for ASAP/Journal 2017
Managing Editor of Online Content for Grist 2017
Graduate Students in English PhD Representative 2017
Sigma Tau Delta, Vice-President 2007-2008
Scholastic Writing Awards Judge, 2007
Awards, Honors & Grants
John C. Hodges Excellence in Teaching Award 2017
Norman J. Sanders Dissertation Fellowship 2017
Dean’s List, Thomas More College, 2005-2008
University Scholarship, University of Cincinnati, 2008-2010
Associations & Organizations
Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present
Modern Language Association
Sigma Tau Delta
Psi Chi
South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Graduate Students of English, UT
Invited Lectures
“Responding to Student Writing,” The Writing Program Workshop Week, University of Tennessee. Co-presenter with Coralyn Nottingham and Kimberly Turner, August, 2017.
“First Day Writing Assignments” The Writing Program Workshop Week, UTK. Co-presenter with Tawnysha Greene August, 2016.
Conference Presentations
“N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy” ASAP 11, University of Maryland. Baltimore, MA. October, 2019.
“Nonhuman Justice: Relational Agency in Linda Hogan’s Power,” SAMLA 90, Birmingham, AL. November, 2018.
“Destabilizing the Animacy Hierarchy in Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon” SAMLA 89, Atlanta, GA. November, 2017.
“Translating Otherness: The Queer Women of Marvel’s X-Men” Translation Theory Today Conference, CUNY Graduate Center. NY. May, 2016.
“The Power of Caribbean Women: Redefining the Role of Women in Nation Construction” Crystal Queer Graduate Conference, Indiana University; Bloomington, IN. March, 2016
“Check This Out: Stories from a Public Library” The Last Word, Cincinnati OH, June, 2010″Check This Out: Stories from a Public Library” The Last Word, Cincinnati OH, June, 2010.
“The Next Time” Word Without End, Cincinnati OH. November, 2009
“Sleeping Beauty” Sigma Tau Delta, Louisville, KY. March, 2008
“The Time It Takes to See Magic.” Sigma Tau Delta, Portland, OR. March, 2006