Barbara Mesle's Vita<!wide>

Professor of English
Graceland University, Lamoni, IA

Professional Address:
Graceland University
Department of Humanities
1 University Place
Lamoni, Iowa 50140
641-784-5153
mesle@graceland.edu

Home Address:
Evening Star Lane
10003 290th Street
Lamoni, IA 50140
641-784-3722

EDUCATION

• University of Kansas, Ph.D. with honors, 1992
  4.0 in all course work, honors on dissertation
  Department of English
• University of Chicago, MA, 1975
  "A" on M.A. exams, Department of English
• Graceland University, BA, 1972, summa cum laude
  Majored in English and secondary education
  Minored in German

HONORS

• Excellence in Teaching Award. Spring, 2000 Graceland University
• Nominated, March 1999. Graceland's Annual Excellence in Teaching Award
• National Endowment for the Humanities, UCLA, Summer, 19944. Gender and Romanticism
• Nominated by the University of Kansas for a special dissertation award. One of six dissertations university-wide out of 87 candidates to be nominated, May, 1993
• Sears-Roebuck Award for Teaching and Leadership Excellence, May, 1991

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Professor of English, Spring 2000 to present.
• Spring, 2003. Visiting scholar, Claremont University, Claremont, CA.
  Co-taught a graduate class.
• 1986 - present Graceland College, Lamoni, IA. Division of Humanities, Full-time faculty,
  Special administration assignments in strategic planning (1991), and as acting department coordinator, 1990-1, 1998
• 1979 - 1986 Graceland College Department of English, Part-time faculty.
  Taught 39 semester hours total from '79'86
• 1982 - 1986 Graceland College, Director Educational Talent Search
  Wrote succesful annual grants
• 1972 - 1979 Rich Township High School. Richton Park, IL.
  Department of English and Assistant Speech Coach

PUBLICATIONS

• Forthcoming Chapter, Trauma, Re-Memory, and Cultural Identity: Storytelling in Toni Morrison's Beloved, in as yet unnamed new book.
  Editor, John Taylor
• January, 2005, GALA newsletter, Find Hope in the Child.sermon with Bob Mesle.
• Tangled, Muddy, Painful, and Perplexed: Pragmatism, Feminism, and Life, American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, January, 2003, with Bob Mesle.
• Mars Hill Review, Spring, 1999
  Beloved: a fine, fine film--so why was it predicted that "in six months Beloved will be in the 99 cent box at Blockbuster"?
• Theology: Justice or Just Us? Volume 4,
  Response to the Testimony of Seven Neighbors: Towards a Theology of Human Sexuality,
  Printed by Graceland/Park Press, 1996.
• All of my Midlands Conference Papers (see presentations) have been printed in The Conference Proceedings
• Feeding the Spirit with Books, Saints' Herald, April, 1995. Saints' Herald article on Walker, Hurston, Angelou and Morrison.
• Perfection: An Inperfect Objective. Saints' Herald, 1989.
• William Dean, Process Thought and Deconstruction, abstract, Process Studies, Summer, 1988.
• Ambivalence in Byron's Beppo and 'The Lament of Tasso', Palimpsests, University of Kansas Publication, 1985.

TEACHING INNOVATIONS AND SERVICE

• Editorial Advisory Board for Business Communication, Krizan, Merrier, and Jones, 6th edition, Summer 2004, (stipend). Name appears in textbook.
• Team member of Honors scholarship evaluation committee, November, 2003 and 2004. Worked with Graceland Admissions Office.
• Co-taught Honors Seminar, Fall 2002, as an overload.
• Reviewer for text, Business Communication, Krizan, Merrier, and Jones, 5th edition, April 2002 (stipend).
• Taught Senior Seminar as an overload, Spring 2004.
• Most recent Graceland committees, CSW, Alumni Board, and multiple search committees.
• Preaching on Graceland campus, fall 2003, spring, 2004, in Independence, MO, December 2005.
• Created courses on these topics--
  • Literature by Women
  • Business and
  • Professional Writing
  • Gender and
  • Communication
  • The British Renaissance,
  • 19th Century Novels by British Women
  • Junior Seminar in Literary Criticism
  • World Literature
  • Toni Morrison
• Routinely teach nine courses a year, with usually seven separate preparations plus winter term, independent student and often summer school &/or outreach.
  • Average 75= students per semester plus students in Humanitites I (team taught course) in fall semester.
  • Revised two learning guides for the outreach program, Rhetoric and Literature by Women, Routinely co-teach Humanities Honors as an overload.

PRESENTATIONS

• August 2003 in Budapest, Hungary, “Trauma, Re-Memory, and Cultural Identity: Storytelling in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
• April 8, 2003, Claremont University Consortium and Process Center Seminar, Toni Morrison, Evil and Meaning.
• October, 2001, American Women Writers of Colors, presented a paper on Toni Morrison’s novel Jazz.
• February, 2000, presented a paper at the University of Texas San Antonio, Conference of the Representation of Food in the Arts.
• March, 1999: “Manlio Argueta’s One Day Of Life,” Creighton University, Midlands Conference, Omaha, Nebraska. A Graceland Senior from El Salvador, Tania Gonzalez, translated another novel by Argueta which is not available in English. I used Tania’s work in my presentation.
• “Cuzcatlan:” March, 1998, Creighton University Midlands Conference, Omaha, Nebraska.
• “Alterity in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye,” March, 1997. Creighton University, Midlands Conference, Omaha, Nebraska.
• “Images of the Body in Nawal El Saadawi’s Memoirs of a Woman Doctor and The Circling Song,”
• April 18-19, 1996, Creighton University Midlands Conference, Omaha, Nebraska.
• “The Meaning of Life?” Last Lectures Series, Graceland College, LEAD program, March 7, 1996.
• “Ordinary Woman, Extraordinary Lives, “ week long class at Sports Spectacular, August, 1995.
• “The Representation of Incest in Mary Shelley’s Mathilda and Percy Shelley’s The Cenci,” March 31, 1995. Creighton University, Midlands Conference, Omaha, Nebraska.
• “Committed Relativism: Post-Modern Ethics and Storytelling,” The Ends of Post-Modernism conference presented with Bob Mesle, September 15-16, 1994.
• “Deborah Tannen: Female and Male Communication Styles,” RLDS Singles Retreat, September 10, 1994
• "Walker, Hurston, Morrison, and Angelou: Four African-American Women Writers," RLDS High Priests' Conference, October 22, 1993, Independence, MO
• "Teaching: What Really, Truly Works," Panel RLDS High Priests' Conference, October 23, 1993
• "Gender and Communication: Deborah Tannen," RLDS Women's Conference, June 19, 1993
• "The Crisis of Modernity: Nineteenth Century Prophetic Voices, Mary Shelley and FRANKENSTEIN," June 19, 1992, Kansas Board of Humanities, Lawrence, KS
• Visiting Scholar, Iowa Humanities Board Presentations, March, 1992 Clarinda, Iowa, and October-December 1991, Albia, Iowa
• The Power of Ideology: the Ideology of Power--a Feminist Reading of Byron's Eastern Tales," Iowa Council of Teacher's of English, October 25, 1991
• "Interdisciplinary Humanities Courses," Region, November 2, 1990, with three colleagues
• "'Oral-Style' Writers: The Oral/Literate Continuum," Iowa Council of Teachers of English, October, 1989

CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS attended

• Theology and Ministry Forum, Independence, MO, Feb 2005.
• Peace Colloquy, Independence, MO, Nov 2004.
• Process Studies and Metanexus Institute’s Local Societies Initiative, Claremont, CA, October 2004.
• APA, Pasadena, CA, March 2004. Sessions on Martha Nussbaum.
• HIART Conference, Budapest, Hungary, summer 2003.
• World Congress of Philosophy, Istanbul, summer 2003.
• Schleiermacher and Whitehead conference, Claremont, CA, winter 2003.
• Paper Accepted: June, 2002, HIARPT conference Feminism and Pragmatism, with Bob Mesle. This presentation was a plenary session.
• 22nd International Byron Conference, Boston, MA, August, 2001.
• American Philosophical Society, Midwest Meeting, October, 2000. Martha Nussbaum, Keynote speaker.
• HIARPT conference in Highlands, North Carolina, June, 2000.
• Bad Boll, Germany, July, 1998, Chaired a Session on Mark Twain’s idea of Eve, HIART conference.
• Assessment Conference, Minneapolis, MN, February, 1996.
• “The Faces and Voices of Diversity,” Maya Angelou, September 30, 1994, The University of Iowa.
• "Integrating Women's Studies Across the Curriculum," KCRCHE Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 16, 1994.
• 19th International Byron Conference, July 16-19, 1993, Nottingham, England.
• Penn Sate Seminar in Feminist Criticism, June 24, 29, 1991, State College, PA.
• "Vision 2000," June 16-22, 1991, Strategic Planning for RLDS Church, Estes Park, Colorado.
• Strategic Planning Seminar, Association of Governing Boards, February 21-22, 1991, Washington, D.C.
• January, 1991, ELTA University, Budapest, Hungary, sponsored three week winter term.
• Modern Language Association, Chicago, IL, December 17-19, 1990.
• "Integrating Cross-Cultural Perspectives Into the Literature Classroom," June, 1990, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,
• "Teaching Writing and Higher Order Reasoning," University of Chicago's Institute on Issues in Teaching, June 18-21, 1989.
• Modern Language Association, New Orleans, Decembe,r 1988.

MEMBERSHIPS

• The International Byron Society
• The Modern Language Association
• The National Council of Teachers of English
• Iowa Council of Teachers of English
• The Kansas City Human Rights Project
• The Good Samaritan Project
• Southern Poverty Law Association

REFERENCES

• Dr. Bernard A. Hirsch, Dissertation
  Director, English Department
  The University of Kansas
  Lawrence, KS
• Dr. Steve Anders, Dean of Faculty
  Graceland University
  Lamoni, IA 50140
• Dr. Jerome DeNuccio, Division Chair
  Department of Humanities
  Graceland University
  Lamoni, IA 50140
• Dr. James Woelfel, Chair
  Department of Western Civilization and Department of Religion and Philosophy
  The University of Kansas
  Lawrence, KS
• Dr. G. Thomas Mann
  President, Davis and Elkins College
  Elkins, WV