About Me
I am the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a Professor of English at Dalhousie University. My teaching interests include Canadian and American literature in English, Indigenous literatures of Turtle Island, literary theory, and cultural studies. My research ranges from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries and is primarily informed by shifting nation-state relations between Canada and the United States. I’m most interested in how cross-border relationships have shaped literary and cultural studies in both Canada and the US. I have served in the past as President of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (2018-2020) and Chair of the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick (2013-2016).
Current Position
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a Professor of English at Dalhousie University.
Current Project
My third book, titled Canada Through American Eyes: Literature and Canadian Exceptionalism, is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan.
Education
I completed an Honours B.A. in English at McGill University (1989-1993), followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in the Department of English at the University of Toronto (1993-1998). I spent one year as a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona before taking up a tenure-track position at UNB.
Awards & Scholarships
I have received SSHRC grant awards for all three of my major research grant projects, a UNB Merit Award for university service, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Arizona.
My administrative experience includes a three-year term as Department Chair, service on multiple boards, including the Federation for Social Sciences and Humanities, and a two-year term as President of ACCUTE (the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English). Learn More.
Citizenship & Languages
Canadian citizen. Fluent in English. Intermediate level knowledge of French (have served on numerous bilingual SSHRC committees and was acting editor/co-editor of the bilingual academic journal SCL for ten years—2001-2002 and 2003 to 2012).
Vetting
Vetter for PMLA, Essays on Canadian Writing, The Canadian Review of American Studies, Mosaic, International Journal of Canadian Studies, American Indian Quarterly, Journal of Canadian Studies, Post-Colonial Text, Canadian Literature, McGill-Queen’s UP, University of Toronto Press, Wilfrid Laurier UP, the ASPP, and ACCUTE.
External QA Reviews
Department of English, Memorial University, 2011.
Department of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2015.
Department of English, Dalhousie University, 2018.
Department of English, Lakehead University, 2019.