Christine Flanagan, MFA

Assistant Professor of English
MFA, Emerson College

Phone: 215-596-8899
Email: c.flanag@usp.edu

Christine Flanagan, MFA, is an Assistant Professor of English at USP. In addition to developing travel-based coursework in the Humanities and new courses in creative writing, Professor Flanagan served on the committee to create a degree program In the Humanities (Bachelor’s of Science). Her teaching and scholarship reflects her varied interests and activities: writing fiction, nonfiction, and drama; scholarship on the short stories of Flannery O’Connor; and literature review and scholarship on experiential and service learning.

Teaching Honors
2007 Educational Bright Idea Award for Innovation in Teaching (For Living Legacy Project)

2006 William F. Homiller Award for Teaching Excellence

2006 Outstanding Advisor of the Year (for The Elixir)

2005 Faculty Special Recognition Award (Deans and Department Chairs award for excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service)

2004 Nominee, Lindback Award for teaching Excellence

Honors in writing (fiction, drama, creative nonfiction)
2008 Pushcart Prize nominee, for “Return to Ithaca” (short story)

2005 First Prize, Chameleon Theatre Circle New Play Prize: Unfurnished (short play)

2002 Honorable Mention, New Millenium Writing Awards: “The Woods” (essay)

2001 James D. Bartolomeo Prize in Fiction: “Disappearances” (novel excerpt)

1998 First Prize, South Florida Writer’s Contest: Three Days (full-length play)

1998 Kumu Kahua/University of Hawaii Theater Award: Happy Valley, coauthored with Alani Apio (full-length play)

1996 Kumu Kahua/University of Hawaii Theater Award: Three Days (full-length play)

1996 Finalist, David James Ellis Memorial Award: Three Days (full-length play)

1993 Finalist, Rod Parker Playwriting Award: Just One Thing (full-length play)

Publications (refereed, as well as fiction and non-refereed nonfiction)
Forthcoming: “The Superfund Gothic: Susanne Antonetta’s Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir in New Directions in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism. Cambridge Scholars Press 2008.

Forthcoming: “Return to Ithaca” (short story). Philly Fiction II, 2008.

“From Pharmacy to Photography: Frederic Gutekunst.” USP Bulletin. Spring 2007.

“Return to Ithaca” (short story). Philadelphia Stories Spring 2007.

“Eve Doran” (novel chapter). Burning Leaf. Spring, 2005.

“Disappearances” (novel chapter). The DOJ, November/December , 2001.

“Living Legacy Project” (monograph). Service Learning: A Compendium of Description of USP Courses, Community partners, and Teaching Goals and Methods (edited and compiled by Ruth Schemm).

“The Role of Content: Living Legacy Project in Introduction to Literature.” A Guide to learning centered Teaching with Descriptions of over Three Dozen Learning Centered Techniques, compiled and edited by Phyllis Blumberg, USP Teaching and Learning Center 2006.

“The class is wild, the lesson to savor land.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 2002.

“Writing in the Community: Experiential Learning, Service Learning, and Community Engagement.” USP Document of Innovations. Teaching and Learning Center, 2002.

“25 Essential Historic Destinations”, Historic Traveler magazine. March 1998.

Journalist: Honolulu Weekly newspaper. 1995-1998

Scholarly Activities and Presentations
Upcoming: “Writing the Changing Realities of Earth: Practices and Issues for Teachers of Nature Writing.” CCCC, April 2-5, 2008.

Upcoming: Reading of “Pageant” (novel excerpt), The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900 (Louisville, KY), February 21-23, 2008.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find: Creating Unforgettable Characters” (creative writing workshop), Winter Wheat Writing Conference, Mid American Review/Bowling Green University. November 2006 and November 2007.

Walt Whitman House and Gravesite Lecture and Tour, 2007.

“Southern Progress? Ecocritical Anticipation in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A View of the Woods’.” Popular Culture/American Culture Association Conference (April 2006) and O’Connor and Other Georgia Writers: A Scholarly Conference (March 2006).

“Pageant.” (novel excerpt). Fiction reading, 2006 New Jersey College English Association. Seton Hall University, March 18, 2006.

“The Superfund Gothic: Susanne Antonetta’s Body Toxic.” Paper, Northeast Modern Language Association. Philadelphia, March 2006.

“Making the First Day of Class a Meaningful Experience” with Kevin Wolbach and Andrew Peterson (Presentation). Table Talk, USP Teaching and Learning Center. January 3 & 9, 2006.

“Intellectual Heritage in the U.S. Southwest.” USP Teaching and Learning Center/Travelogue Series, December 5, 2005

“Colette Terata” (novel excerpt). Fiction Reading, Winter Harvest. USP December 1, 2006.

“Recent Reappraisals: Scholarship in Letters, Literature, and Landscape.” USP Scholarly Day. Invited Panelist. Presented research: Landscape and Nature in the work of Flannery O’Connor. April 21, 2005

“Wild Writers: Nature and Nonfiction in New Jersey.” Paper, New Jersey College English Association. Seton Hall University. April, 2005.

Grading Efficiently and Effectively, Table Talk Series, USP Teaching and Learning Center, February 21, 2005.

“Oral History Project.” Teaching Innovations Speaker at New Faculty Orientation. 17 August 2004.

“A Tale of Two Classrooms: Teaching North American Environmental Literature from the Core Curriculum to Creative Writing.” Panelist, Northeast Modern Language Association (Pittsburgh, PA), March, 2004.

“Landscape and Nature in the Work of Flannery O’Connor,” Fort Valley State University (GA), October 13, 2003

Creative Writing Seminar, Fort Valley State University (GA), October 14, 2003

“Grading Essay Exams Efficiently,” Talk About Teaching Day/Teaching and Learning Center, May 7, 2002

Edgar Allan Poe House Lecture and Tour, October 30, 2002

Walt Whitman House and Gravesite Lecture and Tour, February 23, 2002

“Top Ten Tips for Assessing Student Writing” Teaching and Learning Center Table Talk, January 22, 28, 2002

Performances/Productions
Upcoming: Writing Aloud, Interact Theater (Philadelphia). Featured Author (“Return to Ithaca,” scheduled for April 28, 2008)

Feline (one act play), The Actor’s Center/Brick Playhouse (Philadelphia). Play produced December 10, 2005

Unfurnished, Riant Theatre/Baruch Performing Arts Center-Winter Short Play Festival, The Riant Theatre (New York). Play produced February 2005.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Brick Playhouse, Philadelphia (staged reading), February 11, 2003

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, University of the Sciences (workshop reading), February 5, 2002

Chlamydia is not a Flower, Northwest Playwright’s Guild, Portland, OR (production), April, 2000

Happy Valley (co-written with Alani Apio), Kumu Kahua Theater (staged reading), November, 1998

The Heart of Atlanta Motel, Claremont Café, Boston (staged reading), April 1994

Just One Thing, Circle Theater, Emerson College New Playwrights Festival (staged reading), 1993