Elizabeth R. Canfield, Assistant Professor

Email: ercanfield@vcu.edu

Phone: 804-828-8725(o)

 

Women’s Studies Department

Virginia Commonwealth University

Starke House 915 W. Franklin Street, RM 107

Richmond, VA 23284-3060

 

EDUCATION:

M.F.A., Creative Writing/Poetry, Virginia Commonwealth University, May 2001.

Thesis: “The Voice of Judas at 3 a.m.”

B.A., English, Virginia Commonwealth University, December 1997.

 

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS/APPOINTMENTS: EXPERIENCE:

Women's Studies Faculty, Undergraduate Academic Advisor, Fall 2009-present. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

I teach the department's Introductory course as well as upper-level courses on feminist/queer theory, literature, and film. I am also the academic advisor for all of our undergraduate Women's Studies majors and minors.

Focused Inquiry Program Coordinator, Fall 2007-Spring 2009. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

As one of two program coordinators, I have directed curriculum and textbook revision, facilitated and conducted faculty development sessions, and have chaired five committees for the program. I have also served as a WAC consultant for the development of writing courses in other schools across the University. In addition to these duties, I also taught in the program as well as for Women’s Studies.

Assistant to the Writing Program Director, Spring 2005-Spring 2007, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

As assistant to the Writing Program Director, I have created a multimedia library for Writing Program Faculty, analyzed data and written reports, and helped coordinate moving our offices to another location. I am also helping, as I have for the last few years, with Faculty Development and implementing new technology in Composition courses. In addition, I worked with a University-wide committee to revise the freshman courses to include an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on writing and critical thinking skills.

Writing Program Instructor, Fall 2002-present, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

As a full-time Instructor with the English Department, I teach English courses with emphasis on Composition. I have taught Creative Writing/Poetry (ENGL 305). I also teach cross-listed English/Women’s Studies courses, ENGL/WMNS 384 (Women Writers), ENGL/WMNS 352 (Feminist Literary Theory), and ENGL/WMNS 236 (Women in Literature). In addition to my teaching, I have worked closely with the Writing Program Director on the Writing Program, implementing new courses and curricula. I have worked extensively on course proposals, faculty development workshops, and on the Program’s structure and meeting practices.

Adjunct Writing Program Faculty, 2001-2002, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

As Writing Program Faculty, I have taught English 101,114, and 200. I have made a significant contribution to curriculum formation and have done extensive research and planning related to the implementation of the Writing Program. I have facilitated faculty development workshops and have actively participated in the ongoing assessment of the Writing Program.

Assistant to Dr. Janet Winston, Spring 2002, Women’s Studies Program/English Department, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

As Dr. Winston’s assistant, I co-taught Women Writers (English/Women’s Studies 384), Feminist Literary Theory (English/Women’s Studies 352), and Lesbian Literature (English/Women’s Studies 391).

Graduate Teaching Assistant, 1998-2001, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

As a graduate teaching assistant, I worked in the Writing Center and taught English 101 and 200. I assisted Dr. Patricia Perry with the Capital Writing Project and I assisted Dr. Elizabeth Cooper with the revision of The Guide to Composition and Rhetoric (2000-2002).

 

SPECIAL AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND OTHER HONORS:

Nomination: Distinguished Faculty Award, April 2005, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Nomination: Best Student Organization Advisor for the feminist journal, Amendment, April 2005.

Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award, April 2002, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Graduate Poetry Award, April 2001, Virginia Commonwealth University.

School of Graduate Studies Fellowship, September 2000, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Nomination to AWP National Writing Contest, Poetry, April 2000, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Outstanding Writing Center Tutor Award, April 1999, Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

RESEARCH/CREATIVE WORK:

“Decolonial Queer Theory and Radical Futurity as Frameworks for a Pedagogy of Possibility.” NWSA Conference, November 2010.

Performance, Ofrenda to the Disremembered, November 5th, Gallery 5, Richmond, VA. (as part of colectivo caliban)

“colectivo caliban is a sound and movement performance ensemble comprising a creative intersection between modern dance company d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks and three multimedia artists (Salvador Barajas, Liz Canfield, John Priestley) who met through the Media Art & Text interdisciplinary doctoral program at VCU. Their work investigates deterritorialization, crossing borders between bodily self and society, subject and object, noise, and music. "Ofrenda to the Disremembered" is a trans-temporal re-examination of the Mexican tale of la Llorona, whose unthinkable act of desperate infanticide in the face of colonialist oppression made her, variously in different versions, a monster, a cautionary tale anti-heroine, and the protector of border transgressors. This multimedia performance considers la Llorona in a borderland defined by NAFTA, anchor babies, nannygates, and the border fence.”(from colectivo caliban’s release about the project, found at matxer.org).

Performance, dementia, August 1, 2010, Dance Place, Washington, DC.

Salvador Barajas, John Priestley, and I performed sound while danah bellah choreographed the dance piece.

Van Horn, Marcy Carbajal, ed. Teaching with Hacker Handbooks. New York: Bedford St. Martin’s Press, 2010. (Contributing writer).

“First Person Relevant: Using Autoethnography as Discovery in the Feminist Classroom” Lilly South Conference, February 2010.

“Writing in Open Spaces: Reflections on Blogging in the Classroom” podcast (with Bonnie Orzolek and Jeffrey Nugent): http://blog.vcu.edu/cte/2009/04/cte_teaching_and_learning_podc_5.html

“Cyborg Theories, Meatspace Realities: Using Technology to ‘Make Waves’ in a First-Year Writing Seminar” (with Bonnie Orzolek). Conference on Composition and Communication, March 2009, San Francisco, CA.

“Using Creativity in the Classroom to Inspire Dialogue, Critique, and Community around Social Justice Issues” National Communication Association Conference, November 2008, San Diego, CA.

“Opening Pandora's Box: The Classroom Challenges of Inviting [Open] Digital Communication” (with Jeffrey Nugent and Bonnie Orzolek), Computers and Writing Conference, May 2008, Athens, GA.

“Teaching to Transgress: Dialoging with Hooks and Freire in a First-Year Core Seminar” (with Mary Shelden), SEWSA Conference, April 2008, UNC Charlotte, NC.

“Poems” Diode Journal. Spring 2008. http://www.diodepoetry.com/v1n3/content/canfield_l.html

“Monotony” (poem). THINK. Bowe House Press, Spring 2008.

“Focused Inquiry: General Education Reform or Revolution?”(with Zachary Goodell and Daphne Rankin), Lilly South Conference, February 2008, Greensboro, NC.

“Myspace, Wikis, Ipods, and Blogs: Multiple Literacies, Cultural Identities, and Building Communities in the 21st Century Writing Classroom,” NCTE Conference, November 2007, New York, NY.

“Making Groups Work: Applying Grassroots Organizing Strategies to the Composition Classroom,” NCTE Conference, October 2006, Nashville, TN.

“Internationalism, Feminism, and Politics in a Collaborative Writing Course,” Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, January 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii.

“Agency and Responsibility in an Internationalist Writing Course,” National Council of Teachers of English Conference, November 2005, Pittsburg, PA.

“Making Research Matter: An Internationalist Perspective on a Cross-Cultural Classroom,” Conference on Composition, May 2005, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA.

Presenter,"Using Weblogs in Writing Courses," Emerging Technologies Day, April 2005, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

“Searching for a Connection: Student Writers Reach Out,” Innovative Teaching Strategies for Faculty Using Blackboard Conference, April 2005, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

“(Re)capturing the Imaginative Self: Self-Determination, Creativity, Spontaneity, and Building Community in the Classroom,” Conference on Composition, May 2004, Virginia State University, Petersburg, PA. (Peter Elbow, keynote speaker and participant).

 

TEACHING:

Women’s Studies/English 391: “Queer Cinema” (Spring 2011)

This course surveys film, criticism, and literature that attend to queer identities, from the early 20th c. (early “talkies”) to early 21st century (“New Queer Cinema”). The critical “arc” of the course moves from looking at queer inclusion/representation in film to a queer politics of liberation/radical futurity as seen in late 20th-early 21st film.

English/Women’s Studies 387: “Queer Theories/Lesbian Texts” (Summer 2009--present)

This course focuses on queer theoretical approaches to literature, culture, and politics and probes the construction of “lesbian” in literature, film, and new media “texts.”

Women’s Studies 201: “Introduction to Women’s Studies” (Summer 2008-present)

This course serves as the introductory course to the Women’s Studies major. It is an interdisciplinary survey of the field of Women’s Studies through an exploration of a number of topics, including Reproductive Rights, Women’s Health, Public Policy, Gender and Religion, Women in the Arts, etc.

English/Women’s Studies 352: “Feminist Literary Theory” (Fall 2006-present)

This course is an intense study of feminist/womanist/queer literary and social theory, focusing on recent (last 20 years) developments in the fields of Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, and Literary Studies.

UNIV 111-112: Focused Inquiry I and II (Fall 2006-Spring 2008)

This course designed to teach critical thinking, writing, oral communication, information retrieval and analysis, ethical reasoning, and collaboration. I have taught both face-to-face and online with this course.

English/Women’s Studies 236: “Women in Literature”(Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Summer 2008)

This course is an introductory course to literary studies and feminist/queer theoretical approaches to literature. I taught this course as a survey of late 19th-early 21st century literature that featured themes related to gender/sexuality. The theme of this course was “The Social Constructions of Gender and Madness”

English/Women’s Studies 384: “Women Writers”(Summer 2006)

This course is a more in-depth study of gender and body image as it relates to 20th and early 21st century literature written primarily by women and other “feminized” people. The theme of this course was “Gendering the Body.”

Creative Writing/Poetry 305: (Summer 2006) This course is workshop-based, and guides undergraduate students through a detailed study of poetic form(s). Students read and responded to published poems in writing journals, wrote one poem a day, and participated in a daily workshop of their peers’ poems. The final project for this course was a creative portfolio and critical short paper about form.

 

UNIVERSITY SERVICE:

  • Chair, Women’s Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board, Fall 2009-present.
  • Faculty Advisor, Queer Action, Spring 2010-present.
  • Faculty Advisor, Decibel, Spring 2010-present.
  • Member, University College Dean Search Committee, Spring 2009.
  • Member, Women’s Studies Advisory Committee, Fall 2008-present.
  • Chair, FI Textbook Committee, Fall 2007-Spring 2009.
  • Chair, FI Curriculum Committee, Fall 2007-Spring 2009.
  • Chair, FI Expo Committee, Fall 2007-Spring 2009.
  • Chair, FI Technology Committee, Fall 2007-Spring 2009.
  • Faculty Advisor, Amendment Journal, Fall 2003-present.
  • Faculty Senate Member, Fall 2004-present, Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Faculty Senate Corresponding Secretary, Fall 2007-present.
  • Faculty Senate Recording Secretary, Summer 2006-Fall 2007.
  • Member, Faculty Senate AA/EEOC Committee, Fall 2004-present.
  • Member, Faculty Senate Student Affairs Committee, Fall 2004-present.
  • Member, Blackbird Advisory Board, Fall 2005-Spring 2007.
  • Member, English Department Technology Committee, Fall 2005-Spring 2006.
  • Member, English Department Composition Committee, Fall 2004-Spring 2006.
  • Member, Search Committee for Women’s Studies/English Professor, Fall 2006-Spring 2007.
  • Member, Search Committee for Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising, Spring 2006.
  • Member, University Equity and Diversity Committee, Summer 2006-Spring 2009.
  • Member, LGBT Subcommittee of the Equity and Diversity Committee, Summer 2006-present.
  • Faculty Advisor, Campus Anti-War Network, Fall 2005-Spring 2009.

 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE:

  • Peer Reviewer, NWSA Conference, Summer 2010.
  • Peer Reviewer, English Journal, Fall 2007-present.

 

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

  • Board Member, Richmond Peace Education Center
  • Organizer, Richmond Peace Essay Contest
  • Curator, Von Gribley’s Reading Series at Chop Suey Books
  • Main Organizer, Richmond Zine Fest
  • Member, Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project
  • Member and Volunteer, Flying Brick Library
  • Member, Richmond chapter of NOW
  • Member, Food Not Bombs Richmond
  • Member, RVA Monroe Park Initiative

 



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