Vice president and 2005 Conference Chair Steve Glassman is Professor of Humanities at Emory-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and past president of FCEA (1991-1992). His numerous book publications include On the Trail of the Maya Explorer: Tracing Stephens Epic Journey of Discovery  (2003) and The Near Death Experiment (2001). 

Secretary William G. Wall is Associate Professor of English at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville where he has been Co-chair of the Curriculum Committee for four years. He has published articles on such diverse topics as Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Bhagavad-Gita, and Institutional Child Abuse and founded and administered, until 2001, a public charter school that serves 120 children, grades 1-8, recently cited by the US government for achieving high test scores in a 97% Free/Reduced lunch population.

Treasurer Richard McKee is Coordinator of Writing Studio at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota.  He has written over seventy pieces of satire and creative non-fiction in the past dozen years.  A collection of his essays, The Clan of the Flapdragon, was published in 1997 by the University of Alabama Press.  His current work in progress, Darker Shades of Sunshine, is a gonzo study of modern Florida writing.

Florida:  Maurice O’Sullivan discussed selected Florida writers. Two presentations dealt with 19^th century Florida writers. Jeff Morgan discussed Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s The Story of Avis (1877) as one of the first American novels to demythicize the Fountain of Youth while Keith Huneycutt looked at the existing letters of the Brown sisters which comment on living conditions in early Florida. Andrea Best explored several literary works dealing with the unique South Florida ecosystem and explained how these works provide a communication between literature and politics. Florida’s changing landscape of momento mori was examined by Patricia Gaitely and Susan Jones. Richard McKee analyzed the antihero Serge A. Storms ( Storm Surge Serenade) as one who commits horrific deeds but also acts as protector and preserver of Florida.

Teaching Composition:  Erica Cirillo explained how blogs, synchronous chat rooms, and discussion boards, along with readings, can be integrated into basic writing pedagogy based on the theories of Mina Shaughnessy, Andrea Lunsford, and Patricia Bizzell. Patrick Tierney demonstrated multiple thematic approaches to the teaching of composition as an effective way to teach argumentation while Elizabeth Barnes outlined the Writing Studio Program at Stetson University. John Ribar, David Nixon, and Dan McGavin presented a panel exploring composition approaches and materials which are away from dominant cultural practices, e.g., showing how teachers can empower students to look at the social and cultural contextualization of all writing. Peter Schreffler described and analyzed an experimental effort at Florida Southern College which requires all new 1^st year students to read the same book, write a short paper that provokes discussion of the book, participate in the discussion and finally, write a brief analysis of the discussion.

Literature:  Not surprisingly, many presentations focused on literature and the literary tradition, including a round table on Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby led by Carol Policy, Kalenda Eaton-Donald, and Steve Brahlek. Lillian Schanfield’s "Hamlet and Anthropology: Still Plucking Out the Heart of Its Mystery" examined the overwhelming mix of elements in Hamlet and suggested that the source of difficulty may be an incomplete and unsatisfying fusion of these elements into a "coherent" culture. Courtney Ruffner analyzed Ezra Pound as an intellectual suffering from moral anxiety while Jeff Grieneisen showed how Pound’s Canto XXXI provides the intersection of his major themes. Four papers concentrated on Hemingway. Kirk Curnutt traced American and international perspectives on Hemingway from Modernism through the present. Jaime’ Sanders demonstrated close reading of a text using Hemingway’s "A Day’s Wait." Trista Snook and Stone Shiflet discussed a joint project between 7^th grades and students in 1^st year composition using Hemingway. Other literary presentations included Maureen Goldstein’s comparison of the initial critical reception of Iris Murdoch’s A Fairly Honorable Defeat with more contemporary interpretations of the novel’s complexities; Douglas Ford’s discussion of Florida novelist Owl Goingback’s novel Crota; and Kathleen Anderson’s explanation of Jane Austen’s female characters as a guide to female heroism. Steve Glassman’s slide presentation "The 19^th Century Nonfiction Melville" investigated John Lloyd Stephens, 19^th century nonfiction writer and adventurer.

Several presentations examined literary theory. Cynthia Lyles-Scott "Heeding the Anti-heroines Call" discussed the 21st century heroine as one who fights villains with a dark, gutsy feminist attitude. Larry Byrne analyzed the uneasy relationship between ecocriticism and British Romantic poetry. Marilyn Brannen examined postcolonial theory, in particular, the liminal space occupied by the native intellectual.

Other papers focused technology, as well as other issues in the classroom. Kevin Morgan, Julia Rawa, and Li-Lee Tunceren discussed some of the pedagogical and political issues involved in online learning. William Wall "Addressing Culture-Specific Technophobia in At-Risk First Year Students" explored resistance to using computer aids, especially by minority students and explained ways to address this resistance. Shelia Levi-Aland demonstrated the importance of reading Shakespeare aloud in the classroom. Deborah Teague addressed the issue of bringing topics such as gay and lesbian issues, racial prejudice, and attraction between teacher and student into the open in teacher training. Regina Dilgen suggested that we use Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy as a paradigm to consider the evolution of student behavior throughout the semester and also as a prompt for student writing and for a discussion of the role of the humanities in our lives. William Wall’s "Toward a Culture of Trust" focused on the relationships between faculty across disciplines and between faculty and administration, reviewed highlights of current research, and explained what SFCC is trying to do to address the issue of trust. Shelly Hedstrom, Lourdes Lopez-Merino, and Mike Sfiropoulos discussed key concepts in the fields of English as a Second Language and English for Academic Purposes followed by a historical overview of the events leading up to the 2001 implementation of EAP programs in Florida’s community college system. The group offered recommendations for those implementing EAP coursework or programs at their institutions.

Other conference events included a performance of Murder in the Cathedral staged by the Theatre Department at Palm Beach Community College.  

Susan Mitchell was guest speaker at the closing luncheon.  Mitchell, who teaches at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, has won numerous awards for her poetry.

2005 Conference in Daytona Beach

Steve Glassman is already working hard on finding a venue for next year's conference.  A big ticket, i.e., headliner-type speaker for the luncheon has also been approached.  A poetry slam is also planned.  Updates will be posted on the FCEA web.