Curriculum Vita

William P. Banks
103 Jet Drive
Statesboro, GA 30458

Research Objectives

Research interests include African-American literature, gay and lesbian literature, current composition theories, and the National Writing Project.
Education
M.A. English: Georgia Southern University, August 1996
Emphases: Composition/Rhetoric and Minority Literatures
Thesis: "(En)Gendered Performances and the Problematics of Identity Construction in Contemporary Gay Literature"
G.P.A.: 4.0

B.A. English: Georgia Southern University, August 1994
Minor: Philosophy/Religion
G.P.A.: Major and Minor 3.7; Overall 3.5
Teaching Experience

Lecturer, Georgia Southern University, Department of Writing and Linguistics (Fall 1997 to present)

Lecturer, Georgia Southern University, Department of English and Philosophy (Fall 1996 to 1997)

Adjunct Instructor, Southern Center for Continuing Education, Georgia Southern University, Intensive English Program for International Students (Spring 1995 to Spring 1997)

Adjunct Instructor, Ogeechee Technical Institute, General Studies Department (Spring 1996 to Fall 1998)

Graduate Assistant, Georgia Southern University, Department of English (Fall 1994 to June 1996): tutoring experience with a wide range of students, including LD/ADHD and international students; teaching experience in the following classes:

Conference Presentations

"Passing: Presentational Gender Performance in Tony Kushner's Angels in America." Twentieth Century Literature Conference. University of Kentucky, Louisville, KY. February, 1997.

"Beware of Falling Masks: What Happens When 'Even Drag is a Drag.'" Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association in the South. Savannah, GA. October, 1996.

"Camping Colonialism: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."

"Passing as Betrayal: The Case of Charles W. Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars and Nella Larsen's Passing."

"'Lookie! Magic Goop': Camp as Mask in Contemporary Gay Drama."

"From the Stage to the Director's Chair: Inadequate Transcendence in Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood."

"Recognizing the Masks: One Way to Read Gay Literature."

"Songs of Oppression: 'Memorializing Language' and the Oral Tradition in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon." Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association in the South. Charlotte, NC. October, 1994.

In Submission

"The Problematics of Drag and Cross-Dressing in M Butterfly, Angels in America, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Journal o f Popular Culture. Recommended for Publication.

Publications

"the pool" (poetry) The Miscellany. Georgia Southern University. April, 1996. Awarded "Best Poem."

"snowman" (poetry) The Miscellany. April, 1996.

"Examined Life" (poetry) The Miscellany. April, 1996.

"Enoch" (short story) The Miscellany. Georgia Southern University. April, 1996.

"homophobia" (poetry) The Miscellany. Georgia Southern University. April, 1994.

"A Dialogue Between Adon and Lucy" (theatrical vignette) The Miscellany. Georgia Southern University. April, 1994.

Professional Activities

Volunteer periodically at Mattie Lively Elementary School, helping students in language arts areas (i.e., writing and reading)

Grade Regents' Essays each quarter

Serve on the Religious Awareness Month Committee: responsible for helping organize and initiate programs for G.S.U. to support the wide range of religious diversity on campus

Serve on the Black Awareness Month Committee: responsible for helping promote/publicize the activities for the months of January and February

Copy edited Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literature, February, 1996. Published by the Department of English and Philosophy, Georgia Southern University.

Assisted with the British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference, 1995 and 1996.

Created and maintained a file cabinet of grammatical and rhetorical exercises for the Graduate Tutoring Lab, especially for ESL students.

Workshops Instructed

"Grammar Basics": Workshops organized by G.S.U.'s Human Resources and Training for faculty and staff at Georgia Southern University.

"Using the Internet for Research": A preparatory workshop in Georgia Southern's Computer Center, designed to help students use the Internet for more effective research projects, especially those based on argumentation.

Regents' Test Review: a two-day workshop discussing what the Regents' test is and how to pass it, taught to several different classes at Georgia Southern each quarter.

"Using MLA Documentation": a preparatory workshop in Georgia Southern's Learning Resources Center, designed for students writing research papers.

"Integrating Quotations and Paraphrasing": a preparatory workshop in Georgia Southern's Learning Resources Center, designed for students using primary and secondary sources for composition papers and research papers.

Honors and Awards

Winner for best poem, "the pool"; Miscellany's Fall Poetry Contest, 1995

Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society; 1993 to present

Dean's List (8 quarters)

Professional Affiliations

South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Toni Morrison Society
Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association in the South