Academic background:

Ph.D. in English literature, University of South Florida, 1988

Professor of English at Polk Community College since 1982

Publications:

Articles in Shaw: The Annual of Shaw Studies, Teaching English in the Two-Year College, The Anglo-Welsh Review, Pilgrimage, and The Journal of Correctional Education

Books include Pygmalion in Prose: The Postmodern Shaw (University Press of Florida), Sentence Power (Holt, Rinehart & Winston), and three books with Prentice Hall: Police Talk (co-author: Major Mary Mariani of the WHPD), Succeeding in College, and Introduction to College Writing

It might surprise you to know that I

-am a certified court-mediator trainer

-collect miniatures

-compete in ballroom and Latin dancing

-taught in Florida’s prison system

-studied the Welsh language in North Wales

-spent a night in Lizzie Borden’s bedroom

-saw the Beatles in Shea Stadium in 1964

-hosted a radio show one afternoon with an announcer who was later featured on America's Most Wanted

-once talked to actor Sidney Poitier on the telephone