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Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, Ph.D.
Office: 713-313-1180 FAX: 713-313-6772
[email protected]
Updated/September 9/26/2012
EDUCATION
Ph. D., with Honors, English (British and American Dramatic Literature and
Playwriting), Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
M.A., with Honors, English, (British and American Literature and Playwriting,
University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana (renamed University
of Louisiana at Lafayette)
B. A., with Honors, English (Major) and Psychology (Minor), University of
Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana (renamed University of Louisiana
at Lafayette)
STUDY ABROAD
Mexico, Summer 2011
West Africa, Accra, Ghana, Summer 2009
The Caribbean (Barbados), Summer 2007
Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Summer 2006
Brazil, Fall 2005
Canada, Summer 2004
England, Scotland, and Wales, Summer 2002
China, Summer 2001
France, Summer 2000
The Caribbean (Bahamas), Summer 1991
Mexico, Summer 1983
TEACHING FIELDS
African American and African Diaspora Literatures, with expertise in Dramatic
Literature, Playwriting, American Dramatic Literature, Women’s Literature,
Multicultural/Multiethnic Literatures, American Literature since 1865, Southern
Literature, Film Studies, and Postcolonial Literature.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas
Distinguished Professor of Theatre, 2009-Present
Thomas F. Freeman Honors College Fellow, 2010-Present
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University of Houston
Professor, Department of English, 1998-2009
Honors College Faculty Affiliate, 1990-2009
Women’s Studies Faculty Affiliate, 1990-2009
African American Studies Faculty Affiliate, 1990-2009
Associate Professor of English (with tenure), 1988-1998
Dillard University, New Orleans
Assistant Professor of English, 1982-1988
University of South Carolina at Spartanburg
Assistant Professor of English, 1980-1982
Florida State University
Graduate Teaching Assistant in English, six courses per year, 1977-1979:
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Graduate Teaching Assistant in English, four courses per year, 1976-1977
ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS
Associate Provost/Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs
Texas Southern University, 2009-Present
Created two new councils, Associate/Assistant Deans’ Council and Department Chairs’
Council—Chair the councils and provide mid-management with access to the Office of
the Provost.
Established “Back to Basics”, a unique two-week intensive summer institute designed to
bring Houston metropolitan area high school teachers and their students to campus to
study literature and technology as well as prepare students for excelling on the
ACT/SAT. This unique TSU/School Partnership is designed to recruit and retain students
and includes a mentoring and tracking component. Secured a grant of $20,000 in 2010,
$25,000 in 2011, and $25,000 in 2012 from Chevron Corporation to fund the institute.
Directed seven successful dean searches: Thurgood Marshall School of Law (20091010), College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences (2009-2010), College of
Continuing Education (2009-2010), Thomas F. Freeman Honors College (2010), Jesse H.
Jones School of Business (2010-2011), College of Education (2011-2012), and the
Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs (2011-2012). College of
Pharmacy and Health Sciences dean search in progress (2011-2012); Academic Search,
Inc. is continuing the search during 2012-2013).
Served as Commencement Chair; redesigned commencement protocol to increase
efficiency of the fall and spring ceremonies.
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Assumed a leadership role in revitalizing the University Curriculum Committee, which
was renamed University Curriculum Council (UCC). Oversaw the revision of the UCC
Handbook.
Chaired the University Faculty Awards Committee--Developed criteria and processes for
several new and/or re-envisioned university awards, including the Presidential
Achievement Medal, Provost’s Department of the Year Award, McCleary Teaching
Excellence Award, Scholarly Research/Creative Activities Award, Distinguished Service
Award, and Faculty Award for Mentoring Undergraduate Research/Creative Activities.
Designed and implemented an external review process for all academic departments and
established a regular rotation of departments to undergo review of undergraduate
programs.
Designed and implemented a process for submitting (arranging) promotion and tenure
dossiers. Worked in concert with the provost to review all dossiers and recommend
decisions to the president.
Assumed a leadership role on several committees and university projects: Retention
Strategies Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Professorships Review Committee,
Founders Day Committee, Founders Day Committee, Ad Hoc Committee on Student
Evaluation of Faculty and Faculty Performance Evaluation Instruments.
Served as the TSU president-appointed liaison to work with the City of Houston on the
Deluxe Theater Project (a $3+ million dollar project benefiting 5th Ward, TSU and the
City of Houston).
Researched and designed a sabbatical leave process tailored to TSU.
Defined and established the Office of the Associate Provost as a hub for research of
academic best practices and policies. Over 70 research projects have been completed to
date and have been used to inform decisions made by upper administration.
Developed a proposal and secured Title III funding for the establishment of a University
Teaching and Learning Excellence Center (TLEC), which began operating in January
2012.
Oversaw the overhauling of the Texas Southern University course inventory at the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board, which positioned TSU to receive better state
funding.
Initiated a recognition ceremony for newly promoted and/or tenured faculty.
Redesigned and implemented New Faculty Orientation program that includes faculty who
are in their first three years of employment.
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Organized Fall and Spring Opening Faculty Meetings, including implementing the
concept of faculty-driven panels and roundtables on topics of interest to faculty.
Established the Taskforce on Course Scheduling, Course Rotations, and Space Utilization
(the first course scheduling policy to be approved at TSU).
Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS)
2000–2001
Chaired CLASS Undergraduate Studies, a committee that designed the degree
requirements document for the newly merged College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
(CLASS). Implemented and hired staff for a college-wide undergraduate advising center,
which grew into the Dean’s Office of Academic Affairs. Conceived and implemented the
revision of the CLASS course evaluation process. Developed faculty and student
grievance procedures for the newly merged college. Developed Faculty Affairs
procedures for new hires and assisted with tenure procedures for CLASS. Conceived,
designed and implemented the first CLASS Undergraduate Research/Creative
Colloquium. Developed a college-wide exit interview to track alumni. Served as chair of
the search committee for Director of African American Studies. Served as chair of the
CLASS scholarship committee. Served as chair of the CLASS Teaching and Service
Excellence Awards committee.
Director, African American Studies, 1990-1991
Co-authored a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant, ($500,000.
funded to create endowed chairs with joint appointments in African American Studies
and English and African American Studies and History); hosted a lecture series
(friend/fundraising) that brought twenty-five business and professional leaders to the
campus over the course of the year.
Founding Director, The Houston Suitcase Theater at the University of Houston,
1992-2009
Administered and organized a series of programs (lectures by distinguished professors,
performances, creative writing contests, etc.) designed to enhance multiculturalism in the
arts at the University of Houston, including directing performances of Erzulie, an
Africana dance troupe at UH. Receiving support from the Office of the President, Office
of the Provost, deans, department chairs, and academic program directors, the director
was charged with working with academic and non-academic units across the campus to
sponsor interdisciplinary programs.
SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY
AWARDS/HONORS
-2007: Houston’s Ensemble Theater’s “Heart of the Theater Award” for The Break of
Day (presented February 2007)
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-2005, 1998, 1994: Assigned Sabbatical Leaves for Scholarly and Creative Activity,
Department of English
-2005: A Little Diversion, (a one-act play), performed as the keynote presentation at the
annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, Houston, TX, Oct.
27, 2005.
-2005: The Break of Day (a full-length play), produced professionally by Chicago’s ETA
Creative Arts Foundation, May 5 through June 19, 2005. Directed by Edward
Richardson.
-2004: Distinguished Scholar/Artist-in-Residence, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire,
May 3-9, 2004.
-2004: The Break of Day, selected for a series of staged readings as part of the 12th
Annual R. Joyce Whitley ArenaFest, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio,
April 19-30, 2004. Directed by Eva Withers-Evans.
-2003: When the Ancestors Call (a full-length play), professionally produced by
Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts Foundation, May 1 through June 15, 2003. Directed by
Chuck Smith.
-2001-2002: Winner of a grant from the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources
Foundation, Smackover, Arkansas, for Chautauqua 2002 (one of five selected nationwide
for a Chautauqua scholar/artist residency).
-2001: La Bakair (a full-length play) performed as a Keynote Presentation at the annual
meeting of the College Language Association, New Orleans, April 19, 2001.
-1998-1999: Winner of a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa for
Chautauqua 1999 (one of five selected nationwide for a Chautauqua scholar/artist
residency).
-1997: Winner of the Eden Theatrical Playwriting Award in Denver for Wango, Oh Me,
Papa. Awarded a production of the play at Denver’s Shwayder Theater.
-1997: Winner of Danny Glover’s Robey Theater Playwriting Award for Wango, Oh Me,
Papa! Awarded a production of the play at the Robey Theater in Los Angeles.
-1996: Winner of Louisiana State University's “Native Visions and Voices” Playwriting
Contest ($2,500 award) for Just a Little Mark.
-1995:Winner of the Ensemble Theatre's “Out of the Shadows Playwriting Contest” for
Just a Little Mark ($250).
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-1993: Jane Chambers (national) Playwriting Competition, Honorable Mention for Just a
Little Mark
-1991: Black Louisiana Women Achievers in Arts and Letters award, (sponsored by
Louisiana Secretary of State, W. Fox McKeithen and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority).
-1991: Young Black Achievers of Houston Award (sponsored by Human Enrichment of
Life Programs).
-1985: First Place Playwriting Award for Bayou Relics in a Louisiana state-wide
competition sponsored by YWCA ($500).
-1983: The City of New Orleans Playwriting Award for Bayou Relics (sponsored by the
Mayor's Office)
GRANTS (support for creative/scholarly activity at UH)
UH Provost’s Travel Fund, 2009
UH Martha Gano Houstoun Research Grant in Literary Criticism, 2009
UH Martha Gano Houstoun Research Grant in Literary Criticism, 2004, 2005, 2006
UH Women’s Studies Faculty Travel Grant, 2004
African American Studies Travel Grant, 2004
UH Small Grants Program, 2003, 2004, 2006
UH African American Studies Faculty Development Grant, 2000, 2002
UH Asian American Studies Faculty Development Grant, 2001
UH Limited Grant in Aid (LGIA) for support of research, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995
Texas Committee for the Humanities Grant, 1992, 1993
National Council of Black Studies Grant, funded by the Ford Foundation, 1991
Business and Industry Cluster of Louisiana Grant, 1988
Southern Arts Federation Grant, 1988
Louisiana Museum of Art Grant, 1987
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Grant, 1987
United Negro College Fund Post-doctoral Fellowship, 1986-87
Dillard University Faculty Summer Development Grants, 1982-1987
Florida State University Research Fellowship, 1979
SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS
SINGLE-AUTHORED BOOKS
Alice Childress: Performing Activism, Staging Freedom (research in progress and under
contract with University of Michigan Press)
Their Place on the Stage: Black Women Playwrights in America. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 1988. Hardcover, 165pp; New York and London: Praeger, 1990
Paperback, 165 pp; Korean translation, 2001.
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EDITED BOOKS
Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History: Migration and Identity in Black
Women’s Literature. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2006.
Women of Color: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Twentieth-Century Literature
Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1996. Hardcover and Paperback, 249 pp.
Wines in the Wilderness: Plays by African American Women from the Harlem
Renaissance to the Present. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990. Hardcover,
251 pp.; New York and London: Praeger, 1990. Paperback, 251 pp. (This recovery
project remains the only anthology that brings together plays—with critical analyses—by
black women over a seventy-year period. This book continues to be adopted across the
country in Black literature, Women’s Studies, and theatre courses.)
ESSAYS PUBLISHED IN EDITED BOOKS AND REFEREED JOURNALS
“Obstacles or Opportunities: The Wisdom to Know the Difference.” Shaping Memories:
Reflections of African American Women Writers. Ed. Joanne Veal Gabbin. Jackson:
University Press of Mississippi, 2009. 60-70.
“Africanisms in Zora Neal Hurston’s The First One, Color Struck, and Mule Bone.
Approaches to Teaching Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Other Works.
Ed. John Lowe. New York: MLA, 2009. 171-181.
“Race, Gender and Social Politics in Alice Childress’s A Short Walk,” College Language
Association Journal 51.2 (December 2007): 109-132.
“On Their Way to Becoming Whole: Black Women’s Migratory Narratives.” Middle
Passages and the Healing Place of History. Ed. Elizabeth Brown-Guillory. Columbus,
Ohio: The Ohio State University Press, 2006. 1-13.
“Place and Displacement in Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet and The Adventures of a Black
Girl in Search of God.” Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History. Ed. Elizabeth
Brown-Guillory. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press, 2006. 155-170.
“Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now”: Place and Displacement in Black Women’s Plays from the
United States, South Africa, and England, College Language Association Journal 59.4
(June 2006): 383-405.
“Urban Spaces and Lost Voices in Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women.” Urbanization and
African Cultures. Eds. Toyin Falola and Steven J. Salm. Durham: Carolina Academic
Press, 2005. 81-88.
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“Navigating Taboos in Nigerian Culture: Suppression of Women’s Desires in Zulu
Sofola’s Plays.” Nigeria in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Toyin Falola. Durham: Carolina
Academic Press, 2002. 829-845.
“Reconfiguring History: Migration, Memory, and (Re)Memory in Suzan-Lori Parks’s
Plays.” Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History and Criticism.
Eds. Linda Rohrer Paige and Robert McDonald. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of
Alabama Press, 2002. 183-197.
“Mentoring: Building Bridges for the Twenty-First Century. South Central Review 13
(Winter 1996): 1-4.
“Lorraine Hansberry as Visionary: Black and White Ante-bellum Southern Women in
Concert.” Southern Women. Ed. Caroline Matheny Dillman. New York: Hemisphere
Publishing Co./Division of Harper and Row, 1988. 57-62.
“Emerging Voices in the American Literature Canon: New Handles on Old Pitchers.”
CCTE Studies 55 (September 1990): 89-91.
“Demystifying Global Education.” Momentum 22 (February 1989): 58-63. Co-author:
Lucius M. Guillory.
“Reinforced Lessons: Strategies for Teaching Composition.” Xavier Review (Fall 1988):
6-15. Co-author: Barbara Loy.
“Black English: Different, Not Deficient.” Today’s Catholic Teacher 21 (October 1987):
43-53, 58. Co-author: Lucius M. Guillory.
“Images of Blacks in Plays by Black Women.” Phylon 47 (September 1986): 230-237.
“Lorraine Hansberry: The Politics of the Politics Surrounding The Drinking Gourd.” The
Griot (the official journal of the Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies, Inc.) 4
(Winter/Summer 1985): 18-28.
ESSAYS PUBLISHED IN REFERENCE BOOKS
“Alice Childress,” pp. 227-229, Vol I.
“Nella Larsen,” pp. 227-229, Vol II.
Sonia Sanchez,” pp. 98-99, Vol III.
Black Women In America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2nd Edition. Ed. Darlene Clark
Hine. Volumes I, II, and III. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
“Alice Childress.” African American Lives. Eds. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn
Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 164-165.
“Alice Childress,” pp. 140-142
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“A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich,” p. 354
“Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life,” p. 441
“Mildred Johnson,” pp. 498-499
The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. Eds.William L. Andrews,
Trudier Harris, Frances Smith Foster. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
“Toni Cade Bambara,”Vol. 1, p. 245
“Alice Childress,” Vol. 1, pp. 537-538
“Mari Evans,” vol. 2, pp. 918-919
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Eds. Jack Salzman, David
Lionel Smith, and Cornel West. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1996.
“Louise Meriwether,” pp. 563-564
“Arthenia J. Bates Millican,” p. 569
“Carlene Hatcher Polite,” p. 685
The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Eds. Cathy N.
Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
“A Hero Ain’t Nothin' But a Sandwich” (expanded version of a 1992 publication by
HarperCollins)." Masterplots II: African American Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill.
Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1994. 523-528.
“Alice Childress,” pp. 233-235
“Shirley Graham DuBois,” pp. 357-358
“Angelina Weld Grimke,” pp. 504-505
“Nella Larsen,” pp. 695-697
“Marita Bonner Occomy,” pp. 148-149
“Sybil Kein,” p. 674
Black Women in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. Ed. Darlene
Clark Hine. New York: Carlson Publishing Co., 1993.
“Gloria Naylor,” pp. 875-876
“Sonia Sanchez,” pp. 1003-1004
“Ntozake Shange,” pp. 1026-1029
“Alice Walker,” pp. 1205-1208
“Shirley Anne Williams,” pp. 1266
Black Women in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia. Volume 2. Ed. Darlene
Clark Hine. New York: Carlson Publishing, Co., 1993.
“A Hero Ain't Nothin’ but a Sandwich.” Masterpieces of African-American . Ed. Frank
N. Magill. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1992. 193-196.
“Trouble in Mind.” Masterplots II: Drama. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, California:
Salem Press, 1990: 1654-1659; reprinted in Masterpieces of African-American
Literature. New York: HarperCollins, Inc., 1992. 577-580.
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“A Photograph.” Masterplots II: Drama. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, California:
Salem Press, 1990. 1241-1245.
“A Photograph: Lovers in Motion.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Ed. Frank N.
Magill. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1990. 1204-1205.
“Ntozake Shange.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Afro-American Writers After l955:
Dramatists and Prose Writers. Volume 38. Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1985. 240250.
ESSAY PUBLISHED IN COMPANION READERS
“Sissiertta Jones: The Life and Times of the ‘Black Patti.’” Arkansas Museum of Natural
Resources Bulletin (Summer 2002): 4pp.
“Madam C.J. Walker: Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Activist.” America 1899: Looking
Forward to a New Century: Companion Reader to the 1999 Chautauqua. Arts and
Humanities Council of Tulsa, 1999: 12-15.
PEDAGOGICAL NOTES
“Integrating Television Game Shows and Reader-Response Criticism.” Exercise
Exchange 34 (Fall 1988): 42-43.
“The Wheel of Fortune: Peer Grouping and Collaborative Writing.” Exercise Exchange
33 (Fall 1987): 17-18.
REVIEW ESSAYS
“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, by Anna Deavere Smith.” African American Review 31:2
(Summer 1997): 9-10.
“Hansberry’s Drama: Commitment Amid Complexity, by Steven Carter.” Theatre
Journal (December 1992): 558-559.
“Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays Before 1950, edited by Kathy
Perkins.” SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women (Summer 1991): 78-79.
“The Comedy of Redemption: Christian Faith and Comic Vision in Four American
Novelists, by Ralph C. Wood.” American Literature (December 1989): 771-772.
“Risen Sons: Flannery O’Connor’s View of History, by John Desmond.” American
Literature (October 1988): 497-498.
“The Uptown Mrs. Carrie, by L. V. Whitney, Oakland Gateway Arts, 1988.” SAGE: A
Scholarly Journal on Black Women 2 (Fall 1988): 81-82.
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“Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, edited by Gloria T. Hull, W. W.
Norton: 1984.” SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women 3 (Spring 1986): 58-60.
INTERVIEWS WITH PLAYWRIGHTS
“Denise Chavez: Chicana Woman Writer Crossing Borders.” South Central Review
16.1(Spring 1999): 30-43.
"Alice Childress: A Pioneering Spirit." SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women 4
(Spring 1987): 66-68.
CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS/PRODUCTIONS
PLAYS PUBLISHED
Online Database and CD-ROM
When the Ancestors Call, 2003, The Break of Day, 2003, La Bakair, 2001, Missing Sister,
1996, Saving Grace, 1993, Mam Phyllis, 1990, Snapshots of Broken Dolls, 1987, Marry
Me, Again, 1984, Bayou Relics, 1983, and Somebody Almost Walked Off With All of My
Stuff, 1982. (Ten plays published in Black Drama: 1850 to the Present, an online
research collection published by Alexander Street Press and available to university
libraries by subscription only. http://www.alexanderstreetpress.com. Date plays included
in the collection, June 2004.
Hardcopy Publications of Plays:
“When the Ancestors Call.” In Acting Up and Getting Down: Plays by African American
Texans. Ed. Sandra Mayo and Ervin Holt. Austin: University of Texas Press.
(forthcoming in 2013)
Saving Grace. The Griot (the official journal of the Southern Conference on African
American Studies, Inc.) 22.2 (Fall 2003): 47-66.
La Bakair. The SUNO REVIEW: A Journal of the Arts and Humanities 1:2 (Spring
2001): 49-88.
Mam Phyllis. In Wines in the Wilderness: Plays by African-American Women from the
Harlem Renaissance to the Present. Ed. Elizabeth Brown-Guillory. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990: 191-227.
Snapshots of Broken Dolls. Colorado: Contemporary Drama Service, a division of
Meriwether Publishing Co., 1987. 36pp.
Bayou Relics. Colorado: Contemporary Drama Service, a division of Meriwether
Publishing Co., 1983. 30 pp.
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PLAYS PRODUCED:
A Little Diversion, a one-act play, performed at the Regency Ballroom, Hyatt Regency
Hotel, TX, October 27, 2005; produced at the UH Cullen Performance Hall, Houston,
TX, October 26-27, 2005.
The Break of Day, a full-length play, directed by Dianne Jemison Pollard and produced at
the Ollington Smith Playhouse at Texas Southern University, February 16-19, 2012 and
February 24-26, 2012; directed by Edward D. Richardson and produced professionally at
the ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago, May 5 through June 19, 2005; selected for a
series of staged readings at Karamu Performing Arts Theater, Karamu House, Cleveland
Ohio, April 19-30, 2004; first produced on April 9-11, 2003 in the UH Cullen
Performance Hall.
When the Ancestors Call, a full-length play, directed by Chuck Smith and produced
professionally by ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago, May 1 through June 15, 2003.
Ten Years in a Suitcase, a performance piece including monologues from La Bakair, Just
a Little Mark, Mam Phyllis, and Madam C.J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a
Start, February 5-6, 2002, University of Houston Cullen Performance Hall.
La Bakair, a full-length play first produced February 25-28, 2001, University of Houston
Cullen Performance Hall; followed by a performance at the annual meeting of the
National Association of Business and Professional Women on March 10, 2001, Marriott
Hotel, Houston; selected for performance at the College Language Association, Royal
Sonesta Hotel’s South Ballroom, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 19, 2001.
Missing Sister, a one-act play first produced March 27-28, 1996, University of Houston
Cullen Performance Hall and at Our Mother of Mercy Church in Church Point,
Louisiana, March 30, 1996.
Just a Little Mar, a full-length play, directed by Ron Jones, professionally produced by
the Ensemble Theatre, October 26-November 5, 1995; directed by Aileen Hendricks,
produced by Southern University’s Theatre Department, April 27-30, 1994; first
produced at the University of Houston’s Cullen Performance Hall, November 5-8,1992.
Note: Revised more than 50% and renamed When the Ancestors Call in 2003.
Saving Grace, a full-length play first produced November 17-21, 1993, University of
Houston Cullen Performance Hall and at St. Peter's Catholic School gymnasium,
Houston, Texas.
Snapshots of Broken Dolls, a one-act comedy, first produced at Dillard University, New
Orleans, followed by multiple productions at the Martin Luther King Center in Lake
Charles and the Lincoln Center in New York City in 1986.
Marry Me, Again, a one-act comedy, first produced at Dillard University in 1984.
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Somebody Almost Walked Off With All Of My Stuff, first produced at Tukey Theater,
University of South Carolina, Spartanburg, March 5-7, 1982.
Mam Phyllis, a full-length comedy, first produced at Converse College in Spartanburg,
South Carolina in 1981; revised and produced at Dillard University in 1985; revised in
1989 for publication by Greenwood Press; revised in 2003 for publication in Alexander
Street Press’ Black Drama: 1850 to Present.
Bayou Relics, a one-act comedy, first produced at the Spartanburg Arts Center in March
of 1981.
SOLO PERFORMANCE PIECES
Sissieretta Jones: The Life and Times of the ‘Black Patti,’” premiere performance in
Smackover, Arkansas, May 28-June 1, 2002, with subsequent performances by invitation,
(video available).
Josephine Baker: International Black Heroine, premiere performance in Houston, Texas,
January 20, 2001, with subsequent performances by invitation.
Madam C.J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start, premiere performance in
Oklahoma, June 1-20, 1999, with subsequent performances by invitation.
Ancestral Voices: Monologues from Mam Phyllis and Just a Little Mark, premiere
performance in Fort Worth, Texas, October 8, 1996, with subsequent performances by
invitation.
SHORT STORIES PUBLISHED IN JOURNALS
“Beacon Hill,” Louisiana Literature 18. 2 (Fall/Winter 2001): 63-83.
“The Progressive Pig,” The Literary Griot, 4 (Winter/Summer 1985): 93-100.
TEACHING
AWARDS/HONORS
-2007: Selected by UH Alumni Association as one of four “Phenomenal Professors” and
featured in the February issue of UH Magazine
-2006: Selected by Office of the Provost and Houston Alumni Office as one of eight
faculty members to lecture during the First Alumni College Weekend, May 20, 2006
-2004: UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award
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-2000: Distinguished Teacher Award (UH Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, International
English Honor Society)
-1998: Nominated by UH Provost’s Office for the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the
Year Award
-1997: Nominated by UH Provost’s Office for the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the
Year Award
-1997: University of Houston Cooper Teaching Excellence Award
-1993: Distinguished Humanities Scholars Lecture Series, Honors Institute, Broward
Community College, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
-1991: Outstanding Professor of 1990-1991, (UH Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta,
International English Honor Society)
-1991: Visiting scholar/lecturer at Loyola University, New Orleans, July, (funded by the
Louisiana Endowment for Humanities
COURSE DEVELOPMENT (at UH)
(1988-present)
English 2305 (Intro to Fiction)
English 2307 (Intro to Drama)
English 3351 (American Literature, 1865-present)
English 3357 (Modern American Drama)
English 3360 (Survey: African American Literature)
English 3363 (Survey: African American Fiction)
English 3364 (Survey: African American Poetry and Drama)
English 3365 (Postcolonial Literature)
English 3396 (Special Topics: Black Women Playwrights)
English 3396 (Special Topics: Creation and Performance of Dramatic
Literature/Playwriting Workshop)
English 4364 (Minorities in Literature—American Indian, African American, Asian
American, Mexican American writers)
English 4378 (Women Writers)
English 7396 (Survey: African American Literature)
English 7396 (Black Women Novelists—1859 to present)
English 7396 (African, Caribbean, Black British, and African American Women’s Plays)
English 7396 (Creation and Performance of Dramatic Literature/Playwriting Workshop)
English 8379 (American Drama)
English 8383 (African-American Poetry/Drama)
English 8384 (African-American Fiction)
English 8364 (Women Writers—Literature by Writers from Africa and the African
Diaspora)
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PARTICIPATION IN TEACHING PROJECTS
Texas Southern University—since 2009
Conceived of the Texas Southern University Back to Basics Summer Institute, which
brings to campus teachers and their hand-selected students to study literature and
technology and engage in ACT/SAT drill and practice. No other summer institute in the
country brings together both teachers and their student to a campus to study and be taught
by professors and high school teachers. Secured $20,000 in 2010, $25,000 in 2011, and
$25,000 in 2012 to fund this university/school partnership, which is designed to recruit
student to TSU.
University of Houston
Spring 2008: Led a seminar, “What Does it Mean to Be an American?: Multi-Ethnic
Literatures of the United States” for the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI), a project that
introduces elementary through high school teachers in the arts and sciences to special
topics offered by UH professors.
Spring 2007: Led a seminar, “Playwriting: Crafting and Adapting Plays for School-Aged
Children,” for the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI).
Spring 2003: Led a seminar, “Literature as Healing Balm: Multicultural Women Writers
in America,” for the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI).
Spring 2001: Led a seminar, “Multicultural Works: The Richness of the Drama of
America, for the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI).
2006-2009, 1989-1998: Led summer seminars in the UH Common Ground Teachers
Institute (a two-week program that prepares high school teachers to include the literature
of underrepresented groups in the curriculum and is open to teachers from Houston
Metropolitan Area High Schools for continuing education and gifted and talented credit).
INTELLECTUAL SUPERVISION:
DISSERTATION AND THESES INSTRUCTION (at UH)
Ph.D.:
Director: Julia Jay, Lisa Abney, Juluette Bartlett-Pack, DeLinda Marzette, Daintee
Glover Jones
Committee Member/Reader: Romanus Muoneke, Yemisi Jimoh, Tom Williams,
Deyonne Bryant, Daniel Walker (History), Bernadette Pruitt (History), Derrick Burleson,
Claire Kajeyama, Kathryn Paterson
M.A.:
Director: Juluette Bartlett, Sharon Gray (Theater), Jasmin Vann, Julie Sample
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Committee Member/Reader: Heather Bohannan, Robert Jones, Dorothy Murphy, Kathryn
Paterson, and Tim Landry (Anthropology)
B.A.:(Honors Thesis)
Director: Karl Eifreg, Connie Simmons, Suellen Dehart, Jennifer Yawn
Committee Member/Reader: Brandice Mueller (Psychology), Camille Buxton, Kaye
Moon Winters, Kymberly Keaton
FACULTY MENTOR FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS (at UH)
Organized a panel of four graduate students around the topic of “Religion and Spirituality
in Alice Childress’s Plays,” presented at the College Language Association’s annual
convention, Miami, April 2007.
Organized a panel “Place and Displacement in Literature Written by Women Writers
from Africa and the African Diaspora,” presented in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 5-7,
2005.
Submitted to the College Language Association’s Creative Writing Competition the
works of two students for whom I served as mentor—Ph.D. candidates Jericho Brown,
who won first-place ($500 prize) in the national poetry contest in April 2004, and
Michael Webster, who won Honorable Mention in the national playwriting contest in
April 2005.
Organized panels since 1988 at national and regional conferences to allow the following
graduate students to present papers:
Cynthia Girgen, Romanus Muoneke, Juluette Bartlett-Pack,Tora Cureton, Julia Jay,
Daniel Walker, DeLinda Marzette, Daintee Glover Jones, Tina Nguyen, Kathryn
Paterson, Jasmin Vann, Kyle Solak, Sampada Chavan, Annette Nelson
FACULTY MENTOR FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Served as mentor to two undergraduates who placed in a national creative writing
competition in April 2006, sponsored by the College Language Association: Kalaiah
Vaughn won second place ($300 prize) for her poem “Shug Avery” and Nicholas
Garelick won honorable mention ($50 prize) for his play “Portrait Shadow”.
Served as mentor to an undergraduate English major, Anita Wadhwa, who won a firstplace prize ($2500) in a national fiction contest sponsored by the College Language
Association in April 1999.
University Scholars Program and other funding
(Secured $1,000 scholarships for students to engage in research)
Nicole Mitchell, 2000
Sarah West, 2000
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Tina Nguyen, 2001
Daniel de Simone, 2001
Megan Brannon, 2003 (I organized a panel on which Megan presented a paper at the
National Women’s Studies Association conference, June 2003)
Iliana Rocha, 2003 (I organized a panel on which Iliana presented a paper at the National
Women’s Studies Association conference, New Orleans, June 2003)
Melissa Moran, 2004
Madelyn Ivy, 2008
TEACHING RELATED ACTIVITIES/RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
EFFORTS
2002—Founder & Director of Erzulie, an African dance troupe at UH
1992 to the present—Founder & Director of The Houston Suitcase Theater (THST),
a University of Houston student, faculty and staff troupe committed to enhancing
multiculturalism in the arts at UH since 1992.
As founder and director of THST, I . . .
--directed plays and performance pieces annually, including “Staged Readings of New
Plays by UH Graduate Students (Fall 2004), “Staged Readings of New Plays by UH
Undergraduates (Spring 2004, Fall 2005, Spring 2006), “Ten Years in a Suitcase” (a tenth
anniversary celebration of the founding of The Houston Suitcase Theater at UH—Spring
2002), “Conversations with Madam C.J. Walker and Alexander Graham Bell (Fall
1999),” “I Am Not Tragically Colored: Performances by UH Women” (Spring 1999),
“Performances by UH Women of Color” (Spring 1994).
--Coordinated visits to the UH campus of nationally recognized playwrights, novelists,
poets, and literary critics, such as Pulitzer Prize winners Charles Gordone and Suzan-Lori
Park, Thomas Melancon, Denise Chavez, Douglas Turner Ward, Whitney LeBlanc,
Amiri Baraka, bell hooks, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Aishah Rahman, Anita Bunkley,
Ntozake Shange, Tess Onwueme, Violet Harrington Bryan, Hazel Arnett Ervin, Trudier
Harris, and others.
--Communicated on a regular basis with Houston metropolitan area teachers who, along
with their students, attend THST lectures/performances.
--Coordinated playwriting competitions and festivals of student written/performed plays
for UH students.
--Coordinated projects of undergraduate creative writers who submit entries to the
College Language Association’s (CLA) Creative Writing Contest.
--Coordinated field trips to museums, plays, films, symphony, etc.
--Coordinated monthly socials/potlucks for graduate and undergraduate students.
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--Tutored/advised undergraduate English majors and serve as mentor to minority
graduate students in English, History, Anthropology, and Theater and Dance.
(NOTE: Awarded an Outstanding Service Award in 1995 by The UH Council of
Ethnic Organizations for THST.)
ADVISING FOR THE HONORS COLLEGE
Assisted (as an Honors College Faculty Affiliate) in academic advising for priority
registration, 1994-2000.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
(Delivered more than one 150 lectures/presentations/performances since joining the UH
faculty in 1988.)
INVITED LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS/PERFORMANCES
“The Global Black Woman: Reflections on Roots, Religion, Culture and Identity,”
invited presenter on a roundtable, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern
University, September 4, 2012.
“The Drumbeat of Belonging: Identity Formation in Plays by Women of Color,” invited
keynote speaker at the Fifth Annual Graduate Student Symposium at Rice University’s
Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (CSWGS), Houston, Texas,
March 30, 2012.
“Obstacles or Opportunities: The Wisdom to Know the Difference,” invited to read
excerpts from a personal essay, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia,
November 5-7, 2009.
“The Complexities of Color: Revisiting Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘How it Feels to be
Colored Me,’ Their Eyes Were Watching God, ‘The First One,’ and ‘Color Struck,’
invited public lecture as part of the annual Books on the Bayou Lecture Series, Houston
Public Library—Central Branch, October 13, 2009.
“Life Don’t Owe Me Nothin’, Sugah!”, featured solo performing artist at the annual
Black Theater Association conference, Denver, July 30, 2008.
“Contemporary Black Women Playwrights: The Changing Landscape of American
Theater,” invited keynote speaker, Third Annual Women and Gender Studies
Conference, Houston Community College—Southeast College, March 28, 2008.
“Doublehead: A Dramatic Monologue,” invited performing artist, at the Barbados
Museum at the Garrison, Barbados, West Indies, May 25, 2007.
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“Striking out for the Deep Water: The Evolution of Blues and the Blues/Jazz Tradition in
Ann Petry’s “Solo on the Drums” and James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” invited keynote
speaker for a Black History Month Convocation, Texas Southern University, February
23, 2007; Developed the presentation to include additional research and a live jazz band
for the UH Scholarship and Community Conference “Music Across Boundaries,”
September 26, 2007, UH Hilton Hotel.
“Ancestral Voices: Performances of Monologues from Plays by Elizabeth BrownGuillory,” invited keynote speaker and performing artist, Black History Month
Convocation, Texas Southern University, February 23, 2007.
“Ancestral Voices: Performances of Monologues from Plays by Elizabeth BrownGuillory,” invited keynote speaker and performing artist, Office of the Dean of Student
Life, San Jacinta College, Houston, Texas, April 11, 2006.
“Life Writing and Righting Life: Staging Plays that Heal,” invited speaker and
performing artist in the Performance as Public Practice Program, Dept. of Theatre and
Dance, University of Texas, Austin, November 18, 2005.
Keynote Performance of my play “A Little Diversion” at the annual meeting of the South
Central Modern Language Association, Regency Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Hotel,
Houston, TX, October 27, 2005.
Keynote Breakfast Speaker, Bennet-Brooks Literary Society, Houston, Texas, presented
February 7, 2004.
“How Do I Self-Identify: Southern Women Writers Roundtable” (with Lee Mitzen Grue,
Poppy Z. Brite, and Olympia Vernon), National Women’s Studies Association, New
Orleans, Louisiana, June 21, 2003.
“The Break of Day,” featured performing artist and Q&A, Southern Conference on
African American Studies, Inc., Charleston, South Carolina, February 21, 2003.
“When the Ancestors Call,” featured playwright in “Conversations with Playwright,
Director, Cast Series,” ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, May 3, 2003,
(videotape available).
“Obstacles or Opportunities: The Wisdom to Know the Difference,” presented a memoir,
Wintergreen Women’s Writers Retreat, Wintergreen, Virginia, May 16-18, 2003.
“Sissieretta Jones,” (winner of a grant from the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources
Foundation, Smackover, Arkansas, for Chautauqua 2002—one of five selected
nationwide for a Chautauqua scholar/artist residency), May 28-June 1, 2002.
“Performing Black Women’s Theater Traditions,” keynote lecturer/performing artist,
McCleary Symposium, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, April 18, 2002.
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“Madam C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start,” featured performing
artist, meeting of the National Association of Business and Professional Women,
Ensemble Theater, Houston, Texas, February 23, 2002.
“Josephine Baker: International Black Heroine,” featured performing artist, Southern
Conference on African American Studies, Inc., San Antonio, February 21, 2002.
“Madam C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start” and “Josephine Baker:
International Heroine,” featured performing artist, Border Book Festival, Las Cruces,
New Mexico, March 14-18, 2001.
“Josephine Baker: International Black Heroine,” featured performing artist, the annual
meeting of the Texas Council Teachers of English (TCTE), Houston, Texas, January 20,
2001.
“Madam C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start,” featured performing
artist, San Jacinto College, Houston, Texas, November 9, 1999.
Madam C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start,” featured performing
artist, River Oaks Women’s Breakfast Club, Houston, Texas, September 21, 1999.
“Madam C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start,” Chautauqua
scholar/performing artist, Tulsa, Oklahoma, (in residency) June 1-20, 1999.
“Madam C.J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a Start,” featured performing
artist, annual meeting of Southern Conference on African American Studies,” Houston,
Texas, February 19, 1999.
“Ancestral Voices: Monologues from Mam Phyllis and Just A Little Mark,” featured
performing artist, “Juneteenth: Its Meaning,” Texas Southern University, Houston,
Texas, June 18, 1998.
“Ancestral Voices: Monologues from Mam Phyllis and Just a Little Mark,” featured
lecturer and performing artist, “Living Writers Series,” Tarrant County Junior CollegeNortheast Campus, Fort Worth, Texas, March 5 and 6, 1998.
“Black Women’s Theater and Its Impact on Literacy,” keynote speaker, annual
convention of the Texas Council Teachers of English, San Antonio, Texas, February
1998.
“Riding the Goat: Women in Higher Education,” invited keynote speaker at the Women’s
Caucus Breakfast, annual meeting of SCMLA, San Antonio, Texas, October 1996.
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“From Washington, D.C. Harlem Lofts to Broadway: Black Women's Theater,” invited
lecturer at the 1996 Lorraine Sherley Literature Symposium, Texas Christian University,
Fort Worth, Texas, October 19, 1996.
“Multicultural Approaches to Teaching American Literature,” invited workshop director,
Tarrant County Junior College District, Fort Worth, Texas, October 9, 1996.
“Ancestral Voices: A Performance Piece,” featured performing artist, Tarrant County
Junior College District, Fort Worth, Texas, October 8, 1996.
“Multicultural Approaches to teaching American Literature,” invited workshop director,
Iowa Central Community College, Fort Dodge, Iowa, August 23, 1996.
“Twentieth Century Black Women Playwrights and Their Vision,” invited lecturer, San
Jacinto College, Houston, Texas, February 20, 1996.
“Lessons to Die For,” an original dramatic monologue commissioned for the “Forum for
the Death Penalty,” Xavier University of New Orleans, April 2l, 1994; revised and
produced at the University of Houston, November 16 and 17, 1994.
“The Making of Just A Little Mark”, featured speaker, Southern University Theatre
Department, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (in conjunction with its production of Just A Little
Mark, April 27-30, 1994.
“The Politics of Capital Punishment in African-American Literature,” invited co-keynote
speaker (with Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking), “Forum for the Death
Penalty,” Xavier University of New Orleans, April 2l, 1994.
“The Quest for Self in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God,” invited
lecturer, North Harris Community College, Houston, Texas, March l, 1994.
“Meta-theater in Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind,” invited lecturer, University of
Georgia, Athens, Georgia, February 7, 1994.
“The Evolution of Black American Theater,” invited lecturer, University of Georgia,
Athens, Georgia, February 7, 1994.
“Black Theater Tradition and Women Playwrights of the Harlem Renaissance,” invited
lecturer, Distinguished Humanities Scholars Lecture Series, Honors Institute, Broward
Community College, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, October 30-November 2, 1993.
“New Works: A Reading by Louisiana Writers,” featured performing artist, (excerpts
from Just a Little Mark), at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, New
Orleans, Louisiana, March 25, 1993.
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“Open Casting: A Continuing Dialogue,” invited presenter and panelist, Tennessee
Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 25, 1993.
“The Literary Canon: Opening the Humanities to a Multicultural Perspective—Part II,”
invited lecturer, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, February 14-16, 1993.
Monologues from “Just a Little Mark,” featured performing artist, Murray State
University, Murray, Kentucky, February 14-16, 1993.
“Tennessee Williams and the Black Theater Experience,” invited presenter and panelist,
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2729, 1992.
“The Promise. The Dream. The Reality: How Writers Portray Race in Fiction,” invited
presenter and panelist, Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans,
Louisiana, March 27-29, 1992.
“Their Place on the Stage: Twentieth Century Black Women Playwrights and Their
Vision,” invited lecturer, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, February 14, 1992.
“The Literary Canon: Opening the Humanities to a Multicultural Perspective,” invited
lecturer, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, February 14, 1992.
“Their Place on the Stage: Twentieth Century Dramatists and Their Vision,” invited
lecturer, at the conference “Celebrating the African-American Woman,” funded by the
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, McNeese State University, Lake Charles,
Louisiana, February 2, 1991.
“Diverse Works Bookstore book signing/reading from Wines in the Wilderness,”
Houston, Texas, January 20, 1991.
“Black Women Playwrights Since the Harlem Renaissance,” invited lecturer, the NEH
Institute, “Two Hundred Years of Women's Writing: 18th to 20th Century,” presented at
the University of New Orleans, June 30, 1988.
“Voices of Black Women Writers,” invited lecturer/performing artist, Southern
University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, April 21, 1988.
“The Value of Persistence,” invited lecturer/performing artist, Loyola University, New
Orleans, Louisiana, April 14, 1987.
“Finding a Space to Write,” invited lecturer/performing artist, Louisiana Endowment for
the Humanities” RELIC program, presented at New Orleans Public Library, Gentilly
Branch, April 16, 1987.
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“The Playwriting Process,” invited workshop director, “Louisiana Women Writers
Symposium,” Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 19-20, 1986.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
International and National
“Reaching Back and Pulling Forward: Recent Plays by Black Women on Broadway and
Off-Broadway—Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Lydia
Diamond’s Stick Fly,” to be presented at the annual meeting of the College Language
Association, Lexington, Kentucky, April 10-13, 2013.
“The Drumbeat of Belonging: Identity Formation in Plays by Women of Color,”
presented at the 75th Annual College Language Association Convention, Atlanta,
Georgia, April 29, 2012.
“In Her Own Words: Writing/Righting the Wrongs in Alice Childress’ Essays and
Plays,” presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association,
Spartanburg, South Carolina, April 6-9, 2011.
“When Daughters Become Mothers in Urban Landscapes: Performances of Motherhood
in Alice Childress’ Rainbow Jordan,” presented at the annual meeting of College
Language Association, New York, April 7-10, 2010.
“Place, Displacement, and Healing in Efua Sutherland’s Edufa,” presented at the biannual convention of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora
(ASWAD), Accra, Ghana, August 2009.
“The Price of Freedom: Coming Out of the Closet in Alice Childress’ Those Other
People,” presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association,
Cambridge, Maryland, March 27, 2009.
“Race, Gender and Social Politics in Alice Childress’ A Short Walk,” presented at CLA,
Charleston, South Carolina, April 11, 2008; and presented at CLA at MLA, San
Francisco, December 2008.
“Confronting the Silence: Researching, Teaching, and Producing Alice Childress’ Plays,”
presented at the annual conference held by the Women in Theatre Program, a Focus
Group of the Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE), Denver, Colorado,
July 30, 2008.
“Making Space for Race: Staging Difference at Historically White Universities,”
presented at the annual conference held by the Black Theatre Association, a Focus Group
of the Association for Theater in Higher Education, Denver, Colorado, July 31, 2008.
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“Confessions of Love: Separation, Loss, Spirituality, and Healing in Alice Childress’
Mojo,” presented at MLA, Chicago, December 29, 2007.
“When My Lady has had Enough: Performances of Freedom in Alice Childress’ Copra:
A West Indian Drama” to be presented at the conference “Trajectories of Freedom:
Caribbean Societies—Past and Present,” to be held at the University of the West Indies,
Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, 23-25 May, 2007.
“Confessions of Love: Separation, Loss, Spirituality, and Healing in Alice Childress’
Mojo,” presented at CLA, Miami, Florida, April 2007.
“Black European Performances of Nostalgia: Place and Displacement in Black British
Playwright Trish Cooke’s Running Dream,” presented at the 2nd International
Interdisciplinary BEST Conference: Black European Studies in Transnational
Perspective,” Berlin, Germany, July 29, 2006.
“Love in Black and White: Performing Activism and Staging Freedom in the Film and
Stage Versions of Alice Childress's Wedding Band, presented at CLA, Birmingham,
Alabama, April 7, 2006.
“Place and Displacement in Djanet Sears’ The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of
God,” presented at MLA, Washington, D.C., Dec. 2005.
“Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now: Migration and Identity in Black Women’s Plays,” presented
at the bi-annual convention of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African
Diaspora (ASWAD), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct 5, 2005.
“‘Why Talk About That?’: Ironic Discourse in Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind,”
presented at MLA, Philadelphia, December 29, 2004.
“Hoodoo Blues: Conjuring, Redefinition, and Healing in Alice Childress’ Wedding Band:
A Love Hate Story in Black and White,” presented at CLA, Nashville, Tennessee, April
15, 2004.
“Writing Outside the Mainstream: Healing Rituals in Black British Women’s Plays,”
presented at MLA, San Diego, California, December 29, 2003.
“Urban Spaces and Lost Voices in Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women,” presented at
CLA, Washington, D.C., April 25, 2003.
“Urban Spaces and Lost Voices in Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women,” presented at
“African Urban Spaces,” an international conference held in Austin, Texas, March 28-30,
2003.
“Rituals in Zulu Sofola’s Plays,” presented at CLA, Memphis, Tennessee, April 25, 2002.
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“Navigating Taboos in Nigerian Culture: Suppression of Women’s Desires in Zulu
Sofola’s Plays,” presented at “Nigeria in the Twentieth Century,” an international
conference held in Austin, TX, March 31, 2002.
“Staging Exile in Caribbean Women’s Drama,” presented at MLA, Washington, D.C.,
December 27, 2000.
“Caribbean Women’s Drama: Staging Exile in Maryse Conde’s Tropical Breeze Hotel,”
presented at CLA, Baltimore, Maryland, April 2000.
“Migration and Identity in Rebecca Njau’s The Scar, presented at MLA, Chicago,
December 29, 1999.
“Performances of Resistance in Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women,” presented at the
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Detroit, Michigan,
October 7, 1999.
“Migration and Identity” in Tess Onwueme’s A Hen Too Soon,” presented at CLA,
Fayetteville, North Carolina, April 1999.
“Aishah Rahman and Suzan-Lori Parks: Cultural Connections in Diasporic Dramatic
Literature,” presented at MLA, San Francisco, California, December 28, 1998.
“Adrienne Kennedy and Sonja Sanchez: Black Women’s Revolutionary Drama of the
1960s,” presented at MLA, San Francisco, California, December 30, 1998.
“Theorizing Black Women’s Theatre Tradition,” presented at the annual meeting of the
College Language Association, Tallahassee, Florida, April 1998.
“Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Migration in Black Women’s Theater,” presented at the annual
meeting of the Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies, Inc., New Orleans, La,
February 1998.
“Marita Bonner: Communities in Transition in Black Women’s Theater,” presented at
MLA, Toronto, Canada, December 1997.
“Alice Childress and her Contemporaries: Black Women Playwrights on the American
Stage,” presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association, Atlanta,
Georgia, April 1997.
“White Men/Black Women: Raising a Ruckus in Alice Childress’ Wedding Band,"
presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, April 1996.
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“Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics in Alice Childress' A Short Walk,”presented at the
annual meeting of the College Language Association (CLA), Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
April 1995.
“From Novel to Screenplay: Black Reality in Alice Childress' A Hero Ain't Nothin But A
Sandwich,” presented at MLA, Chicago, December 29, 1995.
“Twentieth-Century Black Drama: Mothers and Daughters in a Genderized, Sexualized,
and Racialized World,” presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Conference on
Afro-American Studies, (SCAASI), Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 1995.
“Inspiriting Influences: Just a Little Mark as a source for Creating Change,” presented at
the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Chicago, Illinois, July 27-30, l994.
(Director Aileen Hendricks organized a panel to discuss the April 27-30, 1994 Southern
University production of Just a Little Mark.)
“The Black Arts Movement: The Relevancy of Amiri Baraka and Alice Childress,”
presented at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, Toronto, Canada,
December 29,1993.
“The Conjunction of the Historic and the Dramatic in Plays by African-American
Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present,” presented at the annual meeting of
the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Philadelphia, August 4-7,
1993.
“The Healing Language of Black Males in Alice Childress’ novel A Hero Ain't Nothin
But a Sandwich,” presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association,
Daytona Beach, Florida, March 31-April 3,1993.
“Mother-Women and Self Discovery in Alice Childress’ Rainbow Jordan,” presented at
the annual meeting of the College Language Association, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 10,
1992.
“The Social Politics of the Black Southern Woman in Alice Childress’ A Short Walk,”
presented at the annual meeting of the College Language Association, Columbia, South
Carolina, April 19,1991.
“The Social Politics of the Black Southern Woman in Alice Childress' A Short Walk,”
presented at the Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies, Houston, Texas,
February 22, 1991.
“Langston Hughes and Alice Childress’ Visions of the South,” presented at MLA,
Chicago, December 27, 1990.
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“Spirituality and Womanism in Alice Childress’ Wedding Band,” presented at the annual
meeting of the College Language Association, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio,
April 19,1990.
“Spirituality and Womanism in Alice Childress' Mojo,” presented at the annual meeting
of the Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies, Memphis, Tennessee, February
23, 1990.
“A Black Woman Playwright in the 1980s: Recollection of a Journey in Progress,” MLA,
New Orleans, December 28, 1988.
“Fashioning Powerful Drama: Remembering and Healing” presented at “The First
International Women Playwrights Conference,” SUNY/Buffalo, New York, October 20,
1988.
“The Voice of the Black American Playwright,” presented at the National Black Theater
Conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May 1, 1987.
“Networking in Black Theater Programs across the Country,” presented at the annual
meeting of the Black Theater Network, Baltimore, Maryland, April 11, 1987.
“Lorraine Hansberry as Visionary: The Polemics of The Drinking Gourd,” presented at
the annual conference of the College Language Association, Norfolk, Virginia, April 1619, 1986.
“Fine Wines in the Wilderness: Alice Childress and her Unsung Heroines,” presented at
the “Black Woman Writer and the Diaspora” conference, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, Michigan, October 27-30, 1985.
“Contemporary Black Women Playwrights: A View From the Other Half,” presented at
the “Black Woman Writer and the Diaspora” conference, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, Michigan, October 27-30, 1985.
“The Artistic and Political Lorraine Hansberry: Missy and Mammy as Symbiotic Links in
The Drinking Gourd,” presented at the “Southern Women: Portraits in Diversity"
conference, Tulane University, September 26-28, 1985.
“Insecurity, Militancy, and Anonymity: Images of Black Men in Plays by Black
Women,” presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Conference on Afro-American
Studies, Montgomery, Alabama, February 1985.
Regional
“Reaching Back and Pulling Forward: Recent Plays by Black Women on Broadway and
Off-Broadway—Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Lydia
Diamond’s Stick Fly,” to be presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern
Language Association, San Antonio, TX, November 8-10, 2012.
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“Warring Souls: Interracial Love, World War I, and Identity Formation in Alice
Childress’ Wedding Band,” presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern
Language Association, Hot Springs, Arkansas, October 27-30, 2011.
“University/School Partnerships: Back to Basics Summer Institute—A New Initiative,”
presented at the annual retreat of the Texas Council of Chief Academic Officers, Austin,
Texas, January 25, 2011.
“Beacon Hill (a short story),” presented on the Regional Fiction Writers Group panel,
SCMLA, Memphis, November 2, 2007.
“‘Why Talk About That?’: Performances of Intolerance in Alice Childress's Trouble in
Mind,” presented at SCMLA, Fort Worth, Texas, October 27, 2006.
“Place and Displacement in Black British Playwright Trish Cooke’s Running Dream,
presented at SCMLA, Houston, TX, October 28, 2005.
“The Power is in the Tongue: Healing Rituals in Black British Women’s Plays,”
presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, New
Orleans, La., October 29, 2004.
“Hoodoo Blues: Conjuring, Redefinition, and Healing in Alice Childress’ Wine in the
Wilderness,” presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language
Association, Hot Springs, Arkansas, October 31, 2003.
“Middle Passages: Healing Rituals in Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women,” presented at
the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, Austin, Texas,
November 2, 2002.
“Nicole Werewere Liking’s Misovire in The Power of Um,” presented at the annual
meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
November 2, 2001.
“Migration and Identity in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Dilemma of a Ghost,” presented at the
annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, San Antonio, Texas,
October 31, 2000.
“Intersections between Teaching and Research,” presented at the annual meeting of the
South Central Modern Language Association, Memphis, Tennessee, October 28, 1999.
“Migration and Identity in plays by South Africans Fatima Dike and Phyllis Klotz,”
presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association,
Memphis, Tennessee, October 30, 1999.
29
“Race, Passion, and Discourse in Alice Childress’ Wedding Band,” presented at the
annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, New Orleans,
Louisiana, November 13, 1998.
“‘We gonna make you wish you were dead:’ Alice Childress’ A Portrait of Fannie Lou
Hamer,” presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language
Association, Dallas, Texas, October 1997.
“Ancestral Voices,” (performed excerpts from Just a Little Mark on a creative writers’
panel), at the annual meeting of the College Conference Teacher of English, South Padre
Island, Texas, April 4, 1997.
“Mentoring: Building Bridges for the Twenty-First Century,” (the SCMLA Presidential
Address) presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language
Association, Houston, October 27, l995.
“Alice Childress as Cultural Critic in Those Other People,” presented at the annual
meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, New Orleans, October
1994.
“The Conjunction of the Historic with the Dramatic in Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind,”
presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association in
Memphis, Tennessee, October 29-31, 1992.
“Dismantling the Veil in Alice Childress’ Like One of the Family,” presented at the
annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA), Fort
Worth, Texas, November 1, 1991.
“Emerging Voices in the American Literature Canon: New Handles on Old Pitchers,”
presented at the annual meeting of the Conference of College Teachers of English, Texas
A&M, College Station, Texas, March 2, 1990.
“Spirituality and Womanism in Alice Childress’ Wine in the Wilderness,” presented at
the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, New Orleans,
October 28, 1989.
“Tonal Form in Plays by Contemporary Black Women Playwrights,” presented at the
annual meeting of the Philological Association of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana,
March 11-12, 1988.
“Female Imperatives in Plays by Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Ntozake
Shange,” presented at the annual meeting of the Philological Association of Louisiana in
New Orleans, Louisiana, March 6-7, 1987.
30
“African Continuum in Contemporary Plays by Black American Women,” presented at
the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, Houston, Texas,
October 29-31, 1987.
“Lorraine Hansberry’s Kaleidoscopic Vision: The Controversial The Drinking Gourd,”
presented at the annual meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, New
Orleans, Louisiana, October 30-November 1, 1986.
“Alice Childress: Surviving Whole in Wine in the Wilderness,” presented at the annual
meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
November 7-9, 1985.
Local
“The Making of a Scholar”, presentation to the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College
students, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland Building (Rm. 114), Texas Southern University,
November 24, 2009.
“Real Life Drama: Finding the Turning Points in Your Life,” led a conversation at Great
Conversations, the annual fundraiser for the UH Honors College, Houston Country Club,
April 1, 2009.
“Agents of Change: MLK, Obama, UH, and HTI,” keynote address at Houston Teachers
Institute’s Fall Convocation, January 20, 2009.
“Life Writing—Through Personal Essays, Short Stories, and Playwriting”, led a
conversation during Table Talk, the annual fundraiser hosted by the UH Women’s
Studies Program, March 3, 2009.
Invited panelist, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, (delivered remarks about the
book and the staged excerpt), a program produced by the Ensemble Theater, The Strand
Theatre, and Galveston County Reads, Galveston, January 13, 2008.
“Beacon Hill,” featured short story writer, presented to teachers participating in Common
Ground Teachers Institute, at UH Honors College, July 14, 2004.
“Storytelling Men and Voiceless Women in August Wilson’s Jitney,” presented at the
Alley Theater’s “Between the Lines” series for high school teachers, Houston, Texas,
February 19, 2002.
“Ancestral Voices: Monologue from Just A Little Mark,” featured performing artist,
Houston Teacher’s Institute, University of Houston, April 3, 2001.
“Lessons to Die For” and “Madame C. J. Walker: I Got My Start by Giving Myself a
Start,” featured performing artist, NEH-UH funded Common Ground Project, University
of Houston, June 24, 1998.
31
“Black Women Playwrights and Their Vision,” lecture, NEH-UH funded Common
Ground Project, University of Houston, June 12, 1996.
“Ancestral Voices: A Performance Piece,” featured performing artist, NEH-UH funded
Common Ground Project, University of Houston, June 18, 1996.
“Rewarding Good Teaching,” presented at the University of Houston HFAC College
Retreat, September 30, 1994.
“The Unusual, the Unlikely, and the Unexpected in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes
Were Watching God,” invited presenter at a UH Honors College forum, April 25, l994.
“Black Women Playwrights: Their Place on the American Stage,” presenter and
discussion leader at the “UH Honors College Great Conversation” (fundraiser), Houston
Country Club, April 5, 1994.
“Recurrent Themes in African-American Literature,” lecture, NEH-UH funded Common
Ground Project, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, June 1990.
“Bayou Relics,” “Snapshots of Broken Dolls, and “Mam Phyllis,” featured performing
artists, "International Recital: A Cross Cultural Encounter," sponsored by Hispanic and
Classical Languages Department, Dudley Recital Hall, University of Houston, March 10,
1989.
“Early Plays by Black Women: Recovering the Heart of the Harlem Renaissance,”
presented at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Philological Association, Long Beach,
Mississippi, January 30-31,1987.
“The Progressive Pig,” a short story, presented at Borsodi's Coffeehouse, New Orleans,
Louisiana, March 1985.
SERVICE
AWARDS/HONORS
2005-2006: President, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (UH Chapter 54)
2004-2005: President-Elect, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (UH Chapter 54)
2003-2007: Elected to a five-year term to serve on the Modern Language Association’s
Executive Committee of the Black American Literature and Culture Division
1992-1995: Elected to a five-year term to serve on the Modern Language Association’s
Executive Committee of Women's Studies Languages and Literature Division.
32
1995: Outstanding Service Award presented by the UH Council of Ethnic Organizations
1995: President of the South Central Modern Language Association
1994: Vice President of the South Central Modern Language Association
HONOR SOCIETIES
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society
Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI)
College Language Association (CLA)
South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
American Literature Association (ALA)
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)—Women in Theatre Program
Focus Group; Black Theatre Association Focus Group; Playwrights and Creative
Teams (PACT) Focus Group; Performance Studies Focus Group
American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR)
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. (ASAALH)
Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD)
Black Theatre Network (BTN)
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)
Black European Studies in Transnational Perspectives (BEST)
African Literature Association (ALA)
Caribbean Studies Association (CSA)
Dramatist Guild (DG)
International Women’s Writers Guild (IWWG)
Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)
Playwrights Forum
Theatre Communications Group (TCG)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
National
External Reviewer for Visual and Fine Arts programs at Chicago State University, 2012.
External Reviewer for undergraduate and graduate degree program in English at Florida
A&M University, 2012.
Outside promotion and tenure evaluator for Louisiana State University’s Department of
English, 2008.
Reviewer, Texas Tech University Press, 2007.
33
Executive Committee Member, MLA, Black American Literature and Culture Division,
2003-2007.
Fall 2005: Juror for FY2006 Artists Fellowship Program sponsored by the Illinois Arts
Council (IAC)
2004-2005: Selected as a specialist on playwright Suzan-Lori Parks for a series titled
“Contemporary American Playwrights,” which was produced by the Modern Language
Association’s What’s the Word? (The interview was taped on May 10, 2004 and aired on
NPR in Spring 2005.)
Chair, Darwin T. Turner (best essay) Award, sponsored by the African American Review
(the premiere journal for African American Literature scholars), 2003.
Reviewer, Social Sciences Quarterly, 2003.
Advisory Board Member, The Project on the History of Black Writing, University of
Kansas, 2000-2003.
Evaluator, National Endowment for the Humanities Education Projects, December 1999.
Consultant, NEH-funded American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC)
“Exploring America's Communities: In Quest of Common Ground” project, 1996-1997.
Reviewer, National Textbook Company (NTC), 1996.
Senior Judge, national playwriting contest sponsored by the College Language
Association, 1996.
Evaluator, National Endowment for the Humanities Higher Education Projects, May
1994.
Evaluator, National Endowment for the Humanities Media Projects, May 1993.
Executive Committee, MLA Delegate Assembly, MLA's Women's Studies, Languages
and Literature Division, 1992-1995.
Reviewer, Greenwood Press, 1991-1992.
Executive Committee Member, Women's Caucus of MLA, 1990-1992.
Chair, The Florence Howe Award, a contest sponsored by the Women’s Caucus of MLA,
1990.
34
Consultant, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), American Association for
Community Colleges (AACC), Community Colleges Humanities Association (CCHA),
Theta Kappa International Honor Society, 1996-1997.
Editorial Board Member, Carlson Publishing Company, 1994, Black Women in America:
An Historical Encyclopedia, (a two-volume project).
Editorial Board Member, Collegiate Press, 1999, 1998, 1992, A Turbulent Voyage:
Readings in African American Studies.
Regional
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s African Literatures Session,
forthcoming in 2012.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s African/African American
Literature Session, 2009.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Gender and Race in Twentieth
Century Literature Session, 2008
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s African/African-American
Literature Session, 2008.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women of Color Session, 2007.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s Gender and Race in Twentieth
Century Literature Session, 2007
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women’s Caucus Session and
Women’s Caucus Breakfast, 2005.
Nominating/Screening Committee member for the election of SCMLA officers and
representatives, 2004.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women’s Caucus Session and
Women’s Caucus Breakfast, 2004.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women of Color Session, 2004.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s African/African-American
Literature Session, 2003.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women of Color Session,
2003.
35
Acting Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women of Color Session,
2002.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s African/African American
Literature Session, 2002.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Modern Drama Session, 2001.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women of Color Session, 1998.
President, South Central Modern Language Association, 1995.
Vice President, South Central Modern Language Association, 1994.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s African/African American
Literature Session, 1993.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Special Session: “Women of
Color: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Twentieth Century Literature,” 1992.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association's African/African American
Literature Session, 1992.
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s Special Session: "Women of
Color: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Twentieth Century Literature, 1991.
Chair, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women’s Caucus, 1990 (arranged
Women’s Caucus panel of scholars, Women’s Caucus Forum, and Women’s Caucus
Breakfast with keynote speaker, bell hooks).
Secretary, South Central Modern Language Association’s Women’s Caucus, 1989-1990.
Chair, Special Session: “Women of Color: Mother Daughter Relationships in TwentiethCentury Literature,” South Central modern Language Association, 1987 (conceived and
organized this session).
Local
Consultant, DeBakey High School for Health Professions (winner of an Annenberg A+
Challenge Grant to infuse Fine Arts in DeBakey’s curriculum), 2004-2009.
Judge, University Interscholastic League (a certified one-act play adjudicator for the state
of Texas), 1994-1996.
Evaluator, Cultural Arts Council of Houston (CACH), 1994-l995.
Theater critic, Houston’s Public News, 1993-l994.
36
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Texas Southern University—See description listed earlier for achievements since 2009
as Associate Provost/Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs
University of Houston (twenty-one years of employment, 1988-2009)
Special Service Honor
Participant, UH $5 Million Image Campaign. Featured in the UH Office of University
Advancement/Media Relations’ “Round Table,” a television commercial designed by
Wendy Adair, to enhance the image of the university. The commercial was filmed on
October 20, aired in November 2001, and ran for 18 months. The commercial may be
viewed at http://www.class.uh.edu/english/EnglishDept/Elizabeth_Brown-Guillory.html.
Campus-wide Service
Black Leadership Network—a coalition of African American faculty and staff who work
to support the mission of the University.
Planning Committee Member and Honorary Chair of “The Event”—A College
Readiness Conference, Fall 2008/Spring 2009
Committee Member:
Office of the President (at UH):
Accompanied Dr. Renu Khator to a VIP meet/greet with Dr. Maya Angelou, Hobby
Center, January 31, 2009
Dr. Khator’s Investiture—2008:
Roles played:
(1) President’s/Chancellor’s Investiture Planning Committee, Summer/Fall 2008
(2) Organized and moderated “Defining Moments in the Lives of Ordinary People
taking on Extraordinary Challenges” (arranged for high profile business and
professional leaders to participate on this panel with UH faculty, which included
Dr. Khator), Summer/Fall 2008
(3) Organized and moderated “Inspiring Creative Artists: An Arts Town Hall
Showcasing UH Faculty and the Houston Arts Community” (arranged for over 25
of Houston’s top artists and arts institutions to join this forum), Summer/Fall/2008
(4) Co-Grand Marshal for Investiture Ceremony, Fall 2008
Presidential appointment to the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI) Faculty Advisory
Board, 2002-present
37
“Conversations at the Wortham House” series, invited guest, April 26, 2006
President’s/Chancellor’s Inauguration Planning Committee, 2004
Houston Teacher’s Institute (HTI) Search Committee for a Director, 2004 and 2006
President’s Commencement Committee, spring 2003
President’s UH Honorary Degree Advisory Committee, spring 2002
President’s Commission on the Status of Women, 1999-2002
President’s Legislative Relations Committee, 1990-1991
President’s Search Committee for Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs,
1991
Office of the Provost at UH:
Selected (one of eight faculty chosen by the Office of the Provost and Alumni Office) to
deliver a lecture to alums during the first Annual Alumni College Weekend, May 20,
2006.
Provost’s Ad Hoc Committee for Recruitment and Retention of Women and Minority
Faculty, 1998-2003
Provost’s Task Force to Revise Academic Honesty Policies/Procedures, spring 2001
Undergraduate Council, 2000-2001
Associate Provost’s Committee to Recruit Highly Qualified Students, 2000-2001
Associate Provost’s Search Committee for an Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate
Studies, 2000
Provost’s Search Committee for Dean of the College of Social Sciences, 1999-2000
Provost’s Ad Hoc Committee for the Institutionally Designated Option, 1998
Associate Provost’s Moores University Scholars Review Committee, 1996
“Committee of Inquiry,” appointed by Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Faculty
Affairs, 1996
Provost’s UH Writing Proficiency Examination Committee, 1996
Provost’s Celebrating Diversity Planning Committee, 1991-1993
38
Provost’s Search Committee for Women’s Studies Director, 1991
COLLEGE
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (formerly HFAC/SOS at UH))
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) Co-Faculty Marshal (including
delivering the invocation), Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008,
Fall 2008, Spring 2009
Member, Faculty Senate, elected for a three-year term, December 2005-December 2008
Member, CLASS Ad Hoc Committee for the Selection of Student Speakers for
Commencement, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008,
Fall 2008, Spring 2009
Member, CLASS Teaching Excellence Award Committee, Spring 2006
Member, Search Committee for School of Theatre dance faculty, Spring 2004
Member, CLASS Religious Studies Meeting Group, 2000-2002
Associate Dean of CLASS, 2000-2001
Chair, Search Committee for the Director for African American Studies Program, 20002001
Member, HFAC Faculty Council, 1999-2000
Member, African American Studies Program Post-doctoral Search Committee, 1999 and
2001
Member, Women's Studies Advisory Board, 1992-1995
Member, Faculty Senate 1991-1993 (representing HFAC)
Director, African American Studies, 1990-1991
DEPARTMENT (at UH)
Committee Member:
English Department Elections, Rules, and Grievance Committee, 2005-2006
English Department Martha Gano Houstoun Committee, 2003-2004, Fall 2004
39
English Department Personnel Committee, 1989-1991, 1992-1994, 1995-1997, 19982000, Spring 2002, 2006-2008
English Department Planning Committee, 1991-1993, 1994-1996, 1998-2000, 2006-2008
English Department Recruitment Subcommittee of Planning, 1989-2000, 2001-2002,
2006-2007, 2007-2008
English Department Graduate Studies Committee, 1992-1994, 2001-2002
English Department Upper Division Studies Committee, 1988-1996, 2002-2004, 20052006
English Department Speaker and Colloquium Committee Chair, 2001-2002
English Department Library Committee, 1988-1994, 2004-2005, 2008-2009
COMMUNITY (selected)
Invited radio guest on local NPR, 88.7 KUFT, for the Martin Luther King Celebration. I
commented on Dr. King’s legacy and performed excerpts from a personal essay, January
19, 2009.
“MLK’s Blueprint for Change in ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail,’” Featured in a UH
Martin Luther King Celebration Program which was pre-recorded and simulcast on the
UH campus in the University Center’s Houston Room during the inauguration of
President Obama, Jan. 20, 2009.
Featured on KHOU-TV, a CBS affiliate, 10:00 p.m. news on October 27, 2008. Served
as expert on blackface minstrelsy, a special on the history of blackface minstrelsy and its
impact on the current resurgence of blackface costumes, Oct. 27, 2008.
Interviewer and moderator of a Q&A with Black British novelist Zadie Smith, Cullen
Theater at Wortham Center (hosted by Inprint, Inc.), Houston, September 17, 2006.
Playwright/Director/Producer of six of my plays—A Little Diversion, The Break of Day,
La Bakair, Saving Grace, Missing Sister, Just A Little Mark—for Houston Metropolitan
Area Schools, 1993-2005.
Interviewer and moderator of a Q&A with American novelist Alice Walker, at Texas
Southern University, (sponsored by Brazos Bookstore, Inprint, Inc., and TSU), Houston,
April 12, 2004.
Television Interview, Channel 26, Houston Teachers Institute, April 22, 2003.
Judge, annual speech competitions at St. Peter's Catholic School, Houston, 1989-1998.
40
Keynote Speaker/Performing Artist, at the annual Mother-Daughter Banquet, Our Mother
of Mercy Church, Rayne, Louisiana, May 10, 1997.
Keynote Speaker, “Choosing a Career that Fosters Self-worth,” Knights of Columbus
Scholarship Awards Night, Houston, Texas, July 11, 1996.
Television Interview, Channel 11 (CBS affiliate) and the Houston Post in January 1995
regarding the censorship of Ernest Gaines' The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by
Conroe ISD administrators.
Radio Interview, KYOK (a fifty-minute interview with Ed Shannon), aired live on
November l5, 1993.
Symposium Panelist, “The History of the African-American in the American Catholic
Church,” St. Peter's Catholic Church, Houston, Texas, March 20, 1993.
Director, “Writing the Winning Essay” workshop for Top Teens of America, November
21, 1992, Texas Southern University (Humble-Intercontinental Chapter).
Keynote Speaker/Performing Artist, Black Heritage Festival (sponsored by Delta
Sorority), Houston, Texas, February 7, 1992.
Keynote Speaker, “Remembering Martin Luther King: His Vision Continues to
Remember Us,” Houston Metropolitan Ministries, South Main Baptist Church, January
21, 1991.
Radio Interview, KLTR (73.7), February 18, 1990 (a thirty-minute feature interview).
Television Interview, Channel 11, Steve Smith’s Morning, aired February 25, 1990.
Radio Interview, KPFT (featured along with playwright Thomas Melancon), aired
October 26, 1990.
Television Interview, Channel 8, Video Workshop, aired January 7, 1990.
Featured Author, book-signing event hosted by Nia’s Art Gallery and Bookstore on July
22, 1989.
Keynote Speaker, “Choosing a Career: A Message of Hope,” “Life’s Choices: A Clinic
for Debutantes,” Rayne Chamber of Commerce, Rayne, Louisiana, March 4, 1989.
Coordinator, visits from Yates High School honor students, Spring 1989.
PROFESSIONAL LISTINGS
Dictionary of International Biography, 35th Edition, 2009
41
Who’s Who in Black Houston, 2007, 2009
Contemporary African American Female Playwrights, 1998
Who’s Who Among Americans in Education, 1996
Who’s Who Among African Americans, 1994, 2004
International Women Playwrights, 1993
Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, 1993
International Who's Who of Professional and Business Women, 1989
500 Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays,
1988
References provided upon request