Vita

Dr. Ross came to Penn State Harrisburg in 1995 after teaching for three years at the Penn State Mont Alto campus. Her specialties are American literature and culture, American women writers and their works, and ethnic literature. She regularly teaches courses in those areas and chairs Masters' theses in American Studies and Humanities.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in English, Purdue University; Specialization: American Literature
• Master of Science in Education, Purdue University; Specialization: English
• Bachelor of Arts, English, Purdue University; Major: English

Research Areas

• American literature
• American Studies
• American women writers
• Detective fiction
• Ethnic literature
• Popular culture

Selected Publications

• "Louisa May Alcott's (Con)Temporary Fiction": The Journal of Popular Culture. 38 (5): 911-923.
• "The Iconography of Popular Culture in Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find.'" Notes on Contemporary Literature. 27 (1): 7-10.
• "(Re)writing History: Catharine Maria Sedgwick and the Frontier Romance." College Language Association Journal. 39(3): 320-40.
• "Anna Katharine Green's Experiment with Feminism." The Mid-Atlantic Almanack. 3): 40-54.
• "The First Feminist Detective: Anna Katharine Green's Amelia Butterworth." The Journal of Popular Culture. 25(2): 77-86.
• "Nineteenth-Century American Feminist Humor: Marietta Holley's 'Samantha Novels'" The Journal of the Mid-West Modern Language Association. 22: 12-29.

She is currently writing an article on Pauline Hopkins, whose magazine novels have been collected and published in the Schomberg Center's Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers' Series.

Teaching Awards

• Campus-wide Excellence in Teaching Award, Penn State Harrisburg Campus, 2003.
• Campus-Wide Excellence in Teaching Award, Finalist, Penn State Mont Alto, 1995.
• Excellence in Teaching Awards, Department of English, Purdue University, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987.

Scholarly and Professional Awards

• Jane Bakerman Award for the best published feminist essay on American Culture/Popular Culture, Women's Caucus for Popular Culture of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.
• Kathleen Gregory Klein Award for the best unpublished feminist essay on American Culture/Popular Culture, Women's Caucus for Popular Culture of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.
• Outstanding Service Award for contributions to the American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association

Selected Offices Held in Scholarly Organizations

• Vice-President, National Popular Culture Association
• Area Chair, Cultural Conflict and Women, American Culture/Popular Culture Association
• Governing Executive Board Member, National American Culture Association
• Governing Executive Board Member, National Popular Culture Association
• President, Mid-Atlantic American Culture/ Popular Culture Association.
• Director, English and American Literature, Northeast Modern Language Association