Professor of English, Director of Composition

• Office: Sitterly House 306
• Campus Extension: 3499
• Email: sjamieso@drew.edu
• Personal Web Page: users.drew.edu/~sjamieso/
• Composition Program website:  http://www.depts.drew.edu/composition/

Arrived at Drew: 1993 (previously at Colgate University)

Areas of Specialization: Composition theory and pedagogy; creative non-fiction (magazine articles and travel writing); contemporary American authors and Ethnic-American authors; critical theory.

Courses regularly taught: CLA:  English 1/ Writing; English 1-A/ Introduction to Academic Writing; English 2/ Research Writing; English 4/Writing in the Discipline of English; English 104/ Non-Fiction Articles; English 103/ The Personal Essay; English 9/ Literary Analysis; English 32/ Literature and Gender; English 7/ Western Literature.  GRAD: Engl. 850S/ Theory and Practice of Composition; ENGLG  823/ Fragmented Narrative in American Fiction; ARLET 950/ The Art of the Essay; ARLET 905/Travel Writing.

Teaching and service awards: Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Will Herberg Distinguished Professor Award, 2004; New Jersey State Educational Opportunity Fund Champion Award, 2003; Drew University Alpha Phi Omega Faculty Service Award, 2001; Drew University Student Life Faculty Recognition Award for Contribution to Co-Curricular Life, 1999.

Co-curricular activities:  Faculty advisor for the Drew Honduras Project, and previous co-advisor of Circle K (with Jill Cermele,  Psychology). In January 2001 I co-directed a Drew International Seminar to Puerto Rico and Cuba. In January 2007 and 2008 I co-directed a Drew International Seminar to Argentina. I'm also on the advisory board of the Drew Magazine and the online journal, Cerebration, and serve on numerous committees.

Professional activities:  In Fall 2007 I was elected to a three year term on the College Composition and Communication (CCC) executive board. In spring 2007 I was appointed chair of the CCC Committee on the Major in Composition and Rhetooric.  I was co-chair of Drew's chapter of AAUP (American Association of University Professors), 1999-2001; was secretary to the New Jersey Conference of the AAUP, 2000 to 2004; and currently serve on the New Jersey Conference Executive Board. In March 2003, I was local chair of the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), a four day conference held in New York City.

Recent Publications: Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum, with Linda Shamoon, Rebecca Moore Howard, and Robert Schwegler (Heinemann, 2000), Winner of the WPA Best Book Award for 2000-2001;  The Bedford Guide to Teaching Writing in the Disciplines: An Instructor's Desk Reference, with Rebecca Moore Howard (Bedford Books, 1995), and essays on composition and culture in books published by Oxford University Press, Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, NCTE, MLA, and Greenwood Press.

Points of interest:  I'm working on a guide for new teachers of writing (First Do No Harm: Essential Questions for Those Who Teach Writing), a book of composition theory, and an argument textbook. I am a consultant to other colleges developing writing across the curriculum programs, advanced writing programs (creative and creative non-fiction), and more sophisticated plagiarism policies.   When I'm not teaching, writing, or talking to students, I like to cook, garden, and hang out with my cats.

On teaching:   "No matter which course I'm teaching, I want my students to learn to think critically, read effectively, and write beautifully. I hope they will learn to think about what they read and write from multiple perspectives, using a variety of theoretical frameworks. And I hope they'll make connections between my classes and things they've learned elsewhere. But most of all, I want them to enjoy reading and writing. If they don't do that in my classes, I don't feel I have succeeded.  If I ever fail to learn something along the way I will know I didn't teach a good class."