PH.D. STUDENTS Retun to the Menu   Andrew Armond , Ph.D. Student Andrew Armond received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1999. At LA Tech, he majored in Music and English and minored in French. In May of 2002 he earned his Master’s degree from Baylor. His thesis was titled “Postmodern Opportunists: Literary and Theological Responses to Postmodern Critical Theory” and explored the ways in which current religious writers’ works might implicitly engage the postmodern theoretical project. His primary literary pursuit is Religion and Literature, specifically spiritual autobiography and conversion narratives; he is also interested in the religious beliefs of the British Modernists. He also likes to explore film as narrative (again, specifically conversion narrative) and religious epiphany in film and popular media. His dissertation, hopefully, will amazingly and brilliantly combine all of the above interests into a coherent whole. Andrew enjoys using music as a diversion from the rigors of the academic life. He is a pianist foremost but also enjoys playing other musical instruments such as the organ and the guitar. Andrew’s eventual career goal is to earn a livelihood teaching literature and/or religion in a non-subtropical clime. Di Gan Blackburn, Ph.D Student Di Gan got her BA in English from Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute in 1995. She then finished her MA in American Studies at Baylor University in 1997. She is currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation on the presentation of Christianity in contemporary Asian American fiction. She is married to Marcelo Marlow Blackburn, and they live in New Haven, CT. Mark Buechsel, Ph.D. Student A dual citizen of both Germany and the U.S. from birth, Mark Buechsel, at the age of seventeen, left his native German hills for Chicago, where he first graduated from high school and then from Northern Illinois University (in 1998) with German as his major and English as his minor. While obtaining his master’s degree in German literature at Washington University in the beautfiul city of Saint Louis, Mark realized that since he planned to spend the rest of his life in America, studying American rather than German literature would make it easier for him to feel at home and feel acculturated in his new homeland. Thus, after obtaining his masters (in 2000) and spending an interim year at the University of Missouri, Mark enrolled in the English PhD program at Baylor University in the fall of 2001. Though he has a special love for the Midwest with its familiar accent, wide-open vistas of corn, snowy winters and history-rich rust belt cities, and though he wants to specialize in Midwestern literature (of the 1920's and '30s), he was drawn to Waco, Texas, because of Baylor's special Religion and Literature program, which is allowing him to deepen his understanding of the interrelation between literature and theology/church history. In his dissertation, Mark hopes to address theological issues in the writings of such early-twentieth-century Midwestern authors as Sherwood Anderson, Ruth Suckow, Floyd Dell and Sinclair Lewis. Mark's hobbies include biking, hiking (a legacy of growing up in the beautiful Central German hill country), singing, and doing nothing at all (preferably in the company of friends who also like doing nothing at all). Unfortunately, these days he rarely gets to do nothing. Shelley Bundren, Ph.D Student Shelley Bundren is a Ph.D. student specializing in Victorian literature. She has presented conference papers on Victorian issues, African-American literature, and popular culture. Her interests include classical guitar and painting. She volunteers at the local animal shelter. Peter Epps , Ph.D. Student Peter Epps completed his B.A. at The Master's College in Santa Clarita, California, after filling a three-year academic hiatus with full-time work in sales and consulting. A pastor's son virtually reared in front of a crowd, Peter thoroughly enjoys teaching in the classroom as well as working with individual students who take the initiative to excel. He is pursuing the Ph.D. in English with an interdisciplinary concentration in Religion and Literature, giving special attention to the interaction between aesthetics and epistemology in popular fiction and in poetry. Given his fondness for both Brownings, Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Poe, Conrad, and Charlotte Bronte, among others, Peter's studies have naturally gravitated to the 19th Century. British poetry of all periods, however, has a special attraction for him: Donne, Herbert, Spenser, Pope, and T. S. Eliot all vie for attention with Milton; indeed, epics from the Enuma Elish to Beowulf and beyond are lasting favorites. As a writer with several poems published in the small press and regional literary journals, Peter tries to fit in time for sonnets alongside his teaching and research duties. He also stores away ideas for future attempts at "the great American novel" as well as the Holy Grail of poets--an epic. His M.A. thesis examines the transformation of Resurrection hope into horror in the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. URL: http://www3.baylor.edu/~Peter_Epps Anne Ford, Ph.D. Student Visit her Personal Web Page. Evan Getz, Ph.D. Student Evan Getz has followed a longish road to Ph. D. studies in English at Baylor.  Although he fell in love with poetry during his high school years, he was drawn away by the seduction of philosophy as an undergrad by a colorful Greek professor of Aristotle, Dr. Georgios Anagnostopolous.  Having completed his B.A. at the University of California, San Diego, Evan pursued a career as a software engineer in San Diego during the '90's economic boom.  Evan's satisfaction with the world of high dollars and computer screens waned quickly, and so he applied to the philosophy program at Baylor.  He was particularly taken with Baylor's commitment to a Christian worldview. At Baylor, Evan completed his M. A. in philosophy after two years, focussing especially on Medieval philosophy with Dr. Carl Vaught. His first critical paper investigated the Platonic Forms in light of  Socrates' paradoxical gold bar analogy.  His second critical paper applied the neo-Augustinian epistemology of the Hungarian expatriate Michael Polanyi to the ongoing problem of defining art.  Now a convert to the English program, Evan is actively integrating his background in philosophy with literature by concentrating on studies in religion and literature.  The interdisciplinary emphasis of the Religion and Literature concentration is ideally suited to his preparation, giving him the freedom to synthesize and explore connections between philosophy, theology, and literature.  He recently finished a paper connecting Geoffrey Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale to the Book of Ecclesiastes and the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard.   Currently, Evan is also a research assistant for Dr. Philip Donnelly, Baylor's resident Miltonist. Neil Johnston, Ph.D. Student Accepted to Baylor in the fall of 2002, Neil Johnston is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Literature and Religion.  He received his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1981 and his B.A. from Johnson State College, VT, in 1976.  Having served as a pastor in the northeast for eighteen years, he has been drawn back to academic pursuits to prepare for teaching in a Christian college or university.  Originally from Vermont, Neil has managed to spend time in Germany, Uganda, and Zambia, and, in so doing, has developed an avid interest in travel and cross-cultural experiences.  His particular literary and theological interests are in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with a keen enjoyment of Dostoyevsky for an added dimension. Helen Lasseter , Ph.D. Student Helen Lasseter is in the final stages of the Ph.D. program. Originally, she came to Baylor with the intention of pursuing her interest in 20th century southern American literature, but after studying at Baylor for a year or so, she realized she was interested in a broader scope of literary study. Helen is particularly interested in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien both for what it contains in itself, but also as a contrast to other works of the mid-20th century both in England and America. She also sees there are many aspects of his works which are worthy of academic pursuit. She intends to write her dissertation on Tolkien's fiction under the direction of Ralph Wood. Helen graduated with a B. A. in political philosophy and a Master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Dallas, a Catholic liberal arts university. She has spent two summers (and hopefully more summers in the future) working with the University of Dallas' high school program, "Shakespeare in Italy." Helen is a Roman Catholic and her interests are in spending time with her family and friends, traveling to new places, and writing for her own amusement. Joshua Merrill, Ph.D. Student Joshua Merrill is a first-year Ph.D. student at Baylor University. His master's work was completed at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Despite an array of interests in literature, Joshua has decided to concentrate his doctoral studies either on modern Anglo-Irish literature or on the poetry of Robert Browning. He has presented papers at various conferences on the language of the modern dramatist Martin McDonagh and on the incorporation of aesthetic theory into the college composition classroom. In his leisure time, Joshua enjoys traveling with his wife to Europe, studying Baroque art and architecture, and playing soccer.  Philip Mitchell , Ph.D. Student Philip Mitchell is assistant professor of English at Dallas Baptist University where he teaches a variety of survey courses in British, American, and World literature. He holds the Master of Arts in English from Baylor University and the Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently ABD. His research interests include eighteenth-century studies and religion and literature. He is married to Kristin Stark Mitchell. They have two children, Noelle, who will be three in December of 2002, and Grace, who will show her face in the world in early February of 2003. Philip lives in Cleburne, TX, south of Ft.Worth and an hour from work. As a result, he has been listening to a LARGE number of books on tape and is a certified NPR-head. Hadley Mozer, Ph.D. Student Rebecca Munro, Ph.D. Student I completed both the BA and MA degrees at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Baylor's reputation as a private Christian liberal arts university brought me here, along with the offer of a teaching position. I have been at Baylor as a student and teacher since 1997 and am now in the later stages of my dissertation, which addresses philosophical, narratological, and rhetorical problems in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. I am majoring in Seventeenth Century literature with minors in Sixteenth Century and Medieval literature, and my emphasis is Shakespeare. My interests and goals are to teach at a Christian liberal arts university as both a specialist in my areas and a generalist. I feel my experience at Baylor, professionally and academically, has helped and is helping to prepare me to teach at such a university. I have also gained lifetime friendships as a graduate student at Baylor and have become a part of a dynamic and congenial graduate community. Jennifer Newton , Ph.D. Student Although Flower Mound, TX, is her hometown, Jennifer Newton now considers Waco to be “home” after having lived here for over 5 years while attending Baylor. In 1997, Jennifer received her B.A. in English from LeTourneau University in Longview, TX. Then, in 1999 she completed her M.A. in English at Baylor with a thesis exploring the journey narratives of C. S. Lewis’s fiction. Currently in the last stages of her Ph.D. work at Baylor, Jennifer is focusing on seventeenth century metaphysical and devotional poetry, with a dissertation to concentrate on specific biblical themes in George Herbert’s poems. Jennifer also teaches freshman composition in the English department at Baylor and is actively involved in the English Graduate Student Association (EGSA), as well as Baylor’s Graduate Christian Fellowship and Fellowship Bible Church of Waco. When she’s not running frantically around the English department pursuing academic interests, Jennifer enjoys listening to jazz and swing music, following Major League Baseball, playing board games or cards with friends, watching classic films, participating in Bible study and lively theological discussions, practicing the piano (a recent hobby), and convincing folks that being a Trekkie isn’t so bad after all. Please visit her personal web page. http://www3.baylor.edu/~Jennifer_Newton   Rebecca Reynolds , Ph.D. Student Rebecca just started her first year in the Ph.D. program at Baylor. Her main area of interest right now is Medieval Literature, but her interests are so eclectic that this could change tomorrow. She comes to Waco from Richmond, Kentucky, where she earned her Masters in English Literature and Language Studies, and then later became first an Adjunct Instructor and then a Visiting Instructor at Eastern Kentucky University. After she earns her degree at Baylor, she plans to return to a cooler climate and find a permanent teaching position. Joyce Spivey, Ph.D. Student Joyce received the B.A. from Angelo State University and the M.A. from Tarleton State University. She is interested in the application of modern critical theory to Medieval literature, with a special interest in Bakhtin. Brenda Welch, Ph.D. Student Brenda has a B.A. degree from Stephen F. Austin State University, an M.B.A. degree from Baylor, and a J.D. degree from Baylor School of Law. Though not currently practicing law, she still takes pride in being a member of the Texas State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the College of the State Bar of Texas. Brenda is also interested in the Victorian period, particularly in the social and legal issues associated with the Women's Movement and the effects the Women's Movement had on Braddon, Dante Rossetti, Meredith, Millais, and Brown. Brenda is delighted to return to Baylor and intends the Ph.D. degree to further her interest in the interdisciplinary study of law and English.