English Faculty and Staff
Dr. Patrick S. Allen
Assistant Professor of English Literature
allenp@etown.edu
Patrick Allen teaches courses in American literatures and cultures. He specializes in African American literatures, multiethnic American literatures, critical race studies, Black feminisms, medical and health humanities, and graphic medicine. He has published on nineteenth-century Black medical women’s writing as well as forced sterilization in the context of Toni Morrison’s novel Home. Dr. Allen currently serves as Vice President of Organizational Matters for the Society for the Study of American Women Writers. He holds a Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University.
Erica M. Dolson
Lecturer in English
Director of the English Creative Writing Program
dolsone@etown.edu | 717-361-1231
Erica M. Dolson teaches courses in first-year writing, professional writing, and writing about illness and disability. She also teaches a First-Year Seminar on creative nonfiction. She earned her M.F.A in Creative Writing (Creative Nonfiction) from George Mason University and her B.A. from Villanova University. Prior to entering her graduate program, she worked as a newspaper reporter in Central Pennsylvania. Her creative nonfiction has been published on Culinate.com and in Full-Stop, Critical Read, and borrowed solace.
Dr. Tara Moore
Associate Professor of English
Director of the English Professional Writing and First Year Writing Program
mooret@etown.edu | 717-361-1250
Tara Moore teaches courses on technical writing, web writing, Young Adult literature, and composition. Her research interests currently include representations of girls and dystopian young adult novels. She has published two books about the culture of Christmas, both past and present. Dr. Moore received her Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.
Dr. Suzanne E. Webster
Professor of English (Ralph W. Schlosser Endowed Chair)
Director of the English Literature Program
websterse@etown.edu | 717-361-1235
Professor Webster holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Sheffield, and an MPhil and DPhil in English from the University of Oxford. Most of her research focusses upon British Romantic literature (1770–1835), especially the private notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, upon which she has published a monograph, a book chapter, and several articles. Her other research interests include poetics and ecocritical theory—the topics of a recently completed collaborative project that applies an original, ecologically informed understanding of “the pastoral” to British Romantic poetry. This innovative work combines her skills and specialisations with those of an accomplished Etown alumna, an English / Environmental Science Double Major who has just gained a PhD in Ecology at Penn State.
Dr Webster’s research interests directly inform the courses that she teaches at our College. In addition to delivering classes in British Romanticism, she offers survey courses on British Literature of 1660 to the present day; a Creative Writing class (“Poetry and Poetics”); and an Environmental Humanities course that explores literature and art about nature, the environment, and sustainability. Engaging with her students in the classroom is Dr Webster’s favourite aspect of being a professor, and she has been recognised for excellence in teaching by both Etown and the University of Pennsylvania (where she taught as an adjunct from 2000–2003).
Dr Webster is from Liverpool in England, UK. She has lived in the USA since 1999, and in 2016 she became a UK/USA Dual Citizen. She enjoys hiking, travel, music, art, and spending time with her family and friends.
Adjunct & Affiliated Faculty
Jill Coste
Adjunct Faculty
costej@etown.edu
Jill Coste has been teaching first-year writing since 2012, when she worked as an instructor at San Diego State University while completing her MA in English. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida, where she taught numerous classes in composition and literature. Her research focuses on children's and young adult literature, with particular analysis of adolescent agency in dystopian fiction and fairy tale retellings (which has left her with more opinions about Sleeping Beauty than she ever imagined). Dr. Coste brings that same attention to agency to her writing courses, encouraging students to recognize the power and potential of their own words.
Suzanne Biever-Grodzinski
Adjunct Faculty
bievergrodzinskis@etown.edu
Suzanne Biever-Grodzinski received her MFA in Fiction Writing from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She is also currently working on her dissertation for her English Ph.D. through Temple University. Her interests include the Long 18th Century of British Literature and the medical humanities, specifically studying texts from the late medieval through Renaissance periods focusing on women’s health and bodies. She has taught various courses at Elizabethtown College, from first-year writing, to grammar, to British Literature. In addition to presenting students with new ways of looking at literature and approaching texts, Professor Biever-Grodzinski always looks to provide students with examples and experiences of “real-life” applications of material discussed in class, particularly within the digital humanities. In previous courses, she has worked with students to create a digital StoryCorps archive at Elizabethtown College. Her creative writing publications include “The Blue Man” in Out of Print Magazine (Vol. 11). Her short story “60 Seconds” was a finalist in the Central PA Magazine Writing Contest, and other publications have been featured in Central PA Magazine and First Choice Magazine.
Dr. John Rohrkemper
Distinguished Professor of English
rohrkemj@etown.edu | 717-361-1229
John Rohrkemper teaches American and modern literature and writing with particular interest in the writing of Mark Twain, Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Toni Morrison He also teaches playwriting, has written and produced several plays, and often acts in local theatre productions. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.
Curtis Smith
Assistant Director of Academic Advising
smithcurtis@etown.edu
Curtis Smith serves as Elizabethtown College's Assistant Director of Academic Advising. He also teaches sections of first-year composition, first-year seminar, and creative writing. He earned his MFA in Fiction from Vermont College, and before coming to Elizabethtown, he taught in a local high school for thirty-three years. He's published over one hundred stories and essays, and his work has been cited by or included in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Spiritual Writing, The Best Short Fictions, The Best Microfictions, and the WW Norton anthology New Micro. He has worked with independent presses to publish five story collections, five novels, two essay collections, and one book of creative nonfiction. His latest novel, The Magpie's Return, was selected by Kirkus as one of the best Indie releases of 2020.
