Gwendolyn Diaz, Ph.D.

ELL Graduate Director
Education: B.A., Spanish and French, Baylor University
M.A., Spanish and Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., Spanish, University of Texas at Austin
Office: CT 406; 431-2007
Email: gdiaz@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Diaz, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, teaches World Literature and Literary Theory and serves as director of the Graduate English Literature and Language program. She is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese and publishes in both Spanish and English. She has published several books and articles on Argentina women writers, Latin American literature, literary theory, U.S. Latino literature, and works by Sandra Cisneros, Cristina Garcia and others. She is co-founder and director of the Latina Letters Conference and Las Americas Letters Series in Literature and the Arts. Her awards include a Fulbright Award, a Carnegie Mellon Fellowship, the St. Mary’s Unviversity Distinguished Professor Award for both graduate and undergraduate teaching, and an Honorary Professorship at the Universidad Catolica de Salta in Argentina. Her teaching style is interactive and includes discussion, student participation, lecture, and peer work. Her favorite thing is to catch the sparkle in a student’s eye when the moment he or she understands something valuable.

Rose Marie Cutting, Ph.D.

Department Chair
Education: B.A. The College of St. Catherine
M.A., The University of Michigan
Ph.D., The University of Minnesota
Office: CT 413, 431-2011
Email: rcutting@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Cutting chairs the Department of English and Communication Studies at St. Mary's. She specializes in short fiction, women authors, American literature and creative writing (fiction). Her research is focused on American cultural studies, film, and gender in literature.

Diane Gonzalez Bertrand

Education: B.A., English/History, University of Texas at San Antonio
M.A., English Communication Arts, Our Lady of the Lake University
Office: CT 401; (210) 431-2003
Email: dbertrand@stmarytx.edu

Prof. Bertrand is Writer-in-Residence in the English Department at St. Mary's. She is a published author in poetry, non-fiction, and fiction for children and teens. Recent awards include American Library Association 2005 Schneider Family Book Award for her bilingual picture book, "My Pal Victor" (Raven Tree Press, 2004); the San Antonio Public Library Arts and Letters Award 2005; and honorable mention 2005 Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature for her collection of short fiction, "Upside Down and Backwards" (Arte Publico Press, 2004). She teaches composition, creative writing, and English education courses for the department as well as independent study classes with aspiring novelists.

Peggy Curet, Ph.D.

Education: B.A., English, Notre Dame College of St. Louis
M.A., English, University of Southwestern Louisiana
Ph.D., English, University of Southwestern Louisiana
Office: CT403; 431-2004
Email: enpeggy@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Curet is our resident Shakespearean scholar. She teaches both at the undergraduate and graduate level at St. Mary's. Dr. Curet enjoys challenging her students to take diverse approaches to Shakespearean works, including Feminist and Post-Colonial theoretic perspectives.

H. Palmer Hall, Ph.D.

Education: Ph.D. English, University of Texas at Austin
Office: A.L.; 431-1316
Email: phall@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Hall is the Director of Libraries at St. Mary's, as well as co-editor and director of the university publishing house, Pecan Grove Press. He is a published poet and essayist, and teaches writing workshops and poetry surveys, as well as American literature, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. His stories, poems, and essays have appeared in various literary magazines, including Ascent, North American Review, The Texas Review, The Florida Review, Briar Cliff Review and many others. Books include: The Librarian in the University, A Measured Response, From the Periphery, poems and essays, Deep Thicket & Still Waters and Reflections on Publishing, Writing and Other Things. You can read more about Dr. Hall on his website.

Alice Kersnowski, Ph.D.

Office: CT404; 431-2010
Email: enalice@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Kersnowski's particular field of interest is Irish literature. She teaches British and International literature at the undergraduate and graduate literature, and also enjoys teaching and researching Modernism.

Camille Langston, Ph.D.

Education: B.A., English, Baylor University
M.A., English Literature and Language, St. Mary’s University
Ph.D., Rhetoric, Texas Woman’s University
Office: CT 410, 431-8082
Email: clangston@stmarytx.edu

Dr. Langston specializes in Rhetoric and 19th-Century American Women Authors. She is currently editing a collection of Sarah J. Hale’s works on rhetoric and writing an article on silence and rhetoric. She teaches her classes in seminar style and uses active learning and student-centered pedagogies. Along with teaching rhetoric and composition and American literature, she serves as the department's Internship Coordinator and Composition Director.

Karen Narvarte

Office: CT408; 431-4251
Email: engkaren@stmarytx.edu

Prof. Narvarte most enjoys learning about as many world cultures as she can, and incorporates her knowledge into her International Literature classes. She enjoys teaching classes on Dante's Divine Comedy and teaches a graduate class on Myth and Psyche in 20th Century Literature.

Dr. Pressman is a Fulbright Scholar and specializes in the U.S. Novel, which on the graduate level, he teaches the history of. His scholarship runs the historical gamut from the 1780s to 1960s. Of special interest to him are the novels of women and minorities. Dr. Pressman suggests that his classroom style is demanding but student-oriented.

Sister Ann Semel, S.S.N.D., Ph. D.

Education: University of Notre Dame
Office: CT 416, 431-2006

Dr. Semel teaches courses in American literature with special attention to American Transcendentalism, the literature of peace and war, American minority literatures, Southern literature, and Japanese fiction. She long has been the main resource for students who are preparing to start their careers by teaching the EA career seminar. One goal in her teaching is to get students involved in the class and to make the learning experience fun and exciting. In her spare time, she paints and enjoys throwing parties.