Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

DAVID TOMKINS

University of Southern California

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Office: Jefferson 228

Telephone: 213.740.7994

E-Mail:

Academic Employment

2015-presentAssociate Professor (Teaching) of Writing, Writing Program, USC

2012-2015Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Writing, Writing Program, USC

2009-2012Lecturer, Writing Program, USC

Education

Ph.D.English, University of Southern California, 2009

Dissertation: “Cowboys of the Waste Land: Modernism and the American Frontier.” Committee Members: Joseph Boone (director), William Handley, William Deverell

M.A.English, University of North Texas, 1999

Thesis: “Remembering the Forgotten Beauty of Yeatsian Mythology: Personae and the Problem of Unity in The Wind Among the Reeds.” David Holdeman, director.

B.A. English and History, cum laude, University of North Texas, 1997

A.A. English, Mount San Antonio College, 1995

Grants & Awards

2018-2019Faculty Development Grant ($1,000 for conference participation)

2017-2018Faculty Development Grant ($1,500 for conference participation)

2016-2017Faculty Development Grant($1,500 for conference participation)

2015-2016Faculty Development Grant($1,200 for conference participation)

Spring 2014USC Shoah Foundation 2014-15 Teaching Fellow ($2,500 for development of WRIT 150 lessons and assignments using Shoah resources)

2014-2015Faculty Development Grant($1,500 for conference participation)

Spring 2012Course Continuity in a Crisis (C3) Grant, USC Center for Scholarly Technology ($20,000 awarded to team of four Writing Program faculty for integrating teaching technologies into lower-division writing courses at USC)

Spring 2011Learning Environments Incentive Grant, USC Center for Scholarly Technology($2,000 in kind for integrating teaching technologies into lower-division writing)

2006-2007College Merit Dissertation Fellowship, USC

2006USC-Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Center for Excellence in Teaching, USC

2003-2004Marta Feuchtwanger Dissertation Fellowship, USC

Conferences

Presentations

“Playing to the Crowd: Writing Students and their Virtual Audiences.” Panel: “Pretending to Write: Performative Necessities in the Writing Classroom.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Pittsburgh, PA. 2019.

“Writing from Without: Embracing Externalization in the Advanced Writing Classroom.” Panel: “Voice Lessons: Formula, Creativity, and the Cultivation of Authorial Identity Across Multiple Levels of Writing Instruction.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Portland, OR. 2017.

“Risk Analysis: What Exactly Do We Mean by ‘Advanced Writing,’ and Should We Fear the Answer?” Panel: “A Risky Proposition: Reanimating the Critical Discourses of Advanced Composition.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, FL. 2015.

“Curriculum Design, Institutional Relevance, and the Non-Tenure Track Writing Professor.” Panel: “Open to Possibilities: Institutional Identity and the Non-Tenure Track Writing Professor.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Indianapolis, IN. 2014.

“Civic Engagement and the Web-based College Essay.” Panel: “From Homework to Public Work: Locating Digital Communities in the Composition Classroom.”Conference on College Composition and Communication. Las Vegas, NV. 2013.

“Castles, Cowboys, and the California Central Coast.” Remapping the American West: Western American Literature Association panel. Modern Language Association Conference. Los Angeles, CA. 2011.

“This Perennial Rebirth”: Reappraising Willa Cather’s Frontier Nostalgia. Modernist Studies Association Conference. Long Beach, CA. November 2007.

“'Ernest Hemingway’s Materiality of Absence." American Literature Association Conference. San Francisco, CA. May 2006.

"On the Solid Earth: Myth, Materialism, and the Appropriation of Origins in Willa Cather's The Professor's House." Northeast Modern Language Association Conference. Pittsburgh, PA. March 2004.

“Cool Heads Prevail: Narrative Structure and the Performance of the Western Hero.” The Fifth Congress of the Americas.Universidad de las Americas. Puebla, Mexico. October 2001.

Organizer or Chair

Panel Organizer: “Pretending to Write: Performative Necessities in the Writing Classroom.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Pittsburgh, PA. 2019.

Panel Organizer: “Voice Lessons: Formula, Creativity, and the Cultivation of Authorial Identity Across Multiple Levels of Writing Instruction.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Portland, OR. 2017.

Panel Organizer, “A Risky Proposition: Reanimating the Critical Discourses of Advanced Composition.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, FL. 2015

Panel Organizer, “Open to Possibilities: Institutional Identity and the Non-Tenure Track Writing Professor.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Indianapolis, IN. 2014.

Panel Organizer, “From Homework to Public Work: Locating Digital Communities in the Composition Classroom.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Las Vegas, NV. 2013.

Panel Organizer, “Modernism and the Frontier,” Modernist Studies Association 9th Annual Conference. Long Beach, CA. Nov. 2007.

Panel Organizer, “Hemingway’s Materialisms,” American Literature Association Conference. Boston, MA. May 2007.

Panel Chair, "Sexy Beasts: Hybridity and the Erotic,” Association of English Graduate Students at USC Conference. Los Angeles, CA. April 2003.

Panel Chair, “Cowboy Heroes and the Great Film Directors of Westerns.” The Fifth Congress of the Americas.Universidad de las Americas. Puebla, Mexico. October 2001.

Other Teaching Experience

2013-2015Summer Academy, South Central Scholars Foundation

Taught and designed a seven-week, intensive writing, reading, and critical thinking course for USC-affiliated South Central Scholars Foundation. Also hired, managed, and mentored three Teaching Assistants comprised of Writing Program junior faculty and USC graduate students who have worked as Assistant Lecturers in the Writing Program.

2000-2009Assistant Lecturer, Writing Program, University of Southern California

Taught WRIT 140, a lower-division undergraduate writing course focusing on

rhetorical awareness, critical reasoning, and intellectual discovery.

Summer 2007SummerTIME Writing Program, Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, University of Southern California

Designed and taught a four-week intensive summer course providing advanced instruction in college writing to university-bound seniors from low-income schools with high populations of students of color.

2005-2006Assistant Lecturer, Thematic Option Program, University of Southern California

Taught honors writing course with a strong literary component. Emphasis placed on argumentation, organization, and style.

1998-1999Assistant Lecturer, Department of English, University of North Texas

Taught lower-division undergraduate English courses focusing on developing college-level writing and reading skills.

Publications

“Assuming Control: Spielberg Rewires Ready Player One.”B2O: The Online Community of the Boundary 2 Editorial Collective, August 8, 2018.

Review of Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America by Christopher J. Lukasik, Suspended Animation: Children’s Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity by Nathalie op de Beeck, and Reading the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine: American Literature and Culture, 1870-1893 by Mark J. Noonan. American Literature, vol. 85, no. 2, 2013, pp. 402-404.

Review of Modernism, Media, and Propaganda: British Narrative From 1900 to 1945 by Mark Wollaeger. The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms, vol. 14, no. 7, 2009.

“The ‘Lost Generation’ and the Generation of Loss: Ernest Hemingway’s Materiality of Absence and The Sun Also Rises.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 54, no.4, 2008, pp. 744-765.

Review of Art and Memory in the Work of Elizabeth Bishop by Jonathan Ellis, Hart Crane After His Lights by Brian M. Reed, and Frank O’Hara: The Poetics of Coterieby Lytle Shaw, American Literature, vol. 80, no. 2, 2008, pp. 411-414

“Introduction: John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra.” The Facts on File Companion to the American Novel. Ed. Abby H.P. Werlock. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

“Introduction: Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel”. The Facts on File Companion to the American Novel. Ed. Abby H.P. Werlock. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

Service

2017-2018Course Development: Writing 540(Writing Program), Co-Developer

Worked with a colleague in conjunction with the USC Department of Economics to develop WRIT 540: Writing for Master’s Students. This course will teach Master’s students in Economics to write well in a variety of academic and professional contexts, cultivate and refine research and public speaking skills, and use technology to facilitate collaborative composition. The first iteration of WRIT 540 will be offered during Summer 2019 as part of a Summer Institute for M.A. Economics students, and will dovetail with an on-campus conference sponsored by the Department of Economics.

2017-2018Lower-Division Curriculum Committee (Writing Program), Member

Worked with committee chair and other committee members to further objectives set in motion as committee chair during 2016-2017. Revised and refined content for WRIT 150 “Semester at a Glance” webpage, and forwarded finished content to Webmaster for publication.

2016-2017Lower-Division Curriculum Committee (Writing Program), Chair

Worked with committee members to produce, collect, and assemble materials for a “Semester at a Glance” webpage envisioned as a complement to the “WRIT 150 Learning Outcomes” page found on the Writing Program website. The specific purpose of the new page is to provide advisors, administrators, and in-coming students with examples of the materials and practices employed to reach projected learning outcomes. Visitors of the new page will find a sample semester calendar, as well as links to “assignment arc” pages containing descriptions of assignment objectives, sample assignment sheets, and sample rhetorical activities.

2015-2016Lower-Division Curriculum Committee (Writing Program), Member

Worked with committee chair and other committee members to identify best teaching practices for the new WRIT 150 curriculum and to circulate this information among Writing Program faculty. Collaborated with sub-committee members on CFP (currently awaiting approval from Writing Program administrators) for new Writing 150 thematics.

2015-2017Dornsife Faculty Council, Elected Member

RTPC Faculty Caucus, Appointed Co-Chair (2015-2016)

Worked with caucus members to generate resolutions aimed at clarifying RTPC Faculty titles, and broadening Dornsife’s terms of qualification for RTPC Faculty seeking funding for scholarly projects, conferences, etc.

Faculty Affairs Caucus, Appointed Member (2016-2017)

Conducted research for and co-authored a proposal submitted to the Dornsife Dean advocating the institution of salary benchmarks for RTPC Faculty.

2015Discussion Leader, USC Undergraduate Writer’s Conference (Category: Creative)

Chaired a discussion panel comprised of finalists in the Creative Writing category.

2014-2015Writing 340 Committee (Writing Program), Chair

Worked alongside the director of the USC Writing Program and a group of full-time Writing Program faculty (selected by me) to conduct a thorough evaluation of Writing 340, USC’s upper-division writing course. Objectives include developing curricular innovations to be shared with all faculty in the coming year, and addressing the needs of USC’s changing undergraduate population.

Spring 2014Judge and Discussion Leader, USC Undergraduate Writers' Conference (Category: Research)

Evaluated and voted on submissions to the Research Category; chaired a discussion panel comprised of finalists.

2013-PresentWriting Program Faculty Mentor

Assigned by the Writing Program Mentoring Committee to consult with, observe, and write assessments of junior Writing Program faculty; three mentees since 2014

2013-PresentCurricular Research Committee, South Central Scholars Foundation (affiliated with USC)

Researching best practices for teaching writing, reading, and critical thinking in the accelerated context of Summer Academy; generating lesson plans that reflect those practices; acting as a consultant to foundation founders regarding broad implementation of best teaching practices in writing, reading, and critical thinking.

2013Coordinator for Writing 150 (Health and Healing), Writing Program

Worked collaboratively with Writing Program administrators and faculty to devise a curricular and logistical model for a newly proposed Writing 150 “Health and Healing” thematic ahead of a Fall 2013 deadline. Tasks included creating assignments, syllabi, bibliographies, lesson sequences, and electronic templates (using Word Press and Blackboard) for blog-based ancillary assignments.

2011-2013Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee, Writing Program

Conducted research on curricula established by other leading writing centers, departments, and programs; generatedand submitted to program administrators new learning objectives for lower-division courses at USC

2011-2013Professional Development Committee, Writing Program

Assisted committee chair in launching a new file sharing service to be utilized by Writing Program faculty; identified and distributed to Writing Program faculty information regarding conferences and publications geared toward the teaching of writing.

2012Lead Coordinator, Writing Program, USC

Worked collaboratively with other Writing Program faculty and administrators to devise new logistical/curricular model for coordination between Social Issues courses and lower-division writing courses. Facilitating link between four social issues courses and sixteen affiliated Writing Program faculty members.

2012Discussion Leader, USC Undergraduate Writer’s Conference (Category: Professional/Moral)

Chaired a discussion panel comprised of finalists in the Professional/Moral category.

2011Reviewed article submitted for publication, Journal of Narrative Theory, East Michigan University

2011Judge and Discussion Leader, USC Undergraduate Writers' Conference (Category: Professional/Moral)

Evaluated and voted on submissions to the Professional/Moral Category; chaired a discussion panel comprised of finalists.

2009-2012Program Coordinator, Writing Program, University of Southern California

Invited by Writing Program to facilitate link between graduate student teachers and the lectures to which their courses were linked.

2004-2008Program Coordinator, Writing Program, University of Southern California

2001-2003Invited by Writing Program to facilitate link between graduate studentteachers and the lectures to which their courses were linked.

Spring 2005Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of English, University of Southern California

One of three graduate students chosen to join faculty-run admissions committee for the 2006-2007 academic year. Duties included reading and evaluating dossiers, recommending favored applicants, and casting votes to admit candidates to the program.

2004-2005Editorial Board Member, New Books in Nineteenth-Century British Studies

One year of service that involved participating in early planning meetings and developing a substantial database for this online resource for nineteenth-century scholars. New Books is sponsored by the University of Southern California English Department.

Writing Center Experience

2003-2004Writing Consultant, Writing Center, University of Southern California

Conducted half-hour writing tutorials with an array of USC students ranging from freshman with remedial skills to graduate students for whom English was a second language. Also led group tutorials on grammar fundamentals, sentence structure, and style.

1998Writing Consultant, Writing Center, University of North Texas

Conducted writing tutorials with an array of UNT students ranging from freshman with remedial skills to graduate students for whom English was a second language

Teaching Assistantships

Fall 2007Teaching Assistant to Professor Leo Braudy, General Education Program, University of Southern California.

General education course on the history and generic conventions of horror and detective fiction and films. Texts include: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown.

Research Assistantships

2002 Research Assistant. From Chivalry to Terrorism. Leo Braudy. New York: Knopf Press, 2003.

2000Research Assistant. In the Seven Woods: Cornell Yeats. David Holdeman, ed. Cornell University Press, 2002.

Professional Organizations

National Council of Teachers of English, 2011-present

Conference on College Communication and Composition, 2011-present

Modern Language Association, 1999-present

Western American Literature Association, 2011-2013

Modernist Studies Association, 2003-2010

Last Updated: August 17, 2018