Ryan C. Cordell

Assistant Professor of English and Director of Writing-Across-the-Curriculum
St. Norbert College // Mulva Library 302 // De Pere, WI 54115
ryan.cordell@snc.edu

Education

• Ph.D., English Language and Literature, University of Virginia, August 2010
• B.A., English Language and Literature, magna cum laude, The George Washington University, 2004

Dissertation

Committee: Stephen Railton (director), Jerome McGann, Victoria Olwell, Heather Warren

In my dissertation, “That Great Burning Day”: Apocalyptic in Antebellum Literature and Culture, I investigate the intersections of apocalyptic rhetoric and symbolism in literary and popular fiction (Stowe, Hawthorne, Cooper, Thoreau, Melville, Poe, and Lippard), theological texts, sermons, and religious newspapers before the Civil War. Most literary studies of antebellum American apocalyptic have neglected its immediate historical and cultural roots in nineteenth-century evangelical eschatology, while most studies of nineteenth-century evangelical eschatology have neglected the imaginative engagement of period writers with the apocalyptic. I attempt to amend both oversights, using the prominence of the apocalyptic across period genres, authors, and ideologies to think about how scholars understand and constitute boundaries between sacred and secular texts—boundaries that are unclear in nineteenth-century works. I argue that apocalyptic rhetoric and symbolism bleed in, among, and between nearly all aspects of antebellum written culture, and that antebellum authors and preachers interpreted emerging secular dogmas such as nationalism, reform, technology, and progress through apocalyptic “signs of the times.”

Awards

• Thomas J. Griffis Prize for the Best Essay by a Student Beyond the First Year of Graduate Work in English, for “‘Taken Possession of’: Hawthorne’s ‘Celestial Railroad’ in the Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Canon, 2010.
• SHANTI Exploratory Cohort Fellowship, for technical training, initial design, and help implementing a digital edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Celestial Railroad” (forthcoming at celestialrailroad.org), 2009-10.
• Buckner W. Clay Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Grant, for startup research work for celestialrailroad.org, Summer 2009
• Tane Travel Scholarship, for travel to the Bicentennial Poe Conference in October 2009

Publications

• “‘Enslaving You, Body and Soul’: The Uses of Temperance in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and ‘Anti-Tom’ Fiction,” Studies in American Fiction (Spring 2008)
• “Alcohol and Temperance” and “Harriet Beecher Stowe,” Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America, M. E. Sharpe (forthcoming, August 2010)

In Progress

• “’Taken Possession of’: Hawthorne’s ‘Celestial Railroad’ in the Nineteenth Century Evangelical Canon”

Ongoing

• Core contributor to ProfHacker at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Digital Projects

• Researcher, designer, and curator of celestialrailroad.org, a comparative digital edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Celestial Railroad,” 2008-present
• Project Manager, University of Virginia Writing Program website development team (redschoolhouse.org), 2009-2010
• Newsletter and Website Editor, Harriet Beecher Stowe Society, news.stowesociety.org, 2006-present
• Research Assistant and Electronic Text Creator for Professor Stephen Railton, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture” (www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/), 2005-2006

Conferences

• “‘This Flattering Millennium Theory’: Denominationalism Against Millennialism in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Crater,” Millennialism and Providentialism in the Era of the American Civil War Conference, October 2010 (upcoming), Rice University, Houston, Texas
• “Theorizing an Online, Interactive Red Schoolhouse (and Pouring Its Foundations),” Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference, July 2010 (upcoming), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship, University of Virginia Scholars’ Lab and the National Endowment for the Humanities, May 2010 (upcoming), Charlottesville, Virginia
• “‘Taken Possession of’: Hawthorne’s ‘Celestial Railroad’ in the Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Canon,” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Inaugural Conference, Nineteenth-Century American Literature and New Media panel, May 2010 (upcoming), State College, Pennsylvania
• “Digital Archives and Future Bibliographies,” University of Virginia Bibliographic Society Annual Meeting, Pre-Doctoral Scholars’ Forum, May 2010, Charlottesville, VA
• “‘Coming to an End for Certain’: Apocalyptic Skepticism in Poe and Lippard,” Poe Studies Association’s Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference (The Bicentennial), “Poe, Lippard, and Place” panel October 2009, Philadelphia
• “Thoreau’s Walden and Freshman Comp,” American Literature Association (ALA), “Teaching Thoreau in the Twenty-First Century” roundtable sponsored by the Thoreau Society May 2008, San Francisco
• Moderator and respondent for the “Harriet Beecher Stowe and Nineteenth-Century Religious Communities” panel, sponsored by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Society, ALA, May 2008, San Francisco
• “‘The Light Which Puts Out Our Eyes’:  The Spring Apocalypse in Thoreau’s Walden,” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), “Promethean Visions and Communities of Belief in Nineteenth-Century American Literature” panel, November 2007, Bellingham, WA
• “‘Dim and Wondrous Imagery’:  Uncle Tom’s Cabin at the End of Time,” Popular and American Culture Associations of the South (PCAS/ACAS), “Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Antebellum Culture” panel, September 2007, Jacksonville, FL
• “Mas’r isn’t good to himself’:  Temperance Rhetoric in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ALA, “Future Directions in Stowe Scholarship” panel, sponsored by the Stowe Society, May 2006, San Francisco

Teaching Experience

Teaching Interests: Nineteenth-century American Literature, Composition, American Fiction, Religion and Literature, Science Fiction, Periodical Studies (portfolio available on request)

Invited Talks

• “Mining for Hawthorne,” Scholars’ Lab Digital Therapy Luncheon, February 2010.
• Panelist, Professionalization Workshop on Academic Publication, University of Virginia Slavic Department, December 2009.
Panelist, “Geospatial Data and Tools in Humanities Research” session, NEH and UVA Scholars’ Lab’s “Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship,” University of Virginia, November 2009.
• “Apocalypse in Antebellum America,” guest lecture in Prof. Judith Kovac’s “Revelation to John” course, Religious Studies Department, University of Virginia, January 2008, November 2008, and April 2010.

Courses Taught, UVA (instructor of record)

• Pavilion Writers (advanced first-year composition), Spring 2009
• Religion and American Fiction (introductory seminar in literature), Fall 2008
• Science Fictions (themed first-year composition), Fall 2007
• Thoreau, Walden, and American Culture (themed first-year composition), Fall 2006 and Spring 2007

Courses Taught, UVA (discussion leader)

• History of English Literature III (twentieth-century literature in English), for Professors Stephen Cushman and Michael Levenson, Fall 2007
• Academic and Professional Writing (advanced composition), Spring 2006
• History of English Literature I (medieval and renaissance literature), for Professor Elizabeth Fowler, Fall 2005

Related Experience

• Director, University of Virginia Writing Center, 2009-present
• Assistant Director, University of Virginia Writing Center, 2008-2009
• Chief Writing Consultant to the College of Arts and Sciences, McIntire School of Commerce, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program; Assessment of Student Writing; University of Virginia’s Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies; 2008-2009
• Reader, AP English Examination, Educational Testing Services, June 2008 and June 2009
• Copy Editor, New Literary History (NLH), 2007-2008
• Tutor, University of Virginia Writing Center, 2004-2007
• Research and Copyediting Assistant for Professor Mark Edmundson, 2007
• Assistant to Professor Stephen Railton and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the Web of Culture:  A Multi-Disciplinary Conference,” 2007
• Grading Assistant for Professor Raymond Nelson, 2005
• Grading and Research Assistant for Professor Mark Edmundson, 2004

Academic Service

• University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center workshop leader, “Leading an Effective Discussion Section” workshops at the College of Arts and Sciences August Teaching Workshop 2009, August Teaching Workshop 2008, and January Teaching Workshop 2008
• University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center workshop leader, “Grading Student Writing” workshops for the Spanish and Italian Department (September 2009), Architecture Department (September 2008), and Religious Studies Department (August 2007).
• Treasurer, Graduate English Student Association, University of Virginia, 2006-2007

Memberships

• Modern Language Association
• Association for Computers and Humanities
• Council of Writing Program Administrators
• Harriet Beecher Stowe Society
• Poe Studies Association

Languages

German

Technical Proficiencies

• HTML
• XML
• CSS
• Drupal
• WordPress
• Omeka
• Dreamweaver

References

• Stephen Railton, Professor, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6612 // sfr@virginia.edu
• Victoria Olwell, Assistant Professor, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6803 // vjo2f@virginia.edu
• Jerome McGann, John Stewart Bryan Professor, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6669 // jjm2f@virginia.edu
• Gregory Colomb, Professor and Director of Academic Writing, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6614 //  ggc8n@virginia.edu
• Heather Warren, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6719; haw6w@virginia.edu
• Judith Kovacs, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, University of Virginia // (434) 924-6719; jlk4n@virginia.ed
• Bethany Nowviskie, Director, Digital Research and Scholarship, University of Virginia Library,
  (434) 243-2218; bethany@virginia.edu