I would like to introduce myself as the new bizymoms.com literature expert. 

First, a few words about my academic background and credentials.  After attending a small, New Jersey parochial high school, I graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s degree in English.  Then, after participating in a Master of Arts in Teaching program with an English concentration at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, I went on to earn my Ph. D. in English from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

My first experience teaching English was at the high school level, where I taught grades eight through twelve for five years, briefly first at the Talmudical Academy outside Baltimore and then at a public high school in northern New Jersey.  From there I began a thirty-year plus college teaching career, which included stints at Queens College CUNY, Pace University, Harvard University as a Visiting Professor, and now at New York University, where I teach courses in literature, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary humanities (art, music, and literature combined).  I have also taught a poetry course at Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.

During my years as a professional educator, I have had the opportunity to write, edit, co-author and co-edit a number of books. Most of these have been books for students of literature, writing, and humanities courses in universities.  I have also conducted many workshops for middle school, high school, and university teachers, both in the United States, and abroad, but especially in Asia and Europe.

On a personal note, I am married with two grown children, one a musician and the other a banker.  Like my wife, also a teacher, both of my children are avid readers.  Besides a love of literature, I also have a strong interest in the arts, especially music, as I am an amateur musician, a player and student, respectively, of mandolin and classical guitar.

I will be sharing with you in the coming weeks and months my thoughts about reading and enjoying literature.  In my first few bi-weekly jottings, I will raise some questions for you to think about, and I will share some of my thoughts about basic literary questions, beginning with why we read literature in the first place.

Back to Top