Lila Marz Harper
Email: harperl@cwu.edu
Degrees and Coursework
Ph.D., English, University of Oregon, June 1996.
Dissertation: Solitary Travelers: Nineteenth-Century Women's Travel Narratives
M.A., English, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, 1987.
Thesis: A Century of Flatlands: Edwin Abbott and Later Geometric Science Fiction
Additional Science (Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc.) courses at University of Oregon,
1979-84.
Additional 40 credits in English graduate program, Humboldt State University, 1976-8.
B.A., English, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, 1976.
Professional Experience
Senior Lecturer, General Education Writing Program, Central Washington University, 1989-90,
1992-present (2-3 classes/quarter)
Senior Lecturer, Computer Science, Central Washington University
Faculty Advisor, University Writing Center; Central Washington University, 2001-2006.
Thesis Editor, Office of Graduate Studies, Central Washington University, 2002-present.
Graduate Teaching Fellow, Composition and Literature, University of Oregon, 1989-90, 1987-88.
T.A., Composition with word processing (Eng. 162), Skills Center tutor, computer lab monitor, St.
Cloud State University, 1985-1987.
Courses Taught
Composition Sequences: CWU Eng. 101, 102, 301; UO Writing 121, 122, 123
Technical Writing: Eng. 310 Technical Writing; Computer Science 325 Writing in the Computer
Sciences; Eng. 323 Editing for Usage, Style and Clarity
Humanities and Literature: Hum. 103 Evolution and Literature; Eng. 105, Intro. to Literature;
English/Douglas Honors College 101 Writing and Greek Classics; DHC 141 Humanistic
Understanding: Women Travelers
Douglas Honors College Senior Colloquium and Lecture; DHC 489 Senior Thesis; University
Studies: University 100 Introduction to the University
Special Topics: University 297 Wit and Wisdom of Lewis Carroll; University 497/597 Advanced
Documentation
Areas of Expertise
Nineteenth-Century British Literature (passed specialist exam)
Natural History Writing (passed specialist exam--this was a self-designed area of study with a
broad historical focus.)
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Travel Narratives and Scientific Rhetoric (focus of
dissertation)
Mathematics and Science Fiction
Publications
Books
Solitary Travelers: Nineteenth-Century Women's Travel Narratives and the Scientific Vocation.
Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press/Associated Univ. Press, 2001.
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. Contextual critical edition. Peterborogh, Ontario, Canada:
Broadview Press, 2009.
Instructor’s Manuals and Pedagogical Material
Instructor’s Manual for A Sequence for Academic Writing, 4th ed. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2009.
Instructor’s Manual for Brief Edition of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 3rd ed. Coauthored with Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2008.
Instructor’s Manual for Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 10th ed. Co-authored with
Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2007.
Companion Website for Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 10th ed. Co-authored with
Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2007.
Instructor’s Manual for A Sequence for Academic Writing, 3rd ed. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2007.
Instructor’s Manual for Brief Edition of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 2nd ed. Coauthored with Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2005.
Instructor’s manual for A Sequence for Academic Writing, 2nd ed. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2004.
Instructor’s Manual for Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 9th ed. Co-authored with
Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2005.
Instructor’s Manual for Brief Edition of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 2nd ed. Coauthored with Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley,
Longman, 2003.
“Jane Austen.” Learning Collaborative Website. College Board AP Exam Project.
Instructor’s Manual for Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 8th ed. Co-authored with
Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2003.
Instructor’s Manual for Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. Co-authored with
Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 1999.
Book Chapters
“That Wonderous Medusa-Face”: Goethe’s Italian Journey, George Eliot and G. H. Lewes.”
Culture & Civilization. Vol. 6: Travel, Discovery, and Transformation. Ed. Gabriel R. Ricci.
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, forthcoming.
“Flatland and Popular Culture.” Prime Time: Mathematics and Popular Culture. Ed. Jessica
Skylar and Elizabeth Skylar. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2012.
“The Starfish that Burns: Gendering the Jellyfish.” Forces of Nature: Natural(-izing) Gender and
Gender(-ing) Nature in the Discourses of Western Culture. Ed. Bernadette Hyner and Precious
McKenzie. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars, 2009. 21-50.
Co-authored with Ruthi Erdman, “Adjuncts: The Invisible Faculty.” What is Wrong with Academia
Today?: Essays on the Politicization of American Education. Ed. Rex S. Wirth, Thomas R.
Whiddon, and Tony J. Manson. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2008. 229-238.
“Science and Faith: The Water-Babies,” Children’s Literature: New Approaches. Ed. Karin
Lesnik-Oberstein. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 118-143.
Journal Articles and Notes
“Re-Examining Taxonomy and Gender: T. H. Huxley, G. H. Lewes, and George Eliot View the
Medusa.” Nineteenth-Century Prose 38.1 (2011): 35-58.
“Flatland in VAS.” Festschrift for Steve Tomasula. EBR online journal, forthcoming.
“Clues in the Street: Sherlock Holmes, Martin Hewitt and Mean Streets.” Journal of Popular
Culture 42.1 (2009): 67-89.
"What Can We Learn about Plagiarism from Master's Theses?" Professional Studies Review: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 2.2(2006): 1-15.
“The Stigma of Emotions: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Travel Narratives.” Journeys: The International
Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 2.1 (2001): 45-63.
“An Astonishing Change in Metaphor: Tom’s Education and the Shrew-Mouse.” George EliotGeorge Henry Lewes Studies 38-39 (2000): 76-79.
“Mathematical Themes in Science Fiction,” Extrapolation 27(1986): 245-69.
Encyclopedia Articles
“Isabella Bird.” Encyclopedia of World Environmental History. Ed. Shepard Krech III, John
McNeill, and Carolyn Merchant. New York: Berkshire/Routledge, (2004). Invited entry.
“Mary Kingsley,” Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia. London: Fritzroy
Dearborn/Routledge, 2003.
“Isabella Bird.” Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers. Greenwood P, 2000.
“Lucie Duff Gordon.” New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford UP, 2004.
“Harriet Martineau,” British Travel Writers, 1837-1875, Dictionary of Literary Biography series.
Vol 166.
Book Reviews
Invited review of Wild and Fearless: The Life of Margaret Fountaine by Natascha Scott-Stokes.
Victorian Studies 49.4 (2007): 729-731.
Other
“The Untitled Discipline.” Contribution to Forum. PMLA 111(1996): 130-31.
Awards
Solitary Travelers was named an Outstanding Academic Book for 2001 by Choice, the official
review magazine of the Association of College and Research Libraries (American Library
Association). About 10% of the published academic books receive this recognition. The book
is also featured on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ core list of women
studies resources.
Modern Language Association Bibliographic Fellowship, 2006-2008.
Projects Currently in Process
“Conversations on Student Errors in Math and English: Metadisciplinary Approaches”
Evolution-Themed Reader-under contract
Conference Papers
“A Comparison of Two Rocky Mountain Travel Narratives by Isabella Bird and Rose Kingsley.”
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA) convention, Vancouver, WA, Oct.
11-13, 2013.
“Intertextual Approaches to Teaching The Tempest in the General Education Course.” Pacific
Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) convention, Seattle, Oct. 19-21, 2012.
“G. H. Lewes, George Eliot, and the Medusa at the Seaside,” Modern Language Association
Convention, San Francisco, Dec. 27-30, 2008.
“Issues of Dress in Women’s Travel Narratives,” 2007 Modern Language Association national
convention, Chicago, Dec. 26-30, 2007.
"What We Can Learn about Plagiarism from Master's Theses," Conference on College
Composition and Communication, Chicago, Illinois, March 22-25, 2006.
“Self-Censorship in Mary Kingsley’s Travels in West Africa,” Borders and Crossings international
conference, Birmingham, England, Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 2004.
“’A Traveller in Skirts’: A Map of Misreading.” In Transit: The Third Biennial North American
Conference on Travel Writers and Travel Writing, Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 24-27, 2002.
“Wollstonecraft’s Response to Imlay: The Representation of Labor and Servitude in Letters from a
Short Residence (1796) and A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North
America (1793).” North American Society for the Study of Romanticism 2001, University of
Washington, Aug. 16-19, 2001.
“Solitary Travelers: Negotiating Around Scenes of Impropriety in Nineteenth-Century Women's
Travel Accounts." Snapshots from Abroad: A Conference on American and British Travel
Writers and Writing. University of Minnesota, Nov. 14-16, 1997.
“An Inquiry into the Place of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Short Residence in the Development of
Natural History.” Global Baroque-Northwest Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies,
University of Oregon, Oct. 24-26, 1997.
“Marginalizing the Man: Rhetorical Strategies in Isabella Bird Bishop's Journeys in Persia and
Kurdistan.” Northwest Conference on British Studies, Lewis and Clark College, Nov. 1996.
“‘The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt’: Issues of Dress in Women's Travel Narratives.” Northwest
Conference on British Studies, Spokane, Oct. 1995.
“Rhetorical Strategies in Wollstonecraft's Travel Writing.” Pacific Coast Conference on British
Studies, Claremont College, April 1994.
Lectures
Plagiarism Workshop, CWU Learning Commons, Jan. 25, 2013.
Preparing to Write the Senior Thesis and Avoid Procrastination, Douglas Honors, CWU, 20122013.
Plagiarism, English Dept. TAs, CWU, 2009-10.
Preparing a CV, English Graduate Student Association, CWU, 2009-2010.
Information Literacy, English Graduate Studies, CWU, 2008.
Thesis Formatting, Resource Management Graduate Studies, CWU, 2007-2009.
Thesis Workshop, Office of Graduate Studies, CWU 2003-2008.
“Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt: Issues of Dress in Women's Travel Narratives,” CWU Women’s
Studies, 2006-08.
Using Your Style Manual, Writing Center, CWU 2003
APA and MLA, Writing Center, CWU 2003
University Writing Workshop, Plagiarism: How to Discourage and How to Detect, CWU 2002
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Kafka, CWU 2006-2008.
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Charles Darwin, CWU 2001-2007.
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft, CWU 1997-03
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Mary Shelley, CWU 1997-02
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Jane Austen, CWU 1997-02
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Emily Brontë, CWU 1997-02
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex 2001
Douglas Honors College, Introduction to Sophocles’ Antigone 2001
College of Arts and Humanities Speaker Series, “Domesticating the African Landscape: Mary
Kingsley’s Travel Memoirs,” CWU 5 April 2001
English Graduate Studies, Using the Internet for Graduate Research, CWU 1997
English Graduate Studies, The Internet and the Research Paper, CWU 1997
English Undergraduate Workshops, MLA Documentation, CWU 1997-98, 2002
English Undergraduate Workshops, Electronic Documentation, CWU 1997-98
Professional Activities
Presiding Officer, British Literature and Culture panel, PAMLA, Reed College, Portland, OR, Nov.
2004.
Field Bibliographer, Modern Language Association, MLA International Bibliography, 1996present.
Field Bibliographer, Modern Humanities Research Association, Annual Bibliography of English
Language and Literature (ABELL) 1996-present.
External reviewer for Northeastern University Press.
External reviewer for Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
Have reviewed composition and literature textbooks, and proposals for Addison, Wesley,
Longman; Allyn and Bacon; and Broadview. Reviewed technical writing textbooks for
Bedford/St. Martin. Have conducted class tests of Behrens and Rosen's Writing and Reading
Across the Curriculum for Addison, Wesley, Longman pub.
Invited panel chair for the third annual Victorian Interdisciplinary Conference, Clark College, Oct.
10, 1998.
Student Mentoring
Served on thesis committees for two M.A. students and five Douglas Honors students.
Essays from three students in my Eng. 102 spring 1999 class were accepted for website publication
by Addison, Wesley, Longman publishers as example papers.
Service
Delegate Assembly, Modern Language Association, 2009-2011.
Executive Board, Part-Time Discussion Panel, Modern Language Association, 2007-2010.
Faculty Senate Adjunct Representative 2002-2003; 2003-2004; 2008-present
Served on Dean’s Advisory Council
Judge, SOURCE, CWU 2008.
Memberships
Modern Language Association
North American Society for the Study of Romanticism
International Society for Travel Writing
Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States
Lewis Carroll Society of North America
Listed in
Directory of American Scholars. Gale, 2001.
Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2002.
References available upon request