Faculty Bios

Professor, writer and scholar, Dr. Brenda M. Greene is Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature, Director of the National Black Writers Conference and Chair of the English Department at Medgar Evers College, CUNY. Her scholarship is in African American literature, composition and English Education and she has extensive essays, grants, book reviews and presentations in these areas. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University in English with a concentration in Composition and Rhetoric.

Dr. Greene is editor of The African Presence and Influence on the Cultures of the Americas, Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2010) and co-editor of Resistance and Transformation: Conversations with Black Writers, Morton Books (2010), Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing, Third World Press (2008), Redefining Ourselves, Black Writers in the Nineties, Peter Lang Publishers (1999) and Rethinking American Literature, National Council of Teachers of English, (1997). Her literary essays and book reviews appear in The Killens Journal of Arts and Letters, Neworld Review, Network Journal, and Konch. Greene has also published in English Education, Teaching College English, English Classrooms: Honoring Diversity and Change, and When Writing Teachers Teach Literature. She is host and producer of Writers on Writing, a weekly radio series featuring writers from the African diaspora.

Dr. Todd Craig is a native of Queens, New York: a product of Ravenswood and Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City. He is a writer, educator, and DJ whose career meshes his love of writing, teaching, and music. Craig’s research examines the hip-hop DJ as a twenty-first-century new media reader and writer and investigates the modes and practices of the DJ as creating the discursive elements of DJ rhetoric and literacy. Craig’s publications include the multimodal novel tor’cha, a short story in Staten Island Noir, and essays in textbooks and scholarly journals including Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers, Fiction International, Radical Teacher, Sounding Out!, and Modern Language Studies. He was guest editor of Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education for the special issue “Straight Outta English” (2017). Craig's forthcoming full-length manuscript entitled “K for the Way”: DJ Rhetoric and Literacy for Comp 2.0 and Beyond is under contract with Utah State University Press. Dr. Craig has taught English Composition within the City University of New York for over fifteen years and has served as Composition Coordinator and CUNY Writing Discipline Council co-chair.

Expertise: Composition and Rhetoric, Hip Hop pedagogy and DJ rhetoric, Sound Studies, African American literacies

Victoria A. Chevalier is an Associate Professor of English at Medgar Evers College (CUNY), where she teaches Caribbean and US Latinx Literatures. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in English Language and Literatures from Cornell University, and a B.A. in English from The City College of New York, CUNY. Her research interests include African American and US Latinx literatures, Caribbean and transnational literature, the Black Atlantic, literary theory, aesthetics, and film. Her book manuscript in progress is entitled Black Things: Trauma, Memory, History in Twentieth-Century American Literatures. Black Things analyzes the twentieth-century American novel and its representation of things that pose a critique of commodity relations in and beyond late capital. She received the national Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Award for an early draft of Black Things. Her next book project explores genealogies of sickness and healing in African American and US Latinx Literatures. She is also co-editor of an anthology currently in contract with Palgrave MacMillan entitled Handbook to Magical Realism in the Twenty-First Century: Being, Race, and Conjuring the Future. Magical Realism in the 21^st Century is the most comprehensive anthology of the literary form in twenty-five years; its essay contributions include both a literary and visual arts focus on a variety of authors that span the globe, written by scholars throughout the globe. Professor Chevalier’s works appear in Contemporary U.S. Latino/ A Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, and literary fiction anthologies.

Karen Pitt (Lecturer) a graduate of Medgar Evers College (MEC) and the CUNY Baccalaureate Program, received her BS/BA in Public Administration and English in 2003. While a student at MEC, she worked as a Teaching Assistant (TA) and Peer Mentor. Her experience as a TA encouraged her to concentrate in teaching composition. With that experience, she continued her academic pursuits and completed her MA in English at Long Island University (LIU), Brooklyn Campus in 2007. LIU ignited her desire to further explore the praxis of teaching writing, which encouraged her to apply to the CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. Program. Her research in composition and rhetoric and Africana Studies focuses on students’ sense of identity, as it pertains to their history and language. She is particularly interested in the impact that students’ home languages have on the academic language, and she seeks strategies on how to reconcile the discrepancy, with the understanding that respect is due to both languages.

At present, Ms. Pitt is a full-time instructor at Medgar Evers College, CUNY in the English Department. She teaches composition at various levels: Basic Skills, Composition I and II, and Intermediate Composition. In the Department, she serves on the composition committee and is actively involved in all composition concerns. Her reading interests are works from African, African American, and Caribbean writers and scholars; these readings help to ignite students’ interest in reading about themselves in connection to their community, the society, and the world and encourage students to engage fully in writing.

As Professor of English, Susan Alice Fischer teaches a range of courses, including The Body in Place and Culture; Literature of the Global City; Postcolonial Literature; Applied Literary Theory; British Literature; and World Literature. Dr. Fischer’s research focuses on 20^th and 21st-century British fiction, and especially on women’s urban novels and migration literature. She has published research on diverse authors and topics, including Black British women’s writing and literary institutions, ethics in contemporary women’s fiction, and London literature. Her current research interests include the literature and culture of the African and Jewish Diasporas in Italy and the UK.

Dr. Fischer has presented her research internationally, mostly in Europe, both as an invited speaker and as a conference participant. She has extensive experience as an editor of peer-reviewed academic journals, such as Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Her book reviews have appeared in The Women’s Review of Books, The Literary London Journal, and elsewhere. Recent publications include an edited volume – Hanif Kureishi: Contemporary Critical Perspectives – published by Bloomsbury.

Tonya Cherie Hegamin is Acting Chair, Assistant Professor, and Coordinator of Creative Writing. She is the noted author of the YA novel M+O 4EVR, listed as one of CosmoGirl.com’s “Best Summer Reads” 2008. Her picture book Most Loved in All the World, was the winner of the 2010 New York Public Library’s Ezra Jack Keats Award and listed as USA TODAY’s pick for best books of Black History Month 2009. She is co-author (with Marilyn Nelson) of the YA poetic novella, Pemba’s Song, listed as a “best book for reluctant readers”. Her books lauded as “lovely,” “fresh,” and “compelling,” have each received much admiration from the publication world. She has worked with “at-risk” and institutionalized girls and women in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Tonya received her BA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School University in New York. Ms. Hegamin is an alumna of Cave Canem, the first fellowship retreat for African-American poets, and Hedgebrook, a writing retreat for women. Hegamin’s research interests include teaching literature with multimedia technology, ‘reluctant learners’ and inclusion education, folklore and gender studies. Her fourth book (YA historical fiction), Willow was published in 2014 by Candlewick Press. Her website is www.tonyacheriehegamin.com.

David Hatchett (Lecturer and Coordinator of Professional Writing) has a BA in Social Studies Education from Indiana State University and an MA in Africana Studies from Cornell University. He also has an MA in Journalism and Mass Communication from New York University. He has published articles in the Amsterdam News, Village Voice, In These Changing Times, The Crisis, Black Enterprise, and Empire State Report. He is the coordinator of the English Department's Professional Writing Concentration and serves on Department's Composition Committee. He has served as the faculty advisor to Adafi and teaches Composition and Journalism courses.

Donna Hill is a multi-published author with more than seventy titles in print, three of which were adapted for television. She has won numerous awards and recognition for her body of work including the Zora Neale Hurston Award for Literature. She served as an Adjunct Lecturer at Essex County College in New Jersey and Baruch College where she taught composition, African American, Caribbean, American, and Shakespearean Literature and Western Literary Tradition. She began at Medgar as an Adjunct in 2013 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Professional Writing. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and is currently in pursuit of her DA in English Pedagogy and Technology at Murray State University. She remains a Brooklyn girl at heart where she lives with her family.

Darrel Alejandro Holnes is a poet, playwright, and professor from Panama. He has previously taught at NYU, Rutgers University, and other colleges within the CUNY system. His poetry has been published in Best American Experimental Writing, American Poetry Review, Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere in print and online. His plays have been produced or presented at various theaters including the Brick Theater, the Kitchen Theater Company, and National Black Theater where he is currently an I Am Soul Playwright in Residence. He is the winner of prizes from Poetry International and Split This Rock and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Page 73, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem. For more information visit his website at darrelholnes.com

Joanna Sit (Associate Professor & Coordinator of Creative Writing) has a BA from SUNY at Stony Brook and an MFA from Brooklyn College. She has studied Modern European Literature at New York University. She is the author of three books of poetry: My Last Century (Spuyten Duyvil, 2012), In Thailand with the Apostles (Spuyten Duyvil, 2014), and Track Works (Fly by Night Press, 2017). Her poem “Timescape: The Age of Oz” was nominated for the Pushcart Poetry Prize in 2016. Her book reviews have appeared in Small Press Review, and recently in Gathering of the Tribes Magazine. She is a reviewer and copy editor for The Journal of Creative Writing Studies. She is currently working on an oral narrative/translation project that is partially funded by two PSC-CUNY Research Grant entitled The Reincarnation of Red.

Hyo Kim (Assistant Professor) received his BA from New York University and his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University. He has taught courses in composition, literature, and theory in Medgar Evers College (MEC) since 2003. His areas of interest include Asian American Literature and Ethnic Literatures; and Post-colonial literature and theory. His essays appear in the peer-reviewed journals such as Changing English, Penumbra, and Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, a scholarly journal included in the prestigious Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index. He is the recipient of a fellowship from The City University of New York’s Faculty Fellowship Publication Program. He is the coordinator of MEC’s courses in World Literature: The Evolving Canon and Introduction to Literature.

Carlyle Van Thompson (Professor) has been with Medgar Evers College, CUNY for nineteen years, teaching in the Department of English and serving as Dean of the School for Liberal Arts and Education. Professor Thompson received his Bachelor of Arts from the Center for Worker Education at City College, City University of New York, his Master of Arts, his Master of Philosophy, and his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University—all while working full-time for the New York City Transit Authority. Graduating from City College as a Ford Foundation Fellow and the Valedictorian, Professor Thompson was awarded the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities. To date Dr. Thompson has published three books: The Tragic Black Buck: Racial Masquerading in the American Literary Imagination (2004), Eating the Black Body: Miscegenation as Sexual Consumption in African American Literature (2006), and Black Outlaws: Race, Law, and Male Subjectivity in African American Literature (2010); he has also published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Thompson’s scholarly article on Abner Louima highlighted police brutality in New York City.

Dr. Cristina Migliaccio is Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator of Composition at CUNY Medgar Evers College. She received her M.A. in English from CUNY Queens College and her Ph.D. from St. John’s University in 2017. Her dissertation, “Language, Materiality, and Citizenship in Digital Spaces,” explores critical digital pedagogy as a pathway to cultural inclusivity in the higher ed classroom. She has taught face to face and online literature, composition, and professional writing courses since 2008. She has extensive experience as a writing center consultant. Her research interests include postcolonial digital humanities, translingual/transmodal literacy and pedagogy, and Italian-American and Italian Diaspora Studies. Her essays appear in peer-reviewed journals such as Educause Review Online and Open Words: Access and English Studies Online.

Dr. Keming Liu, Acting Chair, Professor of Linguistics and Literature

Dr. Keming Liu is a professor of linguistics and literature, and currently she serves as the acting Chairperson of English at the City University of New York’s Medgar Evers campus. As an internationally recognized translator and scholar, her book Voices of the Fourth Generation: China's Poets Today(Floating World Editions, 2010) was adopted as a required text for Asian literature courses at Hong Kong University and in the UK. This volume includes an historical and critical introduction to an anthology of contemporary Chinese poems that appeared in the West for the first time in English translation. Dr. Liu was invited to lead a seminar on translation theory and practice for a select group of Ph.D. students at St. Andrews University in June 2016 and in November 2016, she delivered a keynote speech on discourse analysis and strategies (including timely analysis of the presidential debates) at the Islands-in-Between 19^th International Conference convened at the University of West Indies in Barbados. Dr. Liu was invited as a translation consultant for Platform Monopoly《垄断平台》published by Beijing Mechanics Publishers in 2018. Her academic works include Adult ESL: Politics, Pedagogy, and Participation in Classroom and Community Programs (Erlbaum, 1998), a book-length primer, Fingertip Chinese (2nd ed., Weatherhill, 2011), and a Chinese translation of Henry James’s short story “Hugh Merrow” (1987). Her articles have appeared in Urban Education, Geolinguistics, and Wadabagei. She reviews linguistics and literature books for Wadabagei and Choice magazine. Dr. Liu’s short story, The Red T-Shirt was featured at Wavehill’s 1996 writer-in-residence workshop. Dr. Liu also serves as the director of the Confucius Institute for Science and Humanities, which has taken Medgar students abroad for research and scholarly exchange. Dr. Liu lives in New York and Long Island with her husband. She loves getting dirty in her vegetable and plant gardens.

Dr. Mudiwa Pettus, Assistant Professor, English Composition and Rhetoric

Dr. Mudiwa Pettus joins the English Department as an assistant professor of English Composition and Rhetoric. She earned a Ph.D. in English and African American & Diaspora Studies, and a Masters in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric & Composition from Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Claflin University. Her research is located at the intersection of rhetorical education, public intellectualism, and poetics, with a focus on the Post-Reconstruction-Pre-Harlem Renaissance Era. In her current book project, Pettus interweaves these interests by tracing the development of a collective African-American rhetorical consciousness through the oratorical career of Booker T. Washington. She examines speeches, novels, editorials, obituaries, and unpublished poetry to pursue two primary goals. First, she establishes Booker T. Washington as a conscious theorist of democratic deliberation. Second, she uncovers how African Americans, across gender, class, educational, and political divides, capitalized on Washington’s visibility as an orator to administer rhetorical education to black learners. She has designed and taught in-class and online composition, upper-level literature, and area studies courses.