Robin Varnum - 1971-1973 E.S.L. teacher U.S. Peace Corps, Afghanistan

Robin Varnum

121 Harvard St.
Springfield, MA 01109

(413) 732-3803
robin@mail.stcc.mass.edu

Teaching and Professional Experience

1993-present
writing instructor
American International College
1997-present
affiliate
NCTE Cosponsored Speakers Program
1996-present
referee reader/
Journal of Advanced Composition
1993-1996
discussion leader
Mass. Foundation for Humanities
Different People, Different Places Program
1992-1995
Associate Fellow
Institute for Advanced Study in the
Humanities, U.Mass.
1991-1992
writing instructor
Holyoke Community College
1978-1990
writing instructor
Western New England College
1981, 1986
writing instructor
Springfield Tech. Community College
1985
writing instructor
Pima Community College, Ariz.
1971-1973
E.S.L. teacher
U.S. Peace Corps, Afghanistan

Education

1992
Ed.D.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1977
M.A. in English
University of Washington, Seattle
1971
A.B. in philosophy
William Jewell College, Missouri

Publications

With Christina Gibbons, Co-Editor. <>UThe Language of Comics: Where Word and Image
Intersect. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming 2001.
"The Last Great Resistance: 1850-1900." Illustrated Atlas of Native American History.
Samuel Willard Crompton, ed. Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1999.
"Going Coed: Visible Men and Silent Women." Conference on College Composition and
Communication. Atlanta. March 25, 1999.
"Writing with the Boys: The Historias and Cuentos of Amherst's Women Pioneers."
Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago. April 3, 1998.
"What Was It All About? Did Anybody Get It?" Reunion 1997.
Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. May 31, 1997.
"Iconography from Mesoamerican Pictographs to the Comics." Conference on College
Composition and Communication. Phoenix. March 14, 1997.
"Composition Studies," "History," and "Paradigm." In Keywords in Composition Studies.
Ed. Paul Heilker and Peter Vandenberg. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/ Cook, 1996.
44-48, 114-118, 163-167.
Fencing with Words: A History of Writing Instruction at Amherst College during the Era of
Theodore Baird, 1938-1966. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1996.
"Reconceptualizing the 'Old Paradigm': A Fresh Look at Kitzhaber's Historiography."
Conference on College Composition and Communication. Milwaukee. March 27, 1996.
"The Need for a Cultural History of Composition: Reflections on an Amherst Study."
Conference on College Composition and Communication. Nashville, TN. March 17, 1994.
"A Maverick Writing Course: English 1-2 at Amherst College." Conference on the Teaching of
Writing. Bristol Community College, MA. Oct. 22, 1993.
"An Alternative to 'Current-Traditional': English 1-2 at Amherst College." Conference on College
Composition and Communication. San Diego, CA. April 2, 1993.
A Maverick Writing Course: English 1-2 at Amherst College, 1938-1968. Diss.
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Sept. 1992.
"Reclaiming Our History: Theodore Baird and English 1-2 at Amherst College, 1938-1966."
Writing on the Edge 4.1 (1992): 31-39.
"Thirty-Three Assignments per Semester: Theodore Baird and the Mystique of English 1-2 at
Amherst College, 1938-1966." Conference on College Composition and Communication.
Cincinnati, OH. March 19, 1992.
"The History of Composition: Reclaiming Our Lost Generations." Journal of Advanced
Composition 12.1 (1992): 39-55.
"Harvard's Professor Francis James Child: The Years of the Rose, 1883-1896." Harvard
Library Bulletin 36.3 (1988): 291-319.
"From Crisis to Crisis: The Evolution toward Higher Standards of Literacy in the United States."
Rhetoric Society Quarterly 16.3 (1986): 145-165.

Reviews of Fencing with Words

Adams, Katherine H. Journal of Advanced Composition 17.2 (1997): 287-290.
Hahn, Stephen. Amherst 49.2 (1997): 39-40, 42.
Spellmeyer, Kurt. College Composition and Communication 47.3 (1996): 424-436.
Welch, Nancy. College English 59.8 (1997): 939-945.

References available from: Mather Career Center, Credential Service, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003

Prof. Charles Adams, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Prof. Henry Barton, American International College, Springfield, MA. (413) 747-6277
Prof. Peter Elbow, English Dept., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Prof. Anne Herrington, English Dept., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Prof. Melvin Williams, American International College, Springfield (413) 596-9559