Faculty & Staff Directory

Todd Davis, associate professor of English, teaches creative writing, environmental studies, and American literature. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. His poems have appeared in such journals and magazines as "The North American Review," "Indiana Review," "Iowa Review," "River Styx," "West Branch," "Arts & Letters," "Quarterly West," "The Christian Science Monitor," "Green Mountains Review," "Poetry East," "Many Mountains Moving," "Natural Bridge," "Epoch," "The Louisville Review," "The Nebraska Review," "Orion," and "Image." He is the author of two books of poems, "Ripe" (Bottom Dog Press, 2002) and "Some Heaven" (Michigan State University Press, 2007), and is co-editor with Erin Murphy of "Making Poems: 40 Poems with Commentary by the Poets" (State University of New York Press, forthcoming). His poems have been featured by Garrison Keillor on "The Writer's Almanac" and by Ted Kooser in "American Life in Poetry." The winner of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, Davis's poetry has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In addition to his creative work, Davis is the author of "Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade, Or How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism" (State University of New York Press, 2006), and co-author of "Postmodern Humanism in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Reconciling the Void" (Palgrave, 2006) and "Formalist Criticism and Reader Response Theory" (Palgrave, 2002). He has co-edited "Mapping the Ethical Turn" (University of Virginia Press, 2001), "The Critical Response to John Irving" (Praeger, 2004), and "Reading the Beatles" (State University of New York Press, 2006). His criticism has appeared in such journals as "Critique," "College Literature," "Studies in Short Fiction," "Literature/Film Quarterly," "Western American Literature," "Style," and "Mosaic."

Phillip Day’s research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying hormonal signal transduction in germinating cereal grains such as rice, barley, and wheat. Specifically, Dr. Day studies the role of lipid- and protein-kinases in the gibberellin response of rice aleurone cells. He currently teaches courses in microbiology and genetics.

KEY TOPICS/RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Plant Physiology, Microbiology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics

Mary G. DeJong received her Ph.D. in literature from the University of South Carolina. She has published many articles on American literature and culture, including three on the composition and performance of hymns. Her research interests and teaching now center on gender issues, especially in women's writing.Her current project is a study of the letters exchanged by two American women reformers in the 1840s, Anna Parsons and Marianne Dwight.

Daniel DiLeo received his Bachelor of Arts degree and his Ph.D. in political science from Temple University in Philadelphia. He teaches courses in American government and political philosophy. His research interests include the agendas and rhetoric of the governors of the American states, education policy in the American states and the political implications of religious doctrines.

Cathy Dillen, instructor in nursing, holds a master’s degree in Nursing from Penn State with a focus on adult health and nursing education as a clinical nurse specialist. She has been employed at Altoona Regional Health System for over twenty years where she works as an oncology nurse and serves as the cancer committee outreach coordinator. She is certified as an oncology and medical-surgical nurse and holds specialized training as a chemotherapy biotherapy trainer.