Dr. Ruth Ellen Porter

Professional Experience

Shenandoah Academic Success and Support, LLC
Owner and CEO
Current

Dean, School of Arts and Professional Studies
South Georgia State College
Douglas, GA  31533

Director of Academic Services
Professor of English and Modern Languages
The College of Arts and Sciences
Jacksonville State University

Division of Arts and Sciences Chair
Grace Lorentzon-Hyatt Chair of English
Professor of Modern Languages
Brewton-Parker College

Assistant/Associate Professor of English and Modern Languages
Director of the Honors Program
Interim Chair of Humanities
Culver-Stockton College

Instructor in English and Writing
Pembroke State University

Education

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Comparative Literature

M.A., Hollins College, English, Writing

B.A., Randolph Woman’s College, Speech Communication / Biology and English

Post-Doctoral Studies

Western University of Illinois, Spanish
Georgia Southern University, Spanish
TESOL Certification
American TESOL Institute

Teaching Experience

Grace Lorentzen Hyatt Professor of English and Professor of Modern Languages                                                                         

Associate Professor of English                             
Brewton-Parker College, Mt. Vernon, GA 

Visiting Adjunct Instructor
Spanish and English
Southeastern Technical College and remote campuses

Associate Professor of English and Modern Languages
Culver-Stockton College, Canton, MO   

Assistant Professor of English
Culver-Stockton College, Canton, MO                 

Instructor of English and Developmental Writing  
Pembroke State University, Pembroke, NC

Examples of Courses Taught

First-Year Writing, Honors and Advanced Composition, Developmental Writing, World Literature and Intellectual History, History of the English Language, Medieval Literature (French and Spanish Romance Epic), French and Spanish Medieval Prose, American Ethnic Literature, Critical Theory (beginning and advanced),  Modern Spanish and Latin American Literature, Beginning and  Advanced Spanish language, Women’s Studies,  Women in Literature, German and Russian literature  

Teaching Awards

The Helsabeck Award for Teaching Excellence
Culver-Stockton College

The Panhellenic Award for Best Teacher
Awarded on two separate occasions

Selected Contributions to Writing and Literacy Programs

Conference “Encouraging Young Writers and Readers” Family Literacy Studies Lewis County Public Schools, Canton, MO

The Young Writers Conference
Organized and directed a popular regional workshop/conference for secondary students held at Brewton-Parker College, Canton, MO
 
Conference “Evaluating Freshman Writing Programs” 
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA
 
“Prime Time for Families: The Art of Storytelling,”
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Workshop, 
New Orleans, LA
 
Storytelling Workshop, Ohoopee Regional Library, Douglas, GA

Workshops for Young Writers

Writing Workshops
Culver-Stockton College, Canton, MO
 
The Young Writers Conference
Designed and Directed the Annual Event
Brewton-Parker College, Canton, MO    

Selected Curriculum Design Activities

CBE Summit 2017 The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
May 25, 2017

Languages for Business:  A Global Approach
Conference
Ávila, Spain
 
Tenth Annual Spanish Language Faculty Development Program
Teaching Spanish for Business:  A Global Approach
Florida International University  ;  Ávila, Spain
 
 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute:
Regional Studies and the Liberal Arts:  An Appalachian Exemplar, Ferrum College

Selected Pedagogical Seminars

East Meets West College Readiness Conference:
“Using Demographic Data and Projections to Assess College Readiness and Plan Strategically for Student Success”
East Georgia College 
 
First Year Experience Seminar
St. Simons, Georgia
 
Georgia Association for Developmental Learning
St. Simons, Georgia
 
First Year Experience 
International Seminar
Southampton, England

Selected Scholarly and Pedagogical Activities (Highlighting Diversity and Interdisciplinary Studies)

Language, Myth, and Metaphor: Archetype in the Short Stories of Edith Wharton and Anton Chekhov under the direction of Robert Bain and Paul Debreczeny.
 
“Archetypal Metaphor in Chekhov’s Black Monk” presented at the American Association of Slavic Language Teachers in conjunction with the Modern Language Association
 
“Reversed Metaphor in Pushkin’s Autumn,” Philological Society of the Carolinas, Spring 
 
“Kondraty Ryleev: A Decembrist Activist and Poet.”  Missouri Philological Association
 
“The Importance of Multicultural and Gender Studies in Secondary Education” Quincy Conference on Education, Quincy, IL
 
“Temporal and Spatial Representation in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening,” Missouri Philological Association, St. Louis University
 
“Chronotope or Voice: A Revised Feminist Reading of Kate Chopin,” Midlands Conference on Language and Literature, Creighton University

“Teaching Third World Literature in the American ‘World Literature’ Curriculum,” Third World Studies Conference, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska
 
“Strategies for Intercultural/Interdisciplinary Education,” Quincy Conference on Education, Quincy, IL
 
“The Americanization of the International Curriculum: Strategies for Teaching American Studies in East Europe” International Alliance for Peace Seminar, Prague, Czech Republic, November
 
“A Philosophy for World Gender Studies: Transitions and Transcendence,” International Women’s Conference, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
 
“The Poetry of Fin Amor and the Trobaritz,” published in Ex Scientia, Vol. 1, II 1996.
 
“The Provençal Poets: Are We Asking the Right Critical Question?”  The Missouri Philological Association, Springfield, Missouri
 
“Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: Tres Siglos de Immortalidad,” published in Ex Scientia, Vol. 1, III, 1997.
 
Nursing Research Conference Number 20, Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing, 
By special invitation in recognition of interdisciplinary work presented: “The Narrative of Menopause: Distinctions between the stories of peri-and post- menopausal women.”
 
Review: The Great Twain Robbery Published The Twainian vol. 3, Fall 1998.  Mark Twain Studies, Hannibal Missouri
 
“Woman’s View of Courtly Love: A Comparative Reading of the Works of the Trobaritz and Christine de Pizan,” Presented March 14, 2003 Teaching the Medieval: Medieval Women Writers, Kennesaw University, Kennesaw, GA.

“Using Writing Center Assessment Data for Community Outreach” AAHE Assessment Conference, Denver, CO
 
“Twelfth Century Troubadours and the Trobaritz,” Journal of the Georgia Philological Association, December ’06, V.1
 
“When Language Fails:  Artistic and Cultural Value of the Archetypal Metaphor,” presented at the Georgia Philological Society, Mt. Vernon, Georgia

Selected Continuing Language and Literature Studies

“Poetry and Prose of the Golden Age,” Georgia Southern University, Spring, 2009
 
“Spanish for Business,”   Georgia Southern University, Summer, 2009
 
Translation workshop with Robert Bly, Georgia College and State University, April 2001.
 
Course work (graduate) Western Illinois University (6 graduate hours) “Advanced Spanish Syntax,” “Hispanic Culture, ”Fall, 1997.
 
Course work (intensive Intermediate and Advanced Spanish) Instituto Forrester, San Jose, Costa Rica, Summer, 1997.

Languages

Modern languages: Spanish and Russian
Reading knowledge: Polish, Bulgarian, German, and French

Recent (2016-2018) Professional Development Webinars, Workshops, Conferences

“Inquiry-based Learning/PBL”  FAME Session 
Waycross Campus
SGSC  January 19, 2018

FEMA Training Certificate Course “Active Shooter:  What You Can Do”
SGSC February 27, 2018
 
“LEAP High Impact Practices”
FAME Session
SGSC, Sept. 15, 2017
 
“Authentic Assessments/VALE Rubrics”
FAME Session
SGSC  October 20, 2017
 
Quality Matters Based Design for Online Teaching and Course Development” South Georgia State College
May 3- 2017

“Strategic Program Development”
SGSC Leadership Retreat
May 27, 2016

“From STEM to STEAM,” The importance of including art, design, and creative thinking in science and technology programs.
eSchool Programs, April 27, 2016

“Supervisor’s Annual Evaluation Training,” SGSC Human Relations Department
South Georgia State College, 
 
FEMA National Incident Management
Courses 100H and 700ICS
South Georgia State College

Building Coordinator Training
All areas of emergency response management, including active shooter protocols, and access to disaster prevention resources.
South Georgia State College
 
RTK Global Harmonized System Training
South Georgia State College

Strategic use of ExamSoft Software
Eric Ermie and Randa Davis
Jacksonville State University

Effective Web Site Design
Academic Computing and Support Service Network
Jacksonville State University

Showcasing your Footprint:  A Grant Writing and Outcome Measurement Workshop
Alagrants
Anniston, AL
 
Major Field Test Intensive Training
ETS Webinar

Grant Proposal Training
Jacksonville State University

Evaluation Training for Supervisors
Jacksonville State University
 
Functionalities of RCampus, RCampus Enterprises, February 1, 2013
 
Workplace Harassment:  Definitions and Management
Jacksonville State University, February 18, 2012

Learner Centered Assessment:  Do Rubrics Enhance the Learning Experience?, RCampus Enterprises, March 2013

Selected Professional and Administrative Activities
Assessment in Higher Education

Association of American Colleges and Universities
Conference, Washington, D.C., January 22-25, 2014

“Quality, E-Quality, and Opportunity:  How Educational Innovations Will Make—or Break—America’s Global Future”
 
“Assessment in Academic Culture:  Creating a Culture of Assessment,” published in Momentum, V.6.1, Fall 2013

Association of American Colleges and Universities
Conference, Atlanta, January 23-26, 2013
“Innovations, Efficiencies, and Disruptions—To What Ends?”
 
Association of American Colleges and Universities,
“Demanding Excellence:  Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment” Washington, DC,  
 
American Association of Higher Education, Assessment Conference, Denver,  

Presentation: “Using Writing Center Assessment Innovations for Community Outreach.”

American Association of Higher Education, Assessment Conference, Seattle,  
 
American Association of Higher Education, Assessment Conference, Boston,  .
 
American Association of Higher Education, “Assessing the Ineffable,” Denver,  
 
Graduate course: “Institutional Assessment” EDL 5101 University of Montana 2001 (3 graduate hours.
 
The Assessment Institute, Chicago, IL
Course-Embedded Assessment Institute: The King’s College Experience, King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Selected Public Addresses

“Qualities of the Academic Leader” Toombs-Montgomery Leadership Conference
 
“An Application of Fernand Braudel’s Theory of History to a Predictive History of Appalachia”
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Ferrum College, Ferrum, VA    
 
“Interdisciplinary Writing: A New Model”
Faculty Workshop
 
“Undergraduate Advising” Faculty Workshop
 
“Women, Medicine, and Writing,” Faculty Forum
 
“Reflections on Milton’s Aereopagitica for Contemporary Scholars,” Honors Scholars, Culver-Stockton College
 
“History of Feminist Theory,” Faculty Forum, Culver-Stockton College

Selected Contributions to Administration and Faculty Affairs

South Georgia State College

The QEP Development Committee          
Academic Leadership Committee  
The President’s Cabinet
Dean’s Council
Academic Council
Advising Committee
Institutional Representative to ACE Georgia Women in Higher Education Leadership-2015
Distance Education Advisory Committee 
Chair, International Education Committee

Jacksonville State University

Institutional Effectiveness Committee      
Assessment Subcommittee
QEP Committee       
Graduate Advising Consultant
QEP Research Subcommittee      

Brewton-Parker College
Chair, Arts and Sciences               
Chair, Arts & Letters Division 
Chair, Tenure and Rank Committee 
Chair SACS Response Team QEP and Institutional  
Strategic Planning 
Chair, Writing Across the Curriculum Committee 
Chair, General Education Assessment Committee 
Chair, General Education Committee 
Chair, Faculty Assessment Subcommittee
Chair, Curriculum Committee        
Chair, Humanities B-PC Centennial Subcommittee 2004 
Academic Council 
Provost’s Cabinet  
Strategic Planning Council 2000-2012
Strategic Planning Executive Committee  
Appeals Committee  
SACS Response Team 
QEP Committee  
Assessment Committee  
General Education Assessment Committee  
Committee on International Studies  
Curriculum Committee  
 
Culver-Stockton College
Director of the Honors Program
Interim Chair of the Humanities Division Dean’s Council
General Education Committee
Developed an interdisciplinary program and aFreshman Seminar program emphasizing institutional excellence and individuality.
Academic Council: Elected representative to the college’s central academic committee.   
Student Affairs Committee: Elected representative to a special committee designed to connect Academic Affairs and Student Services.  
Long-Range Planning Committee: Division delegate to institutional committee for long-range planning.   
Long-Range Planning Council: Subsequently appointed as one of two faculty elected to represent academic interests at the regional planning council.    
International Study Committee 

Administrative Interests

Academic Outcomes-Based Assessment and Strategic Planning, Curriculum Development, Advising, General Education and Learning Assistance, Honors Programs, Faculty Recruitment and Development

Special Pedagogic and Academic Interests

Interdisciplinary studies, Foreign Language Pedagogy, Literary Theory and Criticism, Women’s Studies and Gender Issues, French and Spanish medieval literature, Nineteenth century American and Russian Short Story

Copyright Shenandoah Academic Success and Support, LLC – All rights reserved, 2021