Dern-1
John Andrew Dern, Ph.D.
359 Clair Road
Southampton, PA 18966
(215) 364-3857
Teaching
Associate Professor ofInstruction, Intellectual Heritage Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Fall 2012/present.
Assistant Professor of Instruction, fall 2008 through spring 2012.
Lecturer, fall 2007 through spring 2008.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, fall 2004 through spring 2007.
Teach the following courses:
"Intellectual Heritage I: The Good Life,"a critical skills course in literary, philosophical and religious ways of knowing. Texts range from ancient to modern.
"Intellectual Heritage II: The Common Good," a critical skills course in political, social and scientific ways of knowing. Texts range from ancient to modern.
Also teach honors and ESL versions of both Intellectual Heritage I and Intellectual Heritage II. Honors classes include additional reading and writing requirements.
Taught the following courses:
"Intellectual Heritage 1196," a writing-intensive survey of canonical literary, philosophical and religious works from the Classical Age to the Renaissance.
"Intellectual Heritage 1297," a writing-intensive survey of canonical literary, philosophical and scientific works from the Enlightenment to the present.
Lecturer in English, Division of Language, Literature and Fine Arts, Gwynedd-Mercy College, Gwynedd Valley, PA. Spring 1999 through spring 2008.
Taught the following courses:
"College English," an introductory-level course in college writing and the rudiments of critical thinking and research. Instruct ESL students.
"Introduction to Literature," a basic literature course focusing on modes, genres and critical analysis.
"World of Ideas," a survey of literary and philosophical themes in multiple genres. Topics include authority, evolution, Marxism, postmodernism and Romanticism.
"Communication Arts," an upper-level course in public speaking emphasizing both informative and persuasive skills, as well as presentation and analysis.
"British Literature I," an upper-level survey of major British authors from the Anglo-Saxon Period to the Augustan Age.
"British Literature II," an upper-level survey of major British authors from the Augustan Age to the present.
"American Literature I," an upper-level survey of major American authors from the Colonial Period to Transcendentalism.
"Introduction to Mass Media," an overview of mass communication in the modern world, including an analysis of radio, film, television and print media.
"The Short Story," an analysis of the short story in its various genres and according to various themes with attention to the history of the modern short story as a form.
"World Masterpieces I," an upper-level survey of major works in world literature from the Classical Age to the Enlightenment.
"World Masterpieces II," an upper-level survey of major works in world literature from the Enlightenment to the present.
“Literature to Film,” a directed critical study in the adaptation of literary works to film.
“Writing to Publish,” a directed introductory study in writing prose fiction with attention to writing as a profession.
Instructor of English, English Department, Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, PA. Fall 2000. Summer 2001. Summer 2002.
Taught the following courses:
"English II," an introductory-level course in college writing and the rudiments of critical thinking and research.
"Introduction to Literature," a survey of world masterpieces from the Enlightenment to the present that introduces students to the study of literary texts.
Instructor of English, English Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Fall 1991 through spring 1994. Fall 1996. Fall 1998. Fall 1999.
Taught the following course:
"College Composition," an introductory-level course in college writing and the rudiments of critical thinking and research. Instruct ESL students.
Lecturer in English, Division of Arts and Humanities, Penn State University Abington College, Abington, PA. Fall 1997 through fall 1998.
Taught the following courses:
"Basic Writing Skills," a course in developmental writing covering sentence, paragraph and essay construction.
"Rhetoric and Composition," an introductory-level course in college writing and the rudiments of critical thinking and research.
Service Activities
Committee on Teaching Awards: In fall 2017, began a three-year term on the College of Liberal Arts Committee on Teaching Awards. This committee evaluates applicants' portfolios for the Lindback Award and CLA's teaching awards, and makes recommendations to the College of Liberal Arts.
Intellectual Heritage/General Education Program Ethical Reasoning Assessment Project: In summer 2016, participated in the development of an Intellectual Heritage Ethical Reasoning Rubric. Participants met in person four times and contributed on line. The project continued in summer 2017 with the scoring of student work against the rubric.
Promotion Committee: For two weeks from late February to early March 2017, served on a committee to evaluate candidates for promotion in the Intellectual Heritage Program. Personally reviewed one candidate's dossier and wrote a recommendation letter, and served as a second reader on another candidate's dossier.
Faculty Workshop:Prepared a faculty workshop for Intellectual Heritage faculty on the subject of "Writing with Students" for presentation on 3 Oct. 2016. Powerpoint for workshop posted to the program's "Mosaic Curriculum Materials" folder in Owlbox.
Faculty Workshop: Co-facilitated a faculty "Open House" on "Outlines of Violence and Peace in Mosaic Texts" on 2 Feb. 2016. Shared an assignment linking the Bhagavad-Gita and The Iliad, and prepared a handout entitled, "On Violence and Human Nature: Selected Inferences from Thucydides with Commentary from Sun Tzu."
Merit Committee: From mid-December 2015 through mid-January 2016, served on a merit selection committee for the College of Liberal Arts. The committee considered several dozen portfolios submitted by non-tenure-track faculty seeking merit pay for praiseworthy performance in teaching, service and research activities.
Faculty Workshop: Co-facilitated a faculty workshop on "Teaching and Identity" for Intellectual Heritage Faculty on 29 Oct. 2015. Presented a classroom exercise on the following topic: "'A Female Monarch in a Male World': Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Wollstonecraft and Gender."
Faculty Workshop: Co-facilitated a faculty workshop on "Pen or PC? Changing Approaches to Essay Grading" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 29 Oct. 2014.
Faculty Workshop: Facilitated a faculty workshop on "Approaches to Teaching the Declaration of Sentiments" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 19 Sept. 2014.
Hiring Committee: From mid-June through mid-July 2014, served on a hiring committee for the Intellectual Heritage Program. The committee's responsibilities included reviewing initial letters of application and CVs, narrowing the field of applicants, reviewing additional materials from selected applicants and conducting interviews.
Intellectual Heritage Program Faculty Retreat Presentation: On 20 May 2014, facilitated a "mini-presentation" on "Collaborating with Students about Writing" as part of a faculty breakout session on "New Stories about Supporting ESL Students in Mosaic."
Judge for Essay and Photo Contests: Assisted in judging essays and photos for spring 2014 contests co-sponsored by the Intellectual Heritage Program and the Temple University Bookstore.
Faculty Workshop: Facilitated a faculty workshop on "Revisiting Gilgamesh with a Little Help from Freud" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 26 Mar. 2014.
Faculty Workshop: Facilitated a faculty workshop on "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Responding to Student E-Mail" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 15 Oct. 2013.
Intellectual Heritage Program Fall 2013 Orientation Breakout Session: On 21 Aug., co-faciltated a breakout session on "Teaching New Texts in Mosaic II" (focused a brief presentation on Charles Baudelaire's Paris Spleen).
Faculty Workshop: Facilitated a faculty workshop on "The Jacobs Walk: Temple's Changing Campus" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 3 Apr. 2013.
Faculty Workshop: Facilitated a "faculty conversation" on "Avoiding Information Overload: Remembering Course Goals" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 16 Oct. 2012.
Intellectual Heritage Program Fall 2012 Orientation Breakout Session: On 21 Aug., co-facilitated a breakout session on teaching new texts in the "Money" unit of Mosaic: Humanities Seminar 852 (focused on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality).
Mosaic Summer Institute Workshop:Held a faculty workshop on "Teaching Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality" on 16 May at the 2012 Mosaic Summer Institute.
Faculty Workshop:Facilitated a "faculty conversation" on "Science and the City" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 18 Apr. 2012.
Faculty Workshop:Co-facilitated a "faculty conversation"—"Dawkins vs. De Waal: The Rumble in the Jungle"—for Intellectual Heritage faculty on 11 Apr. 2012.
Faculty Workshop: Prepared a "faculty conversation" for Intellectual Heritage faculty on the subject of "Teaching Las Casas" for electronic distribution and for presentation on 12 Oct. 2011.
Mosaic Summer Institute Workshop: Held a faculty workshop on "Close Reading and Interpretation ofVaccination against Smallpox" on 18 May at the 2011 Mosaic Summer Institute.
Violet B. Ketels Award Committee: Served on the committee to choose the 2010-2011 winners of the Intellectual Heritage Program's Violet B. Ketels Award, which is given annually for excellence in teaching and service to the program.
Faculty Workshop: Co-facilitated a "Brown Bag" discussion on "Particpation" for Intellectual Heritage Program faculty on 8 Nov. 2010.
Mosaic Summer Institute Model Classes: Conducted model classes on teaching Edward Jenner's Vaccination against Smallpox on 18 and 19 May at the 2010 Mosaic Summer Institute.
Graduate School Preparation Session: On 7 Apr. 2010, participated in a College of Liberal Arts preparation session for students considering graduate school
Faculty Workshop: Presented on The Wagner Free Institute of Science at the "Weird Sience" workshop on 5 Oct. 2009.
Mosaic Summer Institute Workshop:Held a workshop on "Close Reading" on 18 May at the 2009 Mosaic SummerInstitute.
Faculty Workshop:Presented "On Teaching Edward Jenner" at the "Teaching Jenner" workshop on 2 Feb. 2009.
Faculty Workshop: Presented "Walkabout Temple," a walking tour of Temple used to illustrate points in Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities, at the "Thinking Outside the Classroom" workshop on 3 Nov. 2008.
Faculty Workshop: Co-presented at the workshop on "Depth and Endurance: Building Reading Skills in the New Mosaic" on 22 Sept. 2008.
Mosaic Summer Institute Discussion: Co-moderator for discussion on "Science" on 29 May at the 2008 Mosaic Summer Institute.
FacultyWorkshop: Presented on the topic "Three-Text Paradigm" at "New Paradigms" workshop on 14 Apr. 2008.
Mentoring
Diamond Peer Teacher Program: Served as a faculty mentor for a student teaching assistant as part of the Diamond Peer Teacher Program in the spring 2017 semester.
Diamond Peer Teacher Program: Served as a faculty mentor for a student teaching assistant as part of the Diamond Peer Teacher Program in the spring 2016 semester.
Faculty Mentor: Served as a faculty mentor to a new full-time faculty member in the Intellectual Heritage Program for the fall 2014 semester.
Diamond Peer Teacher Program: Served as a faculty mentor for a student teaching assistant as part of the Diamond Peer Teacher Program in the fall 2013 semester.
Faculty Mentor: Served as a faculty mentor to a new full-time faculty member in the Intellectual Heritage Program for the fall 2013 semester.
Diamond Peer Teacher Program: Served as a faculty mentor for a student teaching assistant as part of the Diamond Peer Teacher Program in the spring 2011 semester.
Faculty Mentor: Served as a faculty mentor to an adjunct faculty member in the Intellectual Heritage Program for the fall 2010 semester.
Gen Ed Peer Teacher Program: Served as a faculty mentor for a student teaching assistant in the Gen Ed Peer Teacher Program in the spring 2009 semester.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in English, 1998, College of Arts and Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. Overall G.P.A. 3.96/4.00.
Dissertation:Martin Amis: Fiction, Form and the Postmodern
Dissertation Abstract
Postmodernism implies fragmentation, formlessness and the exaltation of style vis-à-vis story. A pervasive condition, it informs the works of numberless interpreters, including author Martin Amis. In an essay entitled "Madonna," for example, Amis argues that the pop star "lives" postmodernism by presenting a continual challenge to value systems; she never allows herself to be made into something static and, consequently, unsalable. The dissertation tracks the development of Amis as a writer in conjunction with his postmodernist perspective and within that formative milieu (an increasingly diversified British literary tradition) that founds his perspective. Realist, modernist and postmodernist influences are treated, including works of Amis’ father, Kingsley Amis; Julian Barnes; Saul Bellow; philosopher and critic Fredric Jameson; James Joyce; the poet Philip Larkin; foundational postmodern thinker Jean-François Lyotard; Ian McEwan; Vladimir Nabokov, whose "style" greatly influenced Amis; Salman Rushdie; Evelyn Waugh; Jeanette Winterson, one of Amis’ most intriguing contemporaries; and Virginia Woolf.
Received distinction on major field comprehensive examination in twentieth-century British literature.
Master of Liberal Arts, 1992, College of Arts and Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Overall G.P.A. 3.81/4.00.
Certificate of Completion, 1992, Birkbeck College, University of London Summer School. Course Title: "British Theater, Literature and Culture since 1940." Grade: A.
Bachelor of Arts in English Cum Laude, 1988, College of Arts and Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Overall G.P.A. 3.38/4.00.
Seminar
In May and June 2013, participated in "Working with ESL Students," an eight-session seminar co-sponsored by Temple University's First Year Writing Program and Intellectual Heritage Program. Topics included "The Nature of ESL Students and Understanding Different Cultures of Learning," "Fostering Class Participation," "Teaching Second-Language Reading," "Highlighting the Conventions of Academic Writing," "Understanding Plagiarism" and "Responding to ESL Students' Written Work."
Academic Awards
Scholarships covering tuition costs for the 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97 academic years awarded jointly by the English Department and the College of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University.
Dean’s List, Temple University, spring 1986, fall 1986, spring 1987 and fall 1987.
Honors
2017Teaching/Instructional Faculty Awardpresented by the College of Liberal Arts Teaching Awards Committee at Temple University.
Merit Awards fromthe College of Liberal Arts at Temple Universityfor the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years.
Guest Speaker, White Hall, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. On 28 Oct. 2016, presented a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," followed by a very brief talk on Poe, to a group of resident students.
Guest Speaker, The Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, PA. On 22 Oct. 2015, presented a lecture, "Between the Lines: Rhetorical Subtlety in Poe's Prose," as part of "The Big Read," a month-long program on the works of Edgar Allan Poe sponsored by Community College of Philadelphia.
Faculty Mentor:chosen as a faculty mentor by a 2015 Temple University College of Liberal Arts Baccalaureate Award recipient. Student received the Marie Rittenhouse Masters Scholarship.
Guest Speaker, Ivyland Presbyterian Church Dinner Club, Ivyland, PA. On 12 Apr. 2013, presented a brief history of vaccination.
Guest Speaker, Ivyland Presbyterian Church Dinner Club, Ivyland, PA. On 14 Oct. 2011, presented a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" followed by a discussion of the tale, and a question and answer session.
2009 Violet B. Ketels Award for excellence in teaching and service to the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University.
Nominated for Temple University's Awareness of Teaching & Teaching Improvement Center's 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award.
Guest Lecturer, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia, PA. On 24 Jan. 2004, presented "Celluloid Poe: A Look at Poe's Works on the Big Screen," an illustrated talk on cinematic adaptations of Poe's works in honor of Poe's 195th birthday.
Editorial Board Member, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies. Fall 2012/present.
Publications
Book
Martians, Monsters and Madonna: Fiction and Form in the World of Martin Amis. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.
Pamphlet
Celluloid Poe: A Concise Guide to Films and Videos Based on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Southampton [PA]: John A. Dern, 2002. (Distributed by the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia, PA.)
Essays and Articles
"A Problem in Detection: The Rhetoric of Murder in Poe's 'The Black Cat.'" The Edgar Allan Poe Review 18.2 (2017): 163-182.
"A More Organic Approach to Encouraging Students to Use the Dictionary."The Teaching Professor 31.7 (2017): 7. Web.
"Use It, but Don't Depend on Technology to Teach." Faculty Focus Premium. 8 Dec. 2016. Web. (Republished).
"Use It, but Don't Depend on Technology to Teach." The Teaching Professor 30.9 (2016): 1. Web.
"Iron Poe: 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' in Story and Song." The Edgar Allan Poe Review 16.1 (2015): 70-82.
"A Sense of Stile: Rhetoric in Edgar Allan Poe's 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head.'" The Edgar Allan Poe Review 14.2 (2013): 163-177.
"Avoiding Information Overload: Remembering Course Goals." Faculty Focus: Higher Ed Teaching Stretegies from Magna Publications 31 Oct. 2013: Web. (Republished).
"Avoiding Information Overload: Remembering Course Goals." The Teaching Professor 26.8 (2012): 1. Web.
"Beyond Vaccination: Edward Jenner and the Problem of Contingency." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 14.2 (2012):164-79.
"When the Contract Is Up: Staying Focused." The Teaching Professor 25.9 (2011): 5. Web.
"What Students Understand Isn't Always What the Professor Means." The Teaching Professor 24.9 (2010): 1. Web.
"Educating the Teacher: Thoughts on Teaching New Material." The Teaching Professor 24.3 (2010): 5. Web.
"The Lesson Is Too Much with Us: Recognizing Teaching Moments." The Teaching Professor22.8 (2008):1. Web.
"The Cost of Applying: The Hidden Fees Associated with Submitting Dossiers." Forum 8.2 (2005): A6-A9.
"The Revenant of Vienna: A Critical Comparison of Carol Reed's Film The Third Man and Bram Stoker's Novel Dracula." Literature/Film Quarterly 33.1 (2005): 4-11.
"Teaching Poe's Theory of Effect: Orson Welles and 'The Hitchhiker.'" Pennsylvania English 27.1-2 (2004-2005): 8-18.
"The Third Man and the Third Medium: Radio and the Characterization of Harry Lime." The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 2.3 (2004): 171-186.
"'Sin without God': Existentialism and The Trial." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 5.2 (2004): 94-109.
"Words to the Wise? Questioning the Conventional Job-Search Advice." Forum 7.1 (2003): A13-A15.
"Martin Amis and Edgar Allan Poe: Postmodernism and the Relevance of Totality." Pennsylvania English 24.1-2 (2001-2002): 54-69.
"Poe's Public Speakers: Rhetorical Strategies in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Cask of Amontillado.'" The Edgar Allan Poe Review 2.2 (2001): 53-70.
"A Moment of Prayer." The Baker Street Journal ns 42 (1992): 231-232.
"The Lodger: A Bit of the Ripper, a Bit of Holmes." Wheelwrightings 14.2 (1991): 30-33.
Reviews
Rev. of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven: A Graphic Novel by Duncan Longaccepted by The Edgar Allan Poe Review for the spring 2018 issue.