Westchester Community College, State University of New York

Jim Werner

Contact Information:

Phone: 914-606-6840
Office location: Science Building Room 301
Email: james.werner@sunywcc.edu
Title(s): Professor and Chair
Department/Division: English Department, School of Arts, Humanities and Social Science

Degree Information:

• PhD in English (19^th Century American Literature), City University of New York Graduate School and University Center

Courses Taught:

• ENG 091: Writing for College 1
• ENG 092: Writing for College 2
• ENG 101: Writing and Research
• ENG 102: Writing and Literature
• ENG 200: American Literature to 1865
• ENG 209: Short Story
• ENG 210H: American Dream – Honors
• ENG 224: Leadership and the Humanities
• ENG 226H: Great Books – Honors
• INTER 161H: Seminar in Ethics – Honors

Honors and Awards:

• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service, State University of New York (2013)
• Faculty Excellence in Service Award, Westchester Community College Foundation (2011)
• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship, State University of New York (2007)
• Abeles Endowed Chair of WCC Honors Program (2006)
• Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award, Westchester Community College Foundation (2005)

Publications:

• “Crossing the Student/Teacher Divide at the Community College: The Student Tutor Education Program (STEP).”  Teaching English in the Two-Year College 35.4 (May 2008): 363-371.
• American Flaneur: The Cosmic Physiognomy of Edgar Allan Poe. New York, London: Routledge, 2004.
• “Ground-Moles and Cosmic Flaneurs: Poe, Humboldt and 19th-Century Science.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review 3.1 (Spring 2002): 45-69.
• “The Detective Gaze: Edgar A. Poe and the Physiognomy of Crime.”  American Transcendental Quarterly 15.1 (2001): 5-21.
• “The Faces of Poe: Flanerie and Popular Culture.” The Mid-Atlantic Almanack 10 (2001): 81-96.
• “Bringing Down Holy Science: The North American Review and Jacksonian Scientific Inquiry.”  American Periodicals 10 (2000): 27-42.

Presentations:

• Lecture and discussion: “Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment,” a four-part course delivered at the WCC Collegium (Winter 2016)
• Lecture and discussion: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun for the WCC Great Books Forum (Spring 2013)
• Presentation: “Using Reading to Stimulate Student Thought,” WCC Arts and Humanities Division Annual Symposium (May 2012)
• Lecture and discussion: “The Best Book We’ve Had: Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” a four-part course delivered at the WCC Collegium (Winter 2012)
• Lecture and discussion: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby for the WCC Great Books Forum (Spring 2011)
• Lecture and discussion: “Melville’s Moby-Dick,” a six-part course delivered at the WCC Collegium (Fall 2010)
• Presentation: “’Cruel War’ and ‘Domestic Insurrection’”: Race and the Declaration of Independence,” at the 1^st Annual Teach-In on Racism, WCC (April 2009)
• Lecture and discussion: Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick for the WCC Great Books Forum (October-December 2008)
• Lecture and discussion: “Edgar Allan Poe” at the WCC Collegium “A La Carte” series (Spring 2008).
• “Crossing the Student/Teacher Divide at the Community College,” a paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), New York NY, Spring 2007.
• “Community College Students as Teachers: The Student Tutor Education Program,” a paper presented at the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA) Northeast Conference, Providence RI, October 2006.
• Presentation: “The Integral Teacher: Good Talk about Good Teaching,” WCC Arts and Humanities Division Annual Symposium (Spring 2006).

Institution Service or Academic Service:

• English Department Chair (2014- present)
• Assistant Chair (Acting), English Department (Fall 2006, Spring 2014)
• Chair, English Search and Screen Committee (2010-2012, 2015-2016)
• Director, Great Books Discussion Forum Series at WCC (Fall 2013- present)
• Administrator, Student Tutoring Education Program (STEP) (2004-2007)
• Acting Curriculum Chair, Humanities (Spring 2006, Spring 2010)
• Chair, Middle States Self-Study Working Group on Mission and Goals (2012-2015)
• Member, Search and Screen Committee for College Vice President (2011, 2012)
• Abeles Endowed Chair and Co-Director of the Honors Program (2006-2012)
• Administrator, “Integral Teacher,” faculty development reading and discussion series