Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 1978
Area of Study: Renaissance non-dramatic literature; Renaissance dramatic literature
Dissertation: "Narrative Strategies in Milton's "Paradise Regained."

M.A. Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia. 1970

B.A. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1966

University of Houston Downtown: Adjunct lecturer 1974
Assistant Professor 1974-1978; Associate Professor, 1978-Present.

Assistant Chair, Dept. of English 1978-9

Acting Director of the Writing Laboratory, English 1978-9

Instructor, Jesse Jones Institute, 1994 - Present

Teaching Fellow, Vanderbilt University, 1971-3

Teaching Fellow, Marshall University 1969-70

Instructor of teachers, Peace Corps Colombia, 1967-69

Instructor, Learner's Community Grant courses, Fall 2000, Spring 2002. Wrote only Original Letter of Cooperation.

Recipient, Assessment Grant for Summer Shakespeare Assessment, Summer 1996.

37th St. Grant Project; Galveston, Tex. Tarus Woods, co-author, 1994, Urban Renovation Project, Funded.

Galveston Inc. Neighborhood Youth Grant, Galveston, Tex. Craig Bowie, writer; Merrilee Cunningham, editor, 1996.

Buffalo Bayou Beautification Project Grant, editor; Don Perkins and the Park Commission in cooperation with The Park People, Inc., 1983.

American General Matching Funds Grant, $5,000; Wharton Elementary Playground.. Mrs. Martinez, principal and co-writer, 1983.

Rockwell fund, Library Grant for Rare Book Room, written by Committee To Create the Rare Book Room, later renamed the Rockwell Room, 1978. Subcommittee of the Library Facilities Planning Committee, 1980.

Delphian Grant to Dept. of English, Co-writer, Dr. Russell Meyer, Originally to purchase Shakespeare Videos.

Baylor Medical School/University of Houston Downtown Minority Scholars Grant; Reviewed and extensively edited the Science Dept.'s million dollar grant, 1983. Wrote or helped write seven publications of BMS/UHD Minority Scholars Program. Chaired Publication Subcommittee with Dr. Jean Umland.

Book Reviews:

Review of Douglas Brode's Shakespeare and Film, Oxford University Press in The Review of Communication, forthcoming January 2002. Pp. 1 - 7.

"Feminism and Othello," review of Dympna Callaghan's Woman and Gender in Renaissance Tragedy for the South Central Review: The Journal of the South Central Modern Language Association, Vol. 8, no. 2 (summer 1991). Pp. 75-76.

Review of The Scope of Satire, Charles Sanders, Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Fall 1979. Pagination unknown.

Encyclopaedia Articles:

"The Press in El Salvador,"  November, 2002, The World Press Encyclopaedia: A Survey of Newspapers, Magazines, and Broadcast News Worldwide, Dawn Des Jardins, editor. 2nd. Edition, Gale Publications, Los Angeles, California. Pp. 280-288

"The Educational System of Ecuador,"  November, 2001, The Encyclopaedia of World Education, Rebecca Marlow-Ferguson, ed.  Gale Publications: Los Angeles, California, Pp.  369-384.

"Ralph Lauren," entry in  The Encyclopaedia of Modern Art, Frank N. Magell, ed. Salem Press, Los Angeles, California, 1996. 

"Madonna" entry in The Encyclopaedia of Modern Art, Frank N. Magell, ed. Salem Press,  Los Angeles, California, 1996., Pp. 2449-2453.

 "Laura Ashley, entry in The Encyclopaedia of Modern Art,  Frank N. Magell, ed. Salem Press,  Los Angeles, California, 1996

Invited Non-Peer Reviewed Articles on Literature and Collecting:

"Collecting as Sport" Spring 2001, Brimsfield Collector, Brimsfield, Mass., Robert Brown, editor. P. 18-21.

"Collecting as Science or Order in the Potpourri" Summer 2000, The Brimsfield Collector, Robert Brown, editor. Pp. 4-8.

"Collecting as Art," Spring 1999, The Brimsfield Collector, Robert Brown, editor. Pp. 3 - 7.

Collecting: A Collection of Critical Essays: Robert Brown, editor, Chapters 7 and 8, May 2000. (Distribution 2001).

Editing Publications, Books and Textbooks:

Editor, Comedy and Para-Comedy from The Iliad to Hollywood, Houston Teachers Institute, March 2009.

Editor, World Mythology, Houston Teachers Institute, April 2008, P. 1 – 281.

Editor, Teaching Shakespeare and Film, Houston Teachers Institute, March 2006, Pp. 1-240.

Contributing editor, TheUH/D Guide to 1301, editor, Gillian Hanson, St. Martin's, 1997.

Board of Editors, IGI Global 2007- Present

Board of Editors,  Handbook of Instructional Systems and Technology, Hershey New York, 2007.

Advisory Editor, Humanities in the South, 1982-1983, Michelle Oren, editor.

Co-Associate  Editor, (with Prof. Don Elgin), Humanities in the South, 1983-1984, Michelle Oren, editor.

Senior Advisory Editor,  1984-1985,(with Carla Cooper, Ray Wright, and John Gorman), Humanities in the South, Don Elgin, editor.

Co-Editor, Vanderbilt Poetry Magazine, ON, 1972-1973, Michael Rozak, co-editor.

"Shakespeare's The Tempest and MGM's Forbidden Planet," (Paper presented to the Film Section of the South Central Modern Language Association).  Abstracted in the South Central Modern Language Association Bulletin, 1981.

"Teaching Literature in an Open Door Institution," Proceedings of the First Conference on Teaching, Spring, 1983, University of Houston, University Park. (Later Enron Teaching Conference).

"Botanical Naming in John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman and Daniel Martin,
accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Omnamastics Society, Brockport, New York, 1990.

"The Basic Dialectic: Agon as Verbal Combat in Milton's Paradise Regained,"
Proceedings of the Conference on Teaching and Literature, October 10-12, 1985, Hammond, Louisiana, Pp. 4-5.

"The Meditations of Paradise Regained,"  abstracted briefly in The South Central
Bulletin of the Modern Language Association, Fall 1980, Paul Parrish, chair.  P. 114.

“Learning Villages Network and its Computer Components,” Merrilee Cunningham, Ruth Robbins, Deborah Buell, Pp. 287-299; Handbook of Instructional Systems and Technology, Terry T. Kidd and Holim Song, editors,  IGI Global, 2007.

"Contingency Hybridization and The Teaching and Learning Center,"  Pp. 1-11,  On-line Archives of  the Center for Distance Education. Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Distance Education Conference,  January 21, 22, 23, 34, 2004. Pp. 1-6 with Drs. Deborah Buell, Erin Hodgess, and Ruth Robbins.

"Distance Education Contingency Planning: Hybridization in Disaster Recovery," The Journal of Information Technology Impact, Vol 3, #2, December 2003,  Pp. 1-9.with Drs. Deborah Buell, Erin Hodgess, and Ruth Robbins.

"Working Class Realities and Embourgeoisement Perceptions: Generation and Gender Perceptions of Class in America" Proceedings of the Conference of Working Class Academics, held May, 2001, Houston, Texas.

"The Interpolated Tale in Book I of The Faerie Queene,"  South Central Review: The Journal of the South Central Modern Language Association, Vol. 43, no. 4   (Winter, 1983). Pp.  99 - 104.

With Elizabeth Cooper, "Professional Writing: The Degree of the Future, "The Specific Requirements of a Professional Writing Degree," San Francisco CCTE Meeting, published in  Eric. March 1982, invited for publication in Journal of Rhetoric and Composition.

"The Epic Narrator in Milton's Paradise Regained."  Renaissance and Reformation, Toronto, Spring, 1978, Pp.215-229.

"Teaching Shakespeare and Writing Literary Criticism in an Open Admissions University."  Eric, Spring 1979.

   
"Teaching Shakespeare in an Open Door Institution," Published Proceedings of the Canadian Council of College Teachers of English, Winter 1982, Published in From Seed to Harvest, Kathleen Whale and Trevar Gambull, eds., CCTE Monographs and Special Publications. 1983. Pp.82 - 87.

"The Humanities: Democratic or Elitist," published in Humanities Education, Spring, 1986, a Publication of the National Association of the Humanities, University of Minnesota, Duluth.

"A Winter's Tale: A Parody" On Magazine, Vanderbilt 1971

"Morning Windows"  On Magazine, 1972

"Debts 1972"  On Magazine, 1972

"Louise Malloy, Louise Callaway, Louise Watkins and Me" On, 1972

"Coal Minds"  Versus, 1972

"To a Small Sister" Versus, Oct. 1972

"Sleep #1" Versus Oct. 1972

"Marlowe's Melody" Versus, Oct. 1972

"Jasper"  Versus, Sept. 1972

"The City of Dis"  The Virginia Poetry Society Magazine, 1967.

"Towards Boston" Versus, 1972

"The City of Dis" Republished in Visions, 1974

"To a Blind Poet" Versus, Sept. 1973

"Grave Watching"  On, Fall, 1972

"Medusa's Eyes"  Versus Feb. 1972

"Skin Diving off Key West," Versus, Feb. 1972

"Veranda Sitters" Versus, 1972

"The Ox Foot" Versus 1972

"Christmas Fires"  Georgia Magazine, 1974.

"Red Rover,"  Fall 1987, The Bayou Review, P. 32.

Panel on Teaching, Enron Teaching Excellence Symposium,, Houston Texas, University of Houston, "Understanding Teaching Excellence: The Faculty Perspective" With Drs. Richard Abrahamson, Dennis Huston, Robert C. Solomon, Tatcho Mindiola. University Park, April 21, 1994.

Organizer and Chair: Panel: Houston Museum Culture and African-Americans: MFA versus Menil. SCMLA, Houston.1992 Presenters: Prof. Lorenzo Thomas, Prof. Amilcar Shabazz, and Prof. Merrilee Cunningham.

"Contingency Hybridization and the Teaching and Learning Center," Eleventh Annual Distance Education Conference, January 21, 22, 23, 24, 2004 Houston, Texas. In co-operation with Texas Public Broadcasting Educational Network. With. Drs. Robbins, Buell and Hodgess.

"Using Distance Learning  Methods in Linked Learning Community Courses," Prof. Ruth Robbins and  Assoc. Prof. Merrilee Cunningham.  The Renaissance in Distance Learning Conference, Distance Learning Association, March 3-6, 2003.

"Teaching English Literature with a Trip Component," National Council of Teachers of English, Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, November 20-23, 2002. With. Prof. Mosally  and Ms. Read.

"On Your Imaginary Forces Work": Teaching Henry V:  Cheap Tricks, Anniversaries, Movie Clips and Ideas from the Internet," October 2-6, 2002.  Popular Culture Association of the Southeast meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Working-class Issues n Caryl Churchill's Top Girls: International Working-class Conference, Southampton, New York, August 7-9, 2002.

"Ben Jonson's "On the Great Voyage":  Space,  Parody, and Sir Francis Drake; Paper to be presented at the International Conference on Parody, Atlanta, Georgia, November, 4, 2001.

"Narrative Iconography of the Column Capitals  in Durham Cathedral Chapel,"  presented at the Texas Medieval Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas,
August 31st. 2001.

"Pathological Vulgarity, Ravings and Delusions in Shakespearean Films: Almost Sisters in Polanski's MacBeth," Conference on Fantasy and Literature, Atlanta Georgia, Nov. 2000.

"Working Class Realities and Embourgeoisement Perceptions:  Generation and Gender Perceptions of Class in America," Dr. Sandra Dahlberg, co-director, Conference on  the Working class, May 30-31, 2001.  Houston, Texas.

"Teaching Shakespeare and Film: How the Internet can Help"  PCAS, Nashville, Tennessee, Nov. 2000.

"Divine Orations in Milton's Paradise Regained:  Oratorio.  Seventeenth Century Studies Conference in Durham, England, July 22-27, 1999, University of Durham.

"The Goddess Society, Oprah Winfrey, and the Patriarchy, paper read at the Southeastern PCAS conference in Augusta, Georgia on October 9, 1998"

"Shakespeare and Star Trek:  The Shakespeare Game. SCMLA, October. 5th. 1998.

"Talk to me Baby: Conversational Strategies in Rock and Roll Lyrics" PCAS, October,
1993.

"Lovejoy the Antique Dealer and Anti-Romantic Sentiment," PCAS, October, 1990,
St. Augustine, Fla. (later published as "Collecting as Art.").

"The Rogue in the Detective Fiction of Jonathan Gash,"  International Conference on the Fantastic, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., March 16-19th. 1989.

Co-author, with Ibis Gomez-Vega, "Fertility Goddesses and Fertility Images in Toni Morrison's The Beloved,"  SCWSA Conference, March 31, 1989, Houston, Texas.

"Journal Writing in Remedial English," October 30, 1989, Southwest Regional Conference of Two-Year  Colleges,   Houston, Texas.

"The Making of Knowledge in Composition Remediation," October 30, 1989, Southwest
Regional Conference of Two-Year Colleges, Houston, Texas.

With Patricia Cravey, "Oenamastics in John  Fowles, The Magus," Modern Language Association Meeting, San Francisco California,  December, 1989.

"The Collector as Villain in the Novels of John Fowles, "  South Central Popular Culture Association, Knoxville, Tennessee, October 12-14, 1988.

"The Meditations of Paradise Regained"  Paper presented to the Renaissance Section of the South Central Modern Language Association, Nov. 1, 1980. Prof. Paul Parrish, section chair.

"The Interpolated Tale in Book I of Spenser's The Faerie Queene: A Study in Narrative,"
Thirtieth Annual South-Central Renaissance Conference, April 9, 1981, Arlington, Tx. 

"Clean Women, Cigar-Smoking, Ford-driving Men, and Husky Children Without TB: Radio Advertising of the 1940's;  How to Cure a Headache with a Song." PCMLA, Montgomery, 1991.

"The Interpolated Tale in Book 5 of  Spenser's Faerie Queene,"  1991 Central Renaissance Conference, April 4-6, University of Missouri, Columbia.

"Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Neo-Romantic Tradition," Paper presented to the Fifth Annual Colloquium on Modern Literature, West Virginia University, Sept. 13, 1980, Prof. Joseph Prentiss, Chair.

"The Classical Oration in Milton's Paradise Regained."  Paper presented in the Renaissance Section of the Conference on Language and Literature, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Feb. 1983.

"Narrative Strategies in Paradise Regained: The Pattern,"  Paper presented in Renaissance Section of Conference on Narrative Strategies, Upsilanti, Michigan, Prof. John Shawcross, Chair.

"Dryden and the Masque Tradition,"  Paper presented to the Staff and Stage Section of the Conference on Eighteenth-Century Studies, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March, 1980, Prof. Karen Ray chair; Prof William Cogswell, Respondent.

"The Divided Self: A Study of Structure in Byron's  'Mazeppa,'" Paper presented to the Conference on Fearful Symmetry in Literature at Florida State University, January 25, 1980, Section D: British Literature.  Prof. William DeGrummond, chair.

"Fact and Fantasy in Charles Dicken's Hard Times,"  Paper presented to the First International Conference on the Fantastic, Section on Fantasy as Social Vision, Prof. Bertha Leveson Hertz, chair.

"Star Wars and the Epic Tradition," Paper presented to the Fourth Annual Colloquium on Modern Literature: The Presence of the Middle Ages, Sept. 29, 1979.  Prof. Armand Singer, Colloquium Director.

"Shakespeare's TheTempest and MGM's Forbidden Planet,"  Paper presented to the Film Section of the South Central Modern Language Association, 1981, Abstracted in SCMLA.

"Professional Writing: The Degree of Tomorrow," entire session presentation with colleagues, Cooper, Elgin, Callen.  Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, 1982.

"Are the Humanities Democratic or Elitist?" South Humanities Conference, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Feb, 10-12, 1984.

"Thomas Jefferson's Ideas on General Education," Conference on the Humanities in the Liberal Arts, November, 1985.

"The Basic Dialectic: Agon as Verbal Combat in Paradise Regained." Conference on Christianity and Literature, October 10-12, 1985, Hammond, Louisiana.

College-wide Grievance Committee, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996 etc. Faculty Senate Budget Committee, 2000; College-wide Rank and Tenure Committee, 1999,2000, 2001; Summer in England I and II; Scholars' Community; Linked Courses; Chair, Library Committee 1986; Bookstore Coordinator for Humanities Department 1981-82; Member, General Education Committee; Member, Health Professions Advisory Committee, 1982-90; Member, College-wide Rank and Tenure Committee, 1985, 1986, 1999, 2000, 2001; Member, Academic Policies Committee 1984-85; Member, Computerized Registration Committee, 1978; Member, Computer Committee, 1978; Faculty Senator, 1983; Chairman, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 Search Committees; Member, Library Committee, 1977-1982; Chair, Curriculum Committee, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1999; Chairman, Friends of the W. I. Dykes Library Task Force; Chair, Health Professions Subcommittee; Acting

Director, Writing Laboratory 1981-1982; Assistant Chairman, Arts and Humanities Division, 1981-1982; Member, General Education Committee; Chairman, Arts and Humanities Rank and Tenure Committee; Chairman, Dept. of English Rank and Tenure Committee; Faculty Sponsor, Sigma Phi Beta Service Sorority, 1976-1980; Co-Sponsor, Film Club, 1977-1979; Member, Arts and Humanities Steering Committee, 1975-1977; Advisor, The Talon(Student newspaper); Writing Laboratory Staff, 1976; Co-chairman, Writing Festival, 1980; Member, Writing Festival Committee, 1979-1981; Co-chairman, Hospitality Committee, The Grammar Workshop 1979, 1980; Member, Freshman English Committee. Just some of the search committees I have served on as follows: Library Search Committee, Special Services Search Committee, Computer Services committee; 1981 Arts and Humanities search Committee, Arts and Humanities Chairman Search Committee, Chair, Dean of University College Search Committee, Summer 1992; 1982 Search Committee for Assistant Professors of English, 1983 Search Committee for Assistant Professors of English. Faculty Awards Committee 1982,3,4, Chairman, Friends of the W.I.Dykes Library, College-wide Ad Hoc Rank and Tenure Committee, 1976; College Fringe Benefits Committee; Taught over 34 Independent Study Students; Entry Level Advisor; Majors Advisor; Benefits Advisory Committee, 1978-1981; Member, executive Committee, A. A.U.P, 1978-1981; Departmental Grievance Committee 1981-1983; Special Services Advisory Group, 1979-1981; Member, Committee on Student Retention, 1979; Member Committee for the Election of a Lobbying Group; Member, College Council, 1980,1981; Member, Committee to Form the Faculty Senate, 1976; Member, Committee to Write The Senate Constitution, 1976; Executive Committee, Faculty Association, 1976; Member, Registration Committee, 1978; Member, Computer Committee, 1978; Bookstore Coordinator, 1978; Library Facilities Planning Committee: Core Curriculum Development 1983; Faculty Affairs; Captain, United Way; Texas Susquescentenial Committee.

Spring 2004 Life Long Learning Center Course

Writers in the School, Jackson Middle School, 2003-2004
Writers in the School, Jane Long Middle School 2004-Present

Organizer and Chair: Panel on  Houston  Museum Culture and African-Americans:  at SCMLA
In Houston.1992  Presenters:  Prof. Lorenzo Thomas, Prof. Amilcar Shabazz,  and  Prof. Merrilee Cunningham.

Organizer and Chair, Popular Culture Association Conference Sections: 1978; 1981; 1994; 1997;  1998; 1999; 2000.

Organizer and Chair, Film Section, SCMLA, 1988

Local Publication of 10 Delphi an Seminars

Writing Courses:

English 1300: Fundamentals of English
English 1301: Composition I (linked with Profs, David Morales,  Mike Judge, Math Fall, 2000; linked with Prof. Ruth Robins,   Computer Science, Spring 2002).
English 1302: Composition II
English 3302: Business and Technical Report Writing
(Also taught Technical Report Writing for Engineers at Vanderbilt; Business Communications, Business Psychology, and Business Management at Draughon's College)

Literature Surveys:

English 2301: Literature of the Western World, Ancient to Renaissance
English 2302: Literature of the Western World, Neo-Classical to Modern
English 3313: Survey of Drama
English  3311: Survey of Poetry

Upper Division Literature Courses:

English 3307: Shakespeare
English 3390: Shakespeare and Film
English 4390: World Mythology
English 4390: Renaissance Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare

Milton Society of America (life member)
Renaissance Society of America
Popular Culture Society of the Southeast
Folger Library
Library of Congress
Texas Medieval Association, 2001
Central Houston 1987-89
The National Counsel of Christians and Jews, 1987-89
Mayor's Council on the Arts, Kathy Whitmire, 1989.