About Me

Dr. Joan Romano Shifflett is Writing Center Director & Instructor at the United States Naval Academy, where she directs the Professional & Peer Writing Tutor program, tutors 20+ hours per week in the Writing Center, and teaches in the English Department and Junior UK International Scholars program. She is passionate about helping future n

Dr. Joan Romano Shifflett is Writing Center Director & Instructor at the United States Naval Academy, where she directs the Professional & Peer Writing Tutor program, tutors 20+ hours per week in the Writing Center, and teaches in the English Department and Junior UK International Scholars program. She is passionate about helping future naval officers become better critical thinkers and more effective communicators, in both the written and spoken word.

As a writer, teacher, and administrator, she has over fourteen years of experience working with students and teachers inside and outside of the university classroom. In 2004, she graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University Maryland with a B.A. in English and Political Science. She completed her M.A. (2007) and Ph.D. (2013, with distinction) in English language and literature at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where she specialized in twentieth-century American literature. While at CUA, she taught a range of classes including ESL, rhetoric and composition, and upper level courses in advanced writing skills, American literature, and the form and value of poetry. As the Assistant Director of CUA’s Writing & Rhetoric Program, she gained experience in academic administration, curriculum development, and teacher mentorship, and she also served for six years as the administrative assistant for the Intensive English Program.

Her research interests include twentieth-century American poetry, the American novel, literature of the American South, literary modernism, and rhetoric & composition. Her current book project--which will be published by LSU Press in Spring 2020--explores the artistic and personal connections among three writers who helped change American poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Robert Lowell, and Randall Jarrell. She also serves as President of the Robert Penn Warren Circle and co-editor of the peer-reviewed literary journal, Robert Penn Warren Studies.

"'Reckoning' with America's Past: Robert Penn Warren's Later Poetry"
publication date2012  publication descriptionrWp: An Annual of Robert Penn Warren Studies. Ed. Mark D. Miller. Bowling Green, KY: Western Kentucky University Press.

"Robert Lowell's 'For the Union Dead'"
publication date2008  publication descriptionMasterplots II: Christi

"'Reckoning' with America's Past: Robert Penn Warren's Later Poetry"
publication date2012  publication descriptionrWp: An Annual of Robert Penn Warren Studies. Ed. Mark D. Miller. Bowling Green, KY: Western Kentucky University Press.

"Robert Lowell's 'For the Union Dead'"
publication date2008  publication descriptionMasterplots II: Christian Literature. Ed. John K. Roth. Pasadena: Salem Press, Inc.

Writing Center Theory & Practice (Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013)
Rhetoric & Introduction to Literature I (Fall 2016)
Rhetoric & Introduction to Literature II (Spring 2016)
Junior UK International Scholars Program (Spring 2019, 

Writing Center Theory & Practice (Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013)
Rhetoric & Introduction to Literature I (Fall 2016)
Rhetoric & Introduction to Literature II (Spring 2016)
Junior UK International Scholars Program (Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016) - Course to prepare top-ranking sophomores and juniors for internationally competitive scholarship programs

WRITING & LITERATURE:
Form and Value in Poetry (Summer 2013)
American Literature Survey II, Teaching Assistant and Leader of Weekly Discussion
Workshops (Spring 2012)
Poetry and Rock in the Age of Dylan and Dickey, Teaching Assistant (Spring 2011)
Writing: Logic and Rhetoric (Fall 2010 and Fall 2011)
Rhetoric and Composition (Fall 2007, Spring 2008, and Fall 2009)
Writing Improvement for Graduate and Upper-Level Division Students (Fall 2008)

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE:
ESL Reading and Grammar, Intermediate Level (Summer 2011)
ESL English in the Workplace (Spring 2007)
ESL Listening and Speaking, Intermediate Level (Fall 2005)

GUEST LECTURER:
"Teaching Robert Penn Warren: Poetry & History." Robert Penn Warren Circle Teaching
Workshop. Clarksville, Tennessee, April 2014.
"Change in American Poetry at Mid-Twentieth Century." American Literature Survey.
Catholic University, Washington, DC, Spring 2012.
"How to Write a Dissertation Proposal." Introduction to the Profession of Letters" course for
graduate students. Catholic University, Washington, DC, Fall 2011 and Fall 2012.