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Faculty

Donald McCrary

Associate Professor of English

B.A., M.A. in English, University of Massachusetts/BostonPh.D in English Education, New York University

Description

After graduating from a Boston high school, I worked for eight years then enrolled at Roxbury Community College (RCC), where I was mentored by the noted writer Maritia Golden. I graduated from RCC and attended the University of Massachusetts/Boston, where I developed an interest in realist fiction and the teaching of writing. Graduating from UMass/Boston with a B.A in English, I worked at RCC as a learning specialist and English instructor and then returned to U/Mass Boston to enroll in the M.A in English program in the Teaching of Writing track. At UMass/Boston, I worked under Louise Smith, Neal Bruss, and John Brereton, honing my interest in developmental writing theory and instruction. After teaching part-time at RCC and Wheelock College and full-time at Middlesex Community College, I left Boston for New York and was hired at LIU/Brooklyn, first as the Associate Director of the Writing Center and then, in 1993, as a full-time member of the English department. I enrolled in the Ph.D program in English Education at New York University, where I studied under John Mayher and Gordon Pradl, the advisor for my dissertation, Womanist Theology and its Efficacy for the Writing Classroom, an exploration of how culturally relevant rhetoric and texts might increase other-literate students' awareness of academic discourse. Since coming to LIU/Brooklyn, I have taught writing courses in both the undergraduate and graduate English program. In addition to teaching American literature and creating a course, English 255: Black Masculinity in African-American Fiction, I have participated in a Pew Grant, served on numerous departmental committees, chairing the Writing Program Committee and the ARPT Committee, and completed training to teach COS 50, Core Seminar.

Specialties

Sociolinguistics, Theory and Philosophy of Composition and Rhetoric, Womanist Theology, Advanced Composition, Developmental Writing

Publications

  • Author, “"[Not] Losing my Religion: Using The Color Purple to Promote Critical Thinking in the Writing Classroom," published in Journal of Basic Writing.
  • Author, "Represent, Representin', Representation: The Efficacy of Hybrid Discourse in the Writing Classroom," published in Journal of Basic Writing.
  • Author, "Speaking in Tongues: Using Womanist Sermons as Intra-Cultural Rhetoric in the Writing Classroom," published in Journal of Basic Writing.
  • Author, "Womanist Theology and Its Efficacy for Writing Classroom," published in College Composition and Communication.

Honors/Awards

  • 1998 Who's Who Among American Teachers Award. 5th Edition, Vol. Educational Communications Inc.
  • 1997 Scholars of the Dream Scholarship Award from the Conference of College Composition and Communication
  • 1993 PEW Development Award from Long Island University
  • 1991 Multicultural Awareness Award from Middlesex Community College

Professional Affiliations

  • New York Teachers Association
  • National Council Teachers of English (NCTE)
  • Modern Language Association (MLA),
  • NCTE Black Caucus,
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
  • Roxbury Community College Black Alumni Association