Beta Project Home > ASU Faculty Ambassadors

Elizabeth McNeil

Hi! My name is Elizabeth McNeil. After coming to ASU as a graduate student in 1989, I went on to receive my MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) in 1992 and PhD in English (American ethnic literatures and women’s literature) in 2003. As a TA, I taught composition, literature surveys, and beginning creative writing in the department for about eight years, and for several years also taught summer bridge courses in composition for prospective or entering freshman. I have been in a service role since 1997, as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English, advising College of Liberal Arts and Sciences English majors and minors, Writing Certificate students, and Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies majors pursuing an English concentration. I have also continued to teach in my various areas, adding a junior-level specialty course in 2000, Career Development for English Majors, when it became apparent our majors knew little about planning their career futures. I enjoy working as a member of our Curriculum Committee and as ASU’s lead member of the statewide English Articulation Task Force. As a Faculty Ambassador, I have been to several high schools in Arizona, mainly asked to discuss the types of careers that college English graduates tend to move into after graduation or to speak with students about their interests and the possible benefits of pursuing a college degree, especially in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. If you would like to get in touch with me, please email the Faculty Ambassadors coordinator, Barbara Colby at barbara.colby@asu.edu, or contact me directly at mcneil@asu.edu or 480-965-5303.

Jackie Wheeler
ASU Rhetoric and Composition Program

Hi, I’m Jackie Wheeler. I’ve been a member of Faculty Ambassadors for several years, and I’ve had the privilege of visiting many Arizona high schools to discuss college and university writing expectations and courses. I enjoy talking to both teachers and students. My areas of expertise include composition pedagogy and rhetoric, with special interests in political and environmental rhetoric. My Ph.D. is from Arizona State University (1997), and I’ve taught here in the Writing Programs at various ranks since 1989. I’m currently a Senior Lecturer. In addition to teaching writing and rhetoric courses from the 100 to the 500 level, I’ve held administrative and supervisory positions, including associate director of Writing Programs, so I’m familiar with the curriculum and objectives of a wide range of writing courses that students take when they come to ASU. If you or your students are interested in the expectations, requirements, and possibilities involved in postsecondary writing instruction, I’ll be happy to prepare a presentation or simply visit your school to chat. I’d also really like to learn what you and your colleagues are doing in the classroom! You can contact me directly at jackie.wheeler@asu.edu or 480-965-6232, or you can contact the Faculty Ambassadors coordinator, Barbara Colby, at barbara.colby@asu.edu .

Richard Newhauser

I'm Richard Newhauser, new to the Faculty Ambassadors Project and new to Arizona State University, as well, since I began teaching as a Professor in the English Department at ASU, Tempe only in 2007.  Before that I was on the faculty at Trinity University (San Antonio) for 17 years.  I began my teaching career in 1980 in the English Department at the University of Tuebingen, in Germany.  My Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania, is in medieval literature and intellectual history.  The majority of my research and publications concerns English literature in the Middle Ages and the history of the moral tradition in the cultures of that period throughout Europe.  I have written a good deal on ethical problems in the Middle Ages, and those that affect us, as well – in particular the problem of greed for money, but I have also written and lectured on the concept of the seven deadly sins in its entirety and the presence of the sins in contemporary American culture.  Over the years, I have given numerous presentations in high schools to teachers and students on one of the most fascinating authors of medieval English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer (whose portrait you see here, reading the General Prologue to his Canterbury Tales).  If you are interested in either of these topics, or anything else connected with the Middle Ages as it might affect our contemporary lives, please feel free to contact me at Richard.Newhauser@asu.edu, or call 480-965-8139 and leave a message.  You can also contact the coordinator of the Faculty Ambassadors Project, Barbara Colby, at Barbara.Colby@asu.edu.