The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric is pleased to welcome the following faculty:
Ann Bumpus Ann Bumpus has been teaching at Dartmouth since 1991, primarily in the Philosophy Department. Her main interests are in philosophical issues raised by emerging technologies, such as whether it is ethical to enhance people (pharmaceutically, genetically, or otherwise) and whether the ongoing commercialization of reproduction (such as outsourcing pregnancy) is morally problematic. She has secondary interests in the area of Mind and Brain. This winter, she will teach a Writing 5 course focusing on topics of contemporary ethical interest. The course asks students to examine their beliefs closely as they work to construct good arguments and to express these clearly in their writing. Professor Bumpus received her doctorate in philosophy from MIT.
Melina GehringMelina Gehring completed both her Ph.D. in American Studies and her master's degree in Musicology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. She also holds an M.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, UK. Professor Gehring has published in Musicology as well as in American Studies, and has taught at the University of Hamburg and the University of Rostock. In her Ph.D. project, she studied the labyrinth myth in contemporary American fiction. Her non-academic alter-ego has worked as a freelance journalist and as a desk officer at the German Federal Foreign Office. Professor Gehring's Writing 5 invites students to examine, through their writing, "Representations of 9/11" in poems, novels, movies, photographs, and websites.
Prudence MertonPrue Merton is an educational developer working with the Dartmouth Center for Advancement of Learning. With expertise in learning theory, pedagogy, and curriculum design, she works with faculty at Dartmouth to support their teaching and to facilitate student learning. She does similar work with a team of public health professionals at Muhimbili School of Public Health in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and has conducted faculty development workshops in Qatar and India as well. Dr. Merton came to Dartmouth from Texas A&M University's Center for Teaching Excellence and taught in the higher education administration graduate program for the College of Education. In her doctoral research, Dr. Merton collected and analyzed educators' occupational life histories to better understand their experience of teacher development and curricular reform. Dr. Merton¹s training and consulting skills were honed while working for the U.S. Peace Corps in Washington DC. Her experience with supporting academic writing is documented in a forthcoming chapter in Working with Faculty Writers, (Utah State University Press). Her Writing 5 will ask students to explore their own learning through writing.
