JENNIFER BERNSTEIN

Assistant Professor of Early American Literature

The Citadel

171 Moultrie Street

Charleston, SC 29409

jennifer.bernstein@citadel.edu

(843) 953-7906

 

EDUCATION

2003   Ph.D. in English, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)

           ·  Dissertation title:  “American Antinomianisms from Anne Hutchinson to Pragmatism”

           ·  Dissertation committee:  William Kelly, David S. Reynolds, Joan Richardson (Director)

1995     M.A. in English, Lehman College (CUNY)

1992     B.A. in Literature and Critical Theory, New York University

 

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS AND TEACHING

2004 -               Assistant Professor of Early American Literature, The Citadel

                        Undergraduate Courses: American Romanticism, Early American Literature, Major

                                    British Writers I (Beowulf to Pope), and Literature and Composition (I & II).

                        Graduate Course:  Colonial and Revolutionary American Literature

 

1993-2000         Adjunct Lecturer, Graduate Teaching Fellow, Graduate Assistant “B,”

                        Lehman College (CUNY)

                        Courses: Introduction to American Literature, Introduction to English Literature,

                                    Shakespeare, Women in Literature, and composition courses from

                                    elementary to advanced levels. 

 

SELECTED ACADEMIC HONORS AND AWARDS

2005                 National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar (“Reading Emerson’s Essays”)

2003-2004         Post-Doctoral Fellowship, The CUNY Honors College

2004                 Alumni and Doctoral Faculty Dissertation Award for Most Distinguished Dissertation

2001-2003         Writing Fellow, City University of New York

2001                 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Finalist

2000-2001         Jewish Foundation for Education of Women Dissertation Fellowship in the Humanities

1999                 Passed Second (“Orals”) Examination with Distinction

1997-1999         University Fellowship, The Graduate Center

1995-1998         Graduate Teaching Fellowship, The Graduate Center

1994                 Award for Best Scholarly Essay by a Graduate Student, Lehman College

 

PUBLICATION UNDER REVIEW

“The Unsettling Effect of Anne Hutchinson and the Birth of American Philosophy.”  (Under review

            at The New England Quarterly)

 

PUBLICATIONS

2006     Review of John McWilliams’ New England’s Crises and Cultural Memory:  Literature, Politics,

History, Religion, 1620-1860 in Early American Literature [forthcoming].

2004     Encyclopedia entries on Charles Brockden Brown, William Cullen Bryant, J. Hector St.

John de Crèvecoeur, Jonathan Edwards, Philip Freneau, Washington Irving, Thomas Jefferson, Sarah Kemble Knight, Cotton Mather, Increase Mather, Thomas Paine, Mary Rowlandson, John Smith, Edward Taylor, and Phillis Wheatley.  World Writers to 1800:  Masters and Masterpieces  (Facts on File). 

 

CONFERENCES, LECTURES, & PRESENTATIONS (* = Invited)

[2006    “The Thought Experiments of Jonathan Edwards.”  Modern Language Association Convention, Philadelphia, PA (27-30 December).  Proposed talk for a special session I am organizing.]

2006     *“Emerson and the Evolution of American Philosophy.”  American Literature Association

                        Conference, San Francisco, CA (25-28 May).

2006     “The Antinomian Controversy:  New England’s First Epistemological Crisis.”  New England

                        Historical Association Conference, Bridgewater State College (22 April).

2005     “Morality and Antinomianism in Emerson.”  National Endowment for the Humanities Summer

                        Seminar, University of New Mexico (20 June).

2004     *“Style and Imagination in Jonathan Edwards’ Natural Philosophy.”  The Northampton Jonathan

Edwards Conference, Northampton, MA (08-10 October).

2003     “Experiencing Jonathan Edwards:  Sentences as Thought Experiments.”  The

                         Northampton Jonathan Edwards Tercentenary Conference, Northampton, MA

(03-05 October).

2002     “Antinomian Epistemologies and Aesthetics.”  Modern Language Association Annual

Convention, New York City (27-30 December).  

2002     *“Actual Ideas:  Jonathan Edwards and Empiricism.”  Guest lecture in seminar on

American Aesthetics, The Graduate Center (CUNY). 

2000     Repunctuating Jonathan Edwards.”  Modern Language Association Annual

Convention, Washington D.C. (27-30 December).

 

RELATED WORK WITHIN ACADEMIA

2004                 Organizer of The Northampton Jonathan Edwards Conference. 

                        Created the focus for the annual conference and devised panels. 

                        Invited distinguished speakers.

                        Composed the call for papers, which was posted on the UPenn listserv and the

                                    Announcements page of the Society for Early Americanists website.

                        Evaluated and selected submitted proposals.

 

2003-2004         Post-Doctoral Fellow/Academic Honors Advisor, CUNY Honors College at

                        The City College of New York

                        Provided academic advising services to fifty-five freshmen and sophomores.

                        Served on the search committee for new Honors Advisors.

                        Worked with the Director of Student Affairs to run the college’s internship program.

                        Helped students find challenging internships and research opportunities.                 

                        Assisted students in preparing personal statements for scholarship and internship applications.

                         

2001-2003         CUNY Writing Fellow, LaGuardia Community College

Worked with faculty in disciplines other than English to design and implement

writing-intensive versions of their courses.

Served as a co-coordinator of small groups that helped recently hired faculty members and

long-time adjuncts make writing an integral part of their classes.

Conceptualized, edited, and oversaw the production of a handbook for faculty

that explains the basic principles of the Writing in the Disciplines Program and addresses different aspects of developing writing-intensive courses. 

Served as the primary developer, editor, and writer for the college’s Writing in

the Disciplines website (http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/wid).            

Created a newsletter about writing-related issues that was distributed to

members of all academic departments.

                                                                                                                                   

 

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE

2002-2003         Freelance Editor, SYDA Publications

Edited and proofread manuscripts on meditation and the nondualistic

philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, which flourished during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries.  Books that I have worked on include The Heart of Meditation and a commentary on the Pratyabhijna Hrdayam (The Heart of Recognition). 

 

1997-1998         Editor, Found Object (a Cultural Studies journal)

            Edited articles such as “Imaging Beauty and Health:  The Sight and Site of Body

                         Management in Women’s Magazines” and “Hassiba Boulmerka’s Raised

                         Fist: The Body of Evidence and Muslim Herstory.” 

 

1992-2003         Freelance Editor and Copywriter, Harlequin Enterprises

                        Edited contemporary romance novels, wrote cover copy, composed short blurbs for

                                    upcoming books, and accepted and rejected manuscripts. 

           

1989-1990         Assistant to the Senior Editor and Editorial Intern, SPIN Magazine

                        Researched cover and feature stories, edited articles on popular culture, and participated

                                    in interviewing rock musicians and rap artists.   

 

LANGUAGES           

French and Spanish (reading knowledge) and Sanskrit. 

                                                     

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Emerson Society, Modern Language Association, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, Society of Early Americanists.