I joined the faculty of the University of Lynchburg in 1989, where I teach Latin and English and serve as Program Coordinator for the minor in Classical Studies and advisor to the Latin Club. I also teach and advise in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor program.
I am drawn to the study of both Latin and Middle English literature through a fascination with the influence of classical and medieval Latin texts on today’s professions, and with the ways in which narrative and lyric poetry can be performed for audiences through storytelling, recitation, and acting.
“Sarcasm and Heresy: John Wyclif and the York Fall of the Angels Play.” Words that Tear the Flesh: Essays on Sarcasm in Medieval and Early Modern Cultures, edited by Alan Baragona and Elizabeth Rambo, Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture 21, edited by Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge. Berlin and Boston: DeGruyter, 2018, pp. 271-289.
Image + Text: Renaissance Folios and Later Engravings, Daura Gallery, University of Lynchburg, October 24-December 8, 2017, with assistance from Museum Studies students Shelby Miller and James Robbins.
“Performance Spaces in Thomas Chaundler’s Liber Apologeticus,” Early Theatre 18.1 (2015): 33-49.
“Specula Litterarum: Teaching Classical Authors with Latin for the New Millennium 2.” Classical Outlook (Winter 2014): 43-55.
Mirrored Genres: The Fall of the Angels in Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale and Thomas Chaundler’s Liber Apologeticus,” Vincent of Beauvais Newsletter 37 (2012): 4-14.
“Quomodo Scimus? II: Teaching Reading, Writing, and Speaking in Latin through Research on the History of Disciplines.” Classical Outlook 88.4 (Summer 2011): 118-121.
Review: Latin for the New Millennium I and II by Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg. Mundelein: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2009. Classical Outlook 88.3 (Spring 2011): 100-101.
“Quomodo scimus?” Reading, Writing, and Speaking from Primary Sources in Elementary Latin.” Classical Outlook 87.3 (2010): 100-103.
“Aristotle in Late Medieval England: Giles of Rome on Rhetoric and Acting” Research Opportunities in Medieval and Renaissance Drama 47 (2008): 82-106.
“Going to HEL: REED and Diachronic Linguistics.” Teaching with the Records of Early English Drama. Ed. Elza C. Tiner. Studies in Early English Drama 7. Ed. Alan Somerset. University of Toronto Press, 2006. 176-193. On teaching the History of the English Language (HEL) from REED documents that provide evidence of surviving Middle English dialect features.
“Professional Players in Stratford on Avon, 1587-1602.” Inside Shakespeare: Essays on the Blackfriars’ Stage. Ed. Paul Menzer, Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2006. 86-92.
“English Law in the York Trial Plays,” on the legal procedure in the trials of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion in the York Plays, in The Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages, Ed. Clifford Davidson (New York: AMS Press, 2005). 140-149.
Other publications include articles about medieval poet John Lydgate as a songwriter and biographies of patrons of traveling companies for the following REED collections: Cambridge (ed. Alan Nelson); Cumberland/Westmorland/Gloucestershire (ed. Audrey Douglas and Peter Greenfield); Coventry. (ed. Reginald Ingram); Devon (ed. John Wasson); York (ed. Alexandra Johnston); and in progress, for Warwickshire/Staffordshire (ed. Alan Somerset). I have also published papers on applications of classical and medieval rhetoric to modern composition.
My research interests include both literary studies and teaching methods. Research in progress focuses on classical and medieval Latin texts as sources for the study of Latin, composition and critical theory in Middle English literature.
From research during my sabbatical in 2017, I am currently working on an anthology, Latin Across the Professions, based on research by students in Latin 201. As part of the course, students identify Latin texts that contributed to the development of their majors or careers. An outgrowth of this project is the new course, LATN 205, Intermediate Latin I—Medical, based on original authors whose works have contributed to the history of medicine. For the summer of 2018, I was awarded a DuPont Innovative Teaching Grant for research in preparing this course.
I am currently editing and translating a play by Thomas Chaundler, Libellus de laudibus duarum civitatum (Libel in Praise of Two Cities), a satiric disputation between representatives of Bath and Wells (composed in the mid-fifteenth century), each arguing for the newly elevated bishop, Thomas Bekynton, to choose their city for his episcopal residence.
With respect to teaching strategies, most recently I have been appointed a Faculty Fellow at the Teaching and Learning Center, University of Lynchburg, where I have been working on techniques for incorporating Universal Design for Learning in my courses. For examble, see the Teaching & Learning Center website for the text, powerpoint, and related resources for my workshop with Cynthia Ramsey: “Diversity and Universal Design in the Classroom,” February 21 and 22, 2017.
My presentations at the American Classical League and Classical Association of Virginia demonstrated the versatility and practicality of Latin through student research on the history of the arts and sciences from Latin texts. My paper, “‘Quomodo Scimus?’ II, Teaching Reading, Writing, and Speaking in Latin Through Research on the History of Disciplines” shows how students research classical texts related to their future professions as they learn the Latin language. This project has led to an anthology of readings now in progress, Latin Across the Professions, for students.
My book, Teaching with the Records of Early English Drama, for the series Studies in Early English Drama, ed. Alan Somerset, University of Toronto Press (2006) is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in Medieval and Renaissance Drama on classroom use of historical documents published by the Records of Early English Drama (REED), a project based at the University of Toronto, with the goal to compile, edit, and publish documents relating to drama and entertainment in England prior to 1642. This collection of articles offers ways of researching and interpreting these historical documents as relevant to undergraduate and graduate courses in theatre, literature, history, paleography and historical linguistics.
As part of the We Are Inclusive (WIN) Team at the University of Lynchburg, I uphold its commitment to integrity, diversity and an inclusive community by participating in diversity initiatives that support multicultural services, Title IX compliance, prevention of discrimination and harassment, and ongoing education of the campus community in these areas.
For fun, I enjoy traveling; dancing; writing academic articles, essays, and poetry; listening to country music; taking long walks; and tracking down solutions to research problems in the library.
My astronomer husband, Dr. Harold Butner, provides unique opportunities for interesting vacations through his observing trips to international telescopes. Harold is now teaching astronomy and physics at James Madison University.
The photo at the right – symbolic of our lives – is a scene from the beach park near our former apartment in Hilo, Hawaii, home of several telescopes on Mauna Kea. I leave you to guess which dog is the one about to go off the raft.