The How To Love Lit Podcast is grateful and indebted to the fine professionals that serve as our consulting scholars. Each consulting scholar represents an outstanding individual in their respective fields, and they graciously lend their expertise to the development of the podcast. Thank you!

Dani Avery is currently a Spanish teacher at St. Agnes Academy.  She was raised in Guatemala until she graduated from high school and moved to Kentucky to pursue a Spanish and business degree from Murray State University.  She received her master’s from the University of Memphis in Spanish and education. She retired after 30 years from Shelby County Schools where she was the department chair at Bolton High School and lead teacher for the International Baccalaureate program.  She is also an adjunct Spanish teacher at the University of Memphis.  

Dr. Helen C. Boucher is the chairman of the Psychology Department at Bates University in Louiston, Maine.  She received her doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. She and her wife live in Louiston, Maine and where she specializes in social psychology.  Her research interests are psychology of money and social class, positive psychology and meaning in life, and the psychology of self-defense.

Jim Coley is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives as well as an adjunct professor of government at the University of Memphis from where he received his master’s degree.  He is a Fulbright Scholar having done his research at Central China Normal University. He chairs the subcommittee of Higher Education in the House of Representatives. 

Dr. Dawn Coleman is an assistant professor of English at the University of Tennessee as well as the director of graduate studies in the English department.  Her research focuses on nineteenth-century American literature, especially the work of Herman Melville, and issues of religion and secularity. Her book  Preaching and the Rise of the American Novel (2013), analyzes a range of mid-nineteenth-century American authors and discusses the claim of moral authority fiction. Currently she is at work on a book titled "With Equal Eye: Women and Emergent Secularism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature," on how fiction and other cultural texts narrate women's religious skepticism. Her PhD is in English and American Literature from Stanford University.  Her MTS is from Harvard Divinity School. Her BA is from the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Paul Dooley is a teacher of Latin and Religion at St. Agnes Academy.  He taught 26 in the public school system years and was head of the English department at Bolton High School.  He also is an accomplished organist. He received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN and his plus-45 from Cumberland University.

Dr. Antoine Gnintedem is the assistant principal at Middle College High School in Memphis, TN.  His first Masters was in in the Teaching of English and French from the Higher Teachers Training College (ENS) in Yaounde, Cameroon.  His Ph.D is in English Language and Literature from the University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon. His E.D.S. is from Delta State University.  He is the author of the book Doom, Gloom and the Return of the Sun.  He is also an adjunct professor of English Composition at the University of Memphis.  

Dr. Rachel Lambert maintains a civil trial practice in the city of Memphis.  She is a graduate of the Cecil C. Humphries school of law at the University of Memphis and has written several articles on litigation.  She has most recently been nominated by President Trump as a Supreme Court bar member. 

Cristiana Mitre Moore is currently a Spanish teacher at Bartlett High School where she has taught for two years.  Most of her professional career was that of guidance counselor at the Colegio Marista de Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In Brazil, she also maintained a private family psychology practice specializing in high school students and their parents.  She has received two degrees from Sao Marcos in Sao Paulo and a Master of Spanish from the University of Memphis where she has also served as an adjunct professor.  

Dr. Robin Gray Nicks is Interim Director of First-Year Composition Program & Senior Lecturer at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  She specializes in antebellum American literature, with an interest in the ways fairy tales influenced sensation fiction, horror, and science fiction.  Her M.A. and B.A. are both from the University of Kentucky. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Florida.

Melissa Owen is a 31-year veteran AP English teacher at Arlington High School.  Her B.A. in English is from the University of the South (Sewanee); her master’s is from the University of Mississippi, a M.Ed. in English education.  She is also a Spanish teacher.

Dr. David Shotsberger is a professor at Rhodes College and an active composer of orchestral works.  He received his M.M from Pennsylvania State University and his D.M.A from the University of Memphis. He also is an active musician.

James Swindle is a teacher at Arlington High School.  He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.  He received his BA from Rhodes College. His Masters of English Literature from the University of Memphis and post graduate work from Cumberland University. 

Dr. Cecil Taylor is professor emeritus of Christian Studies at the University of Mobile and dean of School of Religion.  His expertise in historical Christian ethics and American cultural anthropology are of specific interest specifically as it relates to the Puritan era.  His doctorate is in Religion from Baylor University.  

Christine Tolbert currently works as Assistant Professor of English at Valley Forge Military College.  She has a Master in Developmental Education degree from Grambling State University and a E.D. (ABD) from Cabrini University.

Dr. Ann Marie Wranovix is professor emeritus of English Literature at Christian Brothers University. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University.

Anna Brawner, graduated from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, with honors and with an emphasis in Spanish and business, serves as researcher, promoter and contributing editor to many of the materials used in the making of this podcast.