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Brenda  Gabioud Brown

Dean, School of IDS and Humanities and Professor of English

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Education

Degree Major Emphasis Institution  
PhD

English with concentrations in American Literature and Rhetoric and Composition Theory

Dissertation: The Rhetorical Strategies of Twentieth-Century American War Novels

 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth  
MA

English

Thesis: American Values and Reader Response in The Naked
and the Dead and From Here to Eternity.

 University of Texas at Arlington  
BA English University of North Texas, Denton  

Biography

Dr. Brenda Brown is the Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Humanities and Professor of English. She has been a faculty member at USAO since 1992. Her areas of specialty include Modern and Postmodern American Literature and Composition & Rhetoric. Brown is a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and serves as USAO's Study Abroad Coordinator regularly leading students, alumni, and community members on educational, short term study abroad programs.

A member of Kappa Delta Phi and Sigma Tau Delta during her undergraduate years, Brown sponsored the initiation of the latter at USAO in 2007 and continues to sponsor it.

TRAVEL AND STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE

  • USAO Study Abroad Coordinator, 2008-present
  • USAO Study Abroad Coordinator and Representative, Midwestern University Travel Abroad Consortium, London, 2008-present
  • Independent Study Travel Abroad sponsored trips—
    • 2025--Costa Rica
    • 2024--Germany, Italy, and Switzerland
    • 2019--Italy
    • 2017—Greece
    • 2016—England and Scotland
    • 2014—Berlin, Vienna, and Prague
    • 2013—Costa Rica
    • 2011--Spain
    • 2009—England, Ireland, and Wales
    • 2007—France, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany
    • 2005--Italy
    • 2003—England, Wales, and Ireland

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Study Away Committee, Chair, 2012-Present
  • Curriculum Committee, Chair, 2019-2020
  • Higher Learning Commission Peer Reviewer, 2018-present
  • Contractual Review, Chair, Higher Learning Commission, 2016-present
  • Contractual Review, 11 proposals, Higher Learning Commission, 2018-2020
  • Chair, Gladys Anderson Emerson Research Award Committee, 2016-2021
  • Peer Reviewer (multi-campus on-site visit), Higher Learning Commission, Fall 2018
  • Co-Chair, Higher Learning Commission Reaccreditation Steering Committee 2016-2018
  • Assessment Committee, 2012-2018, 2022-present
  • Higher Learning Commission representative, 2006-2018
  • Resource Committee, Chair 2017-2018
  • Committee on Committees, 2017-2018
  • Academic Policies and Procedures, 2017-2018
  • President, USAO Faculty Association, 2017-2018

Research, Presentations & Publications

PUBLICATIONS

  • “Creating Community in COPLACDigital.” COPLACDigital. Spring 2019.
  • Book Reviews. CrossTimbers. 2001-2006, 2012.
  • “Region as Text.” Oklahoma English Journal. 21(2008): 5-13.
  • “Girl Power!” Humanities Interview. 25 (2007): .8-11.
  • “Preparing the New Woman: A Reflection.” USAO Alumni Today. Spring 2007. 24.
  • “Preparing the New Woman.” Traveling Exhibit. 2006.

SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

  • "The Academy: Friend or Foe." Southern Humanities Conference. February 2024
  • “The Struggle is Read: Characterization in Woody Guthrie’s House of Earth.” Far West Popular Culture and American Culture Conference. February 2020.
  • “An American in Paris: Study Abroad.” South Central Modern Language Association. October 2018.
  • “And Time Goes By: A Generational Analysis.” South Central Modern Language Association. October 2017.
  • “Balancing Realities.” South Central Modern Language Association. October 2016.
  • “The Comfort of the Everyday in War Time.” Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association National Conference. April 2015.
  • Chair, “Native American Literature.” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2014.
  • Chair, “War and the Arts.” South Central Modern Language Association, November 2013.
  • "Defining the Beauty of the Grotesque in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio." South Central Modern Language Association, November 2013.
  • Secretary, “Native American Literature.” South Central Modern Language Association, November 2013.
  • Secretary, “War and the Arts.” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2012
  • “Through the Looking Glass: Depictions of the Dust Bowl in Woody Guthrie’s House of Earth. Woody Guthrie Hootenanny!. July 2013.
  • “Re(new)al: A Dialogue between Cultures.” South Central Modern Language Association, November 2012
  • “The Beauty of the Grotesque in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.” Festival of Arts and Ideas, February 2012
  • “Creative Communication: an Interdisciplinary Approach.” South Central Modern Language Association, October 2011
  • “How a Small Liberal Arts University Can Organize for Success.” North Central Higher Learning Commission, April 2011
  • “(Mis)Fortune: An Administrator’s Perspective.” College English Association, March 2011