Resume

Dr. James Morgart

Teacher, Scholar, Writer

About

James holds a doctorate in English and is passionate about writing and teaching.

He currently teaches Upper School English at Rutgers Preparatory School and also teaches college courses as an Adjunct Lecturer for Potomac State College of West Virginia University.

Originally from New Jersey, he lived in Pennsylvania, California, and West Virginia before returning to the Garden State where he currently resides. He is an avid reader of mystery, dark fantasy, and horror.

Education

Ph.D., English, The Pennsylvania State University, 2017

M.A., English, The Pennsylvania State University, 2010

B.A., English w/concentration in Creative Writing, Rider University, 2007

M.Acc., Accounting, Rider University, 2002

B.S.B.A., Accounting w/minor in Political Science, Rider University, 2001

Experience

Rutgers Preparatory School
Upper School Teacher
Currently teaches English courses to grades 9 through 12 and serves as an academic and club advisor.

Potomac State College of West Virginia University
Assistant Professor of English (2018 to 2022)
Taught a wide array of courses ranging from first-year composition to upper level literature and film courses. Served as academic advisor and club advisor. Performed committee work and spearheaded a retention initiative targeting first-generation students. Also served as English Unit Coordinator and WVU Teaching and Learning Commons Associate, mentoring new hires and programming professional development workshops for colleagues.

English Unit Coordinator (2019 to 2022)

Organized teaching schedules for tenure-track and adjunct faculty.

Oversaw English department budget.

Served as representative for English department to work with administration on English course loads and offerings.

Adjunct Lecturer (2022 to Present)
Currently teaches remote first-year composition courses, literature courses, media courses, and communications courses.

Rutgers University – New Brunswick
Part-time Lecturer
Taught first-year composition and served as special writing tutoring instructor.

New Jersey City University
Adjunct Professor
Taught composition, film, and literature courses.

Kean University
Adjunct Professor
Taught film and literature courses.

Rider University
Adjunct Professor
Taught composition courses.

The Pennsylvania State University – University Park
Graduate Assistant
Taught first-year composition courses.

Courses Taught

West Virginia University – Potomac State College (2018-Present)
COMM 104: Public Communication
ENGL 100: Writing Studio – Co-requisite to ENGL 101
ENG 101: Introduction to English Composition and Writing
ENGL 102: Composition, Rhetoric, and Research
ENGL 200: Foundations of Literary Study
ENGL 230: Film Studies
ENGL 254H: African American Literature Honors
ENGL 263: Shakespeare
ENGL 293B: Special Topics – First-Generation Learning Community
ENGL 293C: Special Topics – Film Studies: Westerns
ENGL 293D: Special Topics – Film Studies: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
ENGL 293E: Special Topics – Film Studies: Film Noir
Jump Start (Summer Bridge) Program: English Composition
MDIA 101: Media & Society
PSYC 233: Psychology of Cinema
WVUE 191: First Year Seminar

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – New Brunswick (2017-2018)
ENGL 101: Expository Writing

New Jersey City University (2014-2018)
ENGL 101: English Composition
ENGL 102: English Composition 2
ENGL 130: Reading the Environment
ENGL 133: Dark Stories for Young Adults
ENGL 190: Literature and Film
ENGL 204: Modern American Literature
ENGL 209: Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Kean University (2014-2018)
ENGL 2206: British Literature II
ENGL 2403: World Literature

Rider University (2014-2017)
CMP 115: Introduction to Expository Writing
CMP 125: Research Writing

The Pennsylvania State University – University Park (2008-2012)
ENGL 015: English Composition and Rhetoric

Publications

Books
Morgart, James. The Haunted States of America: Gothic Regionalism in Postwar American Fiction, University of Wales Press, 2022.

Articles
Morgart, James. “‘Everyone Has Monsters Within’: Neoliberal Release of Monstrous Desire in Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986).” Gothic Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2022, pp. 185-200.

Morgart, James. “Things No One Likes to Talk About: An Interview with Stuart Gordon.” Introduction by Robert Cashill. In Stuart Gordon: Interviews, edited by Michael Doyle, University Press of Mississippi, 2022. (Reprinting)

Morgart James. “Deleuzions of Ecohorror: Weighing Al Gore’s Ecostrategy Against The Day of the Triffids.” Horror Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2017, pp. 115-130.

Morgart, James. “Mason Fitch Cogswell.” The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment, edited by Mark G. Spencer, Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Morgart, James. “Gothic Horror from The Haunted Castle to Psycho.” The Gothic World, edited by Glennis Byron and Dale Townshend, Routledge, 2013. (Invited Contribution)

Morgart, James. Guest Columnist, March 8-22, 2012, The Gothic Imagination, University of Stirling. (Invited Contribution)

Morgart, James. “Things No One Likes to Talk About: An Interview with Stuart Gordon.” Introduction by Robert Cashill. Cineaste, Winter 2009.

Workshops, Lectures, Conferences

As Workshop Organizer/Host

“Working from Home.” WVU-Potomac State College Teaching and Learning Commons Affiliate Workshop, WVU-Potomac State College, November 13, 2020. Co-host with Sheri Chisholm and Yelena Meadows.

“eSEIs Open-Ended Questions.” WVU-Potomac State College Teaching and Learning Commons Affiliate Workshop, WVU-Potomac State College, October 28, 2020. Co-host with Sheri Chisholm and Yelena Meadows.

“Student Engagement.” WVU-Potomac State College Teaching and Learning Commons Affiliate Workshop, WVU-Potomac State College, October 16, 2020. Co-host with Sheri Chisholm and Yelena Meadows.

As Lecturer/Presenter/Panelist

“California Gothic.” International Gothic Association Conference, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 2024. Panelist.

“Faculty Spotlight – Jay Morgart & The Haunted States of America: Gothic Regionalism in Post-war American Fiction.” Mary F. Shipper Library, WVU-Potomac State College, Keyser, WV, October 2021. Presenter/Lecturer.

“Transcending Cultural & Temporal Boundaries: American Identity in The Big Heat (1953).” Rider University Film Symposium, Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ, March 2017. Panelist.

“Possessed Mothering: Female Entrapment in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968).” The State Theatre, State College, PA, October 31, 2010. Presenter/Lecturer.

“Looking at Hostel Through Marx and Nietzsche: Bad Conscience and the State Apparatus in Eli Roth’s Hostel Films.” Rider University Film Symposium, Rider University, March 2010. Panelist.

As Organizer/Moderator

“Keryn Thompson Presents Daddy Don’t Go (2015): A Lecture on Independent Documentary Filmmaking.” at West Virginia University – Potomac State College, March 25, 2019. Organized and hosted event.

“Hollywood Gangsters Old & New.” Rider University Film Symposium, Rider University, March 2017. Served as Moderator.

“Viscera Film Festival: When Women Create Horror.” The Pennsylvania State University, February 2012. Organized event and served as panelist.

Academic Service and Professional Experience

Initiatives
PSC JumpStart Program (2021)
Collaborated with administration and two colleagues to develop a summer bridge program to help at-risk students solidify their math, composition, and study skills.

PSC Writing Center (2021)
Collaborated with administration and division co-chairs to create Potomac State College’s Writing Center to assist students with their college essays.

PSC First-Generation Learning Community (2021)
Used funding from position as a Faculty Associate in WVU’s Teaching and Learning Commons to collaborate with administration to design a first-generation learning community to help acclimate first-generation students to the college experience and to raise retention rates.

PSC First-Year Composition and Introduction to Business Linked Course Program (2021)
Collaborated with administration and a colleague to develop cross-curricular linked courses between first-year composition and the first-year business course in an effort to lower DFW rates in both courses and raise retention rates.

The Willa Louise Cather Award for Best Noncreative Essay (2020)
The Tony “Duke” Whitmore Award for Best Creative Essay (2020)
Collaborated with colleagues to establish composition awards for outstanding creative and noncreative essays.

WVU-Potomac State College Film Club (2018)
WVU-Potomac State College Comic Book Club (2021)
Established two new student clubs: the film club in 2018 and the comic book club in 2021.

Committee Work
Student Success Council – WVU-Potomac State College (August 2021-May 2022)
Council Member

Honors Board – WVU-Potomac State College (August 2021-May 2022)
Board Member

Retention Advisory Board – WVU-Potomac State College (January 2021-May 2022)
Board Member

Potomac State College Advisory Council for the Teaching & Learning Commons (TLC) Affiliate – WVU-Potomac State College (August 2020-May 2022)
Council Member

Course Strategies Board – WVU-Potomac State College (August 2019-May 2022)
Committee Chair
Committee Member

Retention SWOT Committee – WVU-Potomac State College (March 2021-July 2021)
Committee Member

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.-Tony Whitmore Award & Outstanding Student Award Committee – WVU-Potomac State College (January 2020-May 2021)
Committee Co-Chair
Committee Member

Chemistry Professor Hiring Committee – WVU-Potomac State College (January 2020-May 2020)
Committee Member

Strategic Planning Council – WVU-Potomac State College (August 2018-May 2020)
Council Member

Faculty Librarian Hiring Committee – WVU-Potomac State College (November 2019-December 2019)
Committee Member

NJCU Accelerated Learning Program Roundtable (September 2014-December 2015)
Team Member

Departmental Service
WVU-Potomac State College English Department (August 2019-May 2022)
Unit Coordinator

WVU-Potomac State College Liberal Arts Division (August 2018-May 2022)
Academic Advisor

WVU-PSC: The Willa Louise Cather Award for Best Noncreative Essay (Spring 2020-May 2022)
Juror & Organizer

WVU-PSC: The Tony “Duke” Whitmore Award for Best Creative Essay (Spring 2020-May 2022)
Juror & Organizer

Plangere Writing Center – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Spring 2018)
Expository Writing Special Tutoring Instructor

College-wide Service
WVU-Potomac State College First Generation Student Learning Community Initiative (Fall 2021)
Organizer
Faculty Lead

WVU-Potomac State College Comic Book Club (August 2021-May 2022)
Advisor

WVU-Potomac State College Jump Start Program (Summer 2021)
Organizer
Faculty

West Virginia University – Teaching and Learning Commons (June 2020-May 2022)
Faculty Associate

WVU-Potomac State College Film Club (August 2018-May 2022)
Advisor

WVU-Potomac State College Creative Writing Club (October 2018-May 2022)
Advisor

The Rolling Dead, A Short Film by WVU-PSC Film Club (January 2019-May 2020)
Producer

Math 122 Advising Initiative (August 2019-December 2019)
Volunteer Academic Advisor

Academic Success Coach – WVU– Potomac State College (Spring 2019)
Advisor

Community Service
Paddy Town Film Festival (October 2019-2022) – Keyser, WV
Co-Founder, Festival Director

Keyser Essay Writing Contest (August 2019-December 2019) – Keyser, WV
Organizer, Judge

MinCo Music Heritage Festival (November 2018-May 2020) – Keyser, WV
Documentary Producer

Elf Screening – WVU-PSC Film Club Fundraiser for West Virginia Kids Cancer Crusaders (December 1, 2018) – The Indie on Main Art House – Keyser, WV
Organizer

National Novel Writing Month Write In & Supporting Events (November 1-30, 2018 & November 1-30, 2019) – Mary F. Shipper Library, WVU-Potomac State College – Keyser, WV
Organizer

Hocus Pocus Screening – WVU-PSC Film Club Fundraiser for West Virginia Kids Cancer Crusaders (October 20, 2018) – The Indie on Main Art House – Keyser, WV
Organizer

Etheria Film Night (December 2013 – September 2014) – Los Angeles, CA
Co-Founder & Director of Media & Distribution

Viscera Film Festival (February 2011 – January 2013) – Los Angeles, CA
Director of Media and Distribution

Other Professional Service
University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference (2020) – Florida State University
Film Festival Guest Juror

Wick (November 2018-May 2022) – West Virginia University – Potomac State College
Executive Editor/Editor-in-Chief

Crispin Glover’s Big Slide Show, Film Screening, and Q&A (January 2012)– The State Theatre, State College, PA
Host & Organizer

Cineaste Magazine (2006) – New York, New York
Editorial Assistant

Contact

Need to inquire about something?

james.morgart.phd@gmail.com