Flora Armetta, Ph.D.

My approach to teaching literature and writing centers on the assumption that great reading and writing are interdependent processes. I find that studying the best examples of any genre of writing helps students better understand what they're reading. In turn, as they begin to recognize specific qualities in that writing, students develop their own writing skills. I enjoy giving students material that not only challenges but interests them, to prompt a genuine critical response; and along with formal course papers I generally create a number of informal forums for my students where they can generate, develop, and exchange out-of-class ideas about what they are reading. In any course, my ultimate goal is for students reach the point where they can comfortably read, think through, talk about, and write about a given subject on their own. I want my students to engage with literature as fully as they can; respond to it thoughtfully and critically; and find ways to express those responses articulately and meaningfully. And I hope they discover that this process is more than useful – it’s a pleasure.

Flora Armetta earned her Ph.D. in English Literature at Columbia University, where she taught Great Books and composition courses for several years. She holds an M.A. in Theatre and B.A.s in Art History and Theatre and is a former lecturer at The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and a former Galleries and Events editor for American Arts Quarterly. Her research focuses on intersections between nineteenth-century narrative and artistic practice, and she has written on both Victorian and contemporary art and literature for publications including The New Yorker, American Arts Quarterly, Victorian Network, and the Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism. Before teaching at Central Penn, she was Assistant Professor of Arts and Humanities at CUNY Guttman, in New York.