Jim Tarter

Ph.D. - English
University of California

Degree:  Ph.D. - English - University of California

Office: Spalding Hall, Room 204A
Office Hours:  M,W 10:30-12:00  F 9:00-10:20
Phone: 792-2864

Areas of Specialization and Interest:  My general field is twentieth-century American literature, and I approach it from a cultural studies perspective.  My specialties are contemporary:  Native American, Environmental, and Multi-ethnic American Literatures.  I also teach a range of introductory and writing courses, and now and then I teach a Western American Literature course.  I love teaching and build my courses around dialogue and interaction.  My focus as a scholar is on the new fiction of environmental justice.  This is contemporary American fiction by some of our most celebrated authors (such as Silko, Morrison, Anaya, Logan, and Ortiz) which links environmental destruction to social and cultural problems of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.

Background: I grew up in central Michigan, went to college at the University of Colorado, and attended grad school at the University of California.  I've taught literature and writing courses at three universities and two community colleges, in California and Oregon.  Most recently I was at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where I taught Native American, Black American, and Western American Literature for three years before moving here in the summer of 2001.

Hobbies and Interests: Hiking, mountain bike riding, ski mountaineering, camping, traveling;  spending time doing volunteer community work;  taking care of friends, family, and my animals (two dogs and a cat);  and, of course, reading.