Curriculum Vitae
(updated Fall 2008)
ELYCE RAE HELFORD
English Department Phone: (615) 898-5961
Middle Tennessee State University Fax: (615) 898-5289
Murfreesboro, TN 37132 ehelford@mtsu.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in English. University of Iowa, 1992.
B.A. in English. Lake Forest College, 1984.
PUBLICATIONS
Books Edited
Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.
Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek. Co-edited with Taylor Harrison, Sarah Projansky, and Kent A. Ono. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.
Journal Articles
“‘A queer feeling when I look at you’: Gender and Sexuality in Three Films by George Cukor.” Journal of Bisexuality 7.1 (2007): 89-112.
“The Gaze, The Stepford Wives, and Envisioning Feminism in 1975.” Feminist Media Studies 6.2 (2006): 145-156.
“The Future of Political Community: Race, Ethnicity, and Class Privilege in Novels by Piercy, Gomez, and Misha.” Utopian Studies 12.2 (2001): 124-142.
“‘I’m Wondering What Sort of Misunderstanding is Happening Right Now’: Poststructuralism, French Feminism, and Carol Emshwiller’s ‘The Start of the End of It All’.” Foundation 74 (1998): 67-79.
“Going ‘Native’: Le Guin, Misha, and the Politics of Speculative Literature.” Foundation 71 (1997): 77-88.
Rpt. In Short Story Criticism. Vol. 69. Ed. Joseph Palminsano. Detroit: Gale, 2004.
“Reading Masculinities in the ‘Post-Patriarchal’ Space of Red Dwarf.” Foundation 64 (1995): 20-31.
“‘Would You Really Rather Die Than Bear My Young?’: The Construction of Gender, Race, and Species in Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Bloodchild.’” African American Review 28.2 (1994): 259-271.
Rpt. in Short Stories for Students. Vol. 6. Eds. Jerry Moore and Tim Akers. Detroit: Gale, 1999.
Rpt. in Modern Black Writers. Ed. Joanne Cerrito. Detroit: Gale, 1999.
“We Are Only Seeking Man: Gender, Psychoanalysis, and Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.” Science-Fiction Studies 57 (1992): 167-177.
Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 149. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2001.
“‘Ok, homeboys, let’s posse’: Gender, Race, Class, and Masculine Anxiety in Red Dwarf.” British Television Science Fiction: A Hitchhiker’s Guide. Eds. Peter Wright and John Cook. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005.
“‘It’s a Rip-off of the Women’s Movement’: Second-Wave Feminism and The Stepford Wives.” Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s. Ed. Sherrie Inness. Philadelphia: U PA Press, 2003: 24-38.
“‘My Emotions Give Me Power’: The Containment of Girls’ Anger in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Fighting the Forces: What’s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Eds. Rhonda V. Wilcox and David Lavery. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. 18-34.
“(E)raced Visions: Women of Color and Science Fiction in the U.S.” Science Fiction, Canonization, Marginalization, and the Academy. Eds. Gary Westfahl and George Slusser. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002. 127-138.
“Feminism, Queer Studies, and the Sexual Politics of Xena: Warrior Princess.” Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television.
“Postfeminism and the Female Action-Adventure Hero: Positioning Tank Girl.” Future Females: The Next Generation: New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. Ed. Marleen S. Barr. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. 291-308.
“‘A Part of Myself No Man Should Ever See’: Reading Captain Kirk’s Multiple Masculinities.” Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek.
Reference Articles
“Feminism.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Science Fiction and Fantasy (three volumes). Ed. Gary Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, 2005. 289-291.
“Butler, Octavia E. Wild Seed.” Masterplots II: Women’s Literature. Ed. Tracy Irons. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1995. 2469-2473.
Book Reviews
Cult Television, edited by Sara Gwenllian-Jones and Roberta A. Pearson. Science Fiction Review 272 (June 2005): 11-12.
Notes on Nowhere: Feminism, Utopian Logic, and Social Transformation, by Jennifer Burwell and Frankenstein’s Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction, by Jane Donawerth. Signs 26.1 (Autumn 2000): 293-295.
Aliens and Others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism, by Jenny Wolmark and Science Fiction and Postmodern Fiction: A Genre Study, by Barbara Puschmann-Nalenz. Utopian Studies 6.1 (1995): 168-173.
Feminism and Science Fiction, by Sarah Lefanu. SubStance 65 (1991): 110-112.
Film Reviews and Review Articles
“Tank Girl, Postfeminist Media Manifesto.” Electronic Book Review (January 2005): <http://www.electronicbookreview.com/v3/servlet/ebr?command=view_essay&essay_id=helfordwp>.
“Where are the Sci-Fi Sisters?” Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture 15 (Winter 2001): 34-37, 88-89.
“Parenting, Feminism, and the Disney Machine: A Review of Monsters, Inc.” Bitch Magazine Online. December 2001. <www.bitchmagazine.com>.
Director. Women’s Studies Program. MTSU, 2000-2008.
Professor. English Department. MTSU, 2002-present.
Associate Professor. English Department. MTSU, 1997-2002.
Assistant Professor. English Department. MTSU, 1992-1997.
Courses Taught (* indicates courses created):
Graduate: Contemporary Women’s Literature*; Feminist Literary and Film Theory*; Popular Culture Studies
Upper Division: Women and Film; Literature and Film; Twentieth-Century Women Writers; Science
Fiction; Twentieth-Century Jewish American Literature and Culture*; Gender and Film*
Lower Division: Women in Literature; Women and Science Fiction*; Jewish American Identity in
Literature and Culture*; Experience of Literature; Composition
Honors: Seminar in Literature and Television*; Science Fiction; Women in Literature; Composition
Distance Learning (correspondence study): Themes in Science Fiction*
Affiliate Faculty. Women’s Studies Program. MTSU, 1992-present.
Courses Taught (* indicates courses created):
Upper Division: Women and Television*; Women and the Media*; Women, Computers, and the
Internet*
Lower Division: Introduction to Women’s Studies
Distance Learning (correspondence study): Introduction to Women’s Studies*
Graduate Instructor. General Education Literature Program, English Department, University of Iowa, 1990-1992.
Courses Taught: Interpretation of Literature; Women and Literature; Narrative Literature
Instructor. Upward Bound Summer Program, University of Iowa, Summer 1990.
Course Taught: Upper Level High School Language Arts
Graduate Instructor. Rhetoric Department, University of Iowa, 1987-90.
Courses Taught: Introductory Reading, Writing, and Speech
PRESENTATIONS
Academic Conferences Chaired
Interdisciplinary Conference in Women’s Studies. Theme: Sexuality. Chair. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; March 2009.
Interdisciplinary Conference in Women’s Studies. Embedded Theme: Performing Gender. Chair. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; February 2007.
Women and Power: An Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Conference. Embedded Theme: Addressing Globalism. Chair. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; March 2005.
Women and Power: Reclaiming Faith—Socially, Spiritually, Artistically: An Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Conference. Chair. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; February/March 2003.
Women and Power: Engendering Risk: An Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Conference. Chair. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; March 2001.
Perspectives on Holocaust Studies: An Interdisciplinary Conference. MTSU. Chair. Murfreesboro, TN; October 1996.
Academic Conference Panels Chaired
“Divergence Among Allies: Utopianism, Feminism, and Spirituality in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.” Co-chair with Andy Smith. Society for Utopian Studies: 30th Annual Conference. Memphis, TN: October 2005.
“Recruiting and Retaining Women’s Studies Minors.” National Women’s Studies Association Conference. Program Administrators Pre-conference. Orlando, FL: June 2005. (Unable to attend due to illness; panel held without me.)
“Vampires, Warriors, Bitches, and Terrorists: Reading Gendered Violence in Popular Fantasy Texts.” South Central Women’s Studies Association Conference. New Orleans, LA; March 1999.
“Contemporary Feminist Fiction I” and “Contemporary Feminist Fiction II.” Women and Power Conference. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; February 1999.
“Star Trek and Race: Displacing Difference.” Popular Culture Association Conference. New Orleans, LA; March 1993.
“Science Fiction and the Production of Difference.” Society of Literature and Science Conference. Portland, OR; October 1990.
Academic Conference Papers Presented
“Utopianism, Feminism, and Spirituality in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.” Society for Utopian Studies: 30th Annual Conference. Memphis, TN: October 2005.
“Humor, Homosexuality, and Red Dwarf.” Science Fiction Research Association Conference. Chicago, IL; June 2004.
“Women’s Studies and Distance-Learning: Expansion (vs.) Ethics.” National Women’s Studies Association Conference. Program Administrators Pre-conference. New Orleans, LA; June 2003.
“The Future of Political Community: Race, Ethnicity, and Class Privilege in Women’s Dystopian Fiction.” National Women’s Studies Association Conference. Minneapolis, MN; June 2001.
“Queer Pleasure, Feminist Pain: Navigating the Sexual Politics of Violence in Xena: Warrior Princess.” South Central Women’s Studies Association Conference. New Orleans, LA; March 1999.
“Tank Girl and the Politics of Postfeminism.” Women and Power Conference. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; February 1999.
“Community and Survival in Near-Future Feminist Dystopias by Ethnic Women Writers.” International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Fort Lauderdale, FL; March 1996.
“Reflecting (on) Violence: Reading the Images of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man.” Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Riverside, CA; March 1995.
“Women of Color and Science Fiction in the U.S.” Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Riverside, CA; April 1994.
“Survival and the Science Fiction Heroine: The Ethnic Women Warriors of Octavia E. Butler and Misha.” Women’s Caucus Workshop, South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference. Atlanta, GA; November 1993.
“Ecofeminist Science Fiction and Native American Culture: Confronting Technotopia.” American Culture Association in the South Conference. Nashville, TN; October 1993.
“Star Trek, Technology, and Native American Cultures: Inventing Paradise.” Popular Culture Association Conference. New Orleans, LA; March 1993.
“Captain Kirk and Gender Identity in Star Trek.” Popular Culture Association Conference. Louisville, KY; March 1992.
“The Construction of Politics in the Classroom: Defining Terms in the Introductory Language Arts Curriculum.” 21st Century Project Conference (Culture and Diversity: Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum for the 21st Century University). Arizona State University West. Phoenix, AZ; April 1991.
“‘Rehabilitation of a tradition of empty names and dead letters’: Literary Onomastics and the ‘Third World’ Writing of Wilson Harris.” Twentieth Century Literature Conference. Louisville, KY; February 1991.
“Producing ‘Woman’: Space Fictions and the Processes of Gynesis and Ethnesis.” Society of Literature and Science Conference. Portland, OR; October 1990.
“Sizing Up the Body: Body Size and Self-Image in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour.” Feminist Graduate Student Conference: Parallels and Intersections: Racism and Other Forms of Oppression. Iowa City, IA; April 1989.
Workshops, Invited Lectures, Public Presentations, and Interviews
Invited Speaker. Classic Film Series: The Philadelphia Story. Center for the Arts. Murfreesboro, TN. 2 Sep. 2005.
Featured Scholar (on television series Bewitched and feminism). “TV’s Favorite Sorceress Lands in Salem,” by Joanna Weiss. Boston Globe (15 June 2005): C1. Available online at:
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/06/15/tvs_favorites_orceress_lands_in_salem/>.
Lecturer. “The Happy Homemaker Strikes Back: Actively Negotiating Housework in a Two-career Household.” June Anderson Women’s Center Career/Professional Development Brown Bag Series. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN. 3 May 2005.
Featured Scholar (on the original and new Stepford Wives films). “The Stepford Mystique,” by Heather Svokos. Lexington Herald Leader (11 June 2004). Available online at: <www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/entertainment/8886005.htm>.
Featured Speaker. “Meeting Today’s Media Superheroine.” National Women’s History Month 2004. University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Bradford, PA. 24 March 2004.
Lecturer. “Race, Gender, and the State of the Art of the Contemporary U.S. Superwoman.” Honors College Lecture Series. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; September 2003.
Lecturer. “Just Say No to Gender.” Honors College Lecture Series. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; September 2001.
Lecturer. “Do We Need a Women’s Revolution?” Honors College Lecture Series. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; September 2000.
Workshop Leader. “Fear of Feminism.” Tennessee Women’s Leadership Conference. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; April 1998.
Workshop Leader. “Forging Links Among Strong Women.” Tennessee Women’s Leadership Conference. MTSU. Murfreesboro, TN; April 1997.
Speaker. “A Feminist Perspective on Women in Science Fiction.” Women’s History Month 1997. University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; March 1997.
Featured Speaker. “Star Trek Story” (television documentary). BBC (filmed in Los Angeles, CA); June 1996. First televised in England, August 1996.
Panelist. “Women/Feminism and Science Fiction” (with author Octavia E. Butler). ConCat (science fiction fan convention). Knoxville, TN; October 1995.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Summer Faculty Research Grant, Graduate College, MTSU, 2000, 2008.
Non-Instructional Assignment Grant, Graduate College, MTSU, 1999-2000, 2006-2007.
Academic Year Faculty Research Grant, Graduate College, MTSU, 1994-1995, 1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 2005-2006.
Distance Learning Innovations Award, Distance Education Committee, Tennessee Board of Regents, 2005.
Curriculum Integration Grant, President’s Commission on the Status of Women, MTSU, Summer 2002.
Instructional Technologies Development Grant, Office of Information Technology, MTSU, Spring 2002.
Departmental Research Grant, English Department, MTSU, Spring 1998, Spring 1999.
Distinguished Educator in Distance Learning Award, Division of Continuing Studies, MTSU, 1998.
Ayne Cantrell Award, Women’s Studies Program, MTSU, 1997-1998.
Faculty Development Grant, Graduate College, MTSU, 1995-1996.
Ford Foundation Grant (co-recipient), University of Iowa, 1990-91.
Piper Scholarship, English Department, University of Iowa, 1986-87.
DeHerder Award, English Department, Lake Forest College, 1984.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
University
Member, Women’s Studies Council. Women’s Studies Program. MTSU. 1992-present.
Member, President’s Commission on the Status of Women. MTSU. 1998-present.
Member, Jewish Studies Minor Committee. MTSU. 2004-present.
Member, Search Committee (Women’s Center Director). Student Affairs. MTSU. 2002-2003, 2006.
Member, African American History Month Committee. MTSU. 2000-2002.
Member, Holocaust Studies Committee. College of Liberal Arts. MTSU. 1992-2000, 2007-present.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Consultant Reader: Signs; Feminist Media Studies; Gender, Place, and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography; MELUS; PMLA; Science-Fiction Studies; Foundation.
Consultant Reviewer: Longman Press; Westview Press; Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.