Eads, Marti - EMU Personnel Profile

Biography

Martha Greene Eads grew up in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountains and studied literature and theology at Wake Forest University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Durham (UK). Before coming to EMU, she taught at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women and at Valparaiso University in Indiana, where she held a Lilly Fellowship in Humanities and the Arts from 2001-2003. Her research and teaching interests include twentieth- and twenty-first-century drama, English modernism, and contemporary Southern fiction, and her articles on those topics have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, Christianity and Literature, The Cresset, Modern Drama, The Southern Quarterly, and Theology.

Mission Statement

As a professor of literature and writing, I especially enjoy helping students recognize connections between great books and "real life" through community-learning partnerships. Whether we’re analyzing Anna Karenina with residents of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community or acting out A Raisin in the Sun with men at the Coffeewood Correctional Center, my students and I are stretching intellectually, socially, politically, and spiritually. My graduate-level studies in literature and theology and recent certifications in trauma awareness and resilience have equipped me to lead young adults in tackling some of life’s toughest questions. While I am eager to work with people from all backgrounds, I believe that an important aspect of my life calling is to foster students’ faith formation and preparation for theologically informed service to Christian congregations, whether as clergy or laity.

Publications

	Citation	Pub. Date
748	“‘Use Nothing Only Once’: Believing Again with Roger Lundin, Emily Dickinson, and Ron Rash.” The Cresset. 81:4 (Easter 2018): 24.-9	2018
749	“The Christ-Abandoned Landscape of Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Summoning the Dead: Critical Essays on Ron Rash. Eds. Zachary Vernon and Randall Wilhelm. Columbia: U SC P, 2017.	2017
750	“Raising the Dead in Denise Giardina’s Appalachian Fiction.” Christianity and Literature 63:1 (Autumn 2013): 75-87.	2013
751	“A Church of One’s Own: John Patrick Shanley’s Woolfian Project.” The Cresset. 76:5 (Trinity 2013): 6-17.	2013
752	“Industrialization’s Threat to Vocational Calling in Denise Giardina’s Storming Heaven.” Appalachian Journal 39:1-2 (Fall 2011/Winter 2012): 56-70.	2011
753	“Suffering Unto Salvation in Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow.” The Cresset. 75:1 (Michaelmas 2011): 6-13.	2011
754	“The Professor in the Parish: Beyond Gourmet Coffee and High-Quality Handouts.” For the Whole of Creation: Christianity and Scholarship in the Public Square, the Guild, and the Church. Ed. John Steven Paul and James Paul Old. Valparaiso, IN: Valparaiso U P, 2010. 83-94.	2010
755	“Feminist Forgiveness in Robert Morgan’s ‘The Trace’.” The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 47:3 (Spring 2010): 151-61.	2010
756	“Mrs. Dalloway Goes to Prison.” Approaches to Teaching Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Eds. Eileen Barrett and Ruth Saxton. New York: MLA, 2009.	2009
757	“Pointing Toward Peace.” The Cresset 70:5 (Trinity 2007): 55-57.
758	“Prosaic Grace in Doris Betts’s Souls Raised From the Dead.” The Gift of Story: Narrating Hope in Film and Literature. Eds. Mark Eaton and Emily Greisinger. Waco: Baylor U P, 2006. 103-116.
759	“Conversion Tactics in Terrence McNally’s and Paul Rudnick’s Gay Gospels.” Modern Drama 68:1 (Spring 2005): 163-185. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 252 (Gale/Cengage), 2009.
760	“Money, Sex, and Food as Spiritual Signposts in Doris Betts’s Sharp Teeth of Love.” Christianity and Literature 54:1 (Autumn 2004):31-49. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 275 (Gale/Cengage), 2009.
761	“The Mystery of Vocation.” Christian Reflection 11 (Spring 2004): 59-67.
762	“Dorothy L. Sayers’s Working-Class Voices.” The Cresset 66:2 (Christmas 2002): 6-11.
763	“Unwitting Redemption in Margaret Edson’s Wit.” Christianity and Literature 51:2 (Winter 2002): 241-254.
764	“The Anti-Romantic Comedies of Dorothy L. Sayers.” Modern Drama 44:2 (Summer 2001): 214-231.
765	Interview with Doris Betts. The Carolina Quarterly 52:2 (Spring 2000): 59-73.
766	“H.D.’s Challenge to the Institution in ‘The Flowering of the Rod’.” Theology 97 (September/ October 1994): 344-52.
767	Book Reviews
768	“Not Just Whistling ‘Dixie’: The Civil War’s Legacy in Ron Rash’s The World Made Straight.” The Cresset 79:1 (Michaelmas 2015): 6-12.
769	“Campus Conversations About Sexuality and the Church: Review of Does Jesus Really Love Me?, by Jeff Chu, Washed and Waiting, by Wesley Hill, God and the Gay Christian, by Matthew Vines, and The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield.” The Cresset 78:2 (Advent/Christmas 2014): 6-18.
770	Review of Still, by Lauren Winner, and Acedia and Me, by Kathleen Norris. The Cresset 76:1 (Michaelmas 2012): 56-8.
771	Review of Faith, by Jennifer Haigh. The Cresset 75:2 (Advent/Christmas 2011): 61-2.
772	Review of Through a Glass Darkly: Suffering, the Sacred, and the Sublime in Literature and Theory, ed. Holly Faith Nelson, Lynn R. Szabo, and Jens Zimmermann. Christian Scholar’s Review 41:1 (Fall 2011): 103-5.
773	Review of Lit: A Memoir, by Mary Karr. The Cresset 74:4 (Easter 2011): 60-61.
774	“Imagining America: Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” The Cresset 74:2 (Advent/Christmas 2010): 49-53.
775	Review of Creed Without Chaos: Exploring Theology in the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers, by Laura Simmons. The Dorothy L. Sayers Society Bulletin 183 (January 2006): 6-7.
776	Review of Walker in the Fog, by Jeff Gundy. Brethren in Christ History and Life 28:3 (December 2005): 575-7.
777	Review of Literature in Christian Perspective: Becoming Faithful Readers, by Bridget Nichols. Christianity and Literature 50:2 (Winter 2001): 341-3.
778	Reference Guide Entries
779	“Biblical Drama in Britain and North America.” Western Drama Through the Ages. Ed. Kimball King. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2007. 314-331.
780	“Margaret Edson.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fourth Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 75-78.
781	“Paul Rudnick.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fourth Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 245-254.
782	“Ridgely Torrence.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Third Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 338-344.
783	Compact Disc
784	The Peacemakers (lyrics). When the Spirit Sings: Chamber Music of Gwyneth Walker. Musica Harmonia: Naoko Takao, piano; Leslie Nicholas, clarinet; Joan Griffing, violin; Diane Phoenix-Neal, viola; and Beth Vanderborgh, cello. Centaur CRC 3524. ©2016.
1794	“Robert Morgan’s Gap Creek at Twenty.” The Cresset 83:2 (Advent-Christmas 2019): 16-22.	2019
1843	"'The Epicenter of Who I Am': Ron Rash's Roots in Aho, North Carolina." The Journal of the Short Story in English (JSSE) (Les cahiers de la nouvelle) 74 (Spring 2020): 219-233.	2020
1874	“The Work of Love in Robert Morgan’s Gap Creek.” The Robert Morgan Companion. Ed. Robert West and Jesse Graves. West Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2022. 176-186.	2022
1947	"Lynn Nottage's RUINED: A VAGINA MONOLOGUES for the Twenty-First Century?" In An Earthy Entanglement with Spirituality: Critical Reflections on Literature and Art. Ed. Elizabeth Moore Willingham. Liverpool: Liverpool U P, 2022. 94-120.	2022
1965	"Claiming the Lens of Love: Reading INVISIBLE MAN Through I Corinthians 13." In APPROACHES TO TEACHING THE WORKS OF RALPH ELLISON. Ed. Tracy Floreani. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2024. 76-87.	2024

Scholarly Presentations and Abstracts

“Crime and Punishment in Virginia: Approaching Trauma and Addiction Through Reading Dostoevsky.” The International 19th-Century Studies Association Inaugural Conference. Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom. July 10-12, 2024.
“Well-Meaning Dreamer: Ron Rash's Reckoning with Systemic Racism in ‘Overtime’," The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC. March 7-9, 2024.
"'Then You Read' Ron Rash: Facing Addiction and Forging Recovery among and with Formerly Incarcerated Women." Beyond the Classroom Walls: Practicing Community as Celebration of Cultural Capital Panel. The Modern Language Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA. January 4-7, 2024.
"Claiming the Lens of Love: Reading Invisible Man Through I Corinthians 13." The Conference on Christianity and Literature Southeast Regional Meeting. Charleston Southern University, Charleston, SC. October 26-28, 2023.
"Resources for Recovery: Reading Ron Rash’s Short Stories Alongside Formerly Incarcerated Women." University Colloquium. Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA. February 15, 2023.
"Making the Rough Places Plain: Teaching Hope Through Handel in Ron Rash’s World Made Straight." (With James Richardson, Assistant Professor of Music, Eastern Mennonite University.) The Conference on Christianity and Literature Midwest Regional Meeting. Hosted Online by Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. June 23-24, 2021.
"Ron Rash’s World Made Straight as a Round-About Route to Anti-Racist Reflection." (With James Richardson.) The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. Hosted Online by Ohio University, Athens, OH. March 11-14, 2021.
“Adventures in Teaching: (OR Courting Professional Martyrdom at the 21st-Century Church-Related College).” The Graphic Narratives and Multiple Marginalities Panel. The Modern Language Association Conference. Seattle, WA. January 9-13, 2020.
“Singing Heavenward in Gap Creek.” MorganFest: A Robert Morgan Celebration. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 3, 2019.
“Ron Rash’s Christocentric Theodicy: A Kingdom-Oriented Reading of The World Made Straight.” An International Meeting of the Conference on Theology and Literature. Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. March 28-29, 2019.
“The Epicenter of Who I Am”: Ron Rash’s Roots in Aho, North Carolina. The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. The University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC, March 14-17, 2019.
“‘Use Nothing Only Once’: Believing Again with Roger Lundin, Emily Dickinson, and Ron Rash.” Western Conference on Christianity and Literature. George Fox University, Newburg, OR, April 13-15, 2018.
“Reflecting on Rash Choices: Reading Ron Rash’s Something Rich and Strange with Ex-Offenders.” The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. Cincinnati, OH. April 6-8, 2018.
“Throwaway Men?: Eve Ensler’s and Lynn Nottage’s Treatments of Male Perpetrators of Sexual Violence.” The Comparative Drama Conference. Rollins College, Orlando, FL. April 6-8, 2017.
“It’s Complicated”: Ron Rash’s Relationshp to Flannery O’Connor.” Keynote Address. Sigma Tau Delta (International English Honor Society) Symposium. Lee University, Cleveland, TN, October 22, 2016.
“Lynyrd, Loretta, and Handel Lead Heavenward: Music in Ron Rash’s World Made Straight.” University Colloquium. Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA. September 21, 2016.
“Not Just Whistling ‘Dixie’: The Civil War’s Legacy in Ron Rash’s The World Made Straight.” The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV. March 18-19, 2016.
“Lynn Nottage’s Ruined: A Vagina Monologues for the Twenty-First Century?” The South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference. Research Triangle Park, NC. November 11, 2015.
"The Christ-Abandoned Landscape of Ron Rash’s Nothing Gold Can Stay." The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. March 24-26, 2015.
"Meeting Wendell Berry’s Challenge: Denise Giardina’s Mountain Fiction." New Southern Writing and Its Genealogies. The Modern Language Association Convention. Chicago, IL. January 8-11, 2014.
"Feminist Forgiveness in Robert Morgan’s 'The Trace'.” The Appalachian Studies Association Conference. Appalachian State University. Boone, NC. March 22-24, 2013.
“'Job Had It Easy': Suffering in Robert Morgan’s Fiction." The South Central Conference on Christianity and Literature. Our Lady of Holy Cross College. New Orleans, LA. March 8-9, 2013.
"Raising the Dead in Denise Giardina’s Appalachian Fiction." The South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference. Research Triangle Park, NC. Nov. 9-11, 2012.
"Kingdom Come: Denise Giardina’s Unrealized Eschatology." South Central Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature. Our Lady of Holy Cross College. New Orleans, LA. May 24-27, 2012.

Exhibits, Performances and Productions

Poet for The Peacemakers based on Leymah Gbowee’s Mighty Be Our Powers. Composed by Gwyneth Walker and performed by Musica Harmonia, EMU Bach Festival, June 13, 2013, and again January 11, 2014.
Reader for “Letters to the World,” a musical setting of poems by Emily Dickinson, performed by Musica Harmonia, Martin Chapel, EMU, September 18, 2010.

Church, Community and Professional Service

Early Church (an Anabaptist fellowship), 2023 to present
Lilly Graduate Fellows Program Mentor, 2021-2024
Conference on Christianity and Literature Board, 2016-2019
Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts National Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities Board, 2010-2014
Lilly Fellows Program Reunion Planning Committee, 2014
Conference on Christianity and Literature Nominating Committee, 2013
Lilly Graduate Fellows National Selection Committee, 2009-2011

Honors, Awards and Grants

Eastern Mennonite University Research Course Release (three hours), Fall 2024
Eastern Mennonite University Excellence in Teaching Award (for Tenured Faculty), 2021
Eastern Mennonite University Summer Research Grants, Summers 2006 and 2017
Participant, Diversity Responsive Teaching Seminar, National Science Foundation, Eastern Mennonite University, 2016-2017
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Faculty Seminar, “Slave Narratives,” Yale University, Summer 2015
Eastern Mennonite University Summer Teaching Grants, Summers 2011 and 2013
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Summer Seminar, “Professing Literature: Christian Engagement with Contemporary Literary Studies,” Calvin College, 2009
Eastern Mennonite University Lilly Foundation Theological Exploration of Vocation Mini-Grant, Spring 2009
Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning Summer Seminar, “Faith in the Classroom: Christian Perspectives on Teaching and Learning,” Calvin College, 2006
Eastern Mennonite University Lilly Foundation Faculty Mini-Grants, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Spring 2005, and Spring 2004
Eastern Mennonite University Research Grant, Summer 2006
Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts Faculty Mentoring Grant, 2005-2006
Eastern Mennonite University Research Course Release (six hours), Fall 2004
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, “Regional Study and the Liberal Arts: Appalachia Up Close,” Ferrum College, 2004
Lilly Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities, Valparaiso University, 2001-2003
Pew Younger Scholars Mentoring Program, 2000-2003
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to the University of Durham, England, 1991-1992
Phi Beta Kappa

Professional Memberships

Appalachian Studies Association
Conference on Christianity and Literature
Modern Language Association
International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association

Professional Conferences Attended

Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, September 27-29, 2024.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI, October 20-22, 2023.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, October 28-30, 2022.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Boston College, Boston, MA, October 8-10, 2021.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Baylor University, Waco, TX, October 16-18, 2019.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Hope College, Holland, MI, October 12-14, 2018.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Augsburg College, St. Paul, MN, October 14-16, 2016.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Belmont University, Nashville, TN, October 10-12, 2015.
“Islam in the Classroom: Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching About Islam in a Post-9/11 World,” Gordon College, Wenham, MA, Monday, September 21, 2015.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Administrators’ Conference and National Conference, Xavier University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, September 25-28, 2014.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Administrators’ Conference and National Conference, The University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, October 17-20, 2013.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Administrators’ Conference and National Conference, The University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, October 19-21, 2012.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Administrators’ Conference and LFP National Conference, Samford University, Birmingham, AL. October 19-23, 2011.
Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN. October 14-16, 2010.

New Courses Taught

Reading Fiction (Fall 2023)
Literary Depictions of the Traumatized US South (Spring 2023--Honors Credit)
Recovery and Resilience (therapeutic community-learning partnership with Dean House of the Gemeinschaft Home, Fall 2022)
Senior Seminar: Running the Race (interdisciplinary course co-taught with Roger Mast, Health and Physical Education, Spring 2021)
Bibliotherapy Internship (therapeutic community-learning partnership with the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, Fall 2019)
Rooms of Their Own (Spring 2019)
Senior Seminar: Stairway to Heaven (interdisciplinary course co-taught with James Richardson, Music; Fall 2018)
Global Literature I (Fall 2018)
Adolescent Literature (Spring 2017)
Global Literatures II (Fall 2014)
‘American’ ‘Manhood’? (Fall 2014; revised Fall 2016 to include a community-learning component at Coffeewood Correctional Center)
Southern Epic Journeys (Spring 2014; seminar in the major)
Shakespeare and the Modernists (Spring 2014)
Allegiance, Identity, and Peace (Spring 2013)
Global Literatures III (Spring 2010; revised Spring 2013 to focus on Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina; revised Spring 2014 to focus on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment; revised Spring 2018 to include a community-learning component at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community)
Ways of War and Peace (Spring 2012; revised 2014 to include a community-learning component; revised 2021 to include residents of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community)
Broken Families: Approaching the American Novel Through Attachment Theory (Spring 2011; seminar in the major)
What Do Women Want? (Spring 2010; revised to include more international texts and a community-learning component)

EMU Service

Faculty Representative, Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Network, 2003 to present
Member, Intellectual Life Committee, 2020 to present; Chair, 2020-2021, 2022-23
Member, Faculty Status Committee, 2007-2012, 2015-2021
New Faculty Mentor, 2010-2011, 2016-2019, 2023-2024
Member, Music Faculty Search Committee, 2016-2017
Chinese Friendship Families Partner, 2016-2017
Member, Faculty Scholarship Committee, 2012-2015
Member, Fall Faculty-Staff Conference Planning Committee, 2006-2007, 2013-2014, 2015-2016
Intensive English Program Conversation Partner, 2012-2014
Residence Hall Prayer Partner, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2014, 2015-2016
Honors Mentor, 2007-2010, 2012-2013
Senior Class Co-Advisor, 2010-2011
Member, Provost Search Committee, 2007-2008
Coordinator, New Faculty Mentoring Program, 2005-2007
Chair, Department of Language and Literature, 2004-2007
Member, Academic Council, 2004-2007
Member, Strategic Planning Committee, 2004-2007

Marti Eads

Education