Melissa Sue Sexton

Dr. Melissa Sexton started teaching in the Department of English at UNCW in 2016 and joined the department full-time in 2017. Previously, she has worked as an instructor at the Oregon Extension in Lincoln, Oregon; at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia; and at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Education

PhD in English, University of Oregon
BA in English, Hope College

Specialization in Teaching

I teach a variety of composition and literature courses, as well as occasional courses in interdisciplinary environmental studies. My writing courses focus on argumentative and research writing, as well as multimodal composition. My literature courses focus on environmental literature, dystopian literature, women’s literature, and literary nonfiction. My environmental studies courses focus on the environmental humanities, particularly the roles of environmental rhetoric and environmental aesthetics.

Research Interests

My work focuses on various areas of ecocriticism and the environmental humanities. Much of my research incorporates new materialist approaches to the environment and science studies, particularly utilizing the ideas of Bruno Latour. My work applies these approaches to the writing of Henry David Thoreau and to environmentally-focused dystopian and disaster literature.