Brian Chen
Brian Guan-Rong Chen, Assistant Professor
Office: Bates 203C
Phone: (413) 572-8433
Email: bchen@westfield.ma.edu
Brian Chen specializes in modern and contemporary American literature with a focus on prose narratives, Asian American literature and multiethnic literatures, world literatures, and critical theory. Currently, Professor Chen is working on a book project about an ecocritical approach to reading Chinatown in Asian American literature, and the media representation of Chinatown as an ethnic enclave in North America. His recent academic interests concentrate on diaspora and transnational literary studies, as well as cultural ecocriticism. Before becoming a faculty member in the English Department at Westfield State, he served as an interim First-Year Writing coordinator, and taught writing and literature in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at OCAD University (Toronto, Canada), where he received the teaching award of 2012-13. He has also taught literature, writing/communication, and ESL/EAL language courses at various post-secondary institutions in Ontario, including University of Toronto, Laurentian University, and Sheridan College. He is dedicated to teaching excellence and promoting diversity and multiculturalism.
Education:
- Ph.D. in English, University of Texas at Arlington, 2008
- M.A. in English, Fu Jen Catholic University (Taipei, Taiwan), 2000
- B.A. in English, Fu Jen Catholic University (Taipei, Taiwan), 1997
Courses Taught:
- ENGL 0101 - Composition I—Introduction to College Writing
- ENGL 0102 - Composition II—Writing about Masculinities
- ENGL 0105 - Composition I-- Introduction to College Writing (Honors)
- ENGL 0215 - Introduction to American Literature (Honors)
- ENGL 0217 - American Literature Since 1865
- ENGL 0222 - World Literature II
- ENGL 0328 - Multiethnic Literature of the U.S.—Asian American Literature
- ENGL 0397 - Chinatown in Asian North American Literature
