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Mark L. Lilleleht |
| Personal | Born 26 July 1969 in Albemarle County, Virginia. United States citizen. |
| Education | Dissertator. Department of African Languages and Literature,
University of Wisconsin-Madison. January 1999 - present.
Dissertation Topic: "Artistry, African Literature and the Critical Response: An Entertainment."
M.A. African Languages and Literature. University of Wisconsin-Madison. December 1998. Thesis: "Writing Within: The Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka and Breyten Breytenbach." B.A. Anthropology and Foreign Affairs, both with an African studies concentration. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. September 1987 - May 1991. Additional post-baccalaureate course work completed at Georgetown University (Liberal Studies), the University of Nevada, Reno (Archaeological Field School and History of Anthropology) and Northern Virginia Community College (Linear Algebra and Differential Equations). |
| Honors and Awards | University of Wisconsin: Vilas Travel Fellowship
(2002), Vilas Graduate Fellow (1999-2000), Foreign Language Area Studies
(Title VI) fellowship recipient (1996-1997).
Georgetown University: Summer Scholarship (Summer 1994). University of Virginia: Virginia Scholar, Echols Scholar, Intermediate Honors, Pi Sigma Alpha (National Political Science Honor Society, Spring 1990), Dean's List each semester. |
| Teaching Experience | Workshop Leader. African Studies Program,
University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Department of Education. Structured
and led session on the use of the Internet in the classroom at the "Teaching
West Africa Through the Senses: Images, Music, and Textiles" workshop for
K-12 educators. 29 February 2000.
Lecturer. Department of English, Marquette
University. Responsible for teaching two sections of English 001: Expository
Writing, the first of two introductory composition courses required
of all Marquette students. Approximately twenty students in each class.
August - December 1999. Workshop Leader. Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin-Madison). Structured and led two sessions at the "A Window on the World: Using Technology to Make Global Connections in the Classroom" workshop for K-16 educators interested in integrating global studies and technology into their classrooms. 24 April 1999. Teaching Assistant. Department of African
Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Course: African
211: The African Autobiography taught by Prof. Edris Makward. Led
five discussion sections every week of 15-31 students each. Summary of
student evaluations available upon request. September - December 1998. Instructor, College for Kids. University
of Wisconsin-Madison. Designed and taught workshop ("Growing Up in Africa")
to rising fifth and sixth-graders. Workshop sessions lasted one-week each
and involved basic Swahili instruction, game-playing, different foods
from across the continent and general introduction to the history and
contemporary environment of Africa to classes of 10 and 11 students each.
Summary of student and facilitator evaluations available upon request.
June - July 1998. Teaching Assistant. Department of African
Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Course: African
201: Introduction to African Languages and Literature taught by Prof.
Linda Hunter. Led five discussion sections every week of 17-33 students
each. Summary of student evaluations available upon request. January -
May 1998. Guest Lecturer. African 201: Introduction to African Languages and Literature. Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Topics included the politics and problems of language choice in African literature (4 & 6 March 1996); Dambudzo Marechera's short story, "Thought-tracks in the Snow" (19 March 1997); and the music, art and life of Fela Anikulapo Kuti (4 March 1998). |
| Publications: Books, Chapters and Journal Articles |
Co-Editor, Proceedings of the 1999 African Literature Association
Conference: Continental North-South and Diaspora Connections and Linkages.
Eds. Edris Makward, Mark L. Lilleleht and Ahmed Saber. (Trenton, NJ: Africa
World Press, with publisher).
"Ukcombekatsini and the Fantastic" in Comedy,
Fantasy and Colonialism. Ed. Graeme Harper (New York and London:
Continuum, 2001). "An Interview with Rob Nixon" in Wisconsin African
Studies News & Notes 55 (Summer/Fall 2001): 9-10. |
| Publications: Book Reviews and Encyclopedia Entries |
Contributor to Who's Who in 20th Century World Poetry.
Eds. Mark Willhardt and Alan Michael Parker (London: Routledge, 2000):
63, 237-8, 305-6. Prepared entries for Syl Cheney-Coker, Christopher Okigbo
and Wole Soyinka. Contributor to Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War
and Internment. Ed. Jonathan F. Vance (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO,
2000): 277-8. Suggested and prepared entry for Wole Soyinka. Contributor to the Encyclopedia of World Literature
in the 20th Century. Ed. Steven R. Serafin (Farmington Hills,
MI: St. James Press, 1999): 479-80. Prepared entry for the Sierra Leonean
poet and novelist, Syl Cheney-Coker. Review of Your Madness, Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon
by Makuchi (Columbus: Ohio University Press, 1999). Reviewed for the email
list, H-Afrlitcine <http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~aflitweb/>. Appeared
4 November 1999. Review of Crackle at Midnight: Poems by Lupenga
Mphande (Ibadan: Heineman Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc, 1998) and Make
It Sing & Other Poems by Marjorie O. Macgoye (Nairobi: East African
Educational Publishers, 1998). Reviewed for Voices: The Wisconsin Review
of African Literatures 2 (Fall 1999): 82-6. Additional book reviews are currently with editors awaiting publication in the following journals: African Literature Today, Africa Today, Francophone Postcolonial Studies, and Voices: The Wisconsin Review of African Languages and Literatures. |
| Conferences and Lectures | African Literature Association Annual Conference (University
of Wisconsin-Madison, 14-18 April 2004). Organized and chaired roundtable
discussion: "Field Work: Finding Employment in African Literary Studies."
African Studies Association Annual Conference (Washington, DC, 5-8 December 2002). Presented paper: "In Defense of Literary Art: African Writers on Writing." Served as panel chair. African Literature Association Annual Conference (University of California, San Diego, 3-7 April 2002). Presented paper: "Another Diaspora, an Imagined Africa: The Non-African Writer and Fiction 'Abroad'." Also served as a member and chair of the Graduate Student Caucus-sponsored panel, "Getting Involved in the Field: Graduate Studies Outside the Classroom." Graduate Colloquium (Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1 November 2001). "The Trouble with Commitment; Or, In Defense of Literary Art ." Graduate Colloquium (Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4 May 2000). "A Workshop on Getting Published." African Literature Association Annual Conference (Michigan State University, East Lansing, 16-19 April 1997). Presented paper: "Reading Across Cultures and Across Continents: Hyènes and the Adaptation of European Drama into African Film." Across Languages and Cultures: Creative Writing in English by Non-Native Speakers (West Chester University (PA), 24-26 October 1996). Presented paper: "Writing Their Way Where? The Writer as Character in Contemporary African Literature." Graduate Colloquium (Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4 April 1996). "'Bolekaja' and the Vanderbilt Agrarians: An Exercise in Comparative Literary History." Attended the 1997 Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare, Zimbabwe (2-9 August 1997). Prior to conference, spent two weeks traveling throughout Zimbabwe and Botswana. |
| Professional Experience | Project Assistant. Global Studies Program,
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Developed, designed, implemented and maintain
Go
Global! The International Careers Website, providing an on-line
gateway to local and worldwide resources available to students interested
in pursuing international careers. Responsibilities also include coordination
and cooperative work with the various career centers in developing additional
relevant resources and planning campus career-related events and presentations.
January 2003 - present.
Consultant. African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Charged with investigation into the feasability, means and preliminary establishment of an endowment fund on behalf of the ASP. September 2002 - present. Associate Editor. Journal of Cultural Studies (African Cultural Initiatives, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria). Also serve as the North American & European distributor of the journal. 2001 - present. Project Assistant. International Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hired to coordinate the implementation of the new EELIAS (Evaluation for Exchange, Language, International, and Area Studies) system among the seven Title VI areas studies programs on campus. Included attendance at Department of Education Title VI meetings (Washington, DC) in October 2000 and February 2002. September 2000 - August 2002. Coordinator. Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (1998 & 2000). African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison. SCALI is a cooperative venture of Title VI African Studies programs, pooling available resources to offer intensive instruction in numerous African languages during the summer on a single campus. Responsibilities included initial planning, publicity, coordinating with participating Title VI institutions regarding faculty and monetary contributions, as well as being the point of contact for all interested students and community members and primary author of the Institute's summary report. Coordinated both the 1998 and 2000 Institutes (hosted on the campus of the University of Wisconsin). August 1997 - August 1998; October 1999 - August 2000. Media Officer. Graduate Student Caucus of the African Literature Association. Responsible for publications, electronic and otherwise, of the Caucus and the promotion of Caucus' goal of enhancing graduate scholarship in African and African Diaspora studies. March 1999 - present. Project Assistant. African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Assisted in the organization and implementation of the 1999 African Literature Association's Annual Conference (10-13 March 1999; Fez, Morocco), including on-site coordination of the conference. Also assisted in daily administrative workings of the West Africa Research Association (WARA). Tasks included interacting with members and fellowship applicants and assisting in coordinating fellowship programs. January - May 1999. Web Manager. African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Responsible for designing and maintaining Program's website, including initiating "Opportunities in African Studies" postings, as well as a wholesale redesign launched March 2003 and developing the pages for the 2004 African Literature Association conference. August 1997 - present. Member of the Department of African Languages and Literature's Speakers Committee. Duties included coordinating graduate colloquium series and assisting with Department's special programs and guest lectures including the First Annual International Conference of the African Language Teachers Association (10-12 April 1997, Madison, WI; Convener: Prof. Antonia Schleicher). January 1997 - May 1999. Founded the Graduate Student Reading Group of the Department of African Languages and Literature (University of Wisconsin-Madison). September 1997 - May 2000. Review manuscripts for the following journals: Humanities Review Journal (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria) and Voices: The Wisconsin Review of African Languages and Literatures (UW-Madison). |
| Technical Expertise | Proficient in:
Familiar with:
|
| Professional Affiliations | African
Literature Association (since 1995)
African
Studies Association (since 1995) |
| Languages | English: Native speaker. Swahili: Intermediate level (three years of classroom study). French: Reading knowledge. |
| Community Involvement | Driver. Wisconsin Harvest. 1999 - 2003.
Initiated a book donation program. Have shipped books to nine schools and libraries in Africa. Complete information on recipients, material sent, and full financial accounting can be found at Big Daddy's Bookstore. |
| References | Available upon request. |
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