I come from a background of excellence and caring in teaching and a deep respect for learning and what can be achieved through a sound education. These roots began in the community of Queenstown, Maryland, named for my family (my Q., always used, stands for Queen), where I attended Queenstown Elementary School before going to Bates High School in Annapolis. After I completed my B.A. at Morgan and M.A. at Howard, I was invited to return to both colleges to teach; I chose Morgan and then later taught at Coppin State College in Baltimore. After the Ph.D., I taught at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. before coming to LaGuardia as a full-time faculty member in the English Department in 1978. I founded the Department’s Black Literature Series Committee that has brought many outstanding writers to our campus. Since its inception in 1989, I have chaired the LaGuardia Task Force on Pluralism that promotes pluralism, diversity, and multiculturalism.

Schools Attended: Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD ( B.A. in English); Howard University in Washington, D.C. ( M.A. and Ph.D. in English)

Area of Specialization: African American Literature. My M.A. thesis was on the Harlem Renaissance short story writer and novelist Rudolph Fisher. My Ph. D. thesis was a study of the Black male character in African American fiction from 1920-1960.

Favorite Quote: “Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.” -- Langston Hughes

Authors I teach: Among the many authors that I teach in English 225 that spans the slavery era to the present day are Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, and Gwendolyn Brooks. I teach Toni Morrison in English 225 and 269; Ernest Gaines is also a favorite in 269, as is Paule Marshall. I teach August Wilson in both English 102 and 265 and Zora Neale Hurston in 102 and 225.