James H. Cox, Ph.D.

"I am constantly reminded of the beauty and urgency of literature by my students, as when one shared Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War story "The Things They Carried" with her husband who was home on leave from Iraq then shared his perspective with our short story class the next day. All of the storytelling traditions in which we participate as writers, speakers and readers shape our lives and define how we interact with the world and other people. Critically thinking, talking, and writing about these storytelling traditions is a privilege that can have profound individual, familial, cultural, and social implications."