The Poster Child for WCU:
Ellena Stone Shiflet,
Scholar & Online Writing Program Coordinator
By Maggie Chandler and Danny Thomas
Poster Child
Ellena Stone Shiflet has described herself as “the
poster child for Western Carolina University” because
she was born at Western. When Ellena was young, WCU professors
watched her while her parents attended their Western classes.
When Shiflet had her son, some of the same professors watched
him while she attended class.
Education
When Shiflet came to Western, she had her undergraduate
degree in Journalism; upon entering the English department
she had the good fortune of bumping into Professor Farwell,
who worked hard with her to incorporate her into the department.
Shiflet stated that her time at Western really introduced
her to the field of English study. “It gave me a foundation
in teaching and in working for the writing center so that
I could do what I do now, which is to coordinate curriculum
for one of the largest online writing programs in the world.”
Shiflet was able to push through the struggle of being a
single parent and student. Even without the aid of online
classes she was still able to complete her work. She was highly
inspired by many of her professors at WCU, and it made her
experience worthwhile and enjoyable. “Writing creates
opportunities for all people; if you can write, you can survive.”
Shifltet has a Ph.D. in English from the University of South
Florida. Her scholarly work keeps her busy. She has attended
over 50 academic conferences in a variety of specializations,
and she works to attend at least three academic conferences
per year involving Florida studies, writing programs, and
Hemingway Fitzgerald scholarship.
Memories and Advice
“My favorite memory of Western is when I got a paper
back from Professor Farwell which said, ‘Melville may
use double adjectives, but you may not." Then two semesters
later I received another paper back that said, ‘Melville
may use double adverbs and adjectives; you may not…
yet.’ Farwell was a hard professor. That little note
inspired me to become a scholar.”
Shiflet’s advice to students is to “study with
every professor you can, and do not limit yourself to literature,
or a particular period of literature, or rhetoric and composition.
As a result I have become well versed in my field and published
in several places. I also am able to work across disciplines.”
“Western hasfaculty with diverse history and backgrounds.
You can have one professor who may be teaching four or five
classes in different areas while being an expert at all of
them. That’s the beauty of that small department; those
professors have unbelievable things to teach you,” she
says.
Travel
Besides remaining busy, Shiflet has the pleasure of traveling
around the world. She recently attended a conference in Ronda,
Spain on Ernest Hemingway and the Spanish Civil War. Shiflet’s
scholarship has taken her to Amsterdam, France, England, the
Caribbean, and all over the United States. For Christmas 2009,
her career is taking her to South America, and she’ll
soon present new scholarship on Hemingway and Florida in Switzerland
and Italy.
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