Faculty

Cindy Murrell

Cindy Murrell
College Associate Professor

Email:
cmurrell@nmsu.edu

Office Address:
New Mexico State University
Department of English
P.O. Box 30001, MSC 3E
Las Cruces, NM 88003

Phone:
575-646-3935

Fax:
575-646-7725

Biographical Statement
I have been teaching in the English Department at NMSU since 1988. That year I completed my M. A. at NMSU in Literature with emphases in Middle English Literature and the Victorian Novel. I will be serving in the Faculty Senate through Spring 2012 as one of the first six nontenure-track faculty representatives.

I have two wonderful adult daughters, one a lawyer and the other a civil engineering student and future architect. My two dogs take me for walks almost every day.

Teaching Statement
I see my role as facilitating student learning through structured class discussion and group work. I lecture very little, and expect students to be prepared for and involved in class. The workload in my classes is steady but fair.
In all my classes, I emphasize building critical thinking and writing skills, as I believe those skills give us power to improve our lives and our world. I help my students by sharing what I have learned, but I most enjoy my classes when students help me and others learn by sharing their own unique insights.

Recent Courses Taught

ENGL 380V: Women Writers
ENGL 363: Literature for Children and Young Adults
ENGL 328V: Literature of Science Fiction and Fantasy
ENGL 310: Critical Writing (for the English Major/Minor)
HON 313: Honors Research and Writing (Preparation for the Honors Thesis)
UNIV 150: Freshman Year Experience

Courses Regularly Taught before 2006

ENGL 394V: Southwestern Literature
ENGL 311G: Advanced Composition
ENGL 211G: Writing for the Humanities and Social Sciences
ENGL 203G: Business and Professional Communication

Creative Interests

Performing in "We Are Enron"

NMSU Music Recital Hall

Since 1998, I have acted in over a dozen local theater productions with the Doña Ana Lyric Opera, Las Cruces Community Theatre, No Strings Theatre Company, and Lo-Fi Productions. Most recently I played Melissa Gardner in A. R. Gurney Jr.'s Love Letters (February 2009) at the Black Box Theatre and Linda Martin-Lay in the premier of the musical We Are Enron (February 2008) at the NMSU Music Center Recital Hall. I also sing at St. Paul's United Methodist Church with both the Chancel Choir and the Concert Ensemble.

Publications
"Negotiating the Long Haul: A Review of Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed by Mimi Schwartz." Puerto del Sol Spring 2003. 326-335.

"Living in Two Worlds." New Moon Network September/October 1995. 4.