Lt. Col. Pennie Ticen has been a member of the English faculty at VMI since the fall of 2003. She earned her graduate degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she focused on modern and contemporary British Literature, writing her dissertation on post-colonial epics. One of her focus areas is in South-Asian Indian literature, especially the novels of Salman Rushdie, various retellings of the Indian epic聽The Ramayana, and the essays of Arundhati Roy. She has been an active member of the South Asian Literary Association for 25 years, where she has presented papers, co-chaired conferences, served as treasurer and been a member of the executive committee.
Lt. Col. Ticen regularly teaches courses in Writing and Rhetoric, British Literary Traditions, Literature of Indian Independence, and Empire Writing, as well as seminars on Mary Shelley鈥檚聽Frankenstein聽and Salman Rushdie. She also teaches Fieldwork courses, with recent sections focusing on Cadet Life at VMI and Women and African-Americans at VMI. She enjoys working closely with cadets and has shepherded them through SURI projects, conference presentations, department honors theses, capstone projects, and independent studies on a variety of topics.
Associate Professor
English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies
Sample of Lt. Col. Ticen鈥檚 Recent Scholarship:
- Forthcoming 2024,聽Encyclopedia of Indian Writing in English, entries on 鈥淪alman Rushdie,鈥 鈥Imaginary Homelands,鈥 and 鈥The Veiled Suite: The Collected Poems, Agha Shahid Ali鈥
- 鈥溾檞here hierarchies melt and curiosity takes precedence鈥: Using Yengde鈥檚聽Caste Matters聽to Complicate Student Ideas of Caste,鈥 South Asian Literary Association Conference, 2022
- 鈥淩ushdie鈥檚 America,鈥 Interviewed on 鈥淲ith Good Reason,鈥 for 鈥淩eading and Writing Ourselves,鈥 September 2021:聽
- 鈥淭rained in Post-Coloniality, Hired in World Literature, Revised into Cultural Rhetorics: Situating South Asian Literature within a Changing Curriculum,鈥 South Asian Literary Association, 2020
- 鈥淯pdating the Interregnum: Salman Rushdie鈥檚 鈥淎nti-chutnification鈥 in聽The Golden House鈥, South Asian Literary Association, 2019
Sample of Cadet Research Projects:
- SURI Advisor for 鈥淲e Take What We Want: Kipling in the Postcolonial Age,鈥 Cadet Chris Hulburt, 2020
- Conference Presentation Advisor for 鈥淐ast Between Two Worlds,鈥 Cadet Chris Hulburt, MARCUS 2020
- English Honors Advisor for 鈥淢odern Eve: A Female Cadet鈥檚 Critique of Feminist Criticisms of聽Paradise Lost,鈥 Cadet Kate Dixon, 2018
- Capstone Advisor for 鈥贵谤补苍办别苍蝉迟别颈苍听in Film,鈥 Cadet Mason Day, 2020
- Capstone Advisor for 鈥淎llegory in聽The Lord of the Rings,鈥 Cadet John Stann, 2020
- Independent Study: 鈥淩obert T. Kerlin Resources,鈥 digitized on Preston Archives, Cadet Fredrick Walker, 2014:聽/archives/genealogy-biography-alumni/featured-historical-biographies/robert-t-kerlin-resources/