Biography
Mary R. Lamb is Professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Clayton State University. She was a USG Executive Leadership Fellow in 2022-23. The Peer Academic Mentoring Program she co-developed won the 2022 Regents’ Momentum Year Award for Excellence in Teaching and Curricular Innovation for the University System of Georgia. From 2008-2017, she was director of first-year writing at Clayton State, where she instituted ePortfolio assessment. From 2000-2008, she was a lecturer and senior lecturer at Georgia State University in the department of English and served as assistant director of lower division studies, where she mentored Graduate Teaching Assistants and developed curriculum and policy. She held the Clayton State University Tommy Clonts’ University Professorship 2014-16 for her dedication to improving public education. She was on the founding and governing board, and now serves on the advisory board, of The Museum School of Avondale Estates, a DeKalb County K-8 charter school, awarded the top charter school in the state 2019, by GCSA.
Education
Ph D, English, Texas Christian University, 2001
MA, English, Georgia State University, 1994
BA, English, Furman University, 1987
Awards and Honors
Executive Leadership Institute Fellow, University System of Georgia Executive Leadership Institute, Award, 2023
Regents’ Momentum Year Award for Excellence in Teaching and Curricular Innovation for the University System of Georgia for the Peer Academic Mentoring Program, University System of Georgia, , 2022
Tommy Clonts University Professorship, Clayton State University, Honor, 2016
Intellectual Contributions
Lynee Lewis Gaillet, Mary R Lamb, Cantice Greene, Matthew Sansbury, et al. , "Inspiring Collegiality: A Roundtable on Intergenerational Mentoring", Peitho – Fall 2023
Mary Lamb, Jennifer Parrott, Digital Reading and Writing in Composition Studies, Routledge, Taylor and Francis – April 2019
Mary Lamb, Competitive Literacy: The Cultural Work of 20C Writing Contests, Cambridge Scholars Publishing –
Mary Lamb, Teaching Nonfiction through Rhetorical Reading, English Journal, NCTE – March 2010
Mary Lamb, “The ‘Talking Life’ of Books: Constructing Women Readers in Oprah’s Book Club.”, U of Toronto Press – 2005
Contracts, Grants, and Sponsored Research
Mary Lamb, Sipai Klein, Peer Academic Mentors in First-Year Writing, Department of Education, Federal, 91000, Funded – October 2016 to September 2021
Presentations
Mary Lamb, Donna Qualley, Cheryl Smith, "Collaborative Reading: Texts, Screens, and Para-readers," in Sustaining Reading and Cultivating Writing in Crowded Digital Spaces, Conference on College Composition and Communication, College Composition and Communication – March 16 2017
Service to the University & University System of Georgia
University, Accreditation Reaffirmation Committee , Chairperson – January 10 2022 to April 5 2024
University System, Board of Regents Advisory Council for English, Committee Member – July 1 2017 to Present
Service to the Profession
Reviewer, Book, Routledge Taylor and Francis April 1 2024 to May 25 2024
Service to the Community
Member, Principal's Advisory Council, Druid Hills High School, DeKalb County Schools, Regional – August 1 2020 to February 1 2022
Teaching Interest
She teaches writing and literature courses, and courses in pedagogy for aspiring teachers.
Research Interest
Her research focuses on twentieth-century rhetorical theory, cultural rhetorical criticism, composition pedagogy, especially feminist and collaborative pedagogy, and writing program administration. Publications include the co-authored “Inspiring Collegiality: A Roundtable on Intergenerational Mentoring,” with Lynée Lewis Gaillet et al. in Cain and Goldwaithe, eds. Reclaiming the Work of Wendy Bishop as Rhetorical Feminist Mentoring, special issue of Peitho 26.1 (Fall 2023); the scholarly edited book Blurred Lines: Digital Reading and Writing in Composition Studies, ed., Routledge 2019; the scholarly edited book Contested(ed) Writing: Re-conceptualizing Literacy Competitions, ed., Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013; “Teaching Nonfiction through Rhetorical Reading,” in English Journal 99.4 (Spring 2010); “The ‘Talking Life’ of Books: Constructing Women Readers in Oprah’s Book Club,” in Reading Women: Literary Figures and Cultural Icons from the Victorian Age to the Present, Ed. Janet Badia and Jennifer Phegley, U of Toronto P, 2005; Successful Regents’ Essays: A Sourcebook for Writers (with Marti Singer), 2nd edition, Houghton Mifflin, 2005; “The Memory Palace in Paula Vogel’s Plays,” (with Alan Shepard) in Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History, Criticism, and Performance, Ed. Rob McDonald and Linda Rohrer Paige, University of Alabama Press, 2001.
