Faculty
Faculty List
Cami Agan, Ph.D., Department Chair, Professor of Language and Literature
Rebecca Briley, Ph.D., Professor of Language and Literature
Merle K. Gatewood, M.A., Associate Professor of English and French
Elmo Hall, Ph.D., professor of English (emeritus)
Scott LaMascus, Ph.D., Professor of Language and Literature, Director of Honors Program
Bailey McBride, Ph.D., Professor of English
Joe E. McCormack, M.A.T., associate professor of English (emeritus), director of American English Institute
Gail Nash, M.A., Assistant Professor of English
Willie Steele, Ph.D., Professor of Language and Literature
Tina Ware, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Spanish
Cami Agan, Ph.D.
Professor of Language and Literature
Chair, Dept. of Language and Literature
- B.A., Oklahoma Christian University
- M.A., Boston College
- Ph.D., Duquesne University
Office: LC 226
Office phone: 405.425.5332
Email: Cami Agan
“The intellectual community of my department (students and faculty) sustains and inspires me. I feel I am contributing positively to the ‘seeking’ student.” Dr. Agan is interested in eighteenth century drama, medieval drama, Tolkien, women’s studies, and anthropological studies. Dr. Agan has published several articles, including “Liminality in the York Mystery Cycles." Recently, her faculty colloquium winning article, "Song as Mythic Conduit in The Fellowship of the Ring," was published in the Spring 2008 issue of Mythlore. She also published two articles on eighteenth-century figures: the actress Catherine Clive, and the dramatist Frances Sheridan. She is a member of MLA (Modern Language Association), ASECS (American Society for the Eighteenth Century Studies), the Medieval Academy of America, and the Society for Utopian Studies.
Professor Agan is the sponsor for Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honors Society, and she is the OC representative for OSLEP, the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program. Annually, she attends the national conference on eighteenth-century studies, as well as the national student conference for Sigma Tau Delta. Dr. Agan is a two-time faculty colloquium winner, and she received the distinguished teaching award as an M.A. student at Boston College. She also studied French in an immersion program in Amboise, France and has achieved near fluency.
Dr. Agan attended OC as an undergraduate. She says that her favorite memories from that time are the “many wacky episodes involving my best college pal, Dan Obenhaus.”
As a professor, her greatest memories are “the many times I’ve read an incredibly improved essay from a major, [and] the many times a student asks ‘the difficult question’ in class.”
Dr. Agan is a volunteer for the UR Special program which clothes at risk children in Edmond. She participates in Race for the Cure, is a supporter for the Honduras medical mission Predisan and the chamber music group Bright Music. Dr. Agan enjoys tennis and yoga, and the French culture, particularly food and films. Dr. Agan also listens to folk and roots music and likes to cook and travel. She is interested in mid-century (1940-1970) art and architecture, and likes to read contemporary authors. She attends Dayspring Church of Christ.
Rebecca Briley, Ph.D.
Professor of Language and Literature
- B.A., University of Kentucky
- M.A., University of Kentucky
- Ph.D., University of Kentucky
Office: LC226
Office Phone: 405.425.5343
Email: Rebecca Briley
Dr. Briley’s interests in language and literature include drama, American literature, creative writing, and Shakespeare authorship questions.
Dr. Briley is an accomplished author publishing her book, “You can go home again: the focus on family in the works of Horton Foote”, a series of articles on Kentucky poet, James Still, “The river of earth: mythic consciousness in the works of James Still”, a substantial book of poetry, “Bean Si Bones”, a smaller collection of poetry “Inside Out”, as well as many other poems, articles, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. Dr. Briley has also produced several original plays including, “Somebody Like I Am: Eula Hall’s Story”, “Oprah’s Book Club”, “Shakespeare’s Sisters” and several others.
She is a member of the Pleiades Women’s Theatre Co., Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, and Poets and Writers. Dr. Briley directs the Composition—Writing Program for the Department of Language and Literature and is a co-sponsor for the student literary journal “Soundings”. She has been awarded a Fulbright to teach in England, an English-Speaking Union scholarship to study theatre in London, The Entwistle Writing Award, the Ellershaw Graduate Scholarship (UK), a Metroversity Teaching Award from the University of Kentucky, and the Robert Miller Diversity Award for teaching abroad.
Dr. Briley speaks French, German, and bits of Turkish, Lithuanian, and Hawaiian. She enjoys volunteer teaching at a Christian university in Lithuania, as well as with homeschoolers in Hilo, Hawaii. She loves directing theatre, writing, singing, and traveling with her Birman cat Gatsby all over the world.
Merle K. Gatewood, M.A.
Associate Professor of English and French
- B.A., Drew University - French/English
- M.A., Sorbonne, Paris - French
- M.A., University of Central Oklahoma - English
Office: LC 227
Office phone: 405.425.5338
Email: Merle Gatewood
Merle Gatewood recently celebrated 30 years of service to Oklahoma Christian University, teaching English and French in the Department of Language and Literature, where she also oversees Departmental Assessment and facilitates planning of course rotations. She serves as a representative from Arts and Sciences to the Faculty Association and as the English Education liaison on the Teacher Education Council. Her memberships include the Conference on Christianity and Literature (CCL), the Oklahoma Foreign Language Teacher's Assocation, and the Oklahoma Council of Teacher's of English. At Quail Springs Church of Christ, she is the secretary of the Mission Committee and a writer in the card ministry. She and her husband Kent oversee communion preparation. They have two grown sons. She says her favorite memory of OC is "the graduations of our sons and their two wives - this university was a great blessing in their lives." About her goals at OC she says, "I want to help students become truly educated, that is, to grow in wisdom and faith."
Scott LaMascus, Ph.D.
Professor of Language and Literature
Director, Honors Program
Director, The McBride Center for Faith and Literature
Consulting Editor, The Christian Chronicle
- B.A., Oklahoma Christian University
- M.A., University of Oklahoma
- Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
Office: LC 221
Office phone: 405.425.5328
Email: Scott LaMascus
Dr. Scott LaMasus continues to bring nationally renowned authors to OC's campus through the McBride Center for Faith and Literature. He will chair a panel on 2007 speaker Marilynne Robinson at the prestigious Modern Language Association (MLA) conference in December of 2008. Dr. LaMascus was also the recipient of the Faculty Leadership Award this Spring.
Bailey McBride, Ph.D.
Professor of English
- A.A., Central Christian College
- B.A., David Lipscomb University
- M.A., University of Tennessee
- Ph.D., University of Tennessee
Office: LC 217
Office phone: 405.425.5330
Email: Bailey McBride
Bailey McBride is the director of the Honors Program at OC. He has studied not only at Lipscomb and the University of Tennessee, but has also studied at OU, the University of Tulsa, and Vanderbilt. McBride is especially interested in cultural studies, and belongs to the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and SMLA. He is married to Joyce, and has three children, daughters Melissa and Lynette and son Michael. All his children and their spouses are OC graduates. He also has eight grandchildren, the two oldest attending OC. He is an Elder at Memorial Road Church of Christ and is very active there. Dr. McBride has been involved in mission work to Honduras, Warsaw, Kenya, Japan, and New Zealand. He was involved for 25 years in the work of The Christian Chronicle, an international newspaper for Churches of Christ. He also participates in the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Foundation.
Gail Nash, M.A.
Assistant Professor of English
- B.A., Oklahoma Christian University - English (TEFL)
- M.A., Oklahoma State University - English (Technical Writing)
Office: LC 238
Office phone: 405.425.5345
Email: Gail Nash
“I work at OC because I believe in OC’s mission, and I believe in the ministry potential of the TEFL major.” Gail Nash is involved in the Oklahoma City Literacy Coalition – ESL Adult Literacy. It is a community ESL project administered through the writing center. Additionally, as Writing Center Director, she takes her staff and volunteers on-site to a local high school where they offer writing center services to a high school English class during the classes’ research essay assignment. She likes language and can “play around” in German, Spanish, and Portuguese. Her academic interests include the study of feedback on student writing, writing center pedagogy, and second language writing.
Nash has two publications: “Conference Simulation: Taking ENGL 2113 to a Conference” in Simulation and Gaming. Her other publication is “Politeness Theory in the Writing Center: Analysis of the Tutor-Student Interactions” in Writing Lab Newsletter. She is involved in two international associations: TESOL and IWCA as well as the regional associations: OKTESOL and SCWCA. She is married to Daryl Nash and has two children: Morgan and Samuel.
She is a Bible class teacher, she is on the mission committee, and she is a VBS assistant at the Britton Road Church of Christ. She says, “My best OC memory is from my senior year when a fellow TEFL major and I sneaked out after curfew to put shaving cream on our advisor’s car.”
Willie Steele, Ph.D.
Professor of Language and Literature
- B.A., Lipscomb University
- M.A., Middle Tennessee State University
- P.h.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Office: LC 236
Office phone: 405.425.5339
Email: Willie Steele
Dr. Steele taught English at Cascade College for eight and a half years, where he was named Faculty Member of the Year three times, before joining the Language and Literature Department at Oklahoma Christian. His primary areas of interest include baseball literature, 19th-20th Century writers, Mark Twain, and the Civil War. He has presented three times at the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, and also at the NINE Journal’s Spring Training Conference. His manuscript on the baseball novels of W.P. Kinsella is currently being considered for publication by McFarland & Company Publishers. Dr. Steele is also a member of the Modern Language Association, the Mark Twain Circle of America, and the Civil War Preservation Trust. Dr. Steele was a 2009-2010 recipient of the Faith and Learning Award at Oklahoma Christian.
He says of his teaching experience, “I enjoy teaching literature because I love history and reading - ”this job allows me to pursue my passion for both. I get a kick out of seeing students who come into a course completely apathetic or even antagonistic towards a time period, writer, or genre leave at the end of a term with a greater appreciation and love for the same material.”
Dr. Steele, along with his wife Heather and daughters Molly and Marianne, attends Northwest Church of Christ. Dr. Steele enjoys working with cross country and track programs, running marathons, playing the guitar, and traveling to historic Civil War battlefields.
Tina Ware, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Spanish
- B.A., Baylor University - Spanish
- M.A., Baylor University - Communications
- Ph.D., Texas Tech University - Spanish
Office: LC 234
Office phone: 405.425.5336
Email: Tina Ware
Dr. Ware teaches Spanish for the Department of Language and Literature. She is a certified medical interpreter. Her research interests include pedagogy and second language acquisition. Dr. Ware is the co-editor of the book Recipes for Success in Foreign Language Teaching: Ready-Made Activities for the L2 Classroom. She is a member of the Oklahoma Foreign Language Teachers Association and the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages. Dr. Ware is the sponsor of the Spanish Club. She attends Edmond Church of Christ where she is an interpreter and aid for Spanish Sunday School.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Cami Agan
