Dr. Azzarello holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).
He is currently an Assistant Professor of English specializing in rhetoric, literary theory, and American Literature.  He is now at work on a book manuscript entitledQueer Environmentality: Ecology, Evolution, and Sexuality in American Literature.

Assistant Professor

Multipurpose 208

(504) 286-5024

Mr. Davidson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dillard University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Stanford University.  In addition to teaching courses in Basic Composition and Professional/Technical Writing, he also provides students with instruction in dramatic literature, namely Shakespeare and Modern Drama. A produced and published playwright, Mr. Davidson’s plays “El Hajj Malik” and “The Contraband” have drawn national attention.  He is currently working on a play set during the American Civil War.

Associate Professor

Multipurpose 233

(504) 286-5114

Dr. Gao teaches a variety of courses in literature, linguistics, and composition. She obtained her Ph.D. in British, American, and world literature at Ball State University. Before joining SUNO, Dr. Gao taught at several universities including the University of California at Riverside, California State University at San Bernardino, and San Bernardino Valley College. She has also taught ESL through broadcast radio in China. Dr. Gao’s areas of interest are American literature, women’s literature, and inter-cultural studies. Among other publications, she is the author of Pearl S. Buck’s Chinese Women Characters, co-author and editor of Beyond Concept: Intensive Reading Textbooks 1-4, and is currently working on a set of composition textbooks, a joint effort of both American and Chinese scholars.  

Assistant Professor

Lake Campus 29B

(504) 286-5027

Dr. Giddens received his Ph.D. in 20th Century American Literature and Film and 19th Century American Literature from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.  He received his M.A. in English from California State University, Long Beach, and his B.S. in Social Studies Education from Louisiana State University.  Dr. Giddens is a widely published poet and songwriter.  He has written an unpublished biography of 1960s icon, Richard Brautigan, and hopes to begin work in 2010 on a biography of New Orleans native and jazz pioneer Kid Ory.

Associate Professor

Lake Campus 29B

(504) 286-5124

Dr. Mills received his B.A. in German, and his M.A. in Spanish from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his doctorate in Literary Studies from Washington State University. Dr. Mills is a generalist. His areas of interest are the Romantic Period, the eighteenth century in England, the Victorian Period, as well as German, Spanish, and American Literature. His scholarship is variegate.

Dr. Mills has published in The Byron Journal, The Journal of Black Studies, Analytical and Enumerative Bibliography, The George Eliot-Henry Lewes Newsletter, and has been a contributor to The Years Work in English Studies. His chapter, “The Betrayal of the Media,”is in Advertising and Culture: Theoretical Perspectives. Dr. Millshas written the preface for Marie Umeh’s edition of Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa: Critical and Theoretical Essays. He has also presented a paper to the Mediterranean Studies Association in Spain. His work, “Eliot’s Casaubon: The QuixoticinMiddlemarch.” is published in The Cervantean Heritage:Reception and Influence of Cervantes in Britain. Dr. Mills is currently working on his own book, The Enquiring Mind: A Workbook and Reader for Composition.

Assistant Professor

Administration 208

(504) 286-5277

Ms. Nunes holds a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.F.A from Louisiana State University, where she received the Robert Penn Warren Thesis Award for her collection of interconnected short fiction. Her writing explores themes of sexuality, gender and the performance of self – in particular through our relationships with others and through the manipulation of written forms. It also explores themes of ponies in the kitchen, zombies under the bed and body parts made of glass. She is interested in speculative fiction, spoken word, hybridity, the gurlesque and other badly behaved texts. She is interested in defying genre.
She is currently at work on a collection of short fiction, entitled While You Were Looking Elsewhere, and a poetry chapbook, tentatively entitled These Tornadoes Are For You. You can read her work in many print and on-line journals, including The Alice Blue Review, Humble Humdrum Cotton Frock, The Sonora Review, elimae and Danse Macabre.