Patrick M. Zwosta
B.A. in English, Siena College
M.A. in English, St. John’s University
Ph.D. in English, St. John’s University (In Progress)
Patrick Zwosta is entering his third year of the Ph.D. in English program at St. John’s University. He is an avid film fan who also writes scripts and short stories in his spare time. Having just recently passed his comprehensive exams, he is beginning to shape his dissertation which will focus on the impact of 80’s Reaganite rhetoric on the themes and plots of 80’s action films. His culminating project for his Master’s program was a portfolio project which included papers on surrogacy in Dicken’s Bleak House, the authenticity of representations of Lincoln in the media, and the performativity of blackface in popular culture, specifically focusing on vaudevillian Bert Williams.
Zwosta will also continue teaching English 1100c in the Fall of 2017. His unique teaching style blends traditional emphasis on close reading and analysis with newer pedagogical strategies such as treating films as literary texts and allowing students to realize that they engage with issues dealt with in world literature every day whether they realize it or not. He anticipates this approach continuing to work well in the future! He has also taught Business Writing at St. John’s and also teaches composition at Borough of Manhattan Community College.