Elza Tiner, Ph.D.

Elza Tiner, Ph.D.
Professor of English
John Mills Turner Distinguished Chair in the Humanities
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Lynchburg College
Tiner@lynchburg.edu

Experience/Background

I joined the faculty of Lynchburg College in 1989, where I also serve as coordinator of Teacher Licensure in English, and advisor to the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Minor programs. While much of my experience is in research institutions, teaching is the most important and exciting part of my job. Lynchburg College values and expects good teaching.

Degrees and Certifications

• B.A. in English
  1979
  Seton Hall University

• M.A. in Medieval Studies
  1980
  Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

• M.L.S. (Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies)
  1985
  Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto

• Ph.D. in Medieval Studies
  1987
  Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

Professional/Research Interests

My research interests include medieval drama, rhetoric, and grammar, all with emphasis on classroom applications.

I have recently edited a book published in August 2006 by the University of Toronto Press:Teaching with the Records of Early English Drama, for the series Studies in Early English Drama, ed. Alan Somerset, University of Toronto Press. It is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in Medieval and Renaissance Drama on classroom use of historical documents published by the Records of Early English Drama (REED), a project based at the University of Toronto, with the goal to compile, edit, and publish documents relating to drama and entertainment in England prior to 1642.  For publication information, please visit the University of Toronto Press web site, under Scholarly Publishing.

My recent publications include:

 1) "Going to HEL: REED and Diachronic Linguistics," on teaching the History of the English Language (HEL) from REED documents that provide evidence of surviving Middle English dialect features, in Teaching with the Records of Early Englush Drama above.

2) "English Law in the York Trial Plays," on the legal procedure in the trials of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion in the York Plays, in The Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages, ed. Clifford Davidson (New York: AMS Press).

3) "Professional Players in Stratford on Avon, 1587-1602," on the availability of professional acting companies in Warwickshire during Shakespeare's lifetime, in Inside Shakespeare: Essays on the Blackfriars Stage, ed. Paul Menzer (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press).

Other publications include articles about medieval poet John Lydgate as a songwriter and biographies of patrons of traveling companies for the following REED collections: Cambridge (ed. Alan Nelson); Cumberland/Westmorland/Gloucestershire (ed. Audrey Douglas and Peter Greenfield); Coventry. (ed. Reginald Ingram); Devon (ed. John Wasson); York (ed. Alexandra Johnston); and in progress, for Warwickshire/Staffordshire (ed. Alan Somerset). I have also published papers on applications of classical and medieval rhetoric to modern composition.

Work in progress includes a textbook, Writing with Grammar, co-authored with Lyndall Nairn and Goldie Ann Dooley, M.Ed. '02, and a related paper, "The Grammar Transfer: Teaching Language Change," on a method of teaching writing so that students see ways to relate sentence grammar to the larger structural patterns of composition; a study of Vincent of Beauvais Speculum Historiale as related to the York Cycle of Biblical plays; and a study of medieval concepts of emotional appeal as related to drama.

Visiting Appointments

In 1993 I was invited to lecture on classical and medieval rhetoric in Richard Marius' expository writing course at Harvard University. I have also been appointed a Senior Fellow, Centre for Research in Early Theatre,Victoria University, University of Toronto, Summer 1995; and Visiting Fellow, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, during my sabbatical, Spring 1996.

In 2003 I was awarded the Faculty Scholar Leave grant for research.  In 2005 I received the T. A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence at Lynchburg College.

Courses: 2006-2007