About Dr. Stripling
 Dr. Stripling
is an independent scholar who draws from a rhetoric, literature, and law
background to lecture and to write about the intersection of the humanities and medicine.
She also develops curricula serving the needs of those in
English/Humanities and bioethics and
healthcare classrooms.
Education:
PhD Literature and Medicine (TCU 1997)
Concentration: Rhetoric, American
Literature, and Nature Essays. MA
(English), MLA (Liberal Arts), BA
(pre-law).
LECTURER, AUTHOR, EDUCATOR
EXPERIENCE
GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS/RESIDENCIES:
2010—May 1-31st.
The University of Texas Medical
Branch, Galveston, TX.
Visiting scholar with
stipend, doing research in the Rare Book Room,
Selzer Archive, Blocker
History of Medicine Collection at the
Moody Medical Library. Guest at the
Rosenberg House and research in library
in 2000 & 1998.
2009—The Yaddo
Corporation, Saratoga Springs, NY.
Residential writer staying in Spencer's
Den (second floor mansion). Research
Richard Selzer's 20-year experience at
Yaddo, outline part II of the biography,
and take photos.
THEATRICAL READINGS:
TCCD-S, Ft. Worth, TX
2010—“Diary of an Infidel,” based on
Richard Selzer’s story, adapted for a
staged reading by Edwin Lynch and
excerpted for a shorter presentation by
Dr. Stripling who directed, with faculty
readers for the district-wide Academics
Day. Comment: "It was a 360 degree
success."
2000—“Follow Your Heart,” based on
Richard Selzer’s story, “Whither Thou
Goest,” as adapted
by Greg Watkins (Medical Readers’
Theater, ed. Todd L. Savitt).
Presented by Dr. Stripling with faculty
readers for the district-wide Teachers’
Workshop at Tarrant County College
District.
LECTURER:
-
Stanford Medical School 2002 commentator on Selzer's lecture,
'The Doctor as Writer," as well as introducing him at the medical school.
-
"An
Introduction to Richard Selzer and
his Major Writings." Tarrant County College
District 2000 Spring Faculty Retreat: lecture and readers' theater
performance (as above).
-
"The Doctor
Stories: Medicine, Rhetoric, and
Social Taboo." The University of Central Arkansas at Conway 1999 High Table Honor’s College Lecture Series.
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"Richard
Selzer: Poet of the Body." Yale Medical
School 1998 Program for Humanities
in Medicine
Lecture Series.
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"The Helping
Professions: the Power of the
Positions and their Attendant
Responsibilities.” Texas Wesleyan University 1998 Humanic’s Pre-Professional Lecture Series and Ethics Panel; follow-up pre-professional brown bags in 2000 and 2001.
-
"Richard
Selzer: the Pen and the Scalpel." The University
of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston
1998 brown bag lecture
series.
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Go to
Lectures for descriptions.
Great
Hall Lecturer, Nantucket
Atheneum,
Nantucket Island, MA: In 2005 Dr.
Stripling was commentator on three films
shown during Halloweekend for the Great
Films in the Great Hall Series: James
Whale’s 1931 classic “Frankenstein,”
Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 “Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein,” and Mel Brook’s 1974
“Young Frankenstein.” Her Great Hall
lecture, titled "Monster?," capped off
the film series. A book signing
followed.
"Monster?": Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel, Frankenstein
(1818), has spawned nearly two centuries
of popular culture, including films,
plays, television series, comic books,
and the Crypt Kicker’s 1962 hit
sensation, “The Monster Mash.” Many
Nantucketers say they encounter friendly ghosts and shy ghouls on their evening strolls down foggy lanes near Prospect Hill Cemetery
and celebrate this uniquely American holiday, Halloween, using images of Frankenstein’s scary green monster.
Over the course of Dr. Stripling’s lecture, “Monster?,” the audience
learned to understand that the Frankenstein mythology that permeates our culture differs greatly from Shelley’s nameless “fiend” who acts more human than his creator does.
Dr. Stripling derived her lecture,
"Monster?," from Chapter 1, “Technology’s Creature,” of
her book, Bioethics and Medical Issues in Literature,
showing how Victor Frankenstein’s good intention
to create a disease-free super human species that would bless him
turned into the yellow-eyed monster caught between a need for love and acceptance and revenge,
turning on Frankenstein as he was unleashed
into society. The popular press coined the term, Frankenscience, to describe technology that can run amok. Examples are anthrax attacks, computer hackings, and cloning. Dr. Stripling discussed these and other issues, including the inherent problem in seeking perfection: Who decides?
We all deal with ethical issues in our own way, and Dr. Stripling explained how the popular culture phenomenon, Shelley’s Frankenstein, sheds light on current brave new world issues.
Frankenstein offers a cautionary rather than an anti-science lesson, asking
all of us—not just the scientists, philosophers, and medical ethicists—to understand our twenty-first century science and technology in order to decide where we want them to take us.
Capstone Lecturer:
In 2004 Dr. Stripling was capstone
lecturer at the Fourth Annual
Biotechnology Conference for Secondary
Science Teachers at Texas A & M-Dallas.
The Lecture, titled "The Age of Cloning: Ethics, Laws & Commerce," featured literary perspectives including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birth-mark." The lecture included
a Lesson Plan and PowerPoint slideshow--available upon request--that derives from Chapter 1, "Technology's Creature," Bioethics and Medical Issues in Literature (Greenwood Press, 2005). For information
see:
Publications.
Selzer
as Visiting Lecturer: In 2003
Dr. Stripling coordinated bringing Dr. Richard Selzer to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
where he lectured at the University of
Texas-Southwestern Medical Center, the
University of North Texas-Health Science
Center, and Texas Christian University.
PRESENTER (conferences):
ASBH 2008. "Richard
Selzer in the Twenty-First Century."
Cleveland, OH. (audio clip of
Leon Kass; video
clip of RS.)
CCTE 2006. Literature and Pedagogy
panel. "Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Takes Students Out of Their Comfort Zones." Derived from Chapter 4, Bioethics and Medical Issues in Literature. Corpus Christi, TX.
Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities
2005. "Interdisciplinary Teaching: The Humanities in Science Classrooms." (Includes information on education reform and Hawthorne's "The Birth-mark" case study as an example of scientific hubris, derived from Bioethics and Medical Issues in Literature, Greenwood P, 2005.) Honolulu, Hawaii.
NISA 2005. "Writing and Selling Biographies." Moderator. Portland, ORE.
PCA/ACA 2005. "The Art of Biography III: Richard Selzer, M.D." San Diego, CA.
WSSA 2003. "The Art of Biography II: Richard Selzer, M.D." Las Vegas, NV.
WSSA 2002. "The Art of Biography I: Richard Selzer, M.D." Albuquerque, NM.
ASBH 2002.
“The New Debate: Groopman v. Kass.”
Panel with Jorge Lazareff, Carol Donley, JoAnn Middleton, and Susan Squier. Baltimore, MD.
Narrative Matters 2002. "Teaching Medical Humanism with Literature." Fredericton, New
Brunswick, Canada.
ASBH 2001. “Re-creating Richard Selzer: The Ethics of Journal Editing and Life-writing.”
Panel with Joanne Trautmann Banks and Iliana Semmler. Nashville, TN.
WSSA 2001. "The Diagnostic Embrace." San Diego, CA.
See the oral presentation:
“The
Diagnostic Embrace”
Federation Rhetoric Symposium
1999. "A Dialogic/Rhetorical Perspective on the Life and Writings of Richard Selzer, a Yale-New Haven Doctor-Writer." A cyberspace panel event for the Federation of North Texas Area Universities, a consortium for graduate education sponsored by Texas Woman's University, 1999. Published in Caxton Modern Arts Press, Asynchronous Conference CD, 1999.
CCTE 1995. "A Dialogic/Rhetorical Analysis of Richard Selzer's 'Smoking' from Mortal Lessons." Waco, Texas.
AUTHOR:
See
Publications
Educator:
Adjunct Instructor. Tarrant County
College-South (1998 to 2003). Developed
innovative Medical Humanities
curricula. Who’s Who Among America’s
Teachers, 2000.
Editor:
Composition Studies, Studies in Psychological Theory,
and Descant (1996 to 1999)
Writing
Center Specialist: Texas Christian University (1996 to 1997) |
