Teaching and Research Interests
- Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Literature
- Faith and Literature
- Regional Fiction
- Composition/Rhetoric
Publications/Presentations
- “Si Se Puede: Liberation Theology and Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign.” Blue Collar Pop Culture. Ed. M. Keith Booker. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2012.
- “Houston A. Baker, Jr.” The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory. Vol 1 Ed. Gregory Castle. Indianapolis: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
- “Desire and Death: Jefferson’s Journal Toward Sacred Manhood in A Lesson Before Dying” Literature and the Sacred. Brigham Young University, October 2010.
- “At the end of Rahab’s Cord: Post-Reconstruction Politics in A Fool’s Errand” “Hebrew Melodies: The Old Testament as Literature: The Old Testament in Literature”: Southeast Conference on Christianity and Literature. Lookout Mountain, Georgia, April 2009
- “‘A Serviceable Guide’: A Study of the Articles of Faith and Mormon Americanization” “Politics and Propaganda”: Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Conference. Miami, Florida, April 2008
- “Take Care of Yourself, James”: The Sacrifice for Self-love in Ernest Gaine’s Of Love and Dust” National Association of African-American Studies Conference. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 2008
- “Governance and Becoming a Slave in Colonial New England.” Fourth Annual Cultural Studies Association (U.S.A.) Conference. Washington, D.C., April 2006
- “A Slave Girl’s Story and Kate Drumgoold’s Struggle for a Voice.” Southwest/Texas Popular Culture & American Culture Associations Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2006
- “The Written Word and the Pen in Hand: Violet’s Pilgrimage to Wholeness in ‘The Ugliest Pilgrim.’” Twentieth-Century Literature & Culture Conference. Louisville, KY, February 2006
Community Service
- Dr. Towles serves at Blue Ridge Community Church.