Dr. Jolly Kay Sharp enjoys reading and teaching about Flannery O'Connor, American literature, Southern literature, and dystopian literature for both undergraduate and graduate English classes.  Her highlights involving Flannery O'Connor include research with primary sources at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia; having Mercer University Press publish her book about O'Connor; and presenting a paper on O'Connor at the International Flannery O'Connor and the Mystery of Place Conference in Dublin, Ireland. Her latest international adventure was with another professor escorting UC students to Dublin, Ireland in May 2018 and being able to teach students about the Irish poet Seamus Heaney.

Dr. Sharp's favorite hobbies are reading, teaching Sunday School, and counted cross-stitching.  She appreciates the influence and the impact that Cumberland College/University of the Cumberlands has had on her life and hopes that she has had positive influence of the lives of many of her students.

PhD English, Middle Tennessee State University, 2008
MA English, Wright State University, 1988
BA English/Secondary Education, Cumberland College, 1974

Presentation: "Primitive Childhood Bridges: Pathways of Individual Growth in John Grisham's A Painted House and David Baldacci's Wish You Well at College English Association conference in St. Petersburg, FL, April 5-7, 2018

Presentation: “Developing Self-Identity: Child Protagonists’ Islands in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The River’ and ‘A Temple of the Holy Ghost’” at College English Association (CEA) conference at Hilton Head Island, SC, March 30-April 1, 2017

Presentation: “A Beastly Non-Beauty: Flannery O’Connor’s Southern Belle” at the Flannery O’Connor and Other Southern Women Writers at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, GA, September 17-19, 2015

Presentation: "Flannery O'Connor's Fictional Southern Myths" at the International Flannery O'Connor Mystery of Place Conference in Dublin, Ireland, July 24-26, 2014

  • Flannery O'Connor
  • American Literature
  • Southern Literature
  • Dystopian Literature

Contact

606-539-4415


Office

Bennett Building, RM 010