Jolly Sharp of Williamsburg, Associate Professor of English at University of the Cumberlands, was awarded her Ph.D. in English at the December 13, 2008, graduation ceremonies at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Hooding Dr. Sharp is Dr. Will Brantley who directed her dissertation ‘Between the House and the Chicken Yard’: The Masks of Mary Flannery O’Connor.

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – University of the Cumberlands’ Associate Professor of English Jolly Kay Sharp was awarded her Ph.D. in English at the December 13, 2008, graduation ceremonies at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Dr. Sharp’s area of specialization was American Literature, resulting in her dissertation ‘Between the House and the Chicken Yard’: The Masks of Mary Flannery O’Connor under the direction of Dr. Will Brantley and Dr. Allen Hibbard.

While working on her dissertation, Sharp received three special recognitions: a UC Summer Immersion Grant, a Flannery O’Connor Junior Fellowship from Georgia College & State University and a MTSU doctoral fellowship. Dr. Sharp, who has been a faculty member of University of the Cumberlands since 1991, is a native of Williamsburg, Kentucky, graduating from Williamsburg Independent High School in 1971 and from Cumberland College in 1974 with a B.A. in English. She received her M.A. in English from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, in 1988.

Dr. Sharp is the daughter of Mrs. Emma Patrick Sharp and the late Josh Sharp; the mother of Jessica Digh, Greensboro, North Carolina, and the late Josh Faught, Williamsburg, Kentucky; and the grandmother of twins Liam and Seth Digh, Greensboro, North Carolina.