Shyam V Patel

Assistant Professor

Composition: Hybrid and Online Writing Instruction; Writing Resistance and Anxiety; Public Writing; Literary and intellectual histories of nineteenth-century Britain, esp. Aestheticism

Shyam Patel received a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of California at Irvine, and a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia. His research focuses on nineteenth-century British literature and culture (particularly politics and aesthetics of the fin de siècle) and the psychology of Composition classroom pedagogies (particularly writing resistance and anxiety in hybrid and online modalities).

Selected Publications

Book Chapter:

“‘That Which is Its Own Evidence’: Oscar Wilde and the Platonic Dialogue.” Literature, Voice, Meaning: Philosophical Aspects. Ed. Garry Hagberg. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025.

Courses Taught

ENGH 101, Composition
ENGH 202, Texts and Contexts ("Satirizing School")
ENGH 302, Advanced Composition ('Multidisciplinary' and 'Business')
ENGH 336, British Novel of the 19th Century ("Horror and Human Nature")

Recent Presentations

“Redefining ‘Busywork’: Lessons for Gen AI from Hybrid Course Design.” (Co-presented with Ariel Goldenthal and Christina Grieco.) Annual Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference (ITL): “Teaching for the Future: AI, Analog and Beyond.” Fairfax, VA. September 25–26, 2025.

"Duel, Dual, or Duet?: Harmonizing Instructor Choices and Student Approaches to Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning in Hybrid Writing Courses." Annual Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC): “'Computer Love': Extended Play, B-sides, Remix, Collaboration, and Creativity.” Baltimore, MD. April 9–12, 2025.

“Unhappy in our own Ways, Happier Together: Creating a Conscious Community through Hybrid Teaching.” Annual Conference of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW): “Building Community and Coalitions through Liberatory Pedagogies in Technical Communication.” Virtual. June 10–12, 2024.

“Metabolizing Misery: Irrevocable Injustice and the Body Politic in Oscar Wilde's Prison Writings.” Annual Symposium of the George Mason University Center for Humanities Research (GMU CHR): “Democracy, Disposability, and Repair.” Fairfax, VA. April 11–12, 2024.

“‘He–I–or we’: Gender, Medium, and Ekphrasis in Michael Field’s Sight and Song.” Annual Conference of Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies (INCS): “Trans(–)Turns in Nineteenth-Century Studies.” Cincinnati, OH. March 21–24, 2024.