Marsha Elaine Williams
Instructor
Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy
Education
M.A. in English, Tennessee State University
B.A. in English, Tennessee State University
Diploma in Professional Music, Berklee College of Music
222 Humanities
Phone: 963-1530
mwilli52@tnstate.edu
BIO
Marsha Williams, aka pka Lainie Marsh, is an established songwriter, playwright, and environmental activist whose teaching of rhetoric and composition draws from a rich well of cultural and socio-political involvement. Her courses focus on Service-Learning and the importance of student participation in civic life. She is the creator of Green Kabaret, a service-learning initiative, melding student performance and activism around the salient issues of our time. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for Voices of Bangla, an NGO of the United Nations addressing environmental concerns in the Indian Ocean.
Publications:
“Banjo Moon,” Warner/Rough Trade Records, London, 2003 (Artist: Cerys Matthews)
“A Ways to Go,” Elektra-Asylum Records, New York Artist, 1994 (Emmylou Harris)
Conferences:
Black Ophelia; Tennessee Women's Theater Project, 2019; Mermaid Asylum; Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations, 2019; Green Kabaret as a Vehicle for Advocacy, MTSU Literacy Conference, 2017; Tennessee State University-- The Classroom Carnival: Towards an Integration of the Arts in the Teaching of English to the Working Class and Minorities, 2004; Jean Toomer: Becoming Blue; Jean Toomer's "Blood Burning Moon" 2004; Carnival as Expressed in Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus and its Relevance to the "Evolution of the Word" 2004; Waxing Exotic: Dryden and Purcell View The Indian Queen, 2004
Classes Taught at TSU
Freshman Composition I & II
Professor Williams has 15 years teaching experience in higher learning, including in Dual Enrollment programs, as well as in K-12 enrichment programs. She participates in ongoing diversity training and professional development in areas such as teaching students with disabilities and at-risk populations, problem-based learning, arts integration, multicultural education, curriculum and instruction, and childhood development. She is also certified to teach English as a Second Language by the University of Tennessee's Institute of Public Service.