Patricia West

Biography

Patricia Ann West is instructor of African-American Literature and Composition at Savannah State University. She completed Ph.D. candidacy in Literature and Criticism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and now pursues interests as an independent scholar. A 1976 graduate of Savannah State, she holds a M.Ed. from Georgia Southern University, and a Georgia educator certificate in Secondary English. Her teaching, research, and writing interests focus on literature, genealogy, Gullah culture, and African-American cemetery preservation. At SSU she leads her department's Publicity and Recruitment Committee, and advises the English Majors Student Association and the National Council of Negro Women Collegiate Chapter. She initiated SSU's commemoration of National Freedom Day in Spring 2013 in honor of the efforts of Maj. Richard R. Wright, Sr. Prof. West’s presentations over the last five years include the Southern Humanities Council, Southern Association of Canadian Studies, and the Slave Dwelling Project. In the community, she serves as SSU's liaison and board member for the LePageville Memorial Cemetery, Inc. As an alumnus, she serves as Corresponding Secretary for the SSUNAA Class of 1976 Chapter, Inc. and a member of the SSU Community Booster Club.

Research Interest

American Literature, Southern literature, African-Americans and eco-criticism, Gullah-Geechee poetics and literature, James Alan McPherson