Folio - Department of English - College of Charleston

Tina Marie Cundari ‘96 is an attorney in
Columbia. In January 2012, she became a member (which is
the equivalent of partner) of her law firm, Sowell Gray Stepp
& Laffitte, LLC. She has been very involved in the community,
presently serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Columbia.
Katherine Dillard Mitchell ‘96 graduated with
an MA in Literature from the University of Mississippi and an
MFA in Fiction from University of Montana. She is a Writing
Expert at Ruamrudee International School, Bangkok,Thailand.
Melissa (Mehl) Turner ‘97 graduated with
a Master of Arts in Teaching from Charleston Southern
University in 2006 and taught 9th grade English for five
years, one year in South Carolina and four years in Maryland.
Currently, she is a stay-at-home Mom.
Ray Edward Tanner ‘97 taught high school for six
years in Berkeley County, which was an
enriching experience. He left the school
system to become a recruiter for the
military in ‘05 and has been working
and living in Summerville since then.
His wife, Dawn, and he have two
amazing sons. Ret is 9, and Reed is 7,
and they both love seeing the Cougars
in action on the baseball diamond.
Denise (White) Johnson
‘98, MA ‘00 completed a PhD in
Medieval and Renaissance literature at
Georgia State University. She has been
teaching at Kennesaw State University
for 12 years and has recently begun
to teach upper division courses such
as the early British Literature survey,
Chaucer, and Medieval Literature. She
spends most of her time teaching and
mentoring Composition and World
Literature students. She says, “I would
not be doing this job had Dr. Carlson
not assigned me to work with the
Writer’s Group while I was a grad student at CofC. I did not
want to teach, but once I started, I found that it was my true
calling in life.”
Emelie (Kent) Agosto ‘99 is a paralegal with
Krawcheck & Davidson, LLC.
Lee Robinson ‘99, MA ‘06 left Charleston, SC,
in September 2010 and now lives in Fairfax, VA, a suburb of
Washington DC. He started with The SI, as Senior Technical
Writer and Editor, several months ago and finds it to be a pretty
interesting job. The SI (SI stands for systems integration) is one
of the lead systems integrators for the Intelligence Community
and whose customers range from NGA to NSA to NRO.
He is part of a dynamic proposal team who plan and craft
large proposal submissions that sometimes take months to
complete. His role is to work with subject matter experts, write
content, proof and edit content by other writers, and work
with the proposal lead to ensure that every deliverable that
leaves the department is well written and error free. Lee has
two poems in The Citadel’s The Shako, 2012 and just submitted
two poems to Pluff Mud.
Derrick Le’Van Williams ‘99 has been serving
on the S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission as a
Commissioner since 2007. He has 2 children, Valerie Regan (5
years old) and Deana Grace (1 year old). His wife is a partner
at Nelson Mullins in Columbia. “I am happy to have attended
CofC,” he says, “and majoring in English has enhanced my life
and helped shape my career.”
Mahwish Fathima (Alikhan) McIntosh
‘00 is currently a Freedom Writer Teacher (she trained
with Erin Gruwell in Long Beach, CA in 2007). She has
published in Teaching Hope (as part of a project with the
Freedom Writers Foundation); created school partnerships
with local non-profits such as Lowcountry Earth Force,
Charleston HALOS, and Liza’s Lifeline;
and was awarded over $8,000 in grants
for Service Learning class project
initiatives at Goose Creek High School.
She is currently working on a Masters
of Education degree in Secondary
Administration at the Citadel with
the Berkeley County School District’s
LEAD cohort program. She is also
mother of Mira Aliya McIntosh, 8
1/2 months, and married to Matt
McIntosh, co-owner of EVO Pizzeria
in North Charleston.
Adam Ellwanger ‘00, MA
‘03 is Assistant Professor of English at
the University of Houston - Downtown,
where he teaches courses in writing and
rhetorical theory. His essay entitled
“On the Possibility of the Aesthetic Life:
Terry Eagleton, Cather’s Tom Outland,
and the Experience of Loss” appeared
in the most recent issue of the Journal of
Modern Literature. In April, his wife, Ellie Smith (CofC, Class
of 2002), gave birth to their first son, Peter Wyndham.
2001-2011
Robert Wade Bowser ‘01 worked after graduation
for Mark Sloan, Director of the Halsey Institute, as researcher
on a book project about the photography of Frederick Whitman
Glasier. Upon completion of the project, he enrolled in the
University of Florida College of Law, where he earned his Juris
Doctorate and a Certificate in Environmental and Land Use
Law. That was followed by a year at the University of Miami
School of Law, where he earned his Master of Laws in Real
Property Development. He has been practicing real estate law
since graduation in 2006 and is currently living in Orlando,
Florida with his amazing wife and daughter.
Katherine (Walker) Sullivan ‘01 earned a
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