Schaum, Melita 1957-
(Melita C. Schaum)

PERSONAL:

Born July 14, 1957, in Princeton, NJ; daughter of Konrad and Lore Schaum; married James Orjala (an architect), April 26, 2004. Education: University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1978, Ph.D., 1984; Stanford University, M.F.A., 1980.

CAREER:

University of Michigan—Dearborn, assistant professor, 1984-89, associate professor, 1989-95, professor of English, 1995—, director of core writing program, 1985-89, director of women's studies program, 1987-89. Resident at Chateau de Lesvault Arts Colony, 1997, Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, 1998, Millay Colony for the Arts, 1999, and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, 2002; Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, William A. Rainey scholar in creative nonfiction, 2000; Hawthornden Castle International Writers' Retreat, fellow, 2001.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Elizabeth Agee Prize for American Literary Studies, University of Alabama Press, 1988, for Wallace Stevens and the Critical Schools; Susan B. Anthony Award for achievement in women's studies, 1990; grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990; poetry award, Centro Feminista Internationale, Rome, Italy, 1992; Charles Angoff Award for best submission, Literary Review, 1998, for "Grace"; first prize in nonfiction category, New Millennium Writings Contest, 2001, for "The Weight of Spring Wind"; first-place award, NAIAS Short Story Competition, 2002, for "The Blind Lamb"; Dorothy Cappon Churchill Award in Creative Nonfiction, New Letters, 2002, for "Theft and Loss."

WRITINGS:

Wallace Stevens and the Critical Schools, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1988.

(Editor, with Connie Flanagan) Gender Images: Readings for Composition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1991.

(Editor) Wallace Stevens and the Feminine, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1993.

(With Karen Parrish) Stalked: Breaking the Silence on the Crime of Stalking in America, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

A Sinner of Memory (essays), Michigan State University Press (East Lansing, MI), 2004.

Contributor of scholarly articles to journals, including the Journal of Modern Literature, Southern Literary Journal, Journal of American Studies, Wallace Stevens Journal, and Genders. Contributor of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry to periodicals, including Colorado Review, Notre Dame Review, Literary Review, New Letters, Gulf Coast, Journal of International Women's Studies, Cream City Review, and Fugue.

Some of Schaum's writing has been translated into Japanese.