Education

2012 - Ph.D., Penn State University, English
2008 - M.A., Penn State University, English
2005 - B.A., University of Rochester, English

Dr. New specializes in American and African American literature and culture. His courses on nineteenth and twentieth century American literature include popular and canonical, as well as experimental and neglected texts by diverse authors. His teaching draws on cultural and media studies and situates U.S. literary traditions within hemispheric and diasporic contexts.

His current book project, Instrumental Voices: Poetic Experiments in Jazz, focuses on writers like Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron, Jayne Cortez, and Sarah Webster Fabio, who recorded their poetry and collaborated with musicians during the Black Arts Movement. Past publications have examined American mythology and vernacular music, exploring the cultural history and literary treatment of folk-heroes like John Henry and Buddy Bolden.