Mary Ellen Jones, Professor of English and Director of American Studies, earned a B.A. (English) and M.A. (American Literature) at Duke University and a PhD. (Media Studies) from the Union Graduate School. Prior to coming to Wittenberg, she taught in Bakersfield College, California, and in Greece on a Fulbright grant. During the year in Greece, she received a Navy commendation for service as liaison between the Sixth Fleet and the people of Corfu. Also that year she gathered material for her first production Corfu: A Greek Easter. At Wittenberg she has taught courses in media production and analysis. She is the author of Christopher Columbus and His Legacy (1992), Seeds of Change: Readings on Cultural Exchange after 1492 (1993), The American Frontier (1994), John Jakes: A Critical Companion (1996) and Daily Life on the Nineteenth Century American Frontier (1998). For over twenty years she raised and showed German shepherd dogs, a number of which attained American Kennel Club championships. She is a passionate fan of college basketball -- especially the Duke Blue Devils and the Wittenberg Tigers -- and of the San Francisco 49ers.