"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."   

Wm Shakespeare

As You Like It, II, vii

Robert L. Rosser, PhD

Adjunct Collegiate Professor ~ St. Louis, Missouri

Recent Courses

PHIL140 Contemporary Moral Issues

SPCH 125 Interpersonal Communication

EDCP103 Fundamentals of Writing and Grammar

Distance Education

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u Theatre Links ◄

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See photos of our 2004 production of

Grease!

and a story in UMUC's online magazine FYI

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Long ago and far away . . .

A pic from my "Little House on the Prairie" Days. This is the entire student body, Graham School, 1949. I'm the tall kid in the front, between Denzil and Betty Sue. Our teacher, Miss Velda Faye Brackenridge (still going strong in her nineties) is my model and heroine!

Graham School, District No. 4

Eldorado Springs, Missouri

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Contact Me: Robert Rosser

Robert L. Rosser, PhD

5459 Rosa Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63109

314-448-1824

St. Louis – Gateway to the West

Biography

First the pedigree:

u BA in Philosophy, Immaculate Conception Seminary in Missouri (now CSC)

u MA in Religion and STB in Theology, Catholic University of America (CUA)

u MA in English, Florida State University (FSU)

u PhD in Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Southern California (USC)

Now the more interesting stuff:

u I began my career as a college professor in 1967 when I faced my first Freshman Composition class in late August of that year. In the decades since, I have taught courses in English Composition, American and British Literature, Drama, Speech, Theatre, Homiletics, Philosophy, and Religion. Over the years I have also built and taught such courses as The Novel into Film; Myth, Ritual and Archetype; and Joseph Campbell and the Pursuit of Bliss. I have conducted innumerable workshops on Proclaiming the Word: Formation in the Ministry of Reader, based on my book of the same title published by Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago. I have written several books on oral interpretation in the liturgical context, and wrote and narrated the script for a training video for liturgical readers, all published by LTP. I have written several short plays, many poems, and am currently working on my first novel. I play the piano, though only well enough to enliven my own spirit and the invigorating ambience of rowdy piano bars.

u Before joining the ranks at UMUC Asia, I taught at Conception Seminary College in Missouri, Florida State University in Tallahassee, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Harris-Stowe College in St. Louis, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and (if workshops, seminars, and retreats count) all across the United States and beyond.

u My theatre teaching experience includes Acting, Oral Interpretation, Readers Theatre, and Theatre Practicum. I have directed college and community theatre productions for many years, most recently as Artistic Director for The Yokota Players at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo (see theatre links at left). As an actor and member of AFTRA/AEA, represented by TalentPlus in St. Louis, I have appeared in community and professional theatre in that part of the USA we call The Midwest. I had a bit part as a golfer in King of the Hill--not the lovable redneck TV cartoon, but the 1993 film by Steven Soderbergh, based on A.E. Hotchner's autobiography. I remember especially the charming gentleness of young Adrien Brody (The Pianist), who played caddy to me and confidant to the star of the film, the very young Jesse Bradford. As a voice talent, I have read for Recorded Books in New York City and done voice-over for radio and TV commercials, training films and travelogues.

u My academic life has been both enriched and complicated by several administrative positions, which seem to settle upon me despite concerted attempts to shrug them off. These have included Dean of Students, Director of Student Personnel Services, Director of Student Activities, Chair of English and Speech, Chair of Drama, Director of Publications, Director of Public Relations, and President of the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy Foundation (New York and Rome). This last position bore a smidgeon of cachet, insofar as it involved establishing a center in New York City and traveling the length and breadth of the North American Continent--with frequent jaunts to London and Rome as well. But, in truth, I was a simple fundraiser, trying to scrounge money for students from more than fifty countries who were pursuing advanced degrees in Liturgical Theology at the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico (Ateneo Sant'Anselmo) in Rome.

u To everyone's amazement, in Y2K the world did not end, so I bought a ticket to it by becoming certified as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). I have taught EFL and ESL in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and, perforce, with UMUC. I began teaching with UMUC Asia as a Collegiate Professor in August 2003. After a year of total bliss in Daegu, South Korea, I moved to UMUC Asia headquarters at Yokota Air Base, Tokyo, where I served as Academic Director for English, Communication, and Humanities for two years.

u After transferring to UMUC's European Division and returning once again to full-time teaching in 2006, I spent two wonderful years in Rota, Spain, teaching at the Naval Base there. During that time, I spent seven months downrange in Kuwait (Camps Virginia and Buehring, June-December, 2007). In August 2008, I arrived in Vicenza, Italy, where I taught at Caserma Ederle (Army Base), Aviano Air Base, Ghedi Air Base, and Camp Darby in Livorno (near Pisa).

u In August 2009, I left Italy and full-time teaching to return to the United States and my old homestead in St. Louis, Missouri. I continue to teach online with UMUC as an Adjunct Professor, and I serve as Executive Director for The Iraqi Student Project (see below).

u My convictions about being an educator are few but unassailable: (1) you can teach even when you don't like it (but not very well and not very long), (2) you can't make anybody do anything (despite appearances to the contrary), and (3) the door to learning opens only from within (the teacher's job is to knock, respectfully and persuasively).

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DURING THE IRAQ WAR, 84% of the schools and universities in the “cradle of civilization” were targeted and destroyed. A nation’s greatest potential lies in its educated young citizens. Please join me in doing what we can to offer education to the innocent victims of this devastating war.

The Iraqi Student Project (ISP) invites colleges and universities in the United States to accept war-displaced Iraqi students whose education was halted by the war, granting them tuition waivers for undergraduate study.

Then ISP forms a volunteer support group of peace-loving Americans to assist each student during the course of his or her studies—socially, emotionally, and financially. Equipped with a superior education, ISP students hope to return to Iraq to help rebuild their beloved country.

Please see our website: www.iraqistudentproject.org for further information

ISP now has 48 students at 38 colleges and universities across the United States.

Educational Partners with ISP

Alverno College, Milwaukee WI Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson NY Bellarmine University, Louisville KY Beloit College, Beloit WI Benedictine College, Atchison KS Berea College, Berea KY (3) Bluffton University, Bluffton OH (2) Canisius College, Buffalo NY

Clark University, Worcester MA College of Saint Mary, Omaha NE College of St. Scholastica, Duluth MN (3) Dartmouth College, Hanover NH (2) DePaul University, Chicago IL Dominican University, River Forest IL Dominican University, San Rafael CA (2) Fairfield University, Fairfield CT Goucher College, Baltimore MD

Grinnell College, Grinnell IA (2) Holy Cross College, South Bend IN (2) Lewis University, Romeoville IL (2) Manchester College, Manchester IN (2) Manhattan College, New York NY Manhattanville College, Purchase NY Monterey Peninsula College, CA Mount Mary College, Milwaukee WI Polytechnic Institute NYU, Brooklyn NY

Tufts University, Medford MA University of Evansville, Evansville IN University of Great Falls MT University of Oregon, Eugene OR Webster University, St. Louis MO Wellesley College, Wellesley MA Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA (*) More than one ISP student.

Site updated: June 3, 2011