Rate My Professor Shawna Green

Shawna Green is a Senior Lecturer in English at The Ohio State University at Newark. Holding an MA and an MFA, she brings her expertise in writing and literature to her teaching role, primarily instructing first-year composition courses such as English 1110.01 and English 1110.03. Her classroom impact is evident in student testimonials from the official Buckeye Voices blog, where alumni credit her with recognizing their potential, recommending advanced writing courses like English 3467S for tutoring training, and instilling confidence in their abilities. This mentorship has propelled many students toward successful academic paths at Ohio State University.

As a creative writer, Green authored You Have to Save Something, a poignant Appalachian memoir that captures her experiences growing up in a gendered, blue-collar, working-class family in West Virginia. The book employs a blend of narrative and lyrical prose, eschewing linear chronology to weave essays that unpack complex familial relationships, motherhood, grief, and the essence of home and values spanning from childhood to the present. It evocatively depicts the uninhibited play of childhood—turning armrests into horses, electrical cords into communicators, sycamore trees into lookout posts, and even flood waters into playgrounds—while confronting harsher realities of gender expectations, loss, poverty, cruelty, imagination, and unexpected kindness. Green's work contributes to the rich tradition of Appalachian literature and creative nonfiction within the field of Literature. She engages the academic community through faculty talks, such as her presentation on her memoir at the Ohio State University Newark campus. Additionally, her essays have been published in literary journals including Peatsmoke Journal ("Mom Cell," Fall 2020), Dead Mule (memoir, October 2020), Big Whoopie Deal ("Catching a Rabbit"), and Chicago Story Press ("As I See You"). Through her teaching and writing, Shawna Green enriches the study of Literature and composition at Ohio State University.