Meet the Executive Team
For general inquiries, contact support@southwestpca.org.
Lynnea Chapman King, phd (she/her)
Executive Director
Affiliation: Adams State University
Research interests: Film adaptation
Current pop culture passion: Bridgerton, generational studies
First year at SWPACA: 1994
Tamy Burnett, phd (she/her)
Treasurer
Affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Research interests: TV studies, Gender and Sexuality, Disability studies
Current pop culture passion: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (always and forever); Sitcoms; Quilts/Quilting
First year at SWPACA: 2007
Kathleen Lacey, phd (she/her)
Area Chair, Student Awards, and Professional Development Coordinator
Affiliation: Academic Advisor & Lecturer, Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Research interests: African American women’s literature, girlhood studies, fiction writing
Current pop culture passion: The Last Kingdom (I just bought, on purpose, a funko pop of Uhtred)
First year at SWPACA: 2012
Stephanie Lim, phd (she/THEy)
Communications Coordinator
Affiliation: Lecturer in English, Theatre, Queer Studies, and Academic First-Year Experiences, California State University, Northridge
Research interests: Uses of American Sign Language in music on stage and screen; Deaf/disability studies; American musical theatre, representations of minoritized identities on stage
Current pop culture passion: True crime documentaries and reality TV; theme parks; Nintendo games
First year at SWPACA: 2019
Ken Dvorak, PHD (he/him)
Development Coordinator
2023-2025 Cohort
Ashley Johnson, PhD (she/her)
Affiliation: Assistant Manager, DMA Circle Membership Program, Dallas Museum of Art
Research interests: Middle Grade Literature, adaptation theory, the representation of politics in medieval narratives and histories (and how they persist in popular culture today), representations of diversity in literature, and the cultivation of identity through storytelling
Current pop culture passion: Feminist retellings/histories of traditionally male dominated pop culture arenas (art, comic books, superheroes, comedy, etc.)
First year at SWPACA: 2019
David Powers Corwin, PhD (they/them)
Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Social Justice and Human Rights, George Mason University
Research interests: LGBTQ+ studies, friendship studies, TV studies, Appalachian studies
Current pop culture passion: classic television, Cheers, and the Mary Tyler Moore World
First year at SWPACA: 2015
2024-2026 Cohort
Elizabeth Gonzalez (she/her)
Dialogue Musings Editor
Affiliation: Adjunct, Texas Southmost College; PhD student, Our Lady of the Lake University
Research interests: Arts, specifically the ways Latinos express culture, past memories, and narratives through artistic creations, and the impact this has in classroom settings; how higher education takes on leadership roles to support minority groups in the arts in response to cultural artwork
Current pop culture passion: The Walking Dead, Selena, Breaking Bad; how historical techniques and techniques from pop art, along with the use of lines, colors, textures, and various media, are used to represent life and culture in the art of minority groups
First year at SWPACA: 2024
Keaton Gregg (HE/HIM)
Affiliation: Master’s student, Cleveland State University
Research interests: queer semiotics, postmodernism, and scopofascination
Current pop culture passion: trashy romance novels and cinema
First year at SWPACA: 2022
Liz Thomae (she/her)
Assistant Chair, Harry Potter Studies / Eco-Criticism and the Environment
Affiliation: PhD student in Rhetoric, Indiana University
Research interests: Religious rhetoric and identity construction
Current pop culture passion: Taylor Swift, especially fandom research
First year at SWPACA: 2023
Don’t ask; we just like alpacas–and it rhymes with SWPACA!