Instructor, Researcher, Author, Historian
Dr. Marlen Elliot Harrison is a professor and academic researcher exploring language, communication, education, culture, and identity. His autoethnographic and scholarly writing has appeared in such prestigious peer-reviewed publications as Writing on the Edge, The Qualitative Report, and Qualitative Research in Psychology. As a journalist, Marlen was the managing editor of the international beauty website, Fragrantica, and contributor to numerous popular publications. As an academic and cultural researcher, Marlen was the founder/editor of The AutoEthnographer Literary & Arts Magazine (2021-2025), and has worked with Smithsonian, the Japan Association for Language Teaching, and universities around the globe. Marlen is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Public History from SNHU in support of his debut work of historical fiction and immersive historical exhibit, The Perfumer of Ashur, while teaching online graduate English and education courses at SNHU and Tiffin University. A passionate group fitness instructor and 200 HR certified Yoga instructor, Marlen also loves teaching dance fitness and Pilates. After calling Japan, UK, Malta, and Finland home, he now lives in Florida with his husband and dog.
Recent Projects
The AutoEthnographer
The AutoEthnographer is Marlen’s award-winning, non-profit, open-access, peer-reviewed literary & arts magazine dedicated to autoethnography, a qualitative research method uniting ethnography & autobiography that utilizes lived experience as evidence for exploring cultural phenomena.
VISIT →
The Perfumer of Ashur
The Perfumer of Ashur is Marlen’s debut work of historical fiction. In the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom of Ashur, a headstrong perfumer’s vision for a new kind of perfume is challenged when the actions of a ruthless colleague and mad king threaten to deter her progress and destroy those she loves.
VISIT →
The Tapputi Project
“The Tappūtī Project” is a proposal for an immersive, multimodal exhibit about Tappūtī-bēlat-ekalle and her perfumery, as introduced in the novel The Perfumer of Ashur. Fans of the novel will enjoy being able to spend a day in the life of Tappūtī, exploring her laboratory and experiencing her fragrances.
VISIT →
Recognition
Tiffin University
2024 Excellence in Online Teaching Award
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
2010 President’s Award for Service to the University
Southern New Hampshire University
2024 Outstanding Online Instructor
Japan Association of Language Teaching
2006 Best of JALT Award
Quick Stats
30+
Academic publications
7
Countries taught in
25+
Years as an educator
15+
Universities taught at globally
100+
Presentations delivered
40+
Courses designed and taught
Testimonials
What My Students Say
” I gained so much self-confidence by developing my own academic research project in English. I appreciated all of our conferences and your constant encouragement.
Ulla Hakinen
University of Jyväskylä
” I never thought I would create my own digital magazine in a college English class, but thanks to that magazine I am now starting our undergraduate law review.”
James Mitchell
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
” Professor Harrison truly bridged my personal passions with my professional interests to help me identify a meaningful thesis topic that I would be proud to present and publish.
Amanda Foster
Southern New Hampshire University
Photography: Embracing a World Without Limitation
The world comes alive with possibility when viewed through the lens of a camera. Once the image is captured, the joy of editing begins. Just like writing, the initial image is merely a first draft ready for revision. Check out some of the places I’ve been by visiting my photo gallery. COMING SOON!
Fragrance Journalism -Writing About What I Love
I’ve been writing about fragrance for websites and magazines since 2005, combining two of my biggest passions – storytelling and aroma. Check out an some of my favorite articles from Fragrantica, Basenotes, and Now Smell This as well as some of my contributions to major publications like Men’s Fitness and Playboy.
PUBLIC HISTORY PROJECTS
Indians at the Post Office, Smithsonian and the National Postal Service
Project Coordinator and Researcher
“The long-range goal of Indians at the Post Office: Native Themes in New Deal-Era Murals, is to address both the virtues and the inaccuracies in these historic depictions, and to launch and continue to populate a web-based virtual exhibition on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum website. Our focus is to eventually have all of the mural research essays written by American Indians through collaborations with tribal and state college faculties and students, particularly from the areas and cultures depicted within the murals. In an on-going effort to challenge stereotyping, and correct the current nature of education concerning American Indians, the NMAI will devote the required scholarship to inform and assess these permanent visual statements.”
Fitness Certifications
YOGA INSTRUCTOR
ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR
GROUP FITNESS INSTRUCTOR
Latest Blog Posts
-
The English Teacher: Strawberry Cockroach
Excerpt from Book 1, Japan; Part 1, Hajimeru (Beginning) As any learner of a foreign language knows, it is sometimes challenging to remember the meanings of words, not to mention the pronunciation. As a child I studied an array of languages, from the exotic sounds of Sunday school Yiddish, to…
-
The English Teacher: Tomodachi
Excerpt from Book 1, Japan; Part 2, Tomodachi (Friends) I Hope We Can Be Friends As I finish my lesson Makiko is waiting for me outside room 13. She is wearing green horn-rimmed glasses, bright-red lipstick and sporting an Asian afro and waving vigorously. I say goodbye to my students,…
-
A Student’s Spirit Guide
Written by Michelle Colyar for Prof. David Loomis’ Journalism 120 course at IUP; published with permission of author and subject INDIANA- Brock Kawana never wanted to go to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. While wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with the logo IUP Kawana explained why. “I knew IUP had a…
-
Meeting the Minister of Education
As part of the presentation of plans for a united language campus (KieliKampus) at JYU, Marlen along with student-researchers Jenni, Otto & Kate was invited to discuss his teaching philosophy and students’ acheivements in research and professional writing. In the audience were faculty, staff & administrators of JYU as well…
-
Workshop: Feminist Communitarian Ethical Frameworks
“presumes a researcher who builds a reciprocal,collaborative, trusting, and friendly relations with the persons he orshe is studying.” (Denzin, 2003, p. xii) INTRO: While planning my dissertation project, a narrative examinationof the significance of English language and communication in the livesof self-identified queer Japanese, I often considered the difficultiesinherent in…
-
Workshop: Face and Cross-cultural Communication
CLICK ME TO VIEW POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
-
Marlen’s Dissertation Proposal
Discovering Voices, Discovering Selves: Queer sexuality in Japan and English language use Marlen Harrison Dissertation Proposal (working) Purpose A 1928 manuscript in The English Journal declared, “English has become so much a part of the Japanese people in the last 50 years that it has rightly been called the second…
-
Blinded by Beleaf
Image by Grant Osborne Osaka, Japan – A trip to the Body Shop proved near fatal for one American man on Tuesday when a bottle of their “Beleaf”fragrance sprayed sideways into the right eye of Marlen Harrison, an American who claims to be a university professor. Harrison, a self-described fragrance…