Core Faculty

Core faculty

The English department is located in Ballantine Hall. All mail to any faculty or staff in English should be sent to: Ballantine Hall 440 / 1020 E Kirkwood Ave / Bloomington, IN 47405.

Michael Adams

Michael Adams

he/him/his

Provost Professor, English

Research Interests
History and structure of English language, early British literature

Dana Anderson

Dana Anderson

Ruth A. Jones Professor of Rhetoric

Associate Professor, English

Director, Professional Writing Program

Research Interests
rhetorical theory, composition, and pedagogy; identity, agency, and rhetorics of human personhood; professional writing and visual rhetoric

Penelope Anderson

Penelope Anderson

Associate Professor, English

Affiliate, European Studies

Affiliate, Gender Studies

Affiliate, Renaissance Studies

Research Interests
Early modern literature; feminist, queer, and gender studies; political theory; manuscript studies and history of the book

John Arthos

John Arthos

Professor, English

Director, Rhetoric, Writing. and Communication

  • jarthos@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 476

Research Interests
Rhetoric and Hermeneutics; rhetoric in creativity and ethics

Scot Barnett

Scot Barnett

he/him/his

Associate Professor, English

  • scbarnet@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 410

Research Interests
Histories and theories of rhetoric; digital rhetorics and the rhetorics of science and technology; ethics and phenomenology

Mahasweta Baxipatra

Mahasweta Baxipatra

she/her/hers

Senior Lecturer, English

Coordinator, Multilingual Writing

  • baxipatm@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 567

Research Interests
British Romanticism, Genre Studies, World Literature in English, Memory and Migration, Multilingual Writing, Composition and Pedagogy

Bob Bledsoe

Bob Bledsoe

Senior Lecturer, English

Director, IU Writers' Conference

  • robledso@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 470

Research Interests
Creative writing, contemporary fiction/literature, queer fiction/literature

Purnima Bose

Purnima Bose

Professor, English

Chair, English

Academic Director, IU India Gateway

Adjunct Professor, American Studies

Adjunct Professor, Comparative Literature

Adjunct Professor, Cultural Studies

Adjunct Professor, History

Affiliated Professor, Gender Studies

Affiliate, Study of Global Change

Research Interests
Colonial literature and theory (South Asia, Ireland, and Afghanistan); globalization, feminist and cultural studies

Catherine Bowman

Catherine Bowman

Professor, English

Research Interests
Creative writing; poetry, poetics, fiction and non-fiction, literature

Judith C. Brown

Judith C. Brown

Associate Professor, English

Director of Undergraduate Studies

  • jcb@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 458

Research Interests
Transatlantic and global modernisms, visual culture, aesthetic theory

Stacey Lynn Brown

Stacey Lynn Brown

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

  • stlybrow@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 454

Research Interests
Creative writing, poetry, nonfiction and playwriting

Doug Paul Case

Doug Paul Case

Academic Specialist, English

Assistant Director, Creative Writing

Research Interests
Creative writing, contemporary literature, editing, publishing, pop culture, print culture

Linda Charnes

Linda Charnes

she/her/hers

Professor, English

Research Interests
Shakespeare and renaissance studies; Shakespeare and postmodernism, critical and cultural theories; feminist cultural studies; early modern transatlantic and restoration literatures; political philosophy and theories of democracy

Edward Comentale

Edward Comentale

he/him/his

Professor, English

Assistant Vice President for Arts and Humanities Research

Director, IUB Arts and Humanities Council

  • ecomenta@iu.edu
  • Maxwell Hall 102

Research Interests
Modernism, the avant-garde, pop culture, popular music

Drew Dalton

Drew Dalton

Professor, English

Research Interests
Philosophy and literary theory, especially psychoanalysis, phenomenology, and materialism/realism; ethics and aesthetics; popular culture and music; science fiction, utopianism, and escapism.

Romayne Rubinas Dorsey

Romayne Rubinas Dorsey

Senior Lecturer, English

Director, Creative Writing Pedagogy

  • rrubinas@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 457

Research Interests
Creative writing: poetry and creative nonfiction; creative writing pedagogy

Jonathan Elmer

Jonathan Elmer

Professor, English

  • elmerj@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 462

Research Interests
American literature and culture, especially 18th and 19th centuries; literary, cultural, and aesthetic theory

Ross Gay

Ross Gay

he/him/his

Professor, English

  • rgay@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 560

Research Interests
Creative Writing (Poetry), 19th- and 20th-century American Literatures

Shannon Gayk

Shannon Gayk

Professor, English

Environmental Futures, Team Lead

  • sgayk@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 427

Research Interests
Late medieval literature and culture; poetics; visual culture and theory; religious writing

Rae Greiner

Rae Greiner

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

Editor, Victorian Studies

  • drgreine@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 433

Research Interests
The British 19th century; the theory and history of the novel; moral philosophy; theories of sympathy and of realism; narrative theory

Paul Gutjahr

Paul Gutjahr

he/him/his

Ruth Halls Professor, English

  • pgutjahr@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 420

Research Interests
19th-century American literature and culture, history of the book, American religious publishing

Vivian Nun Halloran

Vivian Nun Halloran

she/her/ella

Professor, English

Professor, American Studies

Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, and Arts and Humanities

Affiliate Professor, African American and African Diaspora Studies

Affiliate Professor, Asian American Studies

Affiliate Professor, Human Biology

Affiliate Professor, Latino Studies

Affiliate Professor, Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Affiliate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese

Research Interests
Caribbean and Caribbean American literature, postmodernism, food studies, memoir, world literature, comparative ethnic American literature

Ayesha Hardison

Ayesha Hardison

Associate Professor, English

Susan D. Gubar Chair

Research Interests
African American literature, literary history, cultural studies, and women’s writing

Mark Harrison

Mark Harrison

Senior Lecturer, English

  • marharri@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 478

Research Interests
Media, Film and Cultural Studies; Historical Avant Garde; The Abject and the Real; Religious Movements

Josh Hasler

Josh Hasler

Lecturer, English

Coordinator, ENG-W131 Basic

  • johasler@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 435

Research Interests
Philosophy of language, semiotics, mystical and apocalyptic literature, religious rhetoric and communication, organizational communication

Justin Hodgson

Justin Hodgson

Associate Professor, English

Research Interests
Digital media and rhetorical studies, especially multimedia production and rhetorical invention

Patricia Clare Ingham

Patricia Clare Ingham

she/her/hers

Martha Biggerstaff Jones Professor, English

Affiliate Professor, Gender Studies

Director, Institute for Advanced Study

Research Interests
Chaucer; medieval romance, including Arthurian; magic and marvels in literature; literary histories of the Middle Ages; psychoanalytic, post-colonial, and gender theories

Christoph Irmscher

Christoph Irmscher

Director, Wells Scholars Program

Distinguished Professor, English

George F. Getz Jr. Professor, Wells Scholars Program

Class of 1942 Professor, Wells Scholars Program

  • cirmsche@iu.edu
  • 443-622-3277
  • Wells Scholars Program, Harlos House

Research Interests
American poetry; biography; ecocriticism; history of science; literature and the visual arts; archival studies

Angela Jackson-Brown

Angela Jackson-Brown

Associate Professor, English

  • andjack@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 429

Research Interests
Creative writing (fiction), playwriting, African American Literature, Historical fiction, Southern literature

De Witt Douglas Kilgore

De Witt Douglas Kilgore

Associate Professor, English

Research Interests
American Studies; Science Fiction Literature and Film; Race and Ethnicity in American Comics; Afrofuturism; U/Dystopian Studies

Ivan Kreilkamp

Ivan Kreilkamp

he/him/his

Professor, English

Research Interests
Victorian Studies, 19th-century British literature, the novel, popular culture, animal studies

Lara Kriegel

Lara Kriegel

she/her/hers

Professor, English

Director, Victorian Studies Program

Co-Editor, Victorian Studies

Associate Professor, History

Research Interests
Victorian Studies, the British Empire, Museums, Visual Culture and Museums, Warfare and Statecraft

Alexis Larsson

Alexis Larsson

Lecturer, English

Associate Director, Composition

  • alarsson@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 431

Research Interests
Rhetorical theory, multimodal composition, pedagogy, and the environmental humanities

Barbara Lehr

Barbara Lehr

Lecturer, English

  • lehr@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 408

Research Interests
life writing, autobiography studies, dystopian literature, rhetoric in everyday life, new journalism, American nature writing

Joey McMullen

Joey McMullen

he/him/his

Assistant Professor, English

  • jmcmull@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 466

Research Interests
Medieval literature and culture, Old English, Celtic (Irish and Welsh) languages and literatures, environmental humanities, history of the English language, young adult literature, digital humanities

Jesse Molesworth

Jesse Molesworth

he/him/his

Associate Professor, English

Director of Graduate Studies

Director, Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies

  • jmoleswo@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 456

Research Interests
18th-century British literature and culture; the rise of the novel; the Gothic; the graphic novel

Monique Morgan

Monique Morgan

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

  • mormorga@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 451

Research Interests
Romantic and Victorian poetry and prose fiction; narrative theory; poetics; literature and science; science fiction

Walton Muyumba

Walton Muyumba

Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, English

  • wmuyumba@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 425

Research Interests
African Diaspora literature and American Studies

Robin Reames

Robin Reames

Associate Professor, English

Culbertson Chair

Research Interests
History of rhetoric, ancient Greek rhetorical theory, history of ideas, literary history

A.J. Rivera

A.J. Rivera

Lecturer, English

Associate Director, Composition

  • riveraaj@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 418

Research Interests
writing and retention, first-year composition, pedagogy, nontraditional students

Alvin H. Rosenfeld

Alvin H. Rosenfeld

Professor, English

Director, Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism

Professor, Jewish Studies

M. Glazer Chair, Jewish Studies

Affiliate, ISCA

  • rosenfel@iu.edu
  • (812) 855-2325
  • Global and International Studies Building 4006

Research Interests
Holocaust literature; post-Holocaust antisemitism; American Jewish literature; practical criticism; exile literature

Rebekah Sheldon

Rebekah Sheldon

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

Affiliate Assistant Professor, Gender Studies

Director, Cultural Studies Program

  • rsheldon@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 416

Research Interests
American feminist and queer speculative fiction, philosophy, and methods

Katherine Silvester

Katherine Silvester

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

Director, Composition

  • klsilves@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 409

Research Interests
Rhetoric and composition, multilingual pedagogy, literacy studies, ethnography, multilingual composition and the plurality of Englishes

Nikki Skillman

Nikki Skillman

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

  • nskillma@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 461

Research Interests
Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Literary Aesthetics, and Literature and Science

Brando Skyhorse

Brando Skyhorse

Associate Professor, English

Director, Creative Writing

  • skyhorse@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 569

Research Interests
Fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, racial passing

Cynthia Duquette Smith

Cynthia Duquette Smith

she/her/hers

Senior Lecturer, English

Coordinator of P155 Public Oral Communication

Advance College Project Liaison for Speech

  • cds@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 449

Research Interests
Rhetorical criticism, Rhetorics of Architecture and Public Memory

Gabrielle Stecher

Gabrielle Stecher

Lecturer, English

  • gstecher@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 446

Research Interests
Writing & literature pedagogy; Victorian literature & visual culture; women & the visual arts

James B. Storey

James B. Storey

Associate Director, Composition

Lecturer, English

  • jbstorey@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 570

Research Interests
Composition, Fiction Writing, Sci-Fi, and Video Games

Robert E. Terrill

Robert E. Terrill

he/him/his

Professor, English

Associate Chair, English

  • rterrill@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 467

Research Interests
Rhetorical criticism of African American public address, film, and rhetorical criticism in the liberal arts and citizen education

Freya Thimsen

Freya Thimsen

she/her/hers

Associate Professor, English

Affiliate Associate Professor, Gender Studies

Affiliate Associate Professor, Cultural Studies

  • athimsen@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 428

Research Interests
Movement politics, democratic rhetoric, rhetorical theory, feminism

Samrat Upadhyay

Samrat Upadhyay

Distinguished Professor, English

Martha C. Kraft Professor, Humanities

Research Interests
Fiction writing, novel writing, South Asian literature and culture

Alberto Varon

Alberto Varon

Associate Professor, English

Associate Professor, Latino Studies Program

Adjunct Professor, American Studies

Affiliate Professor, Gender Studies

  • avaron@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 459

Research Interests
Latina/o Literatures; Ethnic American and 19th- and 20th-century American literatures; transnational American studies; critical race studies

Caitlin Watt

Caitlin Watt

Senior Lecturer, English

Research Interests
medieval romance, gender and sexuality studies, narrative theory, medievalism, media studies

Kurt Zemlicka

Kurt Zemlicka

he/him/his

Senior Lecturer, English

  • kzemlick@iu.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 558

Research Interests
Rhetoric of science and technology; democratic deliberation and advocacy; rhetorical theory; poststructuralism; psychoanalysis