Arts, Humanities, and Renaissance Studies

Faculty and Research Interests

Ivy Arbulú (University of Virginia, PhD), associate professor of Spanish: Spanish Golden Age literature, interaction with the Islamic world

Kenneth Beals (Boston University School of Theology, ThD), assistant professor of religion and philosophy: medical and leadership ethics, Biblical studies, and world religions

Ralph Alan Cohen(Duke University, PhD), professor MLitt/MFA program: Shakespeare performance and pedagogy

Mary Hill Cole (University of Virginia, PhD), professor of history: Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn

Paul Ryan, professor of art, organizes an annual student trip to New York City, regularly invites artists to campus to talk about their work and to interact with students, and coordinates gallery internships for students at Hunt Gallery.

“My professional work as an exhibiting artist and art critic keeps me attuned to the contemporary art world – to important exhibitions, new movements and issues. Part of my work as a professor of art is to share this information and interaction with students.”

Matthew Davies (PhD candidate), instructor in the Master of Letters/Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and Performance program

Kristen Egan (Loyola University Chicago, PhD), assistant professor of English: 19th century American Literature, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies

James Gilman (Drew University; Oxford University, PhD), professor of religion and philosophy: mental health community, peace, and social justice

Marlena Hobson (Virginia Commonwealth University, PhD), associate professor of art history: 20th-century Italian painting and fascism

Sara Nair James, (University of Virginia, PhD), professor of art history: Italian Renaissance fresco painting, the cathedral of Orvieto, Medieval and Early Renaissance Art in England, and the patronage of Cardinal Wolsey

Clinton Johnston (University of Virginia, MFA), visiting assistant professor of theatre

Lise Keiter, (Indiana University, DM), associate professor of music

Sarah Kennedy, (Purdue University, PhD), associate professor of English

Katherine Low (Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, PhD), assistant professor of religion and philosophy and college chaplain: gender, cultural and biblical studies

Anne McGovern (Vanderbilt University, PhD), associate professor of French: Francophone literature in northern Africa

Paul Menzer (University of Virginia, PhD), associate professor MLitt/MFA: Shakespeare: text, context and performance

Roderic Owen, (College of William and Mary, EdD), professor of religion and philosophy: character education, interdisciplinary approaches to teaching ethics, and interfaith dialogue

Brenci Patiño (University of Illinois, PhD), assistant professor of Spanish and U.S. Latina/o Studies: Cultural and literary representations of working-class women, U.S. Latina/o literature and cultural production, and contemporary Mexican narrative fiction

Molsie Petty (University of South Carolina, MA), assistant professor of English  

Rick Plant (Washington University, MFA), professor of English

Edmund (Rick) Potter (Auburn University, PhD) assistant professor of
history: The social impact of the Great War, the history of technology
and the built environment

Paul Ryan (Virginia Commonwealth University, MFA), professor of art: drawing, painting, art criticism and contemporary art

Jim Sconyers, Jr. (Indiana University, MFA), assistant professor of art

Edward Scott (Duquesne University, PhD), associate professor of philosophy: the history of philosophy, hermeneutics, phenomenology, aesthetics, and African American thought

Janna Segal (University of California, PhD), assistant professor of theatre: early modern English theatre, contemporary political theatre, theatrical adaptation, critical theory, and dramaturgy

Theresa Southerington (University of Virginia, MFA), professor of theatre: early modern costuming

Susan Stearns (University of Chicago, PhD), assistant professor of history

Amy Tillerson-Brown (Morgan State University, PhD), associate professor of history: civil rights movement in Virginia and “massive resistance”

Katherine Turner (Oxford University, PhD), associate professor of English: 18th-century British literature

Martha Walker (Harvard University, PhD), associate professor of French and women’s studies: gender politics in contemporary Francophone theatre