Faculty and Staff

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Faculty 

Holly Pickett

Holly Pickett

Department Head and Associate Professor of English

Pickett teaches courses on Shakespeare, early modern drama and contemporary drama. Her research interests include religion and drama, history of the senses, and early modern religious identities and controversies.

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Edward Adams

Edward Adams

John Lucian Smith, Jr. Professor of English

Adams teaches courses such as Victorian poetry, Hitchcock and 19th century British novel. His research interests include history and fiction, novel and epic, and high culture and pop culture.

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Michael Berlin

Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program

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Laura Fairchild Brodie

Laura Fairchild Brodie

Visiting Associate Professor of English

Brodie teaches courses in creative writing and 18th through 21st-century literature. Her books include novels and nonfiction, and her scholarship has focused on the representation of widows in British literature.

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Lubabah Chowdhury

Lubabah Chowdhury

Assistant Professor of English

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Freddy Fuentes

Freddy Fuentes

Visiting Assistant Professor of English

Fuentes teaches entry level writing courses as well as topics in creative writing. He has researched Spanish-American literature and privilege in America.

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Chris Gavaler

Chris Gavaler

Associate Professor of English

Gavaler teaches courses on creative writing, contemporary fiction and comics, which are also his main areas of research.

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Genelle Gertz

Genelle Gertz

Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English

Gertz teaches courses on Milton, the Tudors and the Bible. She is currently working on methods of social network analysis as they apply to our understanding of the rise and fall of women mystics in English literary history.

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K. Avvirin Gray

K. Avvirin Gray

Assistant Professor of English

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Leah Naomi Green

Leah Naomi Green

Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and Environmental Studies

Green’s courses include Eco-Writing, “Wilderness, Wildness, & Cultivation,” and topics for first-year writing seminars. She has researched creative writing (poetry), environmental literature, Buddhist practice, and food justice.

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Jane Harrington

Visiting Assistant Professor of English

Harrington teaches British Literature, creative writing and children’s literature. She has researched the Great Hunger of Ireland (folk narratives and history), 19th Century poet/activist Lady Wilde, fairy tales by 17th Century French salon women and issues in contemporary children’s literature.

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Lena Hill

Lena Hill

Provost and Professor of English

In addition to her many duties as Provost, Hill researches and teaches courses primarily in 19th- and 20th-century African-American literature. She has written a number of books and articles on the subject.

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Wan-Chuan Kao

Wan-Chuan Kao

Associate Professor of English; Head of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program

Professor Kao’s teaching and research interests include medieval literature, especially Chaucer; whiteness studies; critical theory; race and ethnicity; gender and sexuality; queer studies; hotel theory; affect; and cute studies.

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Emily King

Emily King

Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and English

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Diego Millan

Diego Millan

Assistant Professor of English and Core Faculty in Africana Studies

Millan teaches upper-level courses in black diasporic literature. He has researched 19th- and 20th-century American and African-American literature and culture, black studies, performance studies, and theories of laughter and comedy.

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Bill Oliver

Bill Oliver

Director of the Writing and Communications Center, Visiting Associate Professor of English

Oliver has served as the CommCenter director since 2015 and now directs the Writing Center as well. He teaches first-year writing seminars and courses in American literature and fiction writing. His research interest is fiction.

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Kary Smout

Kary Smout

Associate Professor of English

Smout teaches courses on the literature of the American South, American West and business in American literature. His research interests include language and culture, writing instruction and the politics of higher education.

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Beth A. Staples

Beth A. Staples

Assistant Professor of English and Editor, Shenandoah

Staples teaches courses in creative writing, editing and publishing. She is also the editor of W&L’s literary magazine, Shenandoah.

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Lesley Wheeler

Lesley Wheeler

Henry S. Fox Professor of English

Wheeler teaches courses in poetry, creative writing and speculative fiction. Her research interests include 20th- and 21st-century poetry in English, especially as it involves sound, gender, politics and world-building.

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Leslie Wingard Cunningham

Leslie Wingard Cunningham

Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Professor of English and Africana Studies

As Associate Provost, Wingard Cunningham serves as a member of the provost’s leadership team, working to cultivate a coordinated, intentional and robust effort to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion across Academic Affairs.

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Staff 

Charity Corman

Charity Corman

Administrative Assistant

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Emeritus Faculty 

Edwin Craun

Edwin Craun

Professor of English Emeritus

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Deborah A. Miranda

Deborah A. Miranda

Thomas H. Broadus, Jr. Professor of English Emeritus

Miranda primarily taught courses on creative writing (poetry and memoir) and contemporary American literature by authors from the margins of U.S. culture. Her research pertains to Native American and Chicana/o poetry and fiction, women’s literature and LGBTQ literature.

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Jim Warren

Jim Warren

Professor of English Emeritus

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Department Info

  • Payne Hall
    Washington and Lee University
    Lexington, Virginia 24450

Holly Pickett

Department Head

Charity Corman

Administrative Assistant