Faculty and Staff
Core Faculty
Wan-Chuan Kao
Associate Professor of English; Head of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program
- Payne Hall 214
- Email: kaow@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8345
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.
Matthew Bailey
Professor of Romance Languages
- Tucker Hall 302
- Email: baileym@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8160
Bailey teaches Spanish language, culture and literature. His research interests include medieval Spanish literature and culture, and more specifically, medieval epic narrative.
Rebecca Benefiel
Abigail Grigsby Urquhart Professor of Classics
- Tucker Hall 105
- Email: benefielr@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8082
Benefiel teaches classics and Latin courses such as Pompeii, Classics in a Digital Age, Roman Religion, and The Poetry of Ovid. Her research focuses on Pompeii, Latin epigraphy, and Roman social and cultural history.
George Bent
Sidney Gause Childress Professor in the Arts
- Wilson Hall 3020
- Email: bentg@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8863
Bent teaches courses on medieval art, Renaissance art and gothic art. He has researched Italian art extensively and recently taught a course called Digital Florence in which students helped to digitally reconstruct the city.
Michelle D. (Mikki) Brock
Professor of History
- Newcomb Hall 219
- Email: brockm@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8780
Brock teaches courses on British and Atlantic history, the Reformation, witchcraft and the devil, and the history of poverty. Her research focuses on the supernatural and religious beliefs and identities in early modern Scotland.
Roger Crockett
Professor of German
- Ruscio Center for Global Learning 239
- Email: crockettr@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8825
Crockett teaches courses on German literature and business.
Genelle Gertz
Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English
- Payne Hall 108
- Email: gertzg@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8763
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.
Jemma Alix Levy
Associate Professor of Theater
- Lenfest Center 308
- Email: levyj@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8005
Levy teaches courses on acting, directing, Shakespeare and theater history. She is a professional director with critically-acclaimed national and international credits, and for 10 years ran Muse of Fire Theatre Company.
Stephen P. McCormick
Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Associate Professor of French and Italian
- Tucker Hall 324
- Email: mccormicks@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8817
McCormick heads W&L’s Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program and teaches courses on French language and culture. He also supervises the French study abroad program. He has researched old French epic and medieval/early modern Italian cartography.
Holly Pickett
Department Head and Associate Professor of English
- Payne Hall 124
- Email: picketth@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8078
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.
Debra Prager
Department Head, Associate Professor of German
- Ruscio Center for Global Learning 241
- Email: pragerd@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8830
Prager teaches courses in German language and literature.
Domnica Radulescu
Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature
- Newcomb Hall 313
- Email: radulescud@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8030
Radulescu teaches upper-level French and Francophone literature, theater, and the representations of women, gender, and sexuality in literature. She researches feminist theater and is an award-winning novelist/playwright.
Affiliated Faculty
Kameliya N. Atanasova
Assistant Professor of Religion
- Tucker Hall 207
- Email: atanasovak@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8797
Atanasova researches the intersection of religion, law and politics by studying the social role of Sufism in the early-modern Ottoman Empire. She teaches Islamic Civilization, Sufism, Islam in America, and Muslims in the Movies.
Alexandra R. Brown
Fletcher Otey Thomas Professor in Bible
On Sabbatical 2024-2025
- Tucker Hall 206
- Email: browna@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8789
Brown teaches courses on the New Testament and other ancient Christian texts, Bible and film, gender and religion, Christian mysticism, and theory and method in the study of religion. Her primary research is in New Testament, particularly the Pauline letters.
Sarah Horowitz
Professor of History
- Newcomb Hall 306
- Email: horowitzs@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8773
Horowitz teaches courses on modern European history and specializes in French history and the history of gender in Europe. She is writing a book on the politics of gender and sexuality in the Steinheil Affair of 1908-1909.
Timothy Lubin
Jessie Ball DuPont Professor of Religion
- Tucker Hall 204
- Email: lubint@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8146
Professor Lubin teaches courses on Asian religions and comparative study of religion and law. He researches Hindu religious history, law in ancient Asia, and texts and inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Old Javanese and Old Tamil.
Ellen Mayock
Ernest Williams II Professor of Spanish
- Tucker Hall 305
- Email: mayocke@wlu.edu
- Phone: 540-458-8816
At Washington and Lee, Mayock has taught courses in Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on gender and its intersections in literature and film, feminist theories and practice, and representations of conflict and violence. Mayock also writes poetry and creative nonfiction.
Emeritus Faculty
Staff
Program Info
- P: 540-458-8817
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Tucker Hall
Washington and Lee University
204 W. Washington Street
Lexington, VA 24450