Dean of Summer Sessions

April 19, 2011

We are pleased to announce that Carol Pasternack has agreed to serve as Dean of  Summer Sessions, effective July 1, 2011.   After teaching for three years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Carol has been a faculty member in the Department of English and the Program in Medieval Studies since 1987, centering her research on issues of textuality and sexuality in Anglo-Saxon England.  Her publications, promoting new directions in her field, include  The Textuality of Old English Poetry and collections of essays: Vox intexta: Orality and Textuality in the Middle Ages (co-edited with A.N. Doane), Gender and Difference in the Middle Ages (co-edited with Sharon Farmer), and Sex and Sexuality in Anglo-Saxon England (co-edited with Lisa M.C. Weston).  In addition to serving on and chairing a variety of campus committees, she has periodically chaired the Advisory Committee of Medieval Studies Program and served as chair of the Undergraduate Program in the English Department.

Throughout her tenure, Carol has been involved in curricular innovation, among other efforts, working in the English Department’s Transcriptions curricular initiative, developing such courses as “From Scroll to Screen,” “The Voice and the Page,” and “The Material Lyric,” which involve students directly in a variety of media, from oral performance to manuscript to digital technologies. In addition, Carol  has been central to English Department efforts to develop ways of making the larger classes necessary to current budgetary strictures more interactive. Her honors include the Professional Women’s Association “Unsung Heroines Award” and the English Department’s Graduate Mentorship Award.  She has successfully served as Acting Dean of Summer Sessions and we look forward to continuing to work with her in a permanent capacity.