The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

English professor receives international recognition

English professor Katherine Gillen was selected to present two of her essays, one for the Shakespeare Association of America in Toronto and European Shakespeare Research Association in France. Photo by Jacob Beltran

By Kayla Dunlevy

Katherine Gillen, assistant professor of English in the School of Arts and Sciences, was selected to present her essays at two different conferences; The Shakespeare Association of America in Toronto and the European Shakespeare Research Association in France.

The essays were part of Gillen’s doctoral dissertation that led to her first book project proposal, ‘Chaste Value: Economic Crises, Sexual Anxiety, and Constructions of Identity in Early Modern Drama.’ The book will touch on intersections of chastity and economics in English Renaissance drama.

“The project has been a lot of work, so it’s nice to have it recognized,” Gillen said.

The Shakespeare Association of America held an open paper competition that required a completed paper with reading time of less than 20 minutes and entrants who are members in good standing with the association. The selection committee is headed by a member of the association’s board of trustees and includes other members of the association at large, according to the association’s website.

Gillen, a first-year tenure-track professor, said being chosen to present at the Shakespeare conferences is a good sign for getting her book published.

“Both conferences consist of seminars where participants circulate papers,” Gillen said. “Only a few invited speakers and competition winners give plenary talks.”

The essays she will present include: “Rethinking Portia’s Ring: Affective Value, Anxieties of International Trade and the Formation of the Domestic Sphere in the Merchant of Venice” and “Excavating Treasure Myths: Commoditized Nature and Sexual Violence in Titus Andronicus and Timon of Athens.”

Gillen finds the drama and literature of the modern period exciting, creative and reflective of our rapidly changing society. She said the presence of race, gender, and sexuality are central to her research.

“You can see the seeds of our modern culture and formative moment, in terms of how things got to be the way they are,” Gillen said.

Gillen earned her master’s degree in English and her doctorate in English philosophy from the University of New Hampshire.

While Gillen attended the University of New Hampshire she also directed the writing center and was an Upward Bound instructor, a college preparatory program that prepares low-income, first-generation and underrepresented high school students for higher education.

“Once I graduated, I wanted a full time job teaching English,” Gillen said. “I went on the job market, which is quite tough in English in general.” She said she did a national search for available positions and was invited to interview at Texas A&M-San Antonio’s startup campus.

Her current position allows her to work with a diverse student population, including a large percentage of first-generation students. It’s the kind of environment where she hoped to teach.

“I’ve enjoyed the students, working with the literature club and working with the literacy tutors in the new tutoring lab,” Gillen said.

This semester she is teaching Literature of The British Renaissance, The Major plays of Shakespeare, British Renaissance and Early British Romance. To her course list, she hopes to one day teach a drama course.

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