Janine Utell, Professor/Chair, English, Widener University

Candidate statement

I am Distinguished University Professor/Chair of English at Widener University, teaching modernist, late modernist, and contemporary British fiction and narrative theory.

I have just completed “Literary Couples and 20th Century Life Writing,” which studies the ethics of multimodal/relational narrative read through affect theory. An edited collection, “Options for Teaching Modernist Women’s Writing” is heading into production; I have begun work on a new book: “Women and Bullshit: Rhetorics of Anger in Interwar Women’s Writing.” These evince my stance as a feminist scholar as well as my prioritizing of pedagogy. I am Editor of The Space Between, and bring to my work there a commitment to less-studied areas, interdisciplinarity, a desire to mentor others.

I have attended MSA since graduate school, leading seminars, presenting papers, chairing panels. I served as facilitator for a workshop on journal publishing (for The Space Between and NeMLA as well, and have just completed a term as Mentoring Coordinator for the CELJ). I am engaged in mentoring others at all career levels. As Second VP I would continue creating inclusive opportunities where all can benefit from mentoring in teaching, research, and publishing; and I would advocate for and ensure openness to new areas and voices.