Helene Meyers

Notable Achievements

Recently retired Professor of English and holder of the McManis University Chair Helene Meyers recently published two reviews of films that focus on reproductive justice. Her review of Aftershock, a documentary on the epidemic of Black maternal mortality, appeared on the Lilithblog, and her review of My So-Called Selfish Life, a documentary on childfree women, was published by the Jewish Women’s Archive blog.

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Helene Meyers

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Expertise

Jewish American Literature and Film, Feminist Theory, Gothic Studies, Interdisciplinarity and the Liberal Arts in the 21st Century

Helene Meyers, Professor of English and McManis University Chair, is a writer and educator who works at the intersections of literary and film studies, feminist and queer studies, and Jewish studies.  Her book Movie-Made Jews: An American Tradition is forthcoming from Rutgers University Press in Sept. 2021. She is also the author of Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness (SUNY Press, Dec. 2011), Reading Michael Chabon (Greenwood 2010; Gale/Cengage e-book 2011), and Femicidal Fears: Narratives of the Female Gothic Experience (SUNY Feminist Criticism and Theory Series 2001). She has served as chair of Southwestern’s Feminist Studies program (formerly Women’s Studies) several times. Her course Novel English Majors, which combines traditional literary analysis and career coaching, has received national attention. 

The recipient of Southwestern’s Distinguished Teaching Award as well as an award recognizing her commitments to advancing diversity on campus, Professor Meyers is a committed scholar/teacher. Her public scholarship (including film and book reviews) has appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Forward, Ms. Magazine Blog, Tablet, Washington Independent Review of Books, and Lilith Magazine. Her research on the diverse canon of contemporary American Jewish literature and film informs not only courses at Southwestern but also adult education programs and public lectures.



Honors & Awards

  • McManis University Chair, 2009 -
  • Brown Senior Faculty Fellowship. 2004-2005
  • Fellow of the Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization. Northwestern University. Summer 2000
  • Southwestern University Distinguished Teaching Award. Spring 2000
  • Southwestern University Award for Fostering Diversity. Spring 2002
  • Brown Faculty Fellowship. Southwestern University. 1994-95
  • Cullen Faculty Development Grants. Southwestern University. 1992-2009
  • Graduate Council Fellowship. University of Florida. 1983
  • University Scholar, Pennsylvania State University. 1982
  • Phi Beta Kappa, Pennsylvania State University. 1982