Helene Meyers

Notable Achievements

Professor of English and McManis University Chair Helene Meyers was an invited participant in KUT’s “Views and Brews” podcast on the past, present, and future of the humanities. Other panelists were Dennis Ahlburg, former president of Trinity University; Amelia Pace-Borah, academic director of Austin’s Free Minds program; and Paul Woodruff, former dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Texas. Meyers talked about her nationally recognized course Novel English Majors, the role of public scholarship in rejuvenating the humanities, and the need for continuity and change as we revise the curriculum. According to her, “a complex world and complex problems require complex and visionary thinking, and that’s what the humanities offers.” The podcast is available through NPR.

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Helene Meyers

Professor of English and Holder of McManis University Chair

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. She is 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, Forward, Ms. Magazine Blog, Tablet, Washington Independent Review of Books, and Lilith Magazine. Her research on the diverse canon of contemporary Jewish American literature and film informs not only courses at Southwestern but also adult education programs and public lectures. Meyers serves on the editorial board of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. She is currently writing a book on Jewish American cinema. 



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