Joanna Shearer, Ph.D.

I am a member of the English program in the humanities department, and I enjoy both my primary field of study, medieval British literature, as well as my secondary field, gender and sexuality studies. I teach core curriculum composition courses as well. I have always been a bit non-traditional as an academic, in that I enjoy asking modern questions of really old works of literature to see how much, or how little, humanity has changed over the centuries. My mother is a first-generation college student, and I grew up in a home that valued education as a means to greater success in life. Consequently, as an educator, I always strive first and foremost to help my students reach their educational goals and to defy even their own expectations of their potential.