Karen Youmans, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Arts & Sciences
English
Biography
Courses:
Western Literature, Liberal Arts Seminar, Honors Junior/Senior Seminar
About Me: While my primary scholarly interests and training are in medieval literature, especially Chaucer and hagiography (or "saints lives"), I've taught a wide range of literary genres and periods over the years, and I find a deep joy in teaching engaged undergraduates from a variety of majors, as I'm able to do here at OCU. Whether critiquing Aeneas' call to duty through the epic form of Aeneid, questioning gender stereotypes with Chaucer's Wife of Bath, or traversing the bleak fictional landscape of a post-apocalyptic America in Cormac McCarthy's The Road, I enjoy examining with my students the intersections of historical, philosophical, religious, and literary inquiry.
Of Note:
University Honors Program Director, past board member for the Conference on Christianity and Literature, current board member for SCIO (Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford).