Wendy Kolmar english@drew
Professor of English and Women's Studies, Director of Women's Studies

Degrees:  A.B., Bryn Mawr College, 1972; Ph.D, Indiana University, 1992. 

Arrived at Drew: 1984 

Areas of specialization: Victorian literature; women's literature; Gothic and supernatural fiction; women's studies and feminist theory; film studies. 

Courses recently taught:: Engl 172/ Victorian Gothic; Engl 114/ Victorian Women's Poetry / Victorian Novel;  Engl 168/ Theory & Practice of Contemporary Criticism; Engl 165/ Gender, Narrative, & Interpretation in literature and film, (team-taught with Jim Hala); Engl. 32/ Women and Literature; Engl. 172/ Romance and Realism in Nineteenth Century Fiction; WMST 12/ Introduction to Women's Studies; WMST 112/ Theory and Methodology of Women's Studies. 

Teaching and service awards: Drew University President's Award for Distinguished Teaching, 1995; Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Will Herberg Distinguished Professor Award, 2000; Drew University Student Life Faculty Recognition Award for Contribution to Co-Curricular Life, 2000; Drew University Gold 'D' Faculty Service Award for Contribution to Extracurricular Life at Drew, 1991.

Co-curricular activities:  I am the faculty advisor to theWomyn's Concerns Theme House and the Womyn's Concern Club. I direct the Women's Studies Program and teach the program's core courses. In 1997 and 2001, I directed the London Program which offers Drew English majors an opportunity to spend a semester in Britain studying literature, theatre, political science and history.  I currently also co-chair the University Sexual Harassment Committee and serve on the Multicultural Awareness Week Committee. 

Recent Publications:

  • Looking Across the Lens: Women's Studies and Film. Special Issue of Women's Studies Quarterly. Guest Editor.
  • "Nineteenth Century Feminism" in The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women
  •   Feminist Theory:  A Reader (with Frances Bartkowski). Mayfield, 1999.
  • Ghost Stories by British and American Women:  A Selected, Annotated Bibliography (with Lynette Carpenter).  Garland, 1997.
  • Creating an Inclusive College Curriculum (co-edited with Charlie Flint, Ellen Freidman & Paula Rothenberg). Teacher's College Press, 1995.
  • Haunting the House of Fiction:  Feminist Perspectives on American Women's Ghost Stories.  (co-edited with Lynette Carpenter). University of Tennessee Press, 1991
Points of interest: 
In addition to teaching at Drew, I visit other campuses as a consultant to help the faculty develop their women's studies programs and to transform curricula to include gender, race, class, and sexuality.  I am also involved in women's studies nationally through my work with National Women's Studies Association. 
In 1976-77, I studied Victorian Literature in London as the recipient of a Fullbright-Hays Grant. 
The thing that often surprises people the most about me is that I spent five years during the Arab oil embargo working for the U.S. Government as an editor and petroleum industry analyst. 

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