School of Humanities:
Literature Faculty (Board of Study)
Kay Ellen Capo
Associate Professor of Literature and Drama Studies
B.A., LeMoyne College; M.A., Ph.D., Northwestern University. 20th-century poetry; performance theory; feminist theory; adapting literature for the stage.
kay.capo@purchase.edu
Gari LaGuardia
Associate Professor of Spanish and Literature
B.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania. Comparative literature; modernism; early European narrative.
gari.laguardia@purchase.edu
Elise V. Lemire
Associate Professor of Literature
B.A., Yale University; M.A., Ph.D., Rutgers University. American literature; women’s studies; film.
elise.lemire@purchase.edu
Kathleen A. McCormick
Professor of Literature and Pedagogy
B.A., Boston College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Connecticut. Literary and cultural theory; reading and writing; modernist literature; pedagogy.
kathleen.mccormick@purchase.edu
Gaura Narayan
Assistant Professor of Literature (part-time)
B.A. (Honors), Delhi University; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University. 18th- and 19th-century British literature; South Asian literature; narrative theory; feminist theory.
gaura.narayan@purchase.edu
Ronnie Scharfman
Professor of French and Literature
B.A., Bryn Mawr College; Licence-ès-Lettres, Maitrise-ès-Lettres, University of Aix-en-Provence; M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. French and Francophone literature; contemporary European literature.
ronnie.scharfman@purchase.edu
Lee Schlesinger
Associate Professor of Literature
B.A., Brandeis University; Ph.D., Yale University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. American literature; American poetry; the Bible; Freud and poetry; expository writing.
lee.schlesinger@purchase.edu
Robert Stein
Professor of Literature
B.A., Hofstra University; M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Classics; medieval and Renaissance literature; literary theory.
robert.stein@purchase.edu
Nina Pelikan Straus
Professor of Literature
B.A., Bennington College; Ph.D., New York University. Comparative literature.
nina.straus@purchase.edu
Aviva Taubenfeld
Assistant Professor of Literature and Writing
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University. U.S. literature; expository writing; immigration and ethnicity; childhood in literature.
aviva.taubenfeld@purchase.edu
Gary Waller
Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies
B.A., M.A., University of Auckland; Ph.D., University of Cambridge. Early modern literature; literary and cultural theory; creative writing.
gary.waller@purchase.edu
Louise Yelin
Professor of Literature
and Interim Dean, School of Humanities
A.B., Bryn Mawr College; M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The British novel; postcolonial literature in English; feminist theory.
louise.yelin@purchase.edu
Emeritus Faculty
Bell Chevigny
Professor Emerita of Literature
B.A., Wellesley College; M.A., Ph.D., Yale University. Women in literature of the Americas.
Maria Gagliardo
Associate Professor Emerita of Spanish and Literature
Maestra Normal Nacional, Argentina; B.A., M.A., Hunter College. 20th-century Latin American literature.
Sheldon Grebstein
University Professor Emeritus of Literature
B.A., University of Southern California; M.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., Michigan State University. Past president of Purchase College.
Naomi Holoch
Associate Professor Emerita of French and Literature
B.A., Oberlin College; Licence-ès-Lettres, University of Aix-en-Provence; Ph.D., Columbia University. Contemporary French women writers; lesbian and gay fiction; creative writing.
Thomasenia M. Hutchins
Associate Professor Emerita of Literature
B.A., M.S., Fordham University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. African-American literature; women’s literature; expository writing; black studies.
Julius Novick
Professor Emeritus of Literature and Drama Studies
B.A., Harvard University; D.F.A., Yale University. Modern drama; American theatre; practical theatre criticism.
Richard Stack
Associate Professor Emeritus of Literature
B.A., Trinity College, Dublin; Ph.D., Stanford University. English poetry and prose; Joyce; creative writing.
Frank Wadsworth
Professor Emeritus of Literature
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Princeton University.
Professor Emeritus of French, Drama Studies, and Literature
B.A., Bucknell University; M.A., Middlebury College; Ph.D., Columbia University. SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. French language and literature; contemporary theatre and performance.
Updated Sept. 4, 2008