VU English Podcast

Professor Kimberly Takahata discusses early American and Indigenous literature

Villanova English's Spring 2026 alumni career panel, featuring Joseph D'Antonio '21 (law), Gabriel Jimenez '25 (law, consulting), and Skylar Musick '24 (journalism), hosted by our chair Dr. Jean Lutes.

Griffyn Leeds MA '26 in conversation with Aria Gray MA '26; topics include the Irish Theatre Summer Studio, illness as metaphor, Susan Sontag, interdisciplinary studies in English, and more!

Aria Gray MA '26 interviews Carly Johnson MA '26 about her Communication certificate, her English studies, and her field exam.

Villanova English career panel 2025 featuring Larry Flynn '17, Lindsay Gallagher '22, Kashae Garland '22, and Amanda Gerstenfeld '20. Fields discussed include education, creative writing, investment banking, the law, and publishing.

Four former Villanova English majors discuss the work they do, the paths they took to their current jobs, and how their English studies contributed to their careers. The speakers are Kate Clawson '21, Marketing Associate at Nasdaq; Linda De Vito '99, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at Hearst Magazines; James Finnegan '20, J.D. Candidate at Seton Hall; and Miriam Wright '90, Director of Enrollment Management at the College of Liberal & Professional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professors emeriti Charlie Cherry and Jim Murphy discuss the development of the English major at Villanova over the course of their careers in light of the major's 75th anniversary this year.

Villanova English's 2023 alumni career panel (our third annual) features Sydney Czech '17, who recently transitioned from publishing to medical humanities; Jennifer Dawson '92, a local public high school teacher; Mike Keeley '21, a political organizer; and Nadeea Saeed '00, a senior director of communications and operations for New York City's department of Education

Professor Alice Dailey discusses her new book, How to Do Things with Dead People: History, Technology, and Temporality from Shakespeare to Warhol. We touch on Shakespeare, Warhol, x-rays, cloning, and so forth (you all see the pattern, right?)

Professor Adrienne Perry and Katherine Reed '23 discuss the literary magazine Bridges, produced by students in Professor Perry's Editing and Publishing class. Find the magazine at https://www.bridgesvillanova.com/ Find the DEI article we discuss in the episode at https://www.bridgesvillanova.com/post/fact-or-fiction-dei-at-villanova-a-reviews-interviews-special-feature

The second annual Villanova English Career Panel, 2022: featuring alumni Joanna Bowen '07, Patrick Mullaney '09, and Meghan Muniz '05.

A panel discussion about the legal research and writing course taught by Professor Karen Graziano at Villanova University. The panelists are Maddie McClay, '23, Bobby Montesano, '22, Erin Neilsen, '23, Ana Sokolowski, '22, and Karina Zakarian, '23.

Professor Evan Radcliffe and VU English major (and senior) Amanda Smith discuss the fall 2021 Harry Potter course, Quests and Questions.

Seniors from Professor Lauren Shohet's Villanova English Senior Seminar share their reflections and projects on Shakespeare, Milton, and their contemporaries. Featured seniors are Joe D'Antonio, Shivani Patel, and Tileyna Zamorano-Gonzales.

Alumni Career Panel featuring Colleen Francke, '15, Jill Kingsland, '05, Elizabeth Kreider, '07, and Kristy Wallace, '99.

This panel of students, organized by Professor Karen Graziano, discusses their experiences in her Legal Writing and Analysis Course. The panelists are Arianna Bufalino, '22; Catherine Cook, '21; David Izzo, '21; Jennifer Lambert, '22; Jacquelyn Solomon, '21; Solange Stamatos, '21; and Karina Zakarian, '23.

We discuss translation theory and the monolingual paradigm, with reference to 'Beyond the Mother Tongue?' by Yasmin Yildiz.

A live reading event (over Zoom) featuring Dr. Tsering Wangmo, sophomore Jacqueline Carroll, Dr. Alan Drew, and senior Tia Parisi.

We discuss lyricization, lyric poetry, Emily Dickinson, Robert Lowell, and Claudia Rankine. We reference Eric Hayot's "Against Historicist Fundamentalism" and Kamran's article, "The Atlantic Ocean Breaking on our Heads: Robert Lowell, Claudia Rankine, and the Whiteness of the Lyric Subject."

We discuss applying contemporary critical theory to medieval texts. We touch on D.W. Robertson's Preface to Chaucer (1962); Louise O. Fradenburg's "'Voice Memorial': Loss and Reparation in Chaucer's Poetry" Exemplaria 1.1 (Spring 1990); and Geraldine Heng's "Inventions/Reinventions: Race Studies, Modernity, and the Middle Ages" from her book The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2018.

We discuss Afropolitanism, Things Fall Apart, folklore, and more.

Joe Drury, Jean Lutes, Travis Foster, and Heather Hicks discuss plague literature through the ages, from Defoe to COVID.

We discuss postmodern theory.