Madelon M. Sprengnether

English, College of Liberal Arts, 2008-2017

Professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts, is nationally and internationally recognized scholar in the field of literature, women's studies and psychoanalysis. Her work is described as "profoundly creative, original, interdisciplinary, and transformative." She is considered an authority on Shakespeare. Her essay "`I wooed thee with my sword:' Shakespeare's Tragic Paradigms," was considered so powerful and influential that is was reprinted five times and has been read by thousands of students and scholars since 1986. The anthology she co-edited, The (M)other Tongue, known to everyone in feminist literary criticism as well as those in psychoanalysis and cultural studies, refers to this book as "a founding and foundational anthology of feminist literary criticism." Her book, The Spectral Mother, is described as a "landmark" book and is said to be one of the most important books every published about Freud's life and thought and is known and debated throughout the world. And, her memoir, Crying at the Movies, breaks new ground in the memoir genre by linking it with film studies. Her effective leadership is evident through the educational and innovative programs she has developed. She is the founder of the Women's Studies Program and the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies. Along with her colleagues, she founded the Feminist Studies in Literature and is also the founding member of Hurricane Alice, a feminist journal of creative and scholarly work. She is credited with almost single-handedly changing the fate of the graduate Creative Writing program in English. Once positioned near the bottom, the Program is now ranked #11 (274 in all) by the national organization Poets & Writers. Her superb teaching is evident through the highest ratings in her teaching evaluations and the awarding of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Post baccalaureate, Graduate and Professional Education. She has served as an advisor to thirty-eight Ph.D. students who completed their dissertations and twenty-three MFA students, with completed degrees requiring book-length manuscripts. Her professional service and outreach is exceptional. She has served on several editorial boards and has reviewed thirty-three articles and books for other journals and presses. She has participated in numerous promotion and tenure faculty reviews, has presented 130 papers and lectures, 78 poetry and prose readings, and participated in 14 interviews and broadcasts, including one for the Australian Broadcast Company and the highly esteemed BBC. Her service to the College and the University includes service on 22 committees, including the Senate Judicial Committee, key CLA committees, University Distinguished Women Scholars, the All-University Honors Committee, and Master Planning Committee. Professor Madelon Sprengnether clearly exemplifies the qualities and aspirations the University requires of its Regents Professors.