Mary Balkun Named to Editorial Board of Early American Literature

Mary McAleer Balkun, Ph.D., Professor of English and Director of the Center for Faculty Development at Seton Hall University, has been appointed to the editorial board of Early American Literature, the leading scholarly journal in the field of early American literary studies. The appointment is for a five-year term.

A scholar of early American literature, Balkun’s work focuses on material culture, early American poetry and gender theory. She is the author of The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture (2006), co-editor of The Companion to American Poetry (2022), co-editor of Transformative Digital Humanities: Projects, Case Studies and Challenges (2020), co-editor of Women of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire (2016) and associate editor of The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry (2005). Her scholarship includes numerous articles on early American topics, educational technology and curricular change.

Founded in 1965, Early American Literature is the official journal of the Modern Language Association’s Forum on Early American Literature and the only journal devoted exclusively to scholarship and criticism of American literature through the early national period. Edited by Cassander Smith and Katy Chiles and published by University of North Carolina Press, the journal features scholarly articles, provocations and innovations in the field, review essays and extensive reviews of books, resources and conferences. “I’m honored to have been asked to serve on the EAL editorial board and for the opportunity to work with editors Cassie Smith and Katy Chiles and a roster of outstanding fellow scholars,” Balkun said. “EAL has been a pervasive influence in my growth and development as a scholar and I look forward to contributing as it continues to set the standard for the study of the literature of the early Americas.”

Balkun’s current scholarly projects are a co-edited volume with Susan Imbarrato, Indelible Connections: Familial Correspondence in Long 18th-Century America and a monograph, New World Upside Down: The Early American Grotesque.

Her professional interests also encompass the digital humanities, faculty development and supporting women in the profession, areas that complement her leadership role at Seton Hall and her continued contributions to the field of early American literary studies.

Categories: Education, Nation and World