Bisson Lecture Series in the Humanities

The Bisson Lecture in the Humanities was established in 2009 in honor of Professor Lillian Bisson. A scholar of medieval literature, former director of the graduate program in Humanities, and chair of the Department of Literature and Languages, Professor Bisson retired from Marymount University in 2010 after forty-one years of service.

To recognize Professor Bisson’s passion for the humanities as well as her record of scholarship, teaching, and service, the graduate program in English and the Humanities annually invites a distinguished scholar in the humanities to deliver the Bisson Lecture on a topic of humanistic inquiry.

Past Lecturers

Marguerite Rippy (2022)

Professor Emerita at Marymount University, and Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs at George Mason University
“Horizons for Humanities in the Age of STEM”

Pamela Woolford (2020)

Award-winning interdisciplinary filmmaker, writer, and performer
“Interrupted: Prologue to a Mem-noir”

Regie Cabico (2019)

Filipino-American poet, public storyteller, and prize-winning spoken word artist whose work has been published in many anthologies, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café.

Dorsey Armstrong (2019)

Professor of English and Medieval Literature at Purdue University, Lecturer for The Great Courses
“King Arthur and the Knights of the Public Humanities: Literature in the Classroom, on Guided Tours, and on Screen.”

Brigitte Fielder (April 4, 2018)

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Antislavery Children’s Literature and Twenty-First Century Antiracism”

Jonathan Deiss (2017)

Citizen Archivist, National Archives
“Using Your Humanities Skills Outside the Establishment”

Marlene Tromp (2016)

Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University
“Bloody Murder: Solving Victorian Crimes with Forensics and the Humanities”

Steven Lubar (2015)

Professor, American Studies, History, and History of Art and Architecture, Brown University
“The Curator Rules”

Peter S. Donaldson (2014)

Professor of Literature and Ford Foundation Professor in the Humanities, MIT
“Global Shakespeares, Cultural Translation, and the Future of Digital Humanities”

Julie Ellison (2013)

Professor of American Culture and English, University of Michigan
“Naming the New Public Humanists”

Jesse Alemán (2012)

Department of English Language and Literature, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
“Wars of Rebellion: US Hispanic Writings and their American Civil Wars”

Bonnie Wheeler (2011)

Department of English, Medieval Studies Program, Southern Methodist University
“Humiliation: Reputation Management in the Middle Ages”

Jo Ann H. Moran Cruz (2010)

Dean, College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans
“Reading Dante between the Lines”