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Department of

English

Mary Quinn, Ph.D.

Professor

Mary A. Quinn has been a member of the faculty since 1984. She is a Professor of English. In the English Department, Professor Quinn offers undergraduate courses on Romanticism, poetry and the visual arts, mindfulness in literature, and the short story. Her research now focuses on poetry and the visual arts. Professor Quinn has served as director of the Honors Program and coordinator of the Writing Center, She has twice delivered the Freshman Convocation address. She received an Outstanding Preceptor Award in 2007.

Education

Professor Quinn earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Simmons College, a Masters in English also from Simmons College, Masters and Ph.D. degrees in English from UC Santa Barbara.

Scholarly and Creative Work

Professor Quinn’s research currently focuses on ekphrastic poetry. Her current book project is a resource volume on poetry and the visual arts. She is also working on a book “Mindful Moments in Poetry,” an exploration of manifestations of mindfulness--contemplative strategies, practices and resolutions--in American, British, and Continental literature. Both projects grow from her work in Romanticism, particularly Percy Bysshe Shelley and his circle. Her three volumes on Shelley’s notebooks in the Huntington Library (Garland Press) are part of the extensive project, The Manuscript of the Younger Romantics involving American, Canadian, British, Japanese, and South African scholars. She has also published work in The Keats-Shelley Journal and the Wordsworth Circle. Professor Quinn is a former recipient of a University Professorship for her textual research with Shelley’s manuscript letters.

Teaching Interests

Professor Quinn has taught a variety of courses at USD, including overviews of literature in English after 1800, introductory courses in poetry, the short story, and modern American literature. She has taught upper-division courses in British and Continental Romanticism, contemporary fiction, the novels of Toni Morrison, mindfulness in literature, and ekphrasis—poetry about art. In addition to teaching departmental classes, Professor Quinn has participated in team-teaching projects for the Honors Program that focused on Romanticism in art, and Romanticism and the Enlightenment. Professor Quinn is a former recipient of USD’s Davies Award for Faculty Achievement.