KUTZTOWN, PA – Dr. Laurie McMillan has been named Kutztown University’s associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. McMillan’s duties include course scheduling, program assessment and a variety of projects and initiatives within the dean’s office that assist and support students and faculty.
Before coming to Kutztown University, McMillan spent a year as the assistant dean in Millersville University’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Before Millersville, she chaired the Department of English and Modern Language Studies at Pace University for three years. Earlier in her career, McMillan served as director of Writing and chair of the English department at Marywood University.
McMillan has taught first-year writing classes, upper-level writing classes, 20th-century American literature and women and gender studies classes. She published a textbook for first-year writing classes titled, “Focus on Writing: What College Students Want to Know,” and has contributed to several edited collections addressing the teaching of writing and support of student research.
Many of McMillan’s other publications focus on feminist writing and rhetoric, especially in terms of pop culture. “Performing Gender on YouTube: How Jenna Marbles Negotiates a Hostile Online Environment,” discusses popular YouTuber and internet personality JennaMarbles and the often-negative reception of female entertainers online, specifically in the realm of YouTube. “Mixed Messages: Slut Shaming in Mean Girls and Easy A,” addresses two movies that seem to condemn slut shaming, but, McMillan argues, the production of these movies within commercialized spaces ironically promotes the opposite through reductive treatment of female sexuality. McMillan is currently working on a book manuscript titled, “Slut Rhetoric: Pop Culture Possibilities.”
Many of McMillan’s other achievements are associated with campus leadership roles that prepare her for her new position at Kutztown University.
“I was immediately struck by how beautiful the Kutztown campus is,” McMillan said about her experience on campus so far. “It’s been a joy to discover that the people are as welcoming as the environment is. I’ve been gradually meeting faculty and staff and I look forward to getting to know our students as well.”
McMillan earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She went on to earn two graduate degrees from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa.: a Master of Arts in English literature and a Ph.D. in English literature.
