Assistant Professor, English
Contact information
- Office: 508Q Lawrence Hall
- Phone: 412-392-8187
- Fax: 412-392-4781
- Email: mward1@pointpark.edu
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, English, Lawrence University
- Master of Philosophy, English, University of Oxford
- Master of Arts, English, Rutgers University
- Doctor of Philosophy, English, Rutgers University
Courses Taught
- Victorian Poetry and Prose
- Literary Criticism
- Introduction to Prose
- Romanticism
- World Literature II
- English Composition
- Digital Humanities
Background
Among Professor Megan Ward's research interests are the history of the novel, Victorian literature and culture, and artificial intelligence. Ward helped launch Point Park’s Annual Undergraduate Humanities Symposium and in 2012 she was selected to give the University’s annual “Leonard Finkelhor Lecture,” in which she presented on the topic “Realism and Robots: The Victorian Novel and Cybernetics.”
Curriculum vitae
Research Interests
- Digital humanities
- Realism
- Character formation
- Victorian literature and culture
- Science, literature and technology
- British modernism
Selected Publications
- "Our Posthuman Past: Victorian Realism, Cybernetics and the Problem of Information," Configurations, (forthcoming).
- "The Woodlanders and the Cultivation of Realism," Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Autumn 2011.
- "A Charm in Those Fingers': Patterns, Taste, and the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine," Victorian Periodicals Review, Fall 2008.
Selected Presentations
- “Trollope’s Turing Test: Character, Imitation, and Artificial Intelligence,” North American Victorian Studies Association Conference. University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2012.
- “Making it Matter Again: Materiality and Repetition,” International Society for the Study of Narrative Conference, Washington University in St. Louis, 2011.
- “Realism and Robots: The Victorian Novel and Cybernetics," Leonard Finkelhor Lecture, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, Pa., April 2012.
- "Raveling and Kempt: The Absence of Failure in Cranford," International Society for the Study of Narrative Conference, Case Western Reserve University, 2010.
- "Machinic Realism: The New, Old-Fashioned Way," Futures of Digital Studies Conference, University of Florida, 2010.
- "As if it were so: The Defense of Guenevere puts the Moment on Trial," Modern Language Association Conference, San Francisco, Calif., 2008.
Awards and Honors
- Digital Humanities Summer Institute Course Scholarship, 2012
- Honorable mention, International Society for the Study of Narrative Conference, Graduate Student Paper Prize, 2008
- Rutgers English Department Mellon Summer Fellowship and Dissertation Workshop, 2007
- Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis Fellowship, "Intellectual Property," 2005-2006
- Rutgers English Department Mellon Summer Research Grant, 2005
- Qualls Fellowship for Victorian and Gender Studies, 2004-2005
- Rutgers Symposium Paper Award, 2002
In the News
- "Speaking Volumes: Megan Ward," 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR Station, Dec. 17, 2012.
Point Park Features
- "HHS Symposium Features Historian on Witch Hunting and Students' Research Work," Point Park University website, April 29, 2013.
- "Faculty Profile: Meet Megan Ward, Assistant Professor of English," Point Park University website, May 23, 2012.
- "Third Annual Humanities Symposium Featured a Wide Variety of Original Student Research," Point Park University website, May 8, 2012.
- "Assistant Professor Megan Ward will Connect Victorian Novels with Artificial Intelligence," Point Park University website, March 29, 2012.