Elizabeth Dinneny, PhD

Education

2025 Doctor of Philosophy, English

• University of Maryland, College Park
• Dissertation: “Spectral Bodies: Housing, Status Property, and Sexuality in U.S. Literature”
• Committee: GerShun Avilez (chair), David Simon, Martha Nell Smith, Alexis Lothian, Peter Mallios
• Research focus: late 19th-21st century U. S. literature and poetry, queer and trans materialisms, phenomenology, affect studies, racial capitalism, digital humanities, queer book history

2025 Graduate Certificate in Critical Theory
Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

• University of Maryland, College Park

2019 Bachelor of Arts, English and Religious Studies

• Rhodes College

Teaching

2020-2025 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of English, University of Maryland

• Dickinson Electronic Archives Digital Humanities Internship (ENGL388D). 1-7 students. 10 sections.
• Fantasy Literature (ENGL256). 30 students. 1 section.
• LGBTQ+ Literatures and Media (ENGL265/LGBT265). 30 students. 2 sections.
• Academic Writing (ENGL101). 20 students. 1 section.

Publications

co-edited with Martha Nell Smith, "Susan Dickinson's Travel Journals: 1895 and 1902." Dickinson Electronic Archives. eds. Martha Nell Smith and Marta Werner. Forthcoming.

HIV/AIDS and Public Broadcasting. American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Forthcoming December 2024.

co-written with Jeannette Schollaert, "The Ghosts of Emily Dickinson: Hauntings in Popular Culture." Dickinson Electronic Archives. eds. Martha Nell Smith and Marta Werner, 2021.

Paper Presentations

“‘I Could Love Differently’: Poetics of Queer Intimacy in Late Capitalism.” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA, March 2025.

"'Two People to Take Care Of’: A Phenomenology of Spectral Identity in Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Philadelphia, PA, November 2023.

“History, Disinterred: Ghosts and Historical (Re)vision in Joy Harjo’s ‘New Orleans.’” Popular Culture / American Culture Association in the South Conference. New Orleans, LA, September 2023.

“‘Christ…I Wish’: Queer Encounters with Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt.” Queer Bibliography: Tools, Methods, Practices, Approaches. University of London, UK, February 2023.

“History, Disinterred: Autobiography as Historical (Re)vision in Joy Harjo’s ‘New Orleans.’” GEO Conference. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2022.

“What’s At Stake: Vampiric Christian Bodies.” Rhodes Symposium. Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 2019.

“Weird Flex, But OK: Fingering Christ’s Side Wound.” Gender and Sexuality Studies Symposium. Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 2019.

Invited Talks and Events

“‘Lust, Degradation and Debauchery’: Lesbian Pulp and Fictional Identities.” Presented to Dylan Lewis’ LGBTQ+ Literatures and Media course at the University of Maryland, College Park, 2023.

“Antiracism and Graduate Education: Commitments and Challenges.” Panelist. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2022.

“The AIDS Epidemic and Public Broadcasting, 1981-2001.” Junior Fellows Program Display Day, Library of Congress, 2022.

Digital Archives Experience

2020-2025 Project Manager, Dickinson Electronic Archives

• Design course syllabus with focus on feminist digital humanities, queer studies, and Dickinson scholarship
• Manage DEA Digital Humanities internship program (1 to 7 interns), including course instruction and XML/TEI training
• Transcribe Susan Dickinson’s travel journal for digital publication
• Annotate, edit, and encode Martha Dickinson Bianchi’s memoir for digital publication
• Led revision of 30+ transcribed items in "Writings by Susan Dickinson"
• Directed student-written exhibition on queer and feminist transcription practices
• Developed and co-authored “The Ghosts of Emily Dickinson” exhibit on Dickinson in popular culture

2024 Consultant, Recovery Hub for American Women Writers

• Support a wide range of digital humanities projects
• Participate in monthly meetings with Recovery Hub staff

2022 Junior Fellow, Library of Congress

• Authored peer-reviewed digital exhibit, HIV/AIDS and Public Broadcasting, for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB)
• Exhibit included 18,000-word analysis and 150 public broadcasting programs
• Expanded publicly available materials by identifying significant HIV/AIDS-related programming and assisting with rights requests
• Facilitated communication to obtain rights for Robert Hilferty’s award-winning documentary, “Stop the Church”
• Updated metadata for over 100 items in the AAPB online reading room
• Collaborated with Library outreach, social media, and legal teams
• Advised other Junior Fellows on research, writing, and time management strategies
• Represented the Library of Congress at open house for the 2022 American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Washington, D.C.

Fellowships and Awards

2023 Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship, University of Maryland

2022 ARHU Summer Fellowship, University of Maryland

2021 Departmental Summer Research Fellowship, University of Maryland Department of English

2019 Cynthia Marshall Award, Rhodes College

2019 Religious Studies Award, Rhodes College

Service

2024 Facilitator, Lavender Lounge, University of Maryland

2023-current Volunteer Transcriber, By the People, Library of Congress

2021-2022 Advisor, Gaysians at UMD, University of Maryland

2020-2021 Secretary, Graduate English Organization, University of Maryland

Professional Development

2024-2025 Inclusive Classroom Dynamics Learning Community, University of Maryland

2020 Affect Theory Reading Group, University of Maryland

2019-2020 Critical Theory Colloquium, University of Maryland

Organizational Memberships

American Studies Association
Modern Language Association
National Women’s Studies Association
Society for the Study of American Women Writers


Last updated: June 2025 / GitHub