Meet Your Host:

Shannon Beddingfield, PhD, English | Yale University
MPhil, Medieval Studies | Yale University

As a PhD candidate in the English Department at Yale University, I focus my dissertation on multilingual poetry in the medieval period. My background is Classical and English literature, as well as historical linguistics, and I have a corresponding passion for ancient languages, including Latin, Ancient Greek, Old English, Old Norse, Sanskrit, and Avestan. I have taught a variety of literature and writing courses, both at Yale and Ohio State University. The topic of my courses ranged from Shakespeare, Chaucer, epic, to medieval literature in film, to academic writing on themes such as monsters and apocalypse. These last two (perhaps unusual, but nevertheless provocative) topics have generated some of the most impressive critical thinking, discussion, research, and writing from students, who are, often for the first time, given the opportunity to respond critically and academically to trends and rhetoric in popular culture, new and old.

Before graduate school, I taught English to a wide range of students after graduating with highest distinction and honor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with majors in Classics and English I love challenging students to think deeply about issues that affect them and sharing with students my passion for reading, writing, and critical thinking. I believe every student can succeed if given the right guidance and look forward to helping more students craft thoughtful and compelling personal narratives as a part of their application process.