James Searle
Department of English, University at Albany
Education:
Ph.D. in English, SUNY Albany, 2021
Dissertation: “Meeting Places: The Entanglements of Poetry and Science in the Modern American Imagination”
Committee: Eric Keenaghan (Chair), Jennifer Greiman (Reader), Paul Stasi (Reader)
M.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies, Carnegie Mellon, 2009
B.A. in Liberal Arts, The Evergreen State College, 2007
Areas of Specialization:
Modernism, American Literature, Poetry and Poetics, Critical Theory, American Pragmatism, Science and Literature
Publications:
I. Peer-Reviewed Articles
“Williams’s Profundity: Pragmatic Naturalism and Distributed Poetic Thinking” William Carlos Williams Review 39.2 (2022)
ii. Book Reviews
“Review: Thinking Through the Imagination: Aesthetics in Human Cognition” (Review Article) Textual Practice Volume 29.5 (2015)
“Review: Life, Literature, and Modernity” (Review Article) MLN Volume 124.5 (2010)
iii. Book Chapters
“Against Apologetics: Vocation and the Poetics of Inquiry” (Book Chapter), forthcoming in The Return of the Text (Fordham UP)
“Mind in its Purest Play: Imagination, Politics, and Reading” (Book Chapter), in Conference Proceedings of “The Natural History of Reading” (2010)
Conference Talks and Public Presentations:
“A Gymnast’s Struggle: Teaching Reading Today,” Presentation for UAlbany in the High School’s Humanities & Social Sciences Workshop, Albany, New York, December 1st, 2023
“A New Naturalism: Niche Construction and/as Poetic Thinking,” Panel Presentation at NeMLA, Buffalo, New York, March 26, 2023
“Du Bois’s John Brown: Freedom, Determinism, and the Cadences of Chance” at C19 Seventh Biennial Conference, April 2022
“The Difference Culture Makes: Pragmatism, Poetry, and Science,” Presentation at the Science and Technology Studies Research Day, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, March 22, 2023
“Writing Mind: Improvisation, Imagination, and Textual Form in William Carlos Williams” at MLA, January 2021
“’music it for yourself’: Williams, Judgment, and Aesthetic Education” at The American Literature Association Conference, San Diego, California May 2020 [Cancelled due to Covid]
“The Basis of Faith in Art: On Some Kantian Themes in William Carlos Williams” at The Uses of Aesthetics Conference Karlstad, Sweden, September 2019
“Muriel Rukeyser and the Poetics of Possibility” at the 44th Annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900, February 2016
“American Modernism and the Hidden 19th Century” at The Hidden Nineteenth Century Seminar Johns Hopkins University, July 2014
“Musement and Inquiry: Peirce’s Relevance for Literary Study Today” at Le Moyne College’s “The Return of the Text” Conference, September 2013
Panelist for “An Injury to One: Fighting the Exploitation of Graduate Student Labor,” at MLA, January 2012.
Events Organized:
Co-organizer and facilitator for “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Crisis” September 8th & 22nd, 2023
Co-organizer and facilitator for “Meeting Places: Conversations Between & Beyond the Disciplines” March 31st, April 14th, April 28th, 2023
Co-organizer and facilitator for “Social Practices as Biological Niche Construction: A Forum on Forthcoming Work by Joseph Rouse” November 18th, 2022
Workshops:
Presenter at “Publication Workshop for University at Albany English Department Graduate Students,” University at Albany, October 28th, 2022.
Service:
Academic Service
2013-2014-Undergraduate Academic Advisor for English Department
Professional and Public Service
2011-2020-Chief Steward, Business Agent, and Executive Vice President for the Graduate Student Employees Union/ CWA Local 1104
2010-2011-Chair of English Department Outreach Committee & Books for Prisoners Program
Founding Member of Save Our SUNY and New York Students Rising
Awards and Scholarships:
Recipient of the 2024 Torch Faculty/Student Engagement Award at UAlbany
Nominated for the 2023 Torch Faculty/Student Engagement Award at UAlbany
Recipient of the 2021 University of Albany Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award
Recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Dissertation in English Award at U Albany
Recipient of the 2020 Richard Thorns Dissertation Summer Fellowship at U Albany, Summer 2020 ($1500.00)
Nominated for the Daniel and Wendy J. L. Keyser Teaching Excellence Award at U Albany, 2019-2020
Recipient of the 2016 United University Professions William Scheuerman Post-Baccalaureate Scholarship ($ 3000.00).
Professional Development Award ($ 498.00) from the UAlbany Graduate Student Association Summer 2016
Nominated for the 2015 UAlbany Faculty/Student Engagement Award by members of the graduating undergraduate class of 2015.
Recipient of the 2013 UAlbany English Graduate Student Organization Recognition Award for outstanding departmental engagement and support.
Professional Affiliations:
Modern Language Association, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Founding Member of The Tautegory Project
James Searle 