Background
Education
PhD in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge (1997)
MA in English Language and Literature, University of St Andrews (1992)
Note: the MA is the undergraduate degree in Scotland.
Work Experience
2010 - Present: California State University, Northridge
Professor of English and Director, Center for the Digital Humanities
2005 - 2010: California State University, Northridge
Associate Professor of English
1999 - 2005: California State University, Northridge
Assistant Professor of English
1997 - 1999: University of Missouri, Columbia
Visiting Professor of English
1995 - 1997: University of Cambridge (Various Colleges)
Supervisor in English
1995 - 1997: British and European Studies Group (for Year Abroad Students from the USA)
Tutor
Affiliations and Memberships in Professional Organisations
Associate Faculty Member of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Membership in the Modern Language Association, Medieval Academy of America, Medieval Association of the Pacific, and the Association for Computers and the Humanities
Languages
Excellent reading knowledge of Old and Middle English, French (modern and medieval), and Latin; Good reading knowledge of Old Norse, Italian, and German; fair reading knowledge of medieval Welsh.
Technical Expertise
Excellent knowledge of HTML/CSS, JavaScript/jQuery, JSON, TEI/XML, PHP, Python, and MySQL and MongoDB databases. Extensive familiarity with Wordpress, Drupal, and Scalar. Experience working with numerous text analysis and visualization tools (e.g. MALLET, Gephi, d3.js), APIs (e.g. IIIF), and development tools (e.g. git and GitHub).
Publications
Essays
With Zhang, C., Feng, W., Steffens, E., de Landaluce, A., and LeBlanc, M.D. “Lexos 2017: Building Reliable Software in Python”. Journal of Computing in Small Colleges 33:6 (2018): 124-134.
With Nichols, R., K. Nielbo, E. Slingerland, U. Bergeton, and C. Logan. “Modeling the Contested Relationship between Analects, Mencius, and Xunzi: Preliminary Evidence from a Machine-Learning Approach.” The Journal of Asian Studies 77, no. 1 (2018): 19-57.
“Frið and Grið: Laȝamon and the Legal Language of Wulfstan.” In Reading Laȝamon’s Brut: Approaches and Explorations, edited by Rosamund Allen, Jane Roberts, and Carole Weinberg. DQR Studies in Literature 52. Amsterdam: Rodopi Press, 2013, 391–417.
“Frið and Fredom: Royal Forests and the English Jurisprudence of Laȝamon’s Brut and Its Readers.” Modern Philology 109 (2011): 17–45.
“Animal Imagery and Oral Discourse in Havelok’s First Fight.” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 35 (2004): 311–27.
“Service.” In Reading The Lord of the Rings, edited by Robert Eaglestone, 138–48. London: Continuum, 2006.
“The Æðelen of Engle: Constructing Ethnic and Regional Identities in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 16, no. 1 (2004): 95–130.
“The Legend of Havelok the Dane and the Historiography of East Anglia.” Studies in Philology 100, no. 3 (2003): 245–77.
With Michael D.C. Drout. “Philological Inquiries 2: Something ‘Old,’ Something ‘New’: Material Philology and the Recovery of the Past.” The Heroic Age 13 (2010).
With Michael D.C. Drout. “Philological Inquiries 1: Method and Merovingians.” The Heroic Age 12 (2009).
“Iron-Clad Evidence in Early Medieval Dialectology: Old English īsern, īsen, and īren.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 98, no. 4 (1997): 371–90.
Online and Digital Humanities Projects
With LeBlanc, M.D., Drout, M., and Feng, W. (2019). Lexos. v4.0. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1403869.
With LeBlanc, M.D., Drout, M., and Feng, W. (2018). Lexos. v3.2.0. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1403869.
Designer/Developer, Serendip-o-matic.
2013 DH Awards winner for Best Use of DH or Fun; Charleston Advisor Readers Choice Awards winner for Best New Mobile App, 2014.
Editions
“Edmund Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender, January, April, October, November, and December Eclogues.” In The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Calgary: Broadview Press, 2007.
Encyclopedia Entries, Reviews, and Reports
Entries for “Laȝamon” and “Havelok” in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, Siân Echard and Robert Rouse, eds. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.
Review of Laura Ashe, Ivana Djordjević and Judith Weiss, eds. The Exploitations of Medieval Romance. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2010. In Philological Quarterly 91:1 (2012): 121-124.
Review of Thomas Bredehoft, Early English Metre (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2005). Comitatus 38 (2007): 195-198.
Entries in The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, ed. Michael D.C. Drout (New York: Routledge, 2006). Topics: “Sigelwara Land,” “Philology: General Works, 1924-1927,” “Kingship,” “King Horn,” “Saxo Grammaticus,” and “Iþþlen in Sawles Warde.”
“The Normans in Britain and Ireland: Post-1154.” Entry for the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages-Online. Brepols Publishers, 2005.
“The Normans in Britain and Ireland.” Entry for the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages-Online. Brepols Publishers, 2004.
Review of Christine Chism, Alliterative Revivals (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002). In Envoi: A Review Journal of Medieval Literature 10.2 (2004 for Fall 2001): 108-122.
“Anglo-Saxon Studies in North America.” Newsletter of the Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland (TOEBI) (Summer 2004): 6-7.
Recordings
Piers Plowman. Produced by The Chaucer Studio, 2015.
Cleanness. Produced by The Chaucer Studio, 2007.
Interviews
“The Real Robin Hood.” Documentary by the History Channel, aired on May 11, 2010.
“Forging through the Darkness: The Ralph Bakshi Vision for The Lord of the Rings.” Documentary by Amity Pictures for Warner Home Video. Appears on the DVD bonus material of the re-release of the Bakshi animated movie of The Lord of the Rings.
“I Am the Ring.” Documentary by Amity Pictures for Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. Appears on the DVD bonus material of The Green Lantern movie.
Awards and Fellowships
External Awards
2017-2020 — Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
Scholarly Communications Grant
The WhatEvery1Says Project
2017 — Fulbright Commission,
Fulbright Specialist in Digital Humanities
Institute of Advanced Communication, Education and Research (IACER)
Kathmandu, Nepal
2015-2017 — National Endowment for the Humanities,
Digital Humanities Start-up Grant
Easing Entry and Improving Access to Computer-Assisted Text Analysis for the Humanities
2013-2017 — National Endowment for the Humanities,
Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant
An Archive of Early Middle English
2013 — National Endowment for the Humanities,
One Week | One Tool Grant
Serendip-o-matic
2012 — National Endowment for the Humanities, Travel Award for Taking TEI Further: TEI Customization Workshop
2002 — The Huntington Library, Fletcher Jones Foundation Fellowship
1994 — Cambridge University, Research Award for Students in the Humanities and Social Sciences
CSUN Awards
2014, 2016: College of Humanities Faculty Fellowship
2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2021: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Grant
2011: Polished Apple Award for Teaching and Mentoring
2010: Oviatt Library Digital Objects Grant
2010: Writing and Reading across the Disciplines (WRAD) Fellowship
2000, 2002, 2009: Judge Julian Beck Grant for Pedagogical Innovation
Presentations
Conference Papers and Invited Lectures
“Lexos for Analysing Historical Literatures in the Classroom”. Presented at the Computer-Assisted Text Analysis for Resource-Scarce Literatures Symposium, Miami, 2019.
“Open, Shareable, Reproducible Workflows for the Digital Humanities: The Case of the 4Humanities.org ‘WhatEvery1Says’ Project.” Presented at Digital Humanities 2017, Montreal, 2017.
“Lexos: An Integrated Lexomics Workflow.” Poster presentation at Digital Humanities 2017, Montreal, 2017.
“The Potential of the Digital Humanities.” Invited lecture for the Literary Association of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal, 2017.
“Saintly Sidekicks in the South English Legendary.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2017.
“Linguistics in the Digital Humanities.” Invited speaker at the Linguistics in Practice Institute (LIPI), Northridge, CA, 2017.
“Reducing Barriers to Participation in Automated Text Analysis in the Humanities.” Presented at the Modern Language Association of America, Philadelphia, PA, 2017.
“Digital Humanities Projects with Small and Unusual Data: Some Experiences from the Trenches.” Invited lecture at the UC Irvine Data Sciences and Digital Humanities Symposium, Irvine, CA, 2016. The transcript was selected as an Editor’s Choice by Digital Humanities Now (15 March 2016).
“Lexomic Evidence and the Composition of the Early Middle English South English Legendary.” Presented at the Digital Britain Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2016.
“Sex, Space, and Sanctuary: Translating Freedom in Laȝamon’s Brut and the South English Legendary’s Life of St Mary of Egypt.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2016.
“An Archive of Early Middle English.’ Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2014.
“Play as Process and Product: On Making Serendip-o-matic.” Presented at DH 2014, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2014.
“Thinking with Computers: Materiality, Digitality, and the Medieval Manuscript.” Invited lecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014.
“Learning Laȝamon’s Runan: A Computational Approach.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2013.
“Computer-Assisted Analysis of Medieval Texts.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2012.
“The State of Early Middle English.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2012.
“Bodleian, Laud Misc 108, the Archive of Early Middle English, and the Challenges of Digital Manuscript Study.” Presented at the The MARCO Manuscript Workshop, Knoxville, TN, 2011.
“The Impact of Lemmatization on Lexomic Hierarchical Clustering of Old English Texts.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2011.
“Lemmatizing the Old English Corpus.’ Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, Tacoma, WA, 2010.
“Marking Early Middle English and the Challenges of Laud Misc 108.” Presented at the Third International MARGOT Conference: The Digital Middle Ages: Teaching and Learning, New York, NY, 2010.
“Þon Lawen Þe Stoden a Þon Ilke Dawen: The Divisions of the Past in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2010.
“Digitising Laud Misc. 108.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2009.
“Reading Anglo-Saxon Law in Middle English Literature.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, Albuquerque, NM, 2009.
“Laȝamon and the Legacy of Wulfstan of Worcester.” Presented at the 6th International Conference on Laȝamon’s Brut, Gregynog, Wales, 2008.
“Teaching Middle English: Where Are We Now? Where Do We Need to Be?.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2008.
“Law and Arthur: Legal Literature in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2007.
“Sanctifying Space: Locating the England’s Heritage in the South English Legendary.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, Salt Lake City, UT, 2006.
“Æfter Þan Flode: National History and the Encyclopaedic Tradition in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA, 2005.
“Somerset before Dante: The Boundaries of Regionalism in Early Middle English.” Presented at the Modern Language Association of America, Washington DC, 2005.
“Frið and Fredom: Vernacular Legality in Laȝamon’s Brut.’ Presented at the 5th International Conference on Laȝamon’s Brut, Providence, RI, 2004.
Session Organizer for “Racial, Ethnic, and Regional Identity in Medieval England’ at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2004.
“The Textual Tradition of Havelok the Dane.’ Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2004.
“Animal Imagery and Oral Discourse in Havelok the Dane.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2003.
“Cultural Identity in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Presented at the California Medieval History Seminar, the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 2003.
“Reflections on Regionalism in Medieval England.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, Portland, OR, 2003.
“Animal Imagery and Oral Discourse in Havelok the Dane.”Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2003.
“What’s in a Name? Local History and Romance in Eastern England.” Invited speaker at the University of California, Santa Barbara Fall Colloquium on History, Politics, and Medieval Romance, Santa Barbara, CA, 2003.
“Race and Region in Medieval England.” Presented at the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, Las Vegas, NV, 2002.
“Some Reflections on the Construction of Regional Identities.” Invited speaker at the Huntington Early Modern History Seminar, the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 2002.
“All or Nothing: Medieval Literature in the Curriculum.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2001.
“The Place of the Danes in Laȝamon’s Brut.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2001.
“Havelok the Dane and the Historiography of East Anglia.” Presented at the Medieval Academy of America, Tempe, AZ, 2001.
“The Representation of Youth in Fourteenth-Century English Literature.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Pacific, Victoria, BC, 2000.
“Region and Nation in Medieval England.” Presented at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 1999.
“Peri Didaxeon and Anglo-Saxon Medical Literature of Twelfth-Century England.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 1999.
“The Motif of Youth in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Presented at the Medieval Association of the Midwest, Canton, OH, 1998.
“Trecherye and Vntrawþe: Local Politics and National Politics in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 1998.
“The Construction of Layers of Fantasy and Reality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Presented at The Ways of Creative Mythologies Conference, University of Manchester, 1997.
“The Transition from Old English to Middle English: A Case Study.” Presented at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 1997.
“Juggling the Evidence and Old English Dialectology: The Old English Word for Iron.” Presented at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 1996.
Workshops
“Workshop on Topic Modelling” To be presented at UC Irvine, 2018.
“Workshop on Markdown and GitHub (First Steps Toward learning Modern Digital Practices for Sustainable and Shareable Research)” Presented at UC Santa Barbara, 26 Jan, 2018.
“Workshop on Text Analysis with Lexos.” UCLA Digital Humanities Infrastructure Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, 2017.
“Workshop for Text Analysis with Lexos.” NEH-funded Building and Strengthening Digital Humanities through a Regional Network Initiative, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 2015.
“Workshop on Text Analysis with Lexos.” The Humanities and Technology Camp (THATCamp) Southern California, San Diego, CA, 2014.
“Text Mining Workshop.” The Humanities and Technology Camp (THATCamp) Southern California, Fullerton, CA, 2012.
“Workshops on Server-Side Scripting, TEI/XML, and Stylometrics.” The Humanities and Technology Camp (THATCamp) Southern California, Orange, CA, 2011.
Courses Taught
California State University, Northridge
Chaucer, The Gawain-Poet, Middle English Literature, Arthurian Literature, Old English Literature, Introduction to the Digital Humanities, The Technology of Textuality, the Age of Enlightenment, Major English Writers, Writing about Literature, History of the English Language, Introduction to Modern Grammar, The Lord of the Rings, Scottish Culture
University of Missouri, Columbia
Chaucer, Medieval Literature, History of the English Language, British Literature (to 1784), World Literature, Composition, The Early Modern World
University of Cambridge
Old English Literature, History of the English Language
British and European Studies Group
Myths and Heroes, Anglo-Norman and Medieval French Language and Literature
Service
Professional Service
Digital Initiatives Advisory Board Member, Medieval Academy of America (2012-2017)
Executive Board Member, CenterNet, an International network of Digital Humanities centers (2014-2016)
Secretary of the Medieval Association of the Pacific (2008-2014)
Council Member, Medieval Association of the Pacific (2006-2014)
Program Committee, Medieval Academy of America/Medieval Association of the Pacific Conference, Vancouver, April 2008, Tempe, 2011, Los Angeles, 2014
Co-organizer, Medieval Association of the Pacific Conference, UCLA, March 2-3 2007
Member of the Advisory Board of Viator
Reviews of manuscripts for Exemplaria, Viator, Cursor Mundi, Medieval Forum, Tolkien Studies, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Broadview, and Allyn and Bacon
Contributing Editor for The Broadview Anthology of British Literature
Departmental Service
Educational Technology Committee, Chair (2000-Present); Alumni/Development Committee (2005-2007); Personnel Committee (2005-2006, 2007-2008, 2020-2021); Subcommittee on Prerequisites (2003-2004); Curriculum Committee (2002-2003); Chair’s Advisory Committee (2002-2003, 2005-Present); MA Exam Committee (2001, 2003); Linguistics Committee (1999-2000)
Design and Administration of English Department Web Site (2001-Present) and Alumni Newsletter (2006-Present)
Organizer, Faculty Research Group (2004-2006)
College Service
Humanities Research Lab Coordinator (2016-present)
Director, Center for the Digital Humanities (2010-present)
Academic Technology Committee (2006-7); Linguistics Committee (2001-2004)
Author of Online ADA Web Compliance Guide (2006)
University Service
Faculty Adviser, 4Humanities@CSUN, the local branch of 4Humanities
Academic Technology Committee (2002-2005, 2013-12014)
Academic Affairs Web Initiative Committee (2011)
Principal Investigator, for the CSUN branch of the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (2010)
Provost’s Committee on Research and Scholarly Activity (2007-2008)
Design Committee, College of Extended Learning Interdisciplinary MA in Humanities (2006)
Last Update: 4 August 2021