Julie Voss

• Ph.D., English, University of Kentucky
• M.A., English, Claremont Graduate University
• B.A., English/Psychology, Calvin College

Julie R. Voss joined the English program of Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2008. She currently serves as coordinator of both the English program and the American studies program.  American studies is an interdisciplinary major combining explorations of American literature, history, and society; this major is dear to her heart because her primary area of expertise—early American literature—is interdisciplinary in nature, and she feels students learn the most from literature when it is understood within a broader cultural context. Voss teaches a wide range of classes in colonial, 18th- and 19th-century American literature, as well as African-American literature, women’s writing and introductory courses in the English major. She also teaches extensively in the general education program, including composition classes, first-year experience, and humanities classes.

Voss’s doctoral work focused on the representational uses of Islam and Muslims in literature produced during the early years of the United States—an interest inspired, at least in part, by a childhood spent in Saudi Arabia. In addition to her work in this area, she has presented and published work on women writers and on pedagogy, and she enjoys writing fiction. Since 2013, Voss has also served as LR’s director of general education, overseeing matters of the core curriculum and standard undergraduate requirements. For her work in that capacity and the many related ways in which she serves the LR community, Voss was awarded the Roediger Distinguished Professorship in 2019.