Audrey Bilger has been named president of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She will be the first woman to lead the college. Reed College enrolls over 1,400 students, 54 percent of whom are women.
Currently, Dr. Bilger serves as vice president for academic affairs, dean of the college, and professor of English at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Earlier in her career, she spent 22 years at Claremont McKenna College where she served in various roles including professor of literature, founding faculty director of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, chair of the literature department, coordinator of gender studies, and member of the board of trustees academic affairs committee. She also has served on the English faculty at Oberlin College in Ohio.
As an academic, Dr. Bilger has conducted extensive work about comedy, Jane Austen, the English novel, feminist theory, popular culture, and gender and sexuality. She is the author of Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage (Seal Press, 2012) and Laughing Feminism: Subversive Comedy in Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Jane Austen (Wayne State University Press, 1998).
“I have a profound respect for Reed’s intellectual traditions, and I share the values expressed in Reed’s mission,” said Dr. Bilger. “Reed is doing something that is rare in higher education today. It will be a privilege and delight to champion this community of scholars and to serve as president of an institution engaged in such critical work.”
Dr. Bilger is a graduate of Oklahoma State University where she majored in philosophy. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in English from the University of Virginia.