St. Catherine University Scholar Wins the Teaching Literature Book Award

Tarshia Stanley, dean of the division of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, and professor of English at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been selected as the winner of the Teaching Literature Book Award, an international prize for the best book on teaching literature at the college level. The award is presented biennially by the graduate faculty in English at Idaho State University.

The prize committee seeks to reward exemplary books that excel in blending literary theory or interpretation with curricular planning and classroom methods. Dr. Stanley was honored for her book Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler (Modern Language Association of America, 2021.)

The award committee stated that the book “presents a clear case for teaching the innovative and rich novels and short stories of this most significant writer of speculative fiction. This volume is worthwhile reading for anyone looking to bring Butler into the classroom, and also for anyone looking to apply innovative thinking and reading practices in the humanities to the powerful worldbuilding of speculative fiction, particularly that being written by Black authors, especially women.”

Sr. Stanley came to St. Catherine University in 2018 after nearly two decades at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she served as the director of E.W. Githii Honors Program and as an associate professor of English. Dean Stanley earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Duke University. She earned both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Florida.