Deborah Carlin, professor of American literacy and cultural studies and associate chair of the department of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, died on May 6. She was 57 years old.
Dr. Carlin joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 1987. She was the author of Cather, Canon, and the Politics of Reading (University of Massachusetts Press, 1992).
Professor Carlin was a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English and American language and literature from Harvard University. She also held a master’s degree in clinical social work from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.