John Champagne, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus, English
Penn State Laureate, 2018-19
Mailing Address:
PENN STATE BEHREND
GLENHILL FARMHOUSE
ERIE PA 16563

Dr. John Champagne received his B.A. from the Thomas Hunter Honors Program of Hunter College in 1986, his M.A. in Film Studies from New York University (1988), and his Ph.D. in English, Critical and Cultural Studies from the University of Pittsburgh (1993). Dr. Champagne's research is in the area of Comparative Cultural Studies, with a focus on the representation of Gender and Sexuality in modernist film and literature.

He is the author of six books, including The Blue Lady's Hands (Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1988), When the Parrot Boy Sings (NY: Meadowland Books, 1990), The Ethics of Marginality, A New Approach to Gay Studies (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1995), Aesthetic Modernism and Masculinity in Fascist Italy (London and NY: Routledge, 2013), Italian Masculinity as Queer Melodrama: Caravaggio, Puccini, Contemporary Cinema  (NY: Palgrave, 2015), and Queer Ventennio: Italian Fascism, Homoerotic Art, and the Nonmodern in the Modern (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2018).

Dr. Champagne publishes in both scholarly and creative venues, including such journals as Modern Italy, boundary 2, College English, Kenyon Review, and the Journal of Homosexuality. He is the winner of the 2003 Penn State Teaching Fellow Award, the 2000 Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 1998 Benjamin A. Lane Outstanding Service Award. As a Fulbright recipient, he spent the 2006–07 school year teaching American Studies in Tunisia at the University of La Manouba. Dr. John Champagne was named Penn State Laureate for the 2018-19 academic year. He retired in 2024.

Courses Taught

  • CMLIT 003, Introduction to African Literatures
  • CMLIT 101 and 101H, The Theme of Identity in World Literature: Race, Gender, and Other Issues of Diversity
  • CMLIT 491, Literary Adaptation: International and Comparative Perspectives
  • COMM 150, The Art of the Cinema
  • ENGL 004, Basic Writing Skills
  • ENGL 015, Rhetoric and Composition
  • ENGL 030, Honors Freshman Composition
  • ENGL 050, Introduction to Creative Writing
  • ENGL 130, Reading and Popular Texts (formerly ELISH 130)
  • ENGL 189, The Founders of Modern Drama
  • ENGL 200, Introduction to Critical Reading
  • ENGL 202B, Effective Writing: Writing in the Humanities
  • ENGL 212, Introduction to Fiction Writing
  • ENGL 312, Globality and Literature (formerly ELISH 301)
  • ENGL 402, Literature and Society
  • ENGL 482W, Contemporary Literary Theory and Practice
  • ENGL 488, Modern Continental Drama
  • ENGL 490, Women Writers and Their World
  • ENGL 494, Senior Thesis
  • ENGL 495, Internship (formerly ELISH 495)
  • ELISH 497C, Children's Literacy
  • INART 001, The Arts
  • INART 005, Performing Arts
  • INART 100W, Seminars in Integrative Arts
  • IT 130, Italian Culture and Civilization
  • PHIL 005H, Philosophy, Art, and Film
  • PHIL 014 and 014U, Philosophy of Love and Sex