Sarah Whitney, Ph.D.

Sarah Whitney, Ph.D.
Director, Academic Affairs
Associate Teaching Professor, English and Women's Studies
144 Kochel

Mailing Address:
PENN STATE BEHREND
170 KOCHEL CENTER
ERIE, PA 16563

Dr. Sarah Whitney received her B.A. in English and history from the College of William and Mary, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia.

At Penn State Behrend, she teaches Women's Studies and English Literature courses within H&SS, and serves as the director of academic affairs and assistant director of academic administration for the college. She also serves as the director of the Women’s Studies program.

She was the inaugural faculty member selected for the Penn State Behrend Administrative Fellows Program, which aims to provide college administrative leadership experience for women and minorities. At the end of the fellowship, she was appointed director of special projects for the Chancellor’s Office.

She previously taught Women’s Studies at the University of Richmond, and served as director of the Women’s Resource Center at Randolph-Macon College. She also worked at the University of Virginia’s Women’s Center for several years, serving as assistant director before coming to Penn State Behrend.

Her work has been published in Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, Clues: A Journal of Detective Fiction, and in the book Investigating Veronica Mars. Her research interests include the history of American women’s literature, women’s popular culture, American Gothic, and post-feminism.

She is currently in the middle of a manuscript on post-feminist gothic literature in America, 1985-2010. She and Dr. Warren are the proud parents of two sons.
 

Courses Taught

  • ENGL 015, Rhetoric and Composition
  • ENGL 202C, Effective Writing: Technical Writing
  • ENGL 202D, Effective Writing: Business Writing
  • ENGL 489/ WMNST 489, British Women Writers
  • ENGL 490, WMNST 490, Women Writers and Their Worlds
  • ENGL 494, Senior Thesis in English
  • WMNST 003, Women in the Humanities and the Arts
  • WMNST 194/ENGL 194, Women Writers
  • WMNST 301, Introduction to Feminist Thought

Adolescent Literature, YA, Children's Literature, Feminist Theory, Women's Literature, Sexual and Domestic Violence

"Sharpening the Pointe: The Intersectional Feminism of Young Adult Ballet Novels" - April 1, 2020

“I’m going to look just like him”: Boys’ Development and S.E. Hinton’s Fraternal Lens - October 1, 2018

Sprinkling Black Girl Magic in the Middle Grade Novel, Girlhood Studies - April 1, 2018

Kisses, Bitches: Pretty Little Liars and the Framing of the Adolescent Girl, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature - October, 2017

Just Take One Step: Bystander Fiction, Sexual Assault and Young Adult Literature, The ALAN Review (published by National Council of Teachers of English) - January, 2017

Splattered Ink: Postfeminist Gothic Fiction and Gendered Violence - September 1, 2016

I Can Be Whoever I Want to Be: Alias and the Post-Feminist Rhetoric of Choice, Genders - March 1, 2013

Detecting Rape in Veronica Mars - 2011

A Hidden Body in the Library: Agatha Christie, Mary Westmacott and Emotional Violence, Clues: A Journal of Detection - 2011

Uneasy Lie the Bones: Alice Sebold’s Post-Feminist Gothic, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature - 2010

Ph D, English Literature, The University of Virginia

MA, English Literature, The University of Virginia

BA, English, History, College of William and Mary