Sharon Gallagher, Ph.D.

Sharon Gallagher, Ph.D.
Teaching Professor, English
145 Kochel

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

Sharon Gallagher is an undergraduate alumna of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Her experiences at Penn State Behrend encouraged her to continue her education so she could teach college. She earned both her master’s and Ph. D. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she focused her studies on 19th century British literature, with a special emphasis on Irish literature. Her love of Ireland has prompted many visits there as a student at Trinity College’s Institute of Irish Studies and University College-Galway as well as a conference presenter in Cork and a participant in a spring break service project at Castle Ward in Northern Ireland.

Although Dr. Gallagher did not start her teaching career at Penn State Behrend, she has been a member of the faculty here since 1998 and has taught a range of courses in both writing and literature. Her interests in Irish literature, gothic, science fiction, mythology, and fairy/folktales are often reflected in the courses that she teaches. She also enjoys a good mystery and conducting primary research whenever she has the opportunity.

Courses Taught

  • CAMS 045, Classical Mythology
  • CMLIT 120, The Literature of the Occult
  • ENGL 002, The Great Traditions in English Literature
  • ENGL 015, Rhetoric and Composition
  • ENGL 191, Science Fiction
  • ENGL 202D, Effective Writing: Business Writing
  • ENGL 296C, British Mythology
  • ENGL 477, Teaching Children's Literature

19th century Irish literature (Charles Robert Maturin, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker), 19th century British literature, mythology, detective fiction, primary research, 19th century American women writers (Fairfield family)

The Irish Vampire: From Folklore to the Imaginations of Charles Robert Maturin, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and Bram Stoker - March, 2017

Strengthening Technical Writing Knowledge Through Targeted Study in a First-Year Composition Course
Collaborators: Robert Weissbach, Co-Author; Sharon Gallagher, Co-Author

Three Nineteenth-Century Irish Novelists, Their Gothic Myth, and National Literature: Charles Robert Maturin, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and Bram Stoker - May, 2004

Carpe Diem, The North East Breeze - May, 1998

Violence in Verse: The Death Toll in Irish Poetry, EAPSU Conference Proceedings - October, 1996

Yeats’ Red Hanrahan: The Old Traditions in a New Hero for an Emerging Nation, Pennsylvania English - December, 1992

Ph D, English Literature and Criticism, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Irish Studies, The University of Galway

MA, English literature, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

BA, English literature, The Pennsylvania State University

CERT, Celtic Influences in Anglo-Irish Literature, The Institute of Irish Studies