January 5, 2024
The University of Montana Western is pleased to announce Dr. Brian Elliott as the next Division Chair of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
“I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Elliott as Division Chair of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and as a member of the Academic Leadership Team at Montana Western. His thoughtful approach to leadership will be a great asset to the university community,” said UMW Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Johnny MacLean.
Elliott earned a B.S. in Computer Science and English from Muskingum University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Ohio University, where his research focused on nineteenth-century American literature and Transatlantic Romanticism.
Starting at UMW in 2017, Elliott currently serves in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Division at Montana Western as Professor of English and has taught courses in American literature, science fiction and fantasy, graphic novels, experimental narratives, and the Great American Novel. He has also been active in chairing the English Department and General Education Committee. Prior to joining UMW, Elliott was Assistant Professor of English at Urbana University in Ohio, where he also served as Chair of Humanities and Director of the William G. Edwards Honors Program.
Elliott’s recent publications include two peer-reviewed articles on Herman Melville: “‘I could not bear to look’: The Just-World Hypothesis in Melville’s ‘The Piazza’” in the interdisciplinary journal Soundings and “Starbuck’s Train and Melville’s Trolley: ‘The Musket’ as Thought Problem in Moby-Dick” in the College English Association’s CEA Critic. Additionally, Elliott has most recently presented work on acts of reciprocity and revenge in Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s Hope Leslie at the American Literature Association symposium on the historical imagination, and he is in the early stages of a new research project exploring the role of lying and deceit in early American fiction.
“I’m excited for this opportunity to help the faculty and students of UMW advance their academic goals, both in the Division of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and for the university as a whole. The Division Chair role will allow me to work with the administration and other campus leaders to make lasting contributions that impact the whole institution and shape its future, both in the short term and the long. I’m looking forward to getting started on that work.”
Dr. Elliott started the duties of his new position at Montana Western on January 1, 2024.
