Two English professors and one art professor will join the DePauw faculty for the fall 2013 semester.
Amity Reading and David Crouse will join the English department, specializing in medieval and Renaissance literature and fiction, respectively. Part-time art professor John Berry has been hired as a full-time professor for the art department.
Reading, who is has been at Albion College since 2010, has since taught courses in medieval literature, Renaissance literature, and theatre in modern England. She also specializes in the history of the English language.
"In [the English] department we've been without someone who can bridge the medieval and Renaissance period for a while," English department head Harry Brown said. "We're happy to have [someone] who has liberal arts teaching experience."
According to Brown, Reading is particularly knowledgeable about Anglo-Saxon literature, which is the beginning of English literature. At Albion she taught courses in the history of the English language, which is a subject DePauw has not been able offer.
"Suddenly we have a colleague who can teach the linguistics of the language, the development of English as it relates to both spoken and written expression," Brown said.
Crouse joins the faculty as a fiction writer. He is the former head of the Writing and Literature program at the Chester College of New England and, since 2007, has been the head of the M.F.A. program at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks.
"Our department needed a fiction writer since the departure of Barbara Bean," Brown said. "[Crouse has] written graphic novels, and he is interested in teaching a course or courses on graphic fiction and the interplay of fiction writing and image."
Crouse has published works for Dark Horse Comics and as well as two short story collections, Copy Cats and The Man Back There.
"He is a beautiful writer," English professor Lili Wright said. "He has published probably thirty different stories."
After three years of part time teaching at DePauw, Berry will join the art department as a full-time professor. Berry received his M.F.A. in painting from Indiana University and has received awards and grants for his work from institutions such as the British School in Rome and the Rhode Island School of Design.
"His paintings are figurative, and involve complicated spaces and passages," art department head Michael Mackenzie said. "Painting remains a very important medium for the visual arts. It's very important for us that John has joined the faculty in a tenure-track position."
Students are advised to check e-Services for the new courses that Reading, Crouse and Berry will teach.