Grace Bernadette McGowan
Grace McGowan is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Colby College. She received her PhD from Boston University in the American Studies Program. She was born and grew up in Derry, Ireland as part of a generation bridging the tail end of The Troubles and beginning of the Peace Process. She attended the University of Oxford from 2013-2017 to study English Language and Literature. During her time as an undergraduate she suffered an ischemic stroke in 2015 resulting in pausing her studies for a year to recover. After completing her undergraduate degree she pursued a PhD to continue her research interests in Black Classicism and American beauty myths.
Grace is a proud first-gen and low-income scholar. She works closely with the Newbury Center for First-Generation Students at Boston University to illuminate the challenges encountered by first-gen, international, and low-income students. Her Instagram, @phdoingmydamnbest, aims to demystify academia and help other scholars navigate the space of the academy. Her digital outreach and scholarly community-building also includes founding Ampersand: An American Studies Journal which operates out of her home program at Boston University. She is committed to mentoring and supporting younger scholars in the academy.
To learn more, email gmcgowan@colby.edu or click the button below. Invitations for guest lectures and wider collaborations are welcome.
EMPLOYMENT
Visiting Assistant Professor of English — Colby College, 2024-2027
EDUCATION
PhD in American & New England Studies — Boston University, 2024
Dissertation: “Venus Worked in Bronze”: African-American Women Writers and Classical Beauty Myths
M.A. in American & New England Studies— Boston University, 2021
B.A. English Language and Literature— University of Oxford, June 2017
Dissertation: “I Know I Can’t Change the Future but I Can Change the Past”: Toni Morrison, Robin Coste Lewis, and the Classical Tradition.
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed:
“Black Women in the North American Literary Tradition” in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Women and Gender History. April, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197852675.003.0117
Co-Authored with Ravynn K. Stringfield. A Duet With History, Lizzo ft. James Madison’s Flute: Remixing and Reimagining American History. Nursing Clio. March 2023. https://nursingclio.org/2023/03/29/a-duet-with-history-lizzo-and-james-madisons-crystal-flute/
“I Know I Can’t Change the Future but I Can Change the Past”; Toni Morrison, Robin Coste Lewis, and the Classical Tradition. Contemporary Women's Writing, OUP, Volume 13, Issue 3, November 2019, Pages 339–356, https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpaa001.
Edited Volumes:
“Black, Bronze, and Copper Venus: The Racial Implications of Classicizing Cosmetics.” in Classical Reception in Cosmetics Advertising, IMAGINES: Classical Reception in the Visual and Performing Arts Series. ed. Jane Draycott and Laurence Totelin. Bloomsbury Press. Forthcoming.
“Classical Legacies: African American Studies, Black Feminism, and the Classical Tradition” in The Living Legacy of African-American Studies; Its Past, Present, and Future(s) ed. Adria Y. Goldman, LaRonda Sanders-Senu, and Laura Wilson. University of Georgia Press. Forthcoming.
Open Access:
Commentary on the May/June 1903 issue of the Colored American Magazine for The Digital Colored American Magazine, a digital humanities project. https://coloredamerican.org/?page_id=1925
“Ovid Rewritten: Objectification, Fragmentation, and Transformation in the Writing of Toni Morrison and Robin Coste Lewis.” Stanford Arcade Colloquium: New Directions in Thing Theory in Literary Studies. March, 2022. https://arcade.stanford.edu/content/ovid-rewritten-objectification-fragmentation-and-transformation-writing-toni-morrison-and
“The Fate of Medusa: Black Women Artists and Rethinking Medusa”. Ampersand: An American Studies Journal. Vol. 2. Boston University. February, 2022. https://sites.bu.edu/ampersandjournal/2022/02/02/grace-mcgowan/
“In ‘Rumors’, Lizzo And Cardi B Pull From the Ancient Greeks Putting A New Twist On An Old Tradition.” The Conversation. Reprinted in The Boston Sunday Globe. August, 2021. https://theconversation.com/in-rumors-lizzo-and-cardi-b-pull-from-the-ancient-greeks-putting-a-new-twist-on-an-old-tradition-166318
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2026:
Faculty Grant for “Islands.” Colby College Center for the Arts and Humanities for Literature and Food class.
Faculty Workshop Grant for Book Manuscript Development. Colby College, Humanities Division. Respondents: Prof. Emily Greenwood (Harvard University) and Sarah Derbew (Stanford University).
2025:
Faculty Grant for “Islands.” Colby College Center for the Arts and Humanities for Literature of the Urban and Rural class
2024:
Dissertation Fellow. Boston University Center for the Humanities.
2023:
Women's Council New England Women's College Award.
Graduate Student Organization Travel Award. Boston University.
David Hall Memorial Prize. Boston University.
2022:
Helen G. Allen Humanities Award. Boston University Center for the Humanities.
Angela J. and James J. Rallis Memorial Award. Boston University Center for the Humanities.
2021:
New England American Studies Association: Mary Kelley Prize, Honorable Mention for “This Fault’ring Music Dies Upon My Tongue: Phillis Wheatley’s Classicism”.
William V Shannon Memorial Fellowship. Boston University.