Signum University

Departments: Guest Lecturer

  • Joel Merriner is a bespectacled man of European descent who has more than a little grey in his red beard. He's very close to the camera, mostly blocking the wall behind himself, but there is a corner of a picture showing on the wall and I cannot for the life of me tell if it's a fancy depiction of the tragedy mask or a map with a waterfall running through it.

    Joel Merriner

    Joel Merriner is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Plymouth, where he teaches modules on art historical methodologies, visual culture, and the history of book illustration. His master’s degree focused on the work of the Ukrainian Tolkien illustrator Sergei Iukhimov and his Ph.D. explored visual alterity within late Soviet-era Central and Eastern European illustrated…

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  • Dr. Verlyn Flieger smiles broadly at us, her grey blue eyes snapping with brilliance, her short, wavy salt-and-mahogany hair casual. She is standing outdoors on a beautifully sunlit day. Those dimples speak of a lifetime of joy at new discoveries and communicating her learning to others.

    Verlyn Flieger

    Verlyn Flieger, Ph. D. is Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland at College Park specializing in myth studies and comparative mythology. She teaches a sequence of graduate and undergraduate myth courses that offer Celtic, Arthurian, Hindu, Native American, and Norse myth. Concentrating on modern fantasy with a special focus on the works…

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  • Tom Shippey is a gentleman of European descent whose weathered face speaks of both smiles and worries. He's dressed for teaching in a well-pressed button down blue shirt and navy necktie with narrow maroon and tan diagonal striped tied in a four-in-hand. His pate is freckled with a fringe of short white hair and he is greeting us from a sunny room with yellow walls.

    Tom Shippey

    I have taught at six universities, including St John’s College, Oxford, and Visiting Professorships at Harvard and U Texas. At Leeds I held the Chair of English Language and Medieval English Literature held in the 1920s by Tolkien. My publications include books on Old English and (three of them) on Tolkien, and in later years…

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  • Philip's black hair looks like he just swept it out of his face as he paused in a great game of soccer. He's dressed casually and is outdoors in front of some dark trees. His eyes are crinkled up against the sun and his smile is welcoming.

    Philip Walsh

    Philip Walsh received his BA in classical studies at the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. in comparative literature from Brown University. A broadly-trained comparatist, he enjoys teaching drama of all periods, ancient Greek and Roman literature, the classical languages, and the prose fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro. His research focuses on the reception…

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  • Dr. Michael D. C. Drout gazes at us with eyes which have look across millennia of primary and secondary scholarship. Standing in a crisp, button-down shirt before a black background, the effect might be stark. Yet, if we look carefully, we see that his shirt cuffs are rolled up to get to work right beside us, his lavalier mic ensures that every student can hear if they are listening. His glance is not a barrier, but an invitation to challenge ourselves to rigors that we had not dared before.

    Michael D. C. Drout

    Michael D.C. Drout is Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, where he teaches Old and Middle English, Science Fiction and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Drout is the author of How Tradition Works, Tradition and Influence in Anglo-Saxon Literature, Drout’s Quick and…

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  • John Garth squints against the sun in this lovely outdoor picture. He's got a broad smile, iron grey short hair, and a weathered look, as though he may have seen a few storms and been made kinder by the experience. John is dressed informally and he seems to be inviting us on a nice hike through the Blue Hills. The tree in the background lists at a jaunty angle, which may signify nothing at all, but there's a reason he chose this photo, so I thought that the jaunty tree might be an important part of the whole effect.

    John Garth

    Writer, editor and researcher John Garth is well known for his ongoing work on J.R.R. Tolkien’s life and creativity. In 2017 he became only the fourth winner of the Tolkien Society’s Outstanding Contribution Award for his ‘important and exceptional’ contribution to Tolkien scholarship. His books are published in 18 languages. His first, Tolkien and the…

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  • Douglas Adams has a lot of books. Yes he does. So very many books. He is posed in front of them in a button shirt and dark jacket. He is a man of European ancestory with glasses and a cleanshaven face. The bookshelves extend for about 150 meters behind him.

    Douglas A. Anderson

    Douglas A. Anderson’s first book was The Annotated Hobbit (1988; revised and enlarged 2002), and he co-founded Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, co-editing it for eight volumes from 2004 through 2011. He has edited many books, often resurrecting notable but neglected works of fantasy by authors such as E.A. Wyke-Smith, Kenneth Morris, Leonard Cline, and Evangeline Walton. With Verlyn Flieger,…

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  • Dimitra Fimi is a native of Greece and her beautiful smile and wide eyes make us feel warmly welcome in her classroom. the photo is shot outdoors and the dappled sunlight throught he leaves remind us that not all scholarship happens in dim stone halls. Let your own curiosity flow: Dr. Fimi will guide us toward amazing discoveries!

    Dimitra Fimi

    Dimitra Fimi is a Visiting Lecturer in English Literature. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Athens, Greece and continued with postgraduate studies at Cardiff University, where she gained an MA in Early Celtic Studies (2002) and a PhD in English Literature (2005). Her doctoral thesis focused on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien…

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  • Chad Andrews is a man of European decent who apparently lives his life in black and white photography. He's got a full beard and dark eyes. He's wearing a crew necked sweather and looking to our left.

    Chad Andrews

    Chad Andrews is a teacher and researcher with a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies. He is interested in conjunctures of popular culture, technology, and hegemony that emerged in postwar America, with particular attention paid to the interplay between popular fantasies and structures of power. To explore these links, his writing and teaching engage with history, focusing on…

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  • A man of European decent is delivering a talk with a sheaf of notes in his hand. He's ignoring the notes, however, and he has wandered away from the podium. He leans in toward the audience with a look of excitement such as he probably had when he was discovering a new cool book at the library as a small boy.

    Andrew Higgins

    Dr. Andrew Higgins received a PhD in 2015 from Cardiff Metropolitan University. His PhD thesis ‘The Genesis of Tolkien’s Mythology’ explored the first major expression of Tolkien’s mythology The Book of Lost Tales materials, with a specific emphasis on the interrelated nature of myth and language in Tolkien’s earliest world-building. He has currently just completed…

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