Lori Martindale, Ph.D.

About

Dr. Lori Martindale (she/her) studied Literature, Poetry, Critical Theory, and Media/ Arts as a student. Lori’s interests, teaching experience, and research are in Literature; Gender Studies; World Literature; Critical Theory and Philosophy; Writing about Literature; Film Studies; Composition and Creative Writing. 

Lori enjoys teaching the first-year Honors sequence and has taught upper-division senior seminars titled Honors 350: Magical Realism, a study of magical realism in World Literature, Art, and Film (2018; Winter 2020; 2022; 2024). Lori also taught Honors 350: The Witch (Fall 2020) on the figure of the Witch through world literature, folklore, historic print texts, art, mythology, fairy tales, and texts on the witch hunts. Lori is teaching Honors 350: Specters, Ghosts, and Hauntings: The Haunted House, on the liminal figure of the ghost, the haunted house as a scene, and literary hauntings (ghost stories) this upcoming Fall Quarter, 2025. 

Lori studied Literature for her undergraduate and master’s degrees, and then went on to study Media Studies, Literature, and theory. Lori earned a Ph.D. in Media and Communications with interdisciplinary concentrations in Literature, Poetry Studies, Critical Theory, and Film Studies at The European Graduate School in Switzerland/Malta. After her doctoral completion she was likewise a post-doctoral research fellow in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought overseas. While doing residency in Switzerland, she enjoyed walking around where Frankenstein was conceived. As a Ph.D. student, Lori was awarded an assistantship in the graduate level Poetry and Philosophy seminar. In addition, she was awarded an honorary certificate in an intensive international doctoral research seminar for her essays on Poetry and Theory at The University of Bristol, England, in the Classical Humanities. Lori also holds an M.A. in English Literature from WWU and studied postcolonial theory and literature as an undergraduate student in Trinidad. While working on her Masters in English, she was awarded a full teaching assistantship to teach Writing classes to first-year students. She has also taught Writing about Literature and a wide range of writing and literature classes, such as World Literature. In addition to teaching the first-year Honors sequence and upper-division seminars, Lori advises some Senior capstone projects on a range of topics. Lori enjoys teaching in the Honors College, as well as a variety of Gender Studies classes at Western.

When she is not teaching, she enjoys being outdoors - hiking, kayaking, listening to music, reading, and writing.