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Mary Foltz

Mary Foltz

Associate Professor

610.758.3315
mcf209@lehigh.edu
0035 - Drown Hall
Education:

PhD, University at Buffalo, SUNY, 2009

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Biography

Mary Catherine Foltz received her Ph.D. in English in 2009 from University at Buffalo, under the supervision of Dr. Tim Dean, Dr. Hershini Young, and Dr. David Schmid. Her dissertation is titled “An Ethics of Waste: Twentieth-Century American Literature and Excremental Culture.” She joined the faculty at Lehigh University in 2009. She has published research with a focus on the following areas: post-45 U.S. literature, queer fiction and theory, feminist theory, environmental crises, and public humanities. In 2016, she published a monograph titled Contemporary American Literature and Excremental Culture: American Sh*t (Palgrave), which won the Northeast Modern Language Association Book Award for Literary Criticism of English Language Literature. In 2021, Foltz, with Co-PI with Suzanne Edwards, received a grant from NEH to support work in the Gloria Naylor Archive and to create edited volumes that provide new directions in scholarship based on Naylor’s archival praxis. From 2016 to the present, Foltz has served in leadership roles with South Side Initiative (SSI), which fosters university and community research collaborations to address pressing issues in the Lehigh Valley, PA. With SSI, Foltz has developed several public humanities projects, including exhibitions built from the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive, oral history projects, and literary arts programming. For her work on regional LGBTQIA+ history, Foltz received an ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowship in 2021. Her public scholarship in this area also has garnered awards, including Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center Leadership Awards (2023, 2018) and Lehigh University Pride Center’s OUTstanding Initiative Awards (2020, 2019).

Book

Contemporary American Literature and Excremental Culture: American Sh*t. Palgrave, 2020.

Winner of the 2019 Northeast Modern Language Association Book Award for Literary Criticism of English Language Literature. 
 

Articles 

“Collaborative LGBTQ+ Public Humanities Scholarship: Expanding Educational Access Through Community Archives and Public History Exhibitions.” Accepted for inclusion in Routledge Companion to Publicly Engaged Humanities Scholarship. Word Count: approx. 11,000. In Press.

“Queer Activism in the Queen City: Vignettes about 1990s LGBTQ+ Organizing in a Small Urban Center.” Accepted for publication with QED: A Journal of Queer Worldmaking. Word count: approx. 15,500. In Press.

“Queer Argonauts for Reproductive Justice.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Reproductive Justice and Literature Handbook. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave, 2022. Pg. 247-268. Word count: approx. 10,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945). Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 101 (2022). Word Count: approx. 15,000.

“LGBTQ Community Archives in Small Urban Centers: Reflections on Community and University Partnerships to Build Awareness of the Lehigh Valley’s Rich LGBTQ History from AIDS Activism to Anti-Discrimination Legislation.” Co-authored with Adrian Shanker, Susan Falciani Maldonado, Rachel Hamelers, and Kristin Leipert. European Journal of American Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer 2022): 1-25. https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18365. Word count: approx. 8,000.

“Public Humanities Scholarship and LGBTQIA+ Studies.” In Public Humanities State of the Field, Humanities for All (blog), ed. Kath Burton. February 21, 2022. https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:44800/datastreams/CONTENT/content. Word count: approx. 700.

“A Litany of Saints: Remembering the Early Years of HIV/AIDS Activism in the First Year of a New Pandemic.” Co-Authored with Adrian Shanker, Liz Bradbury, and Kristen Leipert. Inter/Alia: A Journal of Queer Studies, Issue 16 (2021). https://interalia.queerstudies.pl/issue-16-2021/foltz_shanker_bradbury_leipert/. Word count: approx. 5,800.

“Salvaging the Bones Means Fighting for Reproductive Justice: Jesmyn Ward’s Literary Representations of the Trauma Produced by Attacks on Reproductive Rights, Comprehensive Sex Education, and Access to Maternal Health Care” In Trauma and Motherhood in Contemporary Literature and Culture edited by Laura Lazarri and Nathalie Ségeral. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave, 2021. Pg. 31-58. Word count: approx. 11,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 100 (2021): 1106-1132. Word count: approx. 15,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 99, (2020): 1043-1074. Word Count: approx. 17,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 98 (2019): 1065-1096. Word Count: approx. 16,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 97 (2018): 1078-1103. Word count: approx. 14,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 96: (2017): 1082-1110. Word Count: approx. 14,500.  

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 95 (2016): 1113-1162. Word Count: approx. 25,000.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 94 (2015): 1008-1037. Word Count: approx. 16,000.

“Excremental Eros: Pleasurable Decomposition and The Lesbian Body.”  Inter/alia: A Journal of Queer Studies, No. 9 (2014): 203-224. Word Count: approx. 8,300.

“American Literature: The Twentieth Century” (Fiction since 1945).  Year’s Work in English Studies, Vol. 93 (2014): 996-1011. Word Count: approx. 8,000.

“Samuel R. Delany’s Novel Biography in the Time of AIDS: Writing the Self into Chaos,” Annals of Scholarship, Vol. 21, No.1-3 (2013): 69-98. Word Count: approx. 10,000.

“Samuel Delany’s Excremental Ethics.” Abundance and Waste: Critical Readings of Modern Wastelands, SubStance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism, Issue 116, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2008): 41-55.  
 

Research Funding:  Fellowships and Grants

NEH Collaborative Research Grant, “Engaging Black Women’s Archives: Gloria Naylor and Twentieth-Century Literary History,” 2021-2022 (PI, Co-PIs Maxine Lavon Montgomery and Suzanne Edwards), $100,000.         

ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowship, “Expanding and Activating LGBTQ Community Archives in Small Urban Centers,” $75,000, 2021-2022 (PI)

CORE Grant, “Publishing Research Conducted in the Gloria Naylor Archive: An Edited Collection and Public-Facing Articles,” $60,000, 2021-2022 (Co-PI)

Accelerator Grant, The Gloria Naylor Archival Project, $100,000, 2019-2021 (Co-PI)
 

Public Humanities Research, Collaborative Projects, and Grant Funding

“Expanding and Activating LGBTQ+ Archives,” Office of Creative Inquiry, Mountaintop Project, $10,000, 2023-2024. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Engaging Community Audiences with Regional LGBTQ Archives through Public Programming, Social Media, and Exhibition,” Office of Creative Inquiry, Mountaintop Project, $10,000, 2022-2023. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.  

“A Pillar Within the Branch of Bethlehem’s NAACP: Mrs. Esther Lee.” LVEHC Digital Archive Grant, $7000, 2021-2022. Partners: Rayah Levy, Mary Foltz, Seth Moglen, Esther Lee, Jessica Lee, Jasmine Woodson, Suzanne Edwards, and NAACP. 

 “S.O.S. Save Our Swifts by Saving Their Urban Habitat: Telling the Story of the Chimney Swifts and Their Connection to Our City.” LVEHC Public Events grant. $2500, 2021. Partners: Mary Foltz, Jennie Gilrain, Peter Saenger (Lehigh Valley Audubon Society), Scott Burnett (Habitat Committee LVAS), Josh Berk (BAPL), John Noble, and Christine Ussler,

“Expanding the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive’s Digital Oral History Collection: Stories from Elders as well as BIPOC and Transgender Leaders.” LVEHC Digital Archive Grant, $6500, 2021-2022. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center. 

“Exhibiting LGBT Community Archival Holdings Digitally,” Office of Creative Inquiry, Mountaintop Project, $10,000, 2020-2021. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Inspiring Community Conversations about Police Brutality and Systemic Racism through Creative Writing and Artwork,” Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Grant, $5000, 2020. Community Partner: Basement Poetry.

“Poetry and Resiliency: Engaging the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community with Poetry During and After COVID-19,” Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Grant, $7,650, 2020-2021. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Voces de la Comunidad: The Latinx Experience in Bethlehem, PA,” Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Grant, $5,000. 2019-2021. Community Partners: Janine Carambot Santoro, Javier Toro, and Bethlehem Area Public Library.

“Stories from LGBT Older Adults in the Lehigh Valley: Reflections Upon Regional Activism from Gay Liberation, AIDS Activism, and Marriage Equality as an Oral History Contribution to the larger Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive,” Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Grant, $6000, 2019-2020. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Exploring H.D.’s Secrets: Examining H.D.’s Poetry and Her Commentary on Sexism, Militarism, and Liberation.” Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium Grant, $2,500, 2020. Community Partner: Mockturtle Marionette Theatre and Jennie Gilrain (Director and Bethlehem Area School District teacher).

“Making LGBT Archives Accessible Online and in Exhibition Spaces,” Office of Creative Inquiry, Mountaintop Project, $15,000, 2019. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

Southsider: Redesigning a Hyperlocal News Source to Inspire Increased Civic Engagement,” Office of Creative Inquiry, Mountaintop Project, $15,000, 2019-2020.

“Building Bethlehem Area Public Library’s Recording Studio,” Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative Community Partner Grant, $10,000, 2018-2019. Community Partner: Bethlehem Area Public Library.

“Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Reading Group,” Humanities Center funding, Organizer and Facilitator, $1000 per year, 2017-present. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Building Queer Community Through Digital, Library, and Literary Resources,” Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative Community Partner Grant, $7600, 2017-2018. Community Partner: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Southsider: An Online News Source Celebrating Bethlehem's South Side Culture and Art,” Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative Undergraduate Research Grant, $8000, 2017-2018.

“Public Arts and Humanities,” Lehigh University Humanities Center Seminar, Facilitator of year-long faculty seminar with Seth Moglen, $1000, 2017-2018.  

“Bethlehem Unbound: Community Storytelling on the South Side,” Lehigh University Mountaintop Summer Grant for Undergraduate Research, $10,000, 2016.

Teaching

LGBTQ+ Archives Development and Exhibition, 2022-2023, 2020-2021, 2019-2020
LGBTQ+ Poetry, Spring 2023 
Feminist and Queer Theory, Spring 2021, Spring 2023
Public Humanities, Spring 2020
LGBTQ Memoir ENG 104, Spring 2017, Spring 2020
Gloria Naylor in the Archives, Fall 2019
Post-45 American Women Writers, Spring 2018
Beyond Postmodern Fiction: Eng 478, Spring 2016
Theories of Literature and Social Justice: Eng 481, Spring 2015, Spring 2021
Queer Fiction and Theory: English 478, 2014 (F), 2011 (S), Fall 2022