About

I am an interdisciplinary literary scholar specializing in postcolonial literature of the Caribbean and African Diaspora. My scholarship and teaching emphasize relationships between narrative, identity, and social justice. I am interested in the ways that writers of African descent use literary aesthetics to both represent and assert identity in the wake of the transatlantic slave trade and European imperialism.

My current research examines articulations of hybrid, creolized identity by writers from the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean. I am interested in creolization not only as an historical and cultural condition, but also as a discursive and aesthetic framework that has developed in response to the somewhat ambivalent end of colonialism in the Caribbean.

I am currently a faculty member at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where I teach literature and interdisciplinary courses in the John Martinson Honors Program. I previously worked as a curriculum developer, integrating humanities into STEM education and Ph.D. career development training. In my spare time, I like to hike and camp, crochet, make art, ride motorcycles, and hang out with my dog.

 

Education

Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Washington University in St. Louis, 2014

M.A., Foreign Languages and Literatures, Southern Illinois University, 2008

B.A., English, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, 2000

Other Publications

Hutchins, J. A. (2024). “Applied Humanities At Work in STEM Graduate Education.” Higher Ed Careers Beyond the Professoriate. Eds. Karen Cardoza, Katherine Kearns, & Shannan Palma. West, Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. Forthcoming.

Subramanian, Shoba, Jessica Hutchins, & Natalie Lundsteen. “Bridging the Gap: Increasing Collaboration Between Research Mentors & Career Development Educators For Ph.D. and Postdoctoral Training Success.” Molecular Biology of the Cell, 33, 2, 2022. doi: 10.1091/mbc.e21-07-0350. PMCID: 35041468.

Heckler, E., J. A. Hutchins, M. Grisham, E. Luckman. (2021). Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP). Creative Commons https://sites.wustl.edu/lmap/

Hutchins, J. A. (2020). Tailoring scientific communications for audience and research narrative. Current Protocols Essential Laboratory Techniques, 20, e40. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpet.40

Hutchins, J., & Nguyen, T. (July 7, 2019) Yes, you are a superhero. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/07/07/how-achieve-career-success-through-imagining-stories-you-want-tell-about-yourself?

Hutchins, J. (2017). Teaching Science Communication Skills with Storytelling Techniques. iCollaborative, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), https://icollaborative.aamc.org/resource/4476/.

Hutchins, J. (October 9, 2017) 5 Quick tips for finding a nonacademic job. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/10/09/brief-general-guidelines-securing-alt-ac-job-essay.

Hutchins, J. (Spring 2016) NPA workshop recap: communicating science to non-scientists. The POSTDOCket, 14(2): p 4. http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/page/postdocket_toc.

Hutchins, J. (2015). Aerospace Industry. SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. Second edition. Eds. Graham A. Colditz & J. Geoffrey Golson. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hutchins, J. (2015). Eritrea. SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. Second edition. Eds. Graham A. Colditz & J. Geoffrey Golson. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hutchins, J. (2015). Madagascar. SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. Second edition. Eds. Graham A. Colditz & J. Geoffrey Golson. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hutchins, J. (2015). Religion, Jewish Women and Cancer Risk. SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. Second edition. Eds. Graham A. Colditz & J. Geoffrey Golson. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hutchins, J. (2015). Siteman Cancer Center. SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. Second edition. Eds. Graham A. Colditz & J. Geoffrey Golson. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hutchins, J. (2014). Laundry. All Things Dickenson: An Encyclopedia of Emily Dickinson’s World. Ed. Wendy Martin. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Hutchins, J. (2012). “Ce(lle-)ci est à moi”: Self-Making through Women and Property in Le Père Goriot, La Bȇte humaine, Wuthering Heights,and La Migration des cœurs. Criminal Papers: Reading Crime in the French Nineteenth Century. Ed. Rosemary A. Peters. Newcastle Upon Tyne:  Cambridge Scholars.

Projects

Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Open Educational Resources in Caribbean Studies Grant: Texaco Wiki: Engaging Undergraduates in Digital Research on Caribbean Literature and Culture (2023-2024) – Principal Investigator

Faculty Fellow, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Interdisciplinary Research and Informatics Scholarship (IRIS) Center (2023-2024)

 

Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on ePortfolios (2021-2022)

 

Texaco Wiki – A Knowledge Base on the Novel Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau – Creator & Editor

What Is Identity? A Digital Anthology by Honors Students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville – Creator & Editor

Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP) – Co-Principal Investigator & Author

Science Communication Credential – Creator & Program Director (2018-2021)

Upcoming Talks and Conferences

“Revolutionary desires and the crisis in higher education: Can honors show the way?” National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, November, 2023. Forthcoming.

“Texaco Wiki: Expanding the Impact of Honors Education Beyond the Classroom.” National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, November, 2023. Forthcoming.

 

“Texaco Wiki: Engaging Undergraduates in Digital Research on Caribbean Literature and Culture.” Digital Humanities, Critical Pedagogies Special Session. Modern Languages Association (MLA) Convention, Philadelphia, PA, 2024. Forthcoming.


 

Memberships

Modern Languages Association (MLA)

American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)

Jessica A. Hutchins, Ph.D.

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