Dr. Karen Macfarlane has been named the 2024 recipient of the President’s Award for Research Excellence. She was recognized during the university’s fall convocation celebration held on October 20, 2024. The annual award recognizes contributions to the research community and research climate at MSVU. The award also serves to showcase the high level of scholarly research at the university. Dr. Macfarlane has been a member of the Department of English at MSVU since 2000.
Learn more about Dr. Macfarlane’s impressive research career in the citation below. It was authored by her colleagues Dr. Reina Green (English), Dr. Nathaniel Street (English) and Dr. Jerrold Hogle (University of Arizona).
About Dr. Macfarlane
An internationally acclaimed scholar in Gothic Studies, Dr. Karen Macfarlane is renowned for the breadth, depth, and perspicacity of her research. Where most literary scholars focus on one period or one national literature, she is an expert on English and North American literature spanning three centuries, with a special mastery of Victorian literature and contemporary digital culture. Within this broad field of study, her primary focus is the role of monstrous bodies and unclassifiable, unsettling objects in the Gothic. Her scholarship is recognized as insightful, theoretically sophisticated, grounded in rigorous textual analysis and awareness of cultural and political contexts.
Dr. Macfarlane’s work has garnered awards and praise since the early days when her research focused on Canadian women’s writing, and her first article won the 1998 Margaret Atwood Society award for the best article on Atwood’s work. In the intervening years, she has published multiple ground-breaking articles on a range of topics including post colonialism, Lady Gaga, monsters, mummies, zombies, and creepy little girls. She has become a superstar in the field of Gothic studies, known for having published a formative and authoritative body of work that has reimagined and defined important aspects of the field.
In addition to her many articles and essays in top ranked journals and influential collections, Dr. Macfarlane’s expertise has been recognized by a number of invitations to give keynote presentations at international conferences. She also generously shares her scholarship with her students and the public, having supervised more BA Honours students than any other member in her department and having acted as an external examiner for a variety of MA theses and PhD dissertations. She has also given public lectures at Halifax Public Library and Hal-Con.
One of the most valuable contributions Dr. Macfarlane has made to the research community is through her collegial service. Her generosity of spirit and her standing as a researcher in Gothic studies, postcolonial, and Canadian literature are evident in her work as a peer reviewer for various top-tier journals and academic presses, and she currently serves on the editorial boards of Gothic Studies and Victoriographies.
Dr. Macfarlane has also served on several association executives and has organized a number of academic conferences, most recently acting as Co-President of the International Gothic Association and organizing its 2024 conference.
While Dr. Macfarlane’s scholarship and publishing record alone is demonstrative of her research excellence, her generous support of other scholars, ranging from undergraduate students through to her university and association colleagues, truly sets her apart as someone who selflessly serves the whole research community by fostering and promoting the work of others and ensuring the future of the academy.
Congratulations Dr. Macfarlane on this well-deserved recognition!