Kortney Stern

Most of the experiences that have had the greatest impact on my life have happened quite by accident. I never intended to go to college. I didn’t discover the field of medieval studies until my junior year of college. I had never even heard of Goshen, Indiana until the summer of 2023. And yet, each of these unexpected turns has shaped me in profound ways—helping to form the reader, writer, thinker, and person I am today.

As a first-generation college graduate, I’m a strong advocate for all forms of learning—whether that takes place through trade work, travel, or the traditional classroom. As an academic, I study late medieval English literature through feminist, queer, and sonic frameworks. And as an English professor at Goshen College, I strive to create collaborative classroom spaces where I learn as much from my students as they do from me.

Each of these threads—personal, academic, professional—is deeply woven into who I am, both inside and outside the classroom.

Education

• Ph.D. in English, Concentration in Literature, Ph.D. Minor in Medieval Studies, Indiana University, August 2024
• M.A. in English Language and Literature, Mills College, May 2016
• B.A. in English, Concentration in Literature, San Francisco State University, May 2014
• Graduate Area Certificate in Medieval Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, May 2019

Publications

• An Echoed Response: Silence, Merlin and Their Sonic Resistance in Le Roman de Silence.”
  Arthuriana (forthcoming)
• “Dying, Death and the Afterlife: Non-Gendered Teachings from Beyond the Grave.” Essays in
  Medieval Studies 35 (2021): 59-78.
• “Becoming Jane Somers: Constructing Authorship, Genre and Age in The Diary of a Good
  Neighbour.” Doris Lessing Studies 34 (2016): 27-31.

AWARDS, GRANTS, AND HONORS
NATIONAL
• Donald R. Howard Travel Scholarship, The New Chaucer Society, July 2022.
• Sherry L. Reames Graduate Student Travel Award for Hagiographical Studies, Hagiography Society, January 2019.
• Doris Lessing Graduate Student Award for her essay “The (De)fetishization of the Aged
Body: Clothing, Use Value, and Invisibility in Doris Lessing’s The Diary of a Good Neighbour,” Doris Lessing Society, March 2016.

INSTITUTIONAL
• Center for Community Engagement Grant, Goshen College, April 2025.
• Carnegie Graduate Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, March 2022.
• Ruth Normal Halls Graduate Fellowship, Indiana University Bloomington, Fall 2021.
• Graduate Student Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, March 2021.
• Louise McNutt Fellowship, Indiana University Bloomington, Spring 2021.
• Carnegie Graduate Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, March 2020.
• Graduate and Professional Student Government Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, March 2020.
• Carnegie Graduate Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, February 2019.
• Graduate Student Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, January 2019.
• Culbertson First-year Composition Teaching Award, Indiana University Bloomington, April 2018.
• Graduate Student Travel Award, Indiana University Bloomington, January 2018.
• Ardella Mills Prize for Best Graduate Critical Essay, Mills College, April 2015.