Dr. Linda Quinlan

With more than three decades of service to Roberts Wesleyan University, Dr. Quinlan brings deep experience, intellectual passion, and care to her role as Associate Professor of English. She also serves as chair of the Language and Literature Department.

A lifelong reader and scholar, her academic interests center on 18th- and 19th-century British literature, gender studies, and pedagogy. She played a key role in creating Roberts’ Gender Studies minor, advocating for curricular spaces that help students examine how gender dynamics shape human experience. She is also a longtime leader of faculty governance, currently serving a fourth term on the Faculty Senate.

Dr. Quinlan’s impact extends far beyond the classroom. She redesigned the university’s writing support model for underprepared students, increasing both access and success. She also serves as a confidential support for students navigating gender-based harm.

Her approach to teaching is both rigorous and relational. Students describe her as compassionate, brilliant, and deeply invested in their success. In her classroom, literature becomes a vehicle for empathy, justice, and human connection.

One of her favorite books is Middlemarch by George Eliot, and a quote she often returns to is Mary Oliver’s:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Specialty areas:

18th and 19th century British literature; composition theory; genre - the novel; children's and adolescent literature; gender studies

Current Research interests:

18th and 18th century British novel; narrative studies; women writers; storied experiences of religious college students