BRIEF BIO

Lydia Craig is a sixth-year PhD candidate in the Nineteenth Century Studies program at Loyola University Chicago. She received an MA in English from LUC in 2015 with particular focus on textual studies, and a BA in English and History from the University of Georgia in 2011. Her ongoing dissertation project analyzes Victorian novels for literary and societal responses to social climbing. Recent publications include “‘A Horrid Female Waterman’: The Contentious Legacy of Grace Darling in Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend.” Dickens and Women Re-observed. Edited by Edward Guiliano. Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd. 2020 and “What Charles Dickens Never Said: Verifying Internet 'Quotes' and Accessing the Works with Online Resources.” Dickens Quarterly, volume 37, number 3, September 2020, pp. 249-263. A book chapter “‘Gazing at all the church and chapel going’: Social Views of Religious Nonconformity in Dickens’ Fiction” is forthcoming in The Theological Dickens, Edited by Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier, 2021.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Loyola University Chicago, ENGL 273-08W, “Nineteenth Century Manners, Race, and Cultural Encounters” (Writing Intensive), Spring 2020

• Assigned diverse global nineteenth century readings that were free access on Google Books, Hathi Trust, and Internet Archive.
• In this writing-intensive course, undergraduate students learned how to conduct research in online databases and critique scholarly articles.
• Through a series of structure and citation workshops and peer review exercises, students honed their writing skills in close reading, compare and contrast, and research essay assignments. Zoom, Sakai, Poll Everywhere, and YouTube were online tools used to educate students once the course moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Achieved an “A” in student course evaluations at the end of the semester.

As Substitute Instructor for Dr. J. Brooks Bouson:

Loyola University Chicago, Academic Year Fall 2019, 27 August – 19 September 2019

• Taught two sections of the undergraduate literature course “Women in Literature,” WSGS 283-007 and 10W (Writing Intensive).
• Set up two online class sites on Sakai, uploaded pdfs, and led class discussions on novels, short stories, and essays.
• Made quizzes, and guided students through oral presentations.
• Assigned writing prompts for first essay and prepared students for first exams.

As Instructor of Record:

Loyola University Chicago, Academic Year Spring 2019

• Taught one section of the undergraduate literature course ENGL 273, entitled “Class in the Victorian Novel.”
• Assigned projects to improve research skills online and in print, develop reading comprehension, improve writing abilities, and encourage independent thought and questioning.
• Incorporated multi-media and digital methodologies into course to improve students’ technological engagement and boost research tools.
• Students learned to update Wikipedia pages, do close-readings, format an essay in MLA 8, and developed their Research essays using literature interpretation and historical exploration in online databases.

Loyola University Chicago, Academic Year 2016-2017

• Taught two sections (054 and 037) of freshman writing comp seminar UCWR 110 entitled “Writing Responsibly.”
• Assigned thought-provoking free writes and frequent peer-review days to encourage both independent and collective intellectual growth.
• Taught students how to evaluate literature, interpret rhetorical devices, and write summary/response, rhetorical analysis, synthesis, and research essays.
• Wrote curriculum for students based on perceived need, and taught database, special collections, and library usage.
• Achieved an “A” in both student course evaluations at the end of each semester. 

As TA/ RA:

Research Assistant

Loyola University Chicago, Fall 2019

• Supported Dr. Marta L. Werner (Svaglic Chair of Textual Studies) in digital/print project “‘These tested Our Horizon – ‘: Listening to Dickinson’s Birds from the Shores of the Anthropocene.”
• Searched for nineteenth century works on birds and naturalism in NCCO, Google Books, Hathi Trust, Internet Archive, WorldCat, and other databases, building lists.
• Combined Dickinson InDesign images with pdf manuscript The Master Hours for publication.
• Designed 2019 poster, made permanent website page for the Svaglic lecture on the Department of English website.
• Resized, arranged, and labeled scans of Dickinson’s envelope poems in Adobe InDesign.

Teaching Assistant

Loyola University Chicago, Fall 2018

• Supported Dr. Micael Clarke in advanced undergraduate seminar ENGL 390 “The Brontës.”
• Met with undergraduate students to facilitate comprehension and writing.
• Attended and participated in weekly classes.
• Occasionally gave presentations relating to the Brontës’ lives and works. 

Research Assistant

Loyola University Chicago, Spring 2018

• Worked with Dr. Jeffrey Glover on an 18th-19th century book project.
• Searched databases for search terms on the origins of the Atlantic slave trade.
• Added search terms as seemed useful for locating sources.
• Sent weekly list of relevant primary sources to professor. 

Assistant Director

LUC Writing Center (Lake Shore Campus and Water Tower Campus), May-December 2017

• Worked with the Director and Associate Director of the Writing Center to expand and facilitate student body usage of Writing Center services.
• Held Writing Center workshops and informative meetings for university instructors, staff, and students.
• Visited classrooms for brief informative sessions on writing, editing, and citation style.
• Restructured and expanded Writing Center website with new material.
• Made link round-ups and wrote extensive curriculum for Loyola OWL to be used by tutors and clients, both students and faculty.
• Staffed program table at Open House university and freshman events.

Editorial Assistant

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs (JCSHESA), June 2016-August 2017

• Assisted editors in arranging and editing submissions for each new issue.
• Contacted authors and collected additional information about submissions.
• Met monthly to discuss progress of journal with rest of staff.
• Won joint award for LUC Graduate and Adult Leadership Student Organization of the Year (2017).

Volunteer Social Media Intern/Writer

Chicago Metro History Education Center (CMHEC), October 2014-September 2016

• Drafted monthly newsletter.
• Created and maintained official Twitter account at events.
• Photographed fundraising events and ceremonies.
• Interviewed participating teachers and students.
• Chaperoned History Fair students competing at local and state levels.
• Volunteered to judge History Fair projects at Chicago high schools.

Writing Tutor

LUC Writing Center (Lake Shore Campus and Water Tower Campus), August 2014-August 2016                   

• Tutored students in a variety of subjects relating to English writing and language proficiency.
• Proofread grant proposals, faculty articles for publication, theses, and dissertations.
• Formatted and proofread graduate recommendation letters for various departments.
• Wrote informative curriculum on variety of subjects from grammar to cover letter, resume, and CV format.

DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE 

Volunteer Website Designer

Department of English, Writing Program websites, May 2018-December 2019

• Composed questionnaire for alumni; emailed and communicated with alumni to gather completed answers.
• Extensively restructured Terminal 4 website, adding new content, student and faculty resources, and alumni section.
• Solicited, received, and updated faculty bios.
• Among other new sections, added a graduate student bio page.

Vice President

English Graduate Student Association (EGSA), August 2017-August 2018

• Worked with president to set up professional events for graduate students.
• Reserved rooms and catering for department events.
• Ordered and replaced printing and office supplies for graduate student lounge.
• Encouraged students to send vitas for uploading to department website.

Volunteer Judge Supervisor, Student Presentation Judge

GSAC Annual Research Symposium. Loyola University Chicago, April 2016-April 2018

• Spoke to presenters and critiqued posters.
• Rated and scored posters.
• Double-checked and tallied up final scores of all paper and poster presentations.
• Designated all final award recipients.

Communications Officer

English Graduate Student Association (EGSA), August 2016-August 2017

• Sent out weekly emails to graduate students on department listserv.
• Passed on university level and graduate school information to English department and vice-versa.
• Composed and sent out polls regarding student needs to graduate students and set up Brown Bags for professional development.
• Created and printed posters advertising Brown Bag events.

OTHER

Member of the Communications Committee

The Dickens Society, July 2018-present

• Tweets from the DS Twitter account.
• Updates content for the DS website and confers with the DS board to determine changes.
• Co-hosts “Our Mutual Friend,” The Dickens Society podcast.

Co-chair of the Communications Committee

The Dickens Society, July 2018-July 2020

• Created posts for the DS Facebook account.
• Updated, created, and added content for the DS website, films, and blog posts, after conferring with the DS board.
• Made YouTube account for the DS, featuring the Spotlight series, annually filmed and edited interviews with academics.
• Originated “Our Mutual Friend,” The Dickens Society podcast.

• 2020: RSVP Curran Fellowship for “Female Philanthropic Knitting: Lady Harriet Scott’s “Grandmother” Patterns in The Queen, the Lady’s Newspaper and Court Chronicle," Spring Semester Teaching Fellowship.
• 2019: NAVSA Travel Grant (Columbus, Ohio Conference), Fall Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, Fall Semester Research Assistant Fellowship, Dickens Society Symposium Bursary Scholarship (24th Annual Symposium, Salt Lake City, Utah), Spring Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, Spring Semester Teaching Fellowship.
• 2018: Fall Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, The Kathleen Toomey Fr. Edward Surtz Award for Graduate Research, Spring Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, Dickens Society Symposium Bursary Scholarship (23rd Annual Symposium, Tübigen, Germany), Fall Semester Teaching Assistant Fellowship.
• 2017: Spring Semester Research Assistant Fellowship, Joint Recipient of a LUC Graduate and Adult Leadership Student Organization of the Year Award for JCSHESA, NAVSA Travel Grant (Florence, Italy Conference), Amber Gravett and David Tuma Graduate Book Scholarship in English for Excellent Performance in Graduate Work, Spring Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, 2016-7 Teaching Assistant Fellowship.
• 2016: The Midwest Modern Language Association Graduate Student Paper Prize (58th MMLA Conference), Dickens Society Symposium Bursary Scholarship (21st Annual Symposium, Reykjavík, Iceland), Spring Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award.
• 2015: Anthony Ellis Award for Best Graduate Paper (39th Comparative Drama Conference), Spring Semester LUC Graduate School Travel Award, 2015-16 Loyola Merit Award Ph.D. Fellowship and Stipend, 2015 McElroy Shakespeare Celebration Assistantship Award.
• 2014-15: Loyola Merit Award MA Fellowship.

ACADEMIC

• “What Charles Dickens Never Said: Verifying Internet “Quotes” and Accessing the Works with Online Resources.” Dickens Quarterly, volume 37, number 3, September 2020, pp. 249-263.
• “‘A Horrid Female Waterman’: The Contentious Legacy of Grace Darling in Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend.” Dickens and Women Re-observed. Edited by Edward Guiliano. Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd. March 2020. 
• “The Devastating Impact of Lord Wharton’s Bible Charity in Wuthering Heights.” Edited by Deborah Logan. Victorians A Journal of Culture and Literature, no. 134, December 2018, pp. 234-249.
• “The Juvenile and Erudite: A Study of the Marginalia in Newberry Case Y 12.T219.” JMMLA, vol. 50, iss. 2, Fall 2018, pp. 11-29.
• “Tweeting Tippins: Using Digital Media to Recreate Our Mutual Friend’s Serialization." Dickens Quarterly, vol. 35, issue 2, 2018, pp. 149-158.
• “Misogyny or Artistry?: Revisions to Two Conrad Heroines from Serial to First Edition.” Conrad: Critical Insights, Salem Press, 2016.
• “Politic Silence: Female Choruses in Lochhead’s Medea and Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale.” Edited by Graley Herren. Text & Presentation, McFarland, 2015.

OTHER:

• “Bill Sikes.” Edited by Phillip Allingham. The Dickens Magazine. vol.8, iss. 3, 2018, pp.5-6. 
• "Joseph Conrad 1857–1924." Edited by Phillip Allingham. The Dickens Magazine vol. 8, iss. 2., 2017, pp. 31-32. 
• Shakespeare 400 Chicago: Reflections on a City’s Celebration of Shakespeare. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, 2017. Posts: “Bardic Lays: Music for All Time," “Elizabethan Verse, Modern Jokes, Prostitution and Llamas," “The Bard Slays," “Three Takes: Two Gentleman," “Would Will Approve of Bilingual Shakespeare?” 194-196.

• “Political Life in the Wake of the Plantation: Sovereignty, Witnessing, Repair.” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, volume 20, issue 1, article number 6, June 2020. 
• “Reading Dickens Differently.” Dickens Quarterly, volume 37, number 2, June 2020, pp. 192-195.

CREATIVE 

• Poems: “Sometimes my golden headed mother.” Diminuendo & Cadence. April 2018, “Tick-Tock” (poem) vol. 7, no. 2, The Quint, March 2015

• Article: “A Musical Interlude” (article) UGAzine, 2009.

• Short story: "Out of the Night." Stillpoint Literary Magazine, 2009.

Currently dissertating: Loyola University Chicago, Class of 2020:

             PhD in English (Nineteenth Century Studies Program) 

Loyola University Chicago, Class of 2015: Master of Arts in English

The University of Georgia, Franklin College, Class of 2011:

            Bachelor of Arts in English,

            Bachelor of Arts in History