William Reynolds,
Professor and Dean for the Arts and Humanities

  • Links to Diverse Other Sites
  • Arts
  • Reading
  • Sports
  • Anglophilia
  • Hibernophilia

    • Education and Professional Background

    A.B. --     Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio), 1966

    M.A. -- Columbia University (New York City), 1967

    Ph.D. -- The University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), 1971

    I began teaching at Hope as an Assistant Professor in 1971. I was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 1977 and to Professor in 1985. I served as chair of the Department of English from 1987 to 1994.

    Current Responsibilities

    While I continue to be a member of the Department of English, I serve full-time as Dean for the Arts and Humanities. I work with the four departments which make up the Fine and Performing Arts Division (Art and Art History, Dance, Music, and Theatre), the five which constitute the Humanities Division (English, History, Modern and Classical Languages, Philosophy, and Religion), and such other units and programs as the Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, the Knickerbocker Theatre, the Visiting Writers Series, and the Great Performance Series.

    If you are interested in seeing the schedule(s) of events sponsored by the Great Performance Series, the Knickerbocker Theatre, the Visiting Writers Series, and the Arts departments, please take a look at the Arts at Hope College page or the Events section of the Hope College Website.

    Teaching

    In my thirty plus years at Hope College, I have taught most of the lower-level courses offered by the English Department. My upper-level teaching responsibilities have centered on History of the English Language and British Literature before 1600.

    If you would like to visit an extensive website devoted to medieval literature, you could take a look at Labyrinth at Georgetown University. If you are open to the idea of learning something about English in its earlier stages, you might want to take a look at an extensive site devoted to Old English.

    During the Fall Semester of the 1997-98 academic year I team-taught English 373 (Shakespeare's Plays) with Peter Schakel. If mention of Shakespeare leads you to want to read something he wrote, you can start by dipping into his Complete Works.

    In the Fall Semester of 1998-99, I again teamed with Peter, this time to teach English 248 (Introduction to Literature). In the Spring Semester of 1998-99, I team-taught English 248 once again--this time inflicting myself on Kathleen Verduin.

    In the Fall Semester of 1999-2000, I was back at the English 248 shop, this time with Peter Schakel; during the Spring 2000, I again teamed with Peter--this time in the Shakespeare course. Since then, the long-suffering Peter and I taught slightly different form in Fall 2004, Spring 2005, and in yet another form in Fall 2005. In Spring 2007, we repeated the Fall 2005 version. We broke new ground in the Fall of 2007 with a seminar on Jane Austen; since then we've returned to the English Lit course each semester, and we have another Austen course ready to roll out in Spring 2010.

    Research

    While I have published on Medieval and Renaissance English Literature, most of my work has involved Detective Fiction. I am especially interested in the work of Dorothy L. Sayers (about whom you can learn more from the Dorothy L. Sayers Society Home Page) and British Detective Fiction of the Golden Age (1919-1939). I am including here a link to an extensive site devoted to another British Golden Age Detective Fiction author, The Margery Allingham Archive. Please take a look if you're interested.

    I also have a web page that includes a bibliography of some of my work.

    Family

    I am married to Maura Reynolds, Associate Professor of Latin and Director of Academic Advising at Hope College.

    We have two daughters: Kathleen (a 1999 graduate of The College of Wooster) and Mary (a 2001 graduate of The College of Wooster). Kathleen was married to Will Thomas in September 2000; they are the parents of Evelyn Jane--born March 14, 2006 and Josephine Helen, born January 13, 2009; Mary was married to T. C. Staples in June 2007. They make my life incredibly rich and happy, and give me added reasons (as if I needed any) to visit Chicago.

    Hobbies and Interests

    The Arts. Reading. Satisfying my often competing Anglophilia and Hibernophilia. Star Trek in its various forms. Sports: Hope College; Notre Dame football; all teams having even the most remote connection to Illinois, particularly to Chicago.

    Rooting for Chicago teams (except for the Bulls--though this has become a tougher job than when Michael Jordan was with them) is a nasty job, but someone has to do it. Moreover, it's fine preparation for life: One learns to expect the worst, and find one's expectations exceeded; one learns that it's always darkest right before a total disaster takes place; one is convinced of the need to take long-term (very long-term, even very, very long-term views) and of the power of "Wait Till Next Year" to evoke optimism when it is not called for.

    To provide a short cut for others seeking the royal road to frustration, here is a link to a good source of information about the Chicago Bears and a link, repeated below out of a deep-seated and utterly insane loyalty, to the Chicago Cubs.

    Links to Diverse Other Sites