Katherine Henninger began teaching at the University last fall as visiting assistant professor of English and Southern Studies. She fills a position left by Robert Brinkmeyer, who resigned to chair the English Department at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

   Henninger’s recent appointment helps fulfill one of her aspirations since growing up in Arlington, Virginia: “ I knew I wanted to combine my love of literature, photography, and the South.” Henninger, whose academic specialities include Southern Literature and Culture, Women’s Literature, and Photography and Literature, teaches such courses as Southern Literature in the Visual Tradition, Southern Sexualities, and Masterworks of American Literature.

   “It’s fascinating to teach Southern culture to Southerners,” said Henninger, who has taught at the college level since 1992. “It’s such a pleasure to be somewhere where people are interested in Southern culture.”

   A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Henninger received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988. She studied photography as an undergraduate at the California Institute of Art in Valencia and completed graduate course work in photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design before earning M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

   Henninger’s dissertation examined photography, politics, and contemporary Southern women’s fiction. “I looked at the way recent writers have talked about the visual legacy of the South, with respect to Southern women, especially,” she said. Her dissertation, “Ordering the Facade: Photography and the Politics of Representation in Contemporary Southern Women’s Fiction,” explores the significant role that photography had in presenting images of Southern women.

   Henninger on April 4 will present the lecture “Face, Race, and Place: A Short History of Photography in the South ” during a brown bag luncheon at Barnard Observatory. Her discussion will present a history of the South through its oral and visual culture.

   Henninger has contributed to numerous publications and has presented papers at conferences across the country and abroad. Last fall she presented research on photography and the blues at a symposium the Center sponsored with the Blues Foundation and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis.

   “We are particularly pleased to have Katie Henninger with us this year,” said Joseph Urgo, chair of the English Department. Center Director Charles Reagan Wilson heartily agrees.

Deidra Jackson