Richard Utz

Professor & Chair

Member Of:
  • School of Literature, Media, and Communication
Fax Number:
404-894-1287
Office Location:
Skiles 337
Related Links:
Overview

Richard Utz is Chair and Professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech. He has taught a wide range of topics, from Geoffrey Chaucer's medieval poetry through Bruce Chatwin's postmodern prose, and his scholarship centers on medieval culture, medievalism, the interconnections between humanistic inquiry and science/technology, reception study, and the formation of cultural memories and identities. He is the author and (co)editor of 21 book-length publications and serves on the editorial advisory board of journals and book series based in Australia, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, and the United States. He has published more than 130 essays and reviews and presented invited plenaries at Canterbury Christ Church College (England), Ewha Womans University (South Korea), Towson University (USA), the University of Bamberg (Germany), Western Michigan University (USA), the University of Hamburg (Germany), and the University of Groningen (Netherlands).

Utz has been the recipient, at Regensburg, of the Dr. Katharina Seiler Award for Outstanding Work in English Studies and, at Northern Iowa, of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Teaching Award; the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Faculty Excellence Award; the Donald N. McKay Research Award; the Dr. Philip Hubbard Award for Outstanding Educator, the University Distinguished Scholar Award, and the Iowa State Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. He currently serves as President of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism and editor of its review journal, Medievally Speaking, and its Proceedings, The Year's Work in Medievalism. In 2017, he was Johann von Spix International Visiting Professor at the University of Bamberg, Germany, and in 2018 Director's Visiting Scholar at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Museum.

Education:
  • Dr. phil. Universität Regensburg, Germany
Awards and
Distinctions:
  • President, International Society for the Study of Medievalism (2009--)
  • Director’s Visiting Scholar (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Harvard U, 2018)
  • Johann von Spix International Visiting Professor (U of Bamberg, 2017)
  • Dr. Phillip Hubbard Award for Outstanding Educator (U of Northern Iowa, 2006)
  • Faculty Excellence Award (College of Humanities & Fine Arts, U of Northern Iowa, 2004)
  • University Distinguished Scholar Award (U of Northern Iowa, 2003)
  • Regents Award for Faculty Excellence (Iowa State Board of Regents, 2002)
  • Donald N. McKay Faculty Research Award (U of Northern Iowa, 2001)
  • Outstanding Teaching Award (College of Humanities & Fine Arts, U of Northern Iowa, 1995)
  • English Department Professor of the Year (Sigma Tau Delta, U of Northern Iowa, 1993)
  • Dr. Katharina Sailer Award for Outstanding Work in the Field of English Studies” (Dissertation Prize, U of Regensburg, 1991)
Areas of
Expertise:
  • History Of Higher Education, Humanistic Inquiry, Science, And Technology
  • Late Medieval English Culture, Literature, And Language
  • Medievalism Studies
  • Reception Studies
Interests
Research Fields:
  • Communication
  • Digital Media
  • German
  • Literary and Cultural Studies
  • Media Studies
  • Science and Technology Studies
Geographic
Focuses:
  • Europe
  • Europe - United Kingdom
  • North America
Issues:
  • Race/Ethnicity
  • Digital Humanities
  • Education
  • Higher Education: Teaching and Learning
  • History and Memory
  • Literature
Courses
  • LCC-3502: Medieval Lit & Culture
  • LCC-3823: Special Topics Lit/Cult
  • LCC-4100: Seminar in STAC
  • LMC-3226: Major Authors
  • LMC-3502: Medieval Lit & Culture
  • LMC-4200: Seminar Lit/Cult Theory
Selected Publications

Books

Journal Articles

  • Medievalism and the Subject of Religion
       In: Studies in Medievalism 24 [Peer Reviewed]

    2015

    Assesses the reasons for the relative disregard of scholarly work on studying the continuity of religious thought and faith by scholarship in Medievalism Studies over the last 25 years. Postulates that medievalism scholars have an ethical obligation to investigate and historicize religion and theology, at least in its temporal manifestations.

Chapters

  • Academic Medievalism and Nationalism
       In: The Cambridge Companion to Medievalism

    2016

    Medievalism - the creative interpretation or recreation of the European Middle Ages - has had a major presence in the cultural memory of the modern West, and has grown in scale to become a global phenomenon. This essay surveys the nationalist tradition in the reception of medieval culture among amateurs, dilettantes, enthusiasts, and antiquaries to full-time academic scholars. 

Internet Publications

Recent Publications

Books

Internet Publications