The English Department is proud to announce two new faculty members: Dr. Liz Countryman and Dr. Seulghee Lee.
Liz Countryman is a published poet who joins the Department of English Language and Literature as Assistant Professor with a specialization in creative writing and contemporary poetry. She is the author of the volume A Forest Almost (Subito Press, 2017) and the coeditor of the poetry journal Oversound. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Boston Review, and other prestigious publications.
Dr. Countryman expressed her excitement for her new position by saying: “I’m delighted to join this group of brilliant people and to have the opportunity to work with our amazing graduate student poets.”
Seulghee Lee joins the department with a joint appointment in African American Studies. He specializes in African American literature, critical theory, Asian American literature, and Black Studies. His book project, Other Lovings: Abjection, Love Bonds, and the Queering of Race, examines the positive affective function of love bonds in contemporary African American and Asian American literature and culture. He is also working on a second book project on the relationship between notions of racial essentialism, utopia, and positive affect. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and he was the C3 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English at Williams College from 2014-2016.
“I am thrilled to be here,” Dr. Lee says of his new position at USC. “In my eyes, our department lives up to its national reputation as an elite, vital, supportive, and friendly environment.” Dr. Lee says he looks forward to growing here as a scholar, teacher, and colleague.