Tim Wientzen

Tim Wientzen is an Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department at Skidmore College. He holds a B.A. from Boston College and a Ph.D. from Duke University. His research focuses on twentieth-century literary modernism, particularly the intersections between science, politics, and literature in British and global contexts.

Education:

• Ph.D. in English, Duke University (2012)
• B.A. in English and Latin American Studies, Boston College (2004)

His research examines how modernist literature engages with scientific concepts of reflex behaviors and anticipates contemporary ecological and political challenges. Primary interests include the works of Aldous Huxley, Olaf Stapledon, Rebecca West, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, with special attention to dystopian fiction and the environmental humanities.

Wientzen's publications consistently explore modernist responses to political modernity, bodily experience, and ecological crises. His 2021 book Automatic: Literary Modernism and the Politics of Reflex established a framework for understanding reflexivity in modernist literature, while recent articles examine scale theory in the Anthropocene and planetary perspectives in modernist thought.

Awards and Honors:

• Jan Thaddeus Teaching Award, Harvard University (2015)
• Multiple Certificates of Teaching Excellence from Harvard University
• Graduate fellowships and travel grants from Duke University (2006-2012)
• Conference awards from Modernist Studies Association and SLSA

As Department Chair (2022-2024), he oversees curriculum development and faculty initiatives. He has organized numerous academic conferences and seminars on modernist studies and serves on editorial boards for literary journals. His teaching encompasses courses on modern British fiction, science fiction, climate crisis narratives, and postmodernism.