Claire Chantell

Claire Chantell serves as Assistant Professor in the General Faculty and Director of the Writing Center at the University of Virginia, with office hours held Tuesdays 12-2PM in Bryan Hall 234. She teaches undergraduate courses Mondays and Wednesdays during afternoon blocks.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000)
• M.A. in English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1991)
• B.A., University of Dayton (1988)

Dr. Chantell specializes in 19th-century American literary studies with concentrated expertise in sentimental fiction and gender dynamics. Her scholarship interrogates maternal ideology through close readings of Warner's The Wide, Wide World and Foster's The Lamplighter, examining tensions between religious devotion and emotional restraint in domestic narratives. This work positions her at the intersection of literary history, feminist theory, and affect studies.

Her sole major publication demonstrates consistent focus on how early American women writers negotiated societal constraints through fictional representations of motherhood. The research reveals recurring patterns in sentimental discourse while challenging simplistic readings of emotional excess in the period's literature.

Academic honors received:

• University Fellowship, UIUC Department of English (Fall 1995)
• Pauline Dillon Gragg Fellowship, UIUC Department of English (Fall 1995)

As Writing Center Director, she oversees institutional writing support services while maintaining active teaching responsibilities. Her conference presentations at NeMLA and Humanities & Technology Association events confirm ongoing scholarly engagement despite limited recent publication output.