Grace Waitman

Grace Waitman is a Lecturer in the College Writing Program at Washington University, where she teaches the Dreams & Nightmares theme course and preparatory writing courses. She is a PhD Candidate at Indiana University Bloomington. Her teaching focuses on interdisciplinary exploration of topics such as the psychology of dreams, monsters in media, memory, desire, and the American Dream. Courses emphasize critical analysis of texts across narrative, visual, and multimodal forms to examine individual identity within cultural frameworks.

Education:

• PhD Candidate, Indiana University Bloomington

Research Interests: Grace’s pedagogical work engages with themes of uncertainty, inquiry, and destabilized categories, encouraging students to analyze texts that challenge cultural norms. Her course Dreams & Nightmares explores topics like hyperreality, media hoaxes, and transhumanism through works such as Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite and Safiya Umoja Noble’s essays on race and media.

Student Research Highlights:

• Mimi Libow’s study on climate anxiety and education
• Niyati Naveen’s analysis of menstrual advertising

Labs/Teams: Active contributor to the College Writing Program, collaborating with colleagues like Director Peter Monahan and Senior Lecturer Rachel Adams.