Katherine Gilbert

Katherine Gilbert is an Associate Professor of English at Drury University, where she has taught since 2009. She specializes in Victorian literature, legal studies in literature, and gender studies. Dr. Gilbert also serves as the Director of Drury’s Humanities and Ethics Center, co-authoring grants and overseeing programming, and was formerly the Director of Women and Gender Studies (2011–2013).

• Education: B.A. from Bowdoin College (1994), M.A. from the University of Virginia (2001), and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009).

Her research focuses on the intersection of legal institutions and literary character development in 19th-century British novels, particularly works by Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot, and Robert Louis Stevenson. She explores how legal frameworks shape ethical and gendered identities in Victorian narratives.

Dr. Gilbert’s publications and conference presentations highlight her expertise in Victorian literature, law and literature, and gender dynamics. Her work has appeared in Victorian Poetry and Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies, with a chapter selected for the Law & Humanities Junior Scholar Workshop at Columbia Law School (2010).

• Scientific Awards:
  • 2012 Faculty Award for Leadership
  • Julien Mezey Dissertation Award Finalist

She has advised the English Honors Society Sigma Tau Delta (2009–2014), launched Drury’s first Banned Book Reading, and contributed to media outreach for academic events. Her work includes co-authoring Missouri Humanities Council grants to support the Humanities and Ethics Center’s Speaker Series.