Lucinda Cole

Lucinda Cole is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Illinois, holding dual roles as the Conrad Humanities Scholar and Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment. Her research focuses on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British literature, with interdisciplinary interests in Animal Studies, Gender Studies, and Environmental Humanities. She has authored Imperfect Creatures: Vermin, Literature, and the Sciences of Life, 1600-1750, examining ecological pressures during the Little Ice Age, and has published widely on zoonotic disease, multispecies ecologies, and early modern science.

Educated at Auburn University (B.A., 1981) and Louisiana State University (M.A. 1987, Ph.D. 1990 with Distinction), Cole’s work bridges literary analysis with scientific and environmental discourse. Her recent scholarship explores intersections between literature and ecological crises through frameworks like posthumanism and ecocriticism.

Her awards include the Robert Lowry Patten Award (2017), the Board of Trustees Award for Service (2005), and the Conrad Humanities Scholar title (2022). Cole actively participates in academic discourse through invited lectures on topics like ‘Viruses and Medical Posthumanities’ and serves on editorial boards for interdisciplinary journals.

Her research outputs reflect a commitment to rethinking human-animal-environment relationships, with over 40 publications spanning books, chapters, and peer-reviewed articles. She collaborates across humanities and sciences, emphasizing ethical and ecological dimensions of historical and contemporary texts.