Sara S. Poor

Sara S. Poor is an Associate Professor of German and the 2024-2025 Old Dominion Professor in the Humanities Council at Princeton University. She holds a PhD from Duke University and has held academic positions at Stanford University and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her research focuses on gender, medieval German literature, mysticism, and the material history of the book. She is the author of Mechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book: Gender and the Making of Textual Authority (2004) and co-editor of multiple volumes, including Gender Bonds/Gender Binds (2021), Mysticism and Reform, 1400-1750 (2015), and Women and Medieval Epic (2007).

Her current project explores the literary agency of medieval women, focusing on Kunigund Niklasin and her contributions to the library of St. Catherine’s convent in Nuremberg. Her work has been supported by prestigious fellowships such as the National Humanities Center Fellowship and the Erasmus Mundus Visiting Scholar Fellowship. She has received awards including the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship Prize and the Medieval Academy of America’s John Nicholas Brown Prize.

• Education: PhD, Duke University (1994); BA, Cornell University (1985)
• Affiliations: Program in Medieval Studies (former Director), Humanities Council, German Department

Professor Poor is dedicated to mentoring graduate students and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. She co-founded initiatives like the Medieval and Early Modern German Studies (MEMGS) network and has advised numerous doctoral students. Her teaching spans medieval gender politics, mysticism, and book history.

Her publications span articles in German Studies Review, Journal of Medieval Religious Culture, and edited volumes. She has also contributed to encyclopedias such as the Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages.