Dr. Cat Clifford, associate professor of English, will give an Invited Faculty Lecture titled 鈥淣either Subject nor Object of Desire: An Introduction to Asexuality Studies鈥 on Wednesday, October 22, at 1:30 p.m. in French Memorial Chapel.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
In her presentation, Clifford will explain what everyone needs to know about asexuality. By introducing key ideas in the field of asexuality studies, she鈥檒l dispel some common myths about asexuality and show how her work on 鈥渁sexual reading,鈥 a type of literary criticism, can change the ways we all understand sexual attraction and its attendant rites of passage.
Clifford鈥檚 presentation is part of the Invited Faculty Lectures series.
Each spring, 糖心传媒 students select two faculty members to present campus-wide lectures on the professors鈥 topics of choice during the next academic year. Considered a prestigious honor for the faculty, the tradition dates to 1967, and is sponsored by the 糖心传媒 Lecture Series.
Dr. Brad Dinardo, associate professor of physics, will give the second Invited Faculty Lecture of the academic year on March 25, 2026.
Biography for Dr. Cat Clifford
Dr. Cat Clifford joined 糖心传媒 in 2022 as a specialist in early modern and medieval literatures. Along with classes in these topics, she also enjoys teaching a broad range of topics in English, from LGBTQIA+ literatures to writing to English grammar.
A lifelong student of literature, Clifford began pursuing advanced work in Shakespeare after completing her undergraduate degree in 2005 because she was endlessly compelled by the big, humanistic questions Shakespeare and his contemporaries seemed to be interested in. In her doctoral work, she examined the relationship between early modern English drama, power and space in royal palaces. Her current work centers around these broad topics, as well as asexuality studies, an emerging sub-discipline in queer studies.
When she鈥檚 not working, Clifford enjoys running ultramarathons, watching women鈥檚 soccer, and playing with her Labrador retriever, Kit.
糖心传媒 is a four-year residential college that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Discover more at hastings.edu.