Jennifer Boyle, Ph.D., professor of English at Coastal Carolina University, has received the HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Lecturer Award, given annually to a faculty member who demonstrates outstanding teaching through scholarship and mentoring.

As the recipient of this award from Horry Telephone Cooperative, Boyle will present a public lecture about the transformative effects of digital technology on American life titled "Observations Upon a Blazing World: Reading, Writing and Creating in the Digital Age" on Tuesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. in the James J. Johnson Auditorium. The talk focuses on the core aspects of Boyle's research and teaching: how transformations in media make knowledge possible.

"The talk emphasizes how moments of significant media transformation should be understood in historical context, and how such re-contextualization can lead to innovative interventions in our own digital age," Boyle said.

Boyle has been with CCU for eight years and was awarded the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 2011 and the Sigma Tau Delta Professor of the Year Award in 2014-2015. She designed and spearheaded the new digital culture and design program, a cross-disciplinary major popular among students due to her innovative teaching style and ability to connect and engage with the students she teaches and advises.

Recent HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Lecturers include John Hutchens (biology, 2017), Rob Young (marine science, 2016), Pam Martin (politics, 2015) and Terry Pettijohn II (psychology, 2014). The award has been given annually since 1996.

"It's a tremendous honor to receive this award, and I think what moves me most about this award is that it is about the intersection of research and teaching," said Boyle. "Public education at its best is about moving and pushing the limits of scholarship while translating that scholarship to make it accessible to students of all levels."

Boyle continues to explore new approaches to digital scholarship, and her work incorporating new digital media and concepts into the critical examination of early modern literature is breaking new ground in her field. She edited two books that were published in the fall of 2017: "Digital Medieval Literature and Culture: A Routledge Handbook" and "The Retro-Futurism of Cuteness."

"Boyle is an excellent interpreter of how new media impacts societal and political interactions," says Dan Ennis, dean of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. "Her work in emerging media and digital literatures has been outstanding."

Boyle joined the CCU faculty in 2009. She earned her master's degree in comparative literature and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Irvine. She was a Carol G. Lederer Fellow at Brown University from 2006-2007 and taught at Hollins University for six years prior to coming to CCU.

The Johnson Auditorium is in Room 116 of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, located at 119 Chanticleer Drive E. on the main Conway campus. See coastal.edu/safety/parking for parking options.

Boyle will also present a new initiative called the "Digital Polarization Project" on March 31 as part of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts Board of Visitors Lecture Series, "Real or Fake: News and Writing in Contemporary Times." The project addresses the ways that digital modalities have changed how society receives and engages with news, Boyle said.

"This presentation will allow participants to get some hands-on experience in how to trace where digital news comes from and how to check its accuracy and origins," she said. "The presentation/workshop will be informative; it will also be fun! We will actively look at articles and consider some strategies for understanding where they originate from and how they seek to influence us."

This presentation takes place at 10 a.m. at the Myrtle Beach Education Center on 79th Avenue North and is free and open to the public.

Social media handles:

Twitter: @jenboyle12

YouTube: Watch a video about Boyle and the Digital Culture and Design program at CCU. This video is available for use on media channels. Please credit the Coastal Carolina University Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Additional links:

Jennifer Boyle, Ph.D.

Digital Culture and Design program at CCU