My name is Corey Olsen. My family is from southern New Hampshire, and I got my BA from
Williams College in 1996. A Phi Beta Kappa member, I graduated with Highest Honors in English and also double-majored in Astrophysics. While at Williams, I sang with the
Elizabethans and proudly directed the
Mucho Macho Moocow Marching Band.
I went to graduate school at
Columbia
University, where I received my PhD in
2004. I specialize in medieval literature,
and my research interests include the
poetry
of Geoffrey Chaucer, the
Morte Darthur of Sir Thomas Malory, and, of course, Tolkien.
A young TP leading the indefatigable Moocows while wearing his second-best marching hat.
I am currently a tenure-track
professor in the
English Department of
Washington College, a delightful little liberal-arts college in Chestertown, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At WAC (as it is affectionately known), I teach courses on Chaucer, courtly love, Arthurian literature, the Bible, Greco-Roman mythology, and a full-semester course on the works of Tolkien.
TP processing in a WAC graduation ceremony.
At the graduation ceremony in 2007, I was deeply honored to receive the Alumni Association’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, the most prestigious teaching award given to a faculty member at Washington College. I am also the faculty advisor of the auspiciously-named English honor society,
Sigma Tau Delta (STD).
