The Division of Undergraduate Education is pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Keilen as Porter College Provost.
An Associate Professor of Literature and affiliated faculty member of Theater Arts, Keilen studies Shakespeare, classical literature, the history of criticism, and the relationship between the humanities and the arts. Before joining the faculty at UC Santa Cruz, he taught at the College of William and Mary, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. Keilen is the author of Vulgar Eloquence: On the Renaissance Invention of English Literature (Yale 2006) and an editor of The Forms of Renaissance Thought: New Essays in Literature and Culture (Palgrave 2009), as well as ten volumes of Shakespeare criticism (Garland 1999). Currently, he is editing the Ashgate Companion to Shakespeare and Classical Literature with Nick Moschovakis. Keilen’s research has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Henry Huntington Library.
Keilen is a graduate of Williams College, Cambridge University, and Stanford. He traces his excitement about working at Porter College to his experiences as a student in the rigorous but supportive environments at these schools, and also to his service at the University of Pennsylvania as a residential Faculty Fellow in an undergraduate college house. “Working closely with teachers who cared enough about me to insist that I explore the unknown, both inside and outside myself, made all the difference to the person I became,” Keilen said. “I want to share with new students the tremendous benefits that I received from my teachers. At UC Santa Cruz, there is no better place to do that than the residential college. In the short time that I knew Don Rothman, he taught me that.”
Acknowledging Porter College’s special commitment to fostering the arts, Keilen said that it is an honor and privilege to support faculty, staff, and students in the Arts Division. “I cherish the arts, and I am eager to work with my colleagues in the Arts Division to enlarge the scope of their work on campus and in the local community. I also hope that we’ll forge new bonds between the arts, humanities, and sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and in the process, teach each other how to make Porter College a place where creative and intellectual experiences, of lasting importance, continue to be the norm for every student.”