Faculty & Staff
James Dempsey
Adjunct Instructor
Administrator of Literary Studies and Adjunct Instructor of English
Faculty Listing
Office: Salisbury Laboratories, 332
Phone: +1-508-831-5513
Fax: +1-508-831-5932
jdempsey@wpi.edu
Educational Background
- B.A., University of Liverpool, U.K., 1976
- M.A., Clark University, 1978
Research & Teaching Interests
Journalism, Writing, Modernism, Chaucer
Research
I come to academia from a 20-year career in print journalism, during which time I worked as metro columnist for the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Massachusetts. I published thousands of columns on a wide variety of topics, winning awards from the Associated Press and United Press International. I was also the writing coach at the newspaper, leading seminars for editors and reporters in which we discussed topics in newspapering ranging from narrative journalism to ethics. I am deeply interested in writing in all its forms, both journalistic and creative.
I consider myself a generalist in literature, teaching courses in many periods and genres. I am particularly fond of the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and in writers of the 18th century, including John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. I am also researching the life and writings of Scofield Thayer, who edited a famous literary and critical magazine in the 1920s called The Dial.