Brian Gastle

Background

About Brian Gastle

I am Professor of English at Western Carolina University where I teach medieval British literature, research methodology, writing, and special topics literature courses. Since arriving at WCU in 1998, I have served as Director of the Professional Writing Program, Director of the Literature Program, Coordinator of the Spring Literary Festival, Department Head in English, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, and Provost Fellow (an Interim Associate Provost position). My scholarship focuses upon later medieval English literature, especially the texts of John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer, with a particular interest in mercantile rhetoric and representation of women in business in later medieval English literature. Apart from a number of essays and chapters, my publications include the first complete translation into Modern English of John Gower's Middle English poem, the _Confessio Amantis_(Medieval Institute Publications, 2023), and I co-edited, among others titles, the _MLA Approaches to Teaching the Poetry of John Gower_(MLA, 2011) and the _Routledge Research Companion to John Gower_(Routledge, 2017). I have served as WCU’s SACS Reaffirmation Report Editor and worked on many departmental and institutional assessment projects; that work led me to teach several workshops on writing accreditation reports and compliance documents for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC). I have been fortunate to have been recognized for my teaching and scholarship with WCU’s University Scholar Award (2018), the John Hurt Fisher award from the John Gower Society (2020), WCU’s Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2022), and WCU’s Excellence in Teaching Liberal Studies Award (2024).