Dr. Marija Reiff, one of the English Department’s newest faculty, is an Assistant Professor of English. 

What brought you to JSU? 

I came to JSU because of its family-friendly campus and the beautiful nature surrounding Jacksonville.  It is a beautiful, welcoming spot to raise a family.

What is your area of expertise in English? 

My specialty is nineteenth-century British literature.  I’ve published on a number of famous authors—including Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge—though my strongest area of expertise is the British theatre, particularly the theatre at the end of the 1800s

What courses are you currently teaching at JSU? What are you most looking forward to? 

Currently I am teaching EH 101: Composition I, EH 141: Oral Communication I, and EH 204: British Literature II (i.e. British literature 1800-present).  I am really looking forward to developing more advanced British literature courses.  I am dying to teach a Jane Austen and film course, and I would love to teach a class on Oscar Wilde!

What is (currently) your favorite part of your job? 

My favorite part is getting to know such kind, hardworking, and friendly students.  I really enjoy how respectful and friendly they are; they seem like great kids

What is your favorite thing about the English department? 

My favorite thing about my department is how welcoming and generous everyone in the English department is. Many people have offered to help me with a wide variety of things, and I received invitations to social gatherings even before I moved to Alabama!  They really are a remarkably welcoming department.

What impact do you hope to have while teaching at JSU? 

I hope to foster students’ love of reading.  I want students to read works that challenge them intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, and I want students to read deeply and thoroughly and to savor the fruits of academic rigor.  I think nineteenth-century British literature is some of the best literature ever written, and I’m eager to share with them these texts that, in so many ways, changed the world.

Do you have any ongoing projects or academic activities you’d like to share? 

I am currently working on a series of articles that I hope will form the basis of an academic book.   These articles are about the late-nineteenth-century British theatre’s preoccupation with religion and religious depictions.  For most of the nineteenth century, portrayals of religion and religious life were largely banned by the Lord Chamberlain’s office, so what happened at the end of the century represents a significant change.  I argue that the resurgence of staged religious life was a key element in the declining role of official censorship in the British theatre at the end of the century.  I really enjoy this research because, in many ways, it is exciting and counterintuitive—the conclusions that I am coming to are not what I expected.  Moreover, I see many useful lessons for our own contemporary era as censorship threatens to become a major force once again.

Do you have any notable achievements you wish to share? 

I have a strong publication record, with many published journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries.  My research also garnered me a Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship at the University of Iowa—the university’s largest award—and I won the prize for Best MA thesis in English at the University of Virginia.

What do you do in your spare time? 

First and foremost, I do a lot of things with my kids.  I have a kindergartener and two-year-old twins, so we do many fun things together.  I’m trying to teach them to love being outdoors—I love hiking, biking, kayaking, etc.–and to love music and theatre.  Before I became a college professor, I was a professional musical theatre actress, and my love for acting and singing still plays a huge role in my life.

What advice would you give to a student of yours? 

My advice is simple: read the books!  The works we are reading really are terrific, so you need to read them not only to do well in class, but also to have the personal experience of encountering some of the greatest literature ever written.

Anything else you want us to include? 

Two things: my name may be spelled funny, but it is just pronounced Maria.  The j is silent!  Also, we just moved here to Alabama from Dubai, where I was teaching at a university.  It is good to be back home in the USA!