Dr. Katherine Acheson

Biography

Katherine Acheson is a Professor and Associate Dean of Arts, Undergraduate Programs at the University of Waterloo. She obtained her BA from Carleton University and her MA and PhD from the University of Toronto. Acheson held a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford and has taught at the University of Toronto and Concordia University before joining the University of Waterloo in January 1997. Her research interests have evolved over the years; initially focused on early Canadian literature, she shifted towards Renaissance literature under the supervision of Germaine Warkentin. Acheson's graduate training led her to explore the manuscript memoir diary of Anne Clifford, evolving into a dissertation project published in 1995 and reissued in 2006. At the University of Waterloo, she has been influenced by the department's emphasis on the rhetorical dimensions of literary texts. Her published works cover the span of visual rhetoric and early modern English literature, including essays on authors such as Behn, Clifford, Milton, and Marvell. Acheson's current research focuses on marginalia, particularly women's contributions, with ongoing projects including the editing of a collection of essays on the topic. She is actively involved in undergraduate teaching centered around seventeenth-century literature and offers graduate courses in recent book history.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards