Kate Lawson

Associate Professor

Kate Lawson PhD, Toronto
MA, Toronto
BA, Toronto

Extension: 43965
Office: HH 264
Email: klawson@uwaterloo.ca

Biography

I grew up in Nova Scotia and Ontario. I completed my PhD at the University of Toronto. I joined Waterloo’s English Department in 2002, having taught previously at the University of Northern BC, the University of Toronto, and Wilfrid Laurier University.

I teach a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. Recent courses include ENGL485: “Bleak House, Bleak World,” Topics in Literatures Romantic to Modern; ENGL451A: Literature of the Victorian Age 1; and ENGL730: Victorian Literature: The Brontës.

My research focuses on mid-nineteenth-century British fiction, and in particular the relationship between literature and the history of the 1840-50s, forms of literary influence, and the fiction of Charlotte Brontë.

I served as Chair of the Department of English from 2015-2018 and as Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies from 2008-2011. I served on the UW Senate from 2010-12.

With regard to service contributions more broadly, I have been an advocate for improved government funding of Ontario post-secondary institutions, for better terms and conditions of employment for contract academic staff, and for fair employment practices generally. For the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), I was Vice-President (2011-13), President (2013-15), Chair of the Board (2017-2020), and member-at-large (2008-10, 2020-23). I chaired the OCUFA ad hoc Committee on Online Learning. For the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), I served as Vice-President and member of the Faculty Relations Committee (2020-22) and as Board Member (2006-07).