Margot B. Valles
619 Red Cedar Rd. Wells Hall C-623, East Lansing, MI 48824│vallesm@msu.edu │ (517) 258-06117
Employment
Assistant Professor
August 2016 - Present
Department of English
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Assistant Professor
August 2013-August 2016
Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts & Humanities
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Education
PhD │Indiana University │ Bloomington, IN │ July 2013 Comparative Literature with an Intensive Doctoral Minor in Jewish Studies Dissertation: Judaizing Romance and Romanticizing Judaization: Adaptation in Hebrew and Early Yiddish Chivalric Romance Committee: Dov-Ber Kerler (Chair), Rosemarie McGerr, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Stephen Katz MA │Indiana University │Bloomington, IN │2008 Comparative Literature with a Minor in Yiddish Studies BA │St. John’s College │Annapolis, MD │2006 Liberal Arts; Philosophy, History of Math and Science
Teaching
Michigan State University │East Lansing, MI │Department of English
Magic in Medieval Literature and Culture
Traditional│Spring 2017
ENG 454: Seminar in Medieval Lit
Readings in Jewish Masculinities
Traditional│Fall 2016
ENG 356 Readings in Jewish Literature
The Quest
Traditional│Fall 2016
ENG 368 Studies Medieval/Early Mod (W)
Foundations of Literary Study II
Traditional│Fall 2016
ENG 280 Foundations of Literary Study II
Michigan State University │East Lansing, MI │Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities
Humor in 20th Century Jewish Literatures, Cultures, Identities
Online, Hybrid and Traditional│Spring 2017, F all 2014 - Fall 2015
IAH 207 Literatures, Cultures Identities
The Monstrous Middle Ages
Online and Traditional│Fall 2013- Spring 2016
IAH 221b Great Ages: The Medieval and Early Modern World
King Arthur and His Knights: National Myth, International Nobility, Ever-changing Manifestations
Online, Hybrid and Traditional│Fall 2013 - Spring 2016
IAH 241c Creative Arts and Humanities: Cultural and Artistic Traditions of Europe
The High Middle Ages and the Cultural Revolution: Shifts in Pre-modern Reading, Feminism, Globalization
Traditional│Fall 2013 - Spring 2016
IAH 221b Great Ages: The Medieval and Early Modern World
Indiana University │Bloomington, IN │Comparative Literature, English
ENG-W131 Elementary Composition 1
Traditional│Fall 2008 – Spring 2009
CMLT-C145 Major Themes in Western Literature
Traditional│ Spring 2008
CMLT-C146 Major Characters in Western Literature
Traditional│Fall 2007
Publications
Book Chapter in Peer-Reviewed, Edited Book
Fenster, Thelma, and Margot B. Valles. "Elia Levita's Yiddish Bovo D'antona: Pulp Fiction for Women?". In The Epic Imagination in Medieval Literature: Essays in Honor of Alice M. Colby-Hall, edited by Philip E. Bennett, Leslie Zarker Morgan and F. Regina Psaki, 161-77. University, Mississippi: Romance Monographs, 2016.
Translation
Margot B. Valles, trans. “The Stage and the Public” from Theater and Drama by Mikhl Weichert. Original “Bine un Publikum,” Teater un drame, vol 1. (Vilna: Vilner farlag fun B. Kletskin, 1926) 12-16. In Joel Berkowitz and Barbara Henry, eds., Inventing the Modern Yiddish Stage: Essays in Drama, Performance, and Show Business. 154-156 Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2012.
Recent Conference Presentations and Seminars
American Comparative Literature Association Conference
Presenter│Albrecht, Netherlands│(Upcoming, July 9, 2017)
“Translating Yiddish: Intra-Communal Exegesis / Extra-Communal Conversion”
Presenter │Providence, RI │March 28, 2015
“Gastro-Judaization? The Judaizing Properties of “Homey” Meals in Elye Levita’s 16th Century Yiddish Epic, Bove-bukh”
Presenter │Providence, RI │March 30, 2012
“The Christianizing Judaism of the Hebrew King Arthur: Book of Destruction and the Judaizing Christianity of the Early-Yiddish Vidvilt”
Presenter, Organizer │Vancouver, BC │April 3, 2011
“Translating the Yiddish Jesus: Translation as an Angelic or Monstrous Body within and without Sholem Asch’s The Nazarene”
Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference
Moderator │ Baltimore, MD │December 18, 2014
Panel on Yehudah Halevi
Presenter │Chicago, IL │December 18, 2012
“The Christianizing Judaism of the Hebrew Melech Artus and the Judaizing Christianity of the Early-Yiddish Vidvilt”
International Congress on Medieval Studies
Presenter │Kalamazoo, MI │May 13, 2017
“Food and Religious Identity in Early Yiddish Epic”
Presenter │Kalamazoo, MI │May 16, 2015
“Vidvilt: Early Yiddish Epic and the Anxiety of Christian Influence”
Moderator, Organizer of Session │Kalamazoo, MI │May 8-11th, 2014
“The Medieval Monster as Mirror: Translation, Hybridity, and Cultural Identity”
Mens et Mensa: Society for the Study of Food in the Middle Ages
Presenter │London, ON │October 30-31, 2015
“What Should a Jewish Princess Eat? Diet and Religion in the Early Yiddish Bove-bukh”
Other:
“Crusade, Orientalism, Islamophobia: Medieval and Modern Intersections” Muslim Studies/English Department
Presenter│Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI │March 16, 2017
“The Telling Transformations of a Saracen Sidekick
Jewish Studies Faculty and Student Research Seminar
Organizer, Moderator│Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI │February 3, 2017
“Yiddish Memory Before, During and After the Holocaust"
Jewish Studies Faculty and Student Research Seminar
Presenter │Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI │February 20 2015
“Nobility and Monstrosity in Elye Levita’s 16th Century Yiddish Chivalric Romance, Bove-bukh”
The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns’ Jewish Studies Program Faculty-Graduate Workshop
Presenter │Indiana University, Bloomington, IN │November 2, 2012
“What Makes an Early-Yiddish Arthurian-Romance, “Jewish Literature”? Three Hypotheses for Interpreting the Early-Yiddish Vidvilt”
Digital Humanities: Training and Experience
D2L-Accessibility through Creative Innovation, Faculty Learning Community 2015-2016
Participant │ Michigan State University │2015
Design to Learn with Desire 2 Learn, Faculty Learning Community 2014-2015
Participant │ Michigan State University│2014 – 2015
“MSU IAH 241c King Arthur: Michigan State’s Creative Camelot” WordPress Site
Administrator and Curator │ Created online blog-style venue for publishing and broadcasting the impressive creative work of students in my IAH 241c Course, “King Arthur and his Knights…”
http://iah241arthur.wordpress.com/
Michigan State University │Live since December 2013
Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories (AHEYM)
Research Assistant │Collected, annotated, transcribed and translated digitally recorded video interviews in Yiddish for the purpose of creating an archive and resource where academics, students and interested members of the public can explore issues of the Eastern European Jewish/Yiddish experience.
http://www.iub.edu/~aheym/
Indiana University │2008-2010
Tech-Savvy Teaching: Melding In-Class and Online Pedagogies
Attendee │ Spring Institute on College Teaching and Learning
Michigan State University │May 12, 13, and 16, 2014
Fundamentals of Online Pedagogy
Attendee │ Faculty Seminars in Research and Instructional Technology.
Michigan State University│May 5-6, 2014
Recent Grants, Fellowships, Awards
Friends of the Born Jewish Studies Program Grant-in-Aid of Research
Toward the study of medieval Yiddish manuscripts at Trinity College Library, Cambridge, UK
Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Indiana University │Bloomington, IN │May 2013
College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Research Fellowship
Indiana University │Bloomington, IN │January 2012-January 2013
Community Outreach
Leader │Munising, MI │Nov, 2015
A Weekend Working on the Concept of “Shalom” Peace
Women’s Spirituality Retreat │ L’dor V’dor Consortium of the UP
Presenter │ Falmouth, MA │ August 3, 2015
“Reclaiming Tkhines for the 21st Century”│Falmouth Jewish Congregation
Presenter │Munising, MI │June 13-14, 2015
”Finding New Meaning in Women’s Mitzvot”
Women’s Spirituality Retreat│L’dor V’dor Consortium of the UP
Presenter │East Lansing, MI │February 27, 2015
“Yiddish: The Language in Music and Life in Song” with Cantor Pamela Schiffer and pianist Joan Gochberg
Shabbat Sermon in Song/Shabbes zing un shmooz │Congregaton Shaarey Zedek
Presenter │St. Ignace, MI │Nov. 7-9, 2014
“Tkines, Supplication and Women’s Prayer in Traditional Jewish Culture”
Women’s Spirituality Retreat│L’dor V’dor Consortium of the UP
Presenter │Islamic Center, East Lansing, MI │March 29, 2014
“A Jewish Woman’s Take on the Jewish Take on Jewish Women” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcYJrNFkVaQ
Women of Faith│Beyond Coexistence 8th Interfaith Dialog Series
Participant │ Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, Oconomowoc, WI │ July 30- Aug. 3, 2014
Had’racha Seminar for Lay Leadership │ Union for Reformed Judaism
Memberships and Service
Editorial Board Member, Journal│In Geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies │2014 -
Editorial Board Member, Series│Cross-Cultural Engagements│2015 -
Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University
Member│IAH Faculty Learning Community │ 2014 - Present
Institutional Workshop, Michigan State University
Member│Design to Learn with Desire 2 Learn │2014 - Present
Institutional Workshop, Michigan State University
Member│American Comparative Literature Association│ 2010 - Present
International Professional Organization
Member │ Medieval Academy of America │ 2017 - Present
International Professional Organization
Member│Modern Languages Association│2010 - Present
International Professional Organization
Member│Association for Jewish Studies│2012 - Present
International Professional Organization
Member │Union of Non-Tenured Faculty │2013 - Present
Michigan State University │East Lansing, MI
