Professor of English, Western Illinois University

Everett Hamner grew up going to Space Camp and various Jesus Camps. After college and a master’s in teaching at Johns Hopkins, Regent gave him room to sort through considerable confusion. Life under the green roof provided a transformative, much-needed season before his PhD and academic career, and he returns to another summer session in hopes of multiplying what he received. His years at Regent led to a PhD in English from the University of Iowa, a book on genetics and popular culture (Editing the Soul), and articles in such outlets as American Literature, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Science Fiction Studies, Religion and Literature, Renascence, and Crux. Most crucially, Regent prepared him to serve others. Today that happens mostly at a public university in the Midwestern United States, where he provides relative expertise in many kinds of speculative fiction and invests wherever rich storytelling might inspire community.