Julia P. McLeod has been teaching writing and literature courses at UT since 2010, where she has created several Themes in Literature courses, including “Books that Shaped America,” “Tennessee Women Writers,” “The Hero’s Journey in Tennessee Literature.” Her scholarly work in 19th- and 20th-century American literature focuses primarily on material culture, economics, and historicist studies and examines the intersections of American capitalism and economic expansion and their effects on social and cultural paradigms, particularly in relation to women and work. She is also engaged in the literature of the South, and the preservation of the region’s traditional folklore and foodways is the focus of her First-Year Research and Composition course, “Inquiry into Food and Culture.” Since 2023, Dr. McLeod has expanded her research and teaching to include the life and works of Jane Austen, and her “Introduction to Austen” courses examine the social, political, and economic impacts of the Regency Era on women’s lived experiences. 

Dr. McLeod was awarded the Hodges Excellence in Teaching Award by the UT English Department in 2018 and again in 2024. She believes in the power of literature and writing to deepen our understanding of the human experience, leading us to new perspectives of the social and cultural forces which have defined the past and determine the future. Her classroom invites students to engage with questions of the human condition, to ask critical questions about the world around them, and to engage this dis