Kerry Cooke

Kerry Cooke is the Associate Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts where she oversees the Shakespeare & Performance graduate program, as well as Theatre, Music, Studio Art, Art History, Dance, and Film. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Theatre department. 

Her research falls into two categories: as a faculty member interested in MBU’s history as a college for women, she researches and writes on issues of gender, race, and class – particularly as they manifest in university curricula, pedagogies, and performance traditions. She uses this research to redesign academic and performance programming. In addition, she uses this research to teach topics like Shakespeare, intersectional feminism, and canonicity in the classroom. Her work on this can be found in journals like Early Modern Culture.   

In addition, or in her “spare” time, she researches early modern letter-writing theory and culture. More specifically, she studies early printed epistolary manuals, their precepts, and the ways these precepts manifest in drama of the time. Her work can be found in journals like Journal for Early Modern Studies and Shakespeare Studies.