Caren Town

Prof. Town joined Georgia Southern University in 1988 and retired in 2025.

— Biography from the 2025 Spring Commencement program —

Dr. Town earned her AB (1979) from the University of Alabama and her MA (1983) and PhD (1987) from the University of Washington. She arrived at Georgia Southern University (then College) in 1988, fresh from a two-year temporary position at Stetson University. When she drove into Statesboro on that very muggy July afternoon, there was a rainbow stretching over Highway 67, which she hoped would portend a happy and prosperous future, which it did. During her 35 years at Georgia Southern, Dr. Town has seen the university grow from around 4,000 to over 20,000 students and has worked for more than six department chairs and numerous Deans and Presidents. She enthusiastically taught American, World, and Adolescent literature, where she mentored (and sometimes cajoled) students into loving the works she did (or at least reading them). She directed multiple master’s theses (including one held remotely from Thailand and one from a car that had recently been pulled over by the police). She served as Director of Graduate Studies for several years and chaired just about every committee in the department. She also served on the College’s personnel and curriculum committees, as well as chairing the University’s Research Committee and serving as the Secretary of the Faculty Senate. In her service to the profession, she was an Assistant Editor of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly and member of the Children’s Literature Association Astrid Lindgren Award Nomination Committee, whose nomination of YA author Jacqueline Woodson led to Woodson winning the prestigious award (and a trip of a lifetime to Stockholm). Her scholarship includes four books: Military Brats in Fiction and NonFiction (2024), LGBTQ Young Adult Fiction: A Critical Survey, 1970s–2010s (2017), “Unsuitable Books”: Censorship and Young Adult Fiction (2014), and The New Southern Girl (2004). She has published more than 20 articles on American literature, adolescent fiction, novels by women, and pedagogy and has delivered papers at international, national, regional, and local conferences throughout her career. When attending her final graduation in Fall 2024, she saw a double rainbow in the sky over Paulson Stadium (also much bigger than when she arrived), which can only mean that even better things lie ahead. For her many contributions to Georgia Southern, its students, and her profession, Dr. Town is deserving of the title Professor Emerita of English.*