Rate My Professor Amy Elias

Amy J. Elias serves as UT Chancellor's Professor and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she also holds the Lindsay Young Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences. Appointed Director of the Denbo Center for Humanities & the Arts in 2017, she leads initiatives fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across humanities and arts disciplines. Elias earned her Ph.D. in English with an American Studies minor and her M.A. in English from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park. She received her B.A. in English from Wilkes University, graduating summa cum laude with Distinction in English. Her career at the University of Tennessee includes progressive promotions, culminating in her current distinguished titles awarded in 2020. Elias has participated in professional development such as the Digital Bootcamp at the University of Tennessee in 2017 and NEH programs.

A specialist in post-1960s arts as well as humanities institutionalism, Elias teaches courses in contemporary fiction, theory and criticism, and interdisciplinary humanities. She is the author of the monograph Sublime Desire: History and Post-1960s Fiction, published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2001. Elias co-edited The Planetary Turn: Relationality and Geoaesthetics in the Twenty-First Century with Christian Moraru, issued by University of Iowa Press in 2015. Her recent editorial work includes Speculative Light: The Arts of Writer James Baldwin (1924-1987) and Painter Beauford Delaney (1901-1979). She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, supporting projects like interdisciplinary symposia on Black arts history. Notable honors include selection for the Chancellor's Leadership Academy (2022-23), the Penn State Outstanding Alumni Award (2026), and designation as Chancellor's Professor and Distinguished Professor. Elias contributes to public engagement through media appearances, such as an interview on The Hallerin Hilton Hill Show in 2022, and leadership in academic societies like the Narrative Society. Her directorship has advanced humanities research, grant-funded programming, and campus-wide initiatives at UT Knoxville.