Anne Reaves, Ph.D., associate professor of English, has been teaching at Marian University since 1991. Since then, she has enjoyed being a part of the growth of the university, meeting new colleagues, and seeing students gain new opportunities.
Reaves earned her undergraduate degree in German and had initially thought about being a translator for the United Nations. After coming across medieval German and British literature, her plan changed. She was fascinated by the correlations and still is to this day. This semester, Reaves is teaching a special topic course on vikings in literature in popular culture.
Q&A with Dr. Reaves
Q: Are you working on any current projects?
A: One of my areas is textile references in literature, and so I have it broken down into two areas. I am giving a presentation in May at a conference on medieval Scandinavian tapestries and how to make them, and I am working on the research portion of a project on references to hoods in medieval literature. Sometimes they are very serious, sometimes they are very comic, so I am trying to go through as many as I can find and then put my thinking cap on.
Q: Are you from the Indianapolis area?
A: My father was from Texas and was in the Navy, so we lived all over the country. Most of the family is still down in Texas.
Q: Outside of work, what do you like to do?
A: Textiles. If it’s a fiber, I’ll spin it, weave it, knit it.
Q: How did you learn to do that?
A: From the earliest age I can remember, I always had to know how textiles were made. I’m sure I annoyed my neighbor. One of my neighbors taught me how to knit basically to keep me from badgering her. I don’t stay with all of them, but how do you know which one you like best if you don’t try as many as possible.