Madeline Olley is a PhD candidate in English who specializes in 19th Century American literature. Her research focuses on the intersections of literary and art history, particularly statues, gender, and embodiment. Her dissertation project examines the medial relationship between marble statues and early American literature. She articulates how the statuary aesthetic encompasses all of the ways we relate or respond to statues and how statues can channel or disrupt relationalities and identifications of race, gender, and indigeneity. Maddie has served as a teaching associate at Syracuse for courses on American literature, the novel, popular culture, and gender.
B.A. English, College of Saint Benedict | Saint John’s University

Degree: Began PhD program in 2019
Concentration: 19th and 20th Century American Literature
Advisor: Dorri Beam, Director of Graduate Studies