Ph.D. Students

Lauren Crockett-Girard is a PhD candidate whose primary area of research is 20th Century American literature and film with focus on zombie theory, monster theory, horror, and apocalyptic literature. She is also interested in continental philosophy, focusing on the philosophy of literature, Kantian ethics, and existentialism. Her dissertation, titled “Thinking with Zombies: How Zombies Infected American Discourse,” takes an American Studies perspective, exploring the ways that zombie rhetoric appears in areas of American culture like politics, religion, and more. Her teaching experience at Boston College includes the First-Year Writing Seminar (on the theme of “language and worldview”), Literature Core (on the theme of “literary monsters”), and an English elective titled “The Apocalypse in Literature and Culture.” She’s currently teaching writing and literature courses at Assumption University while finishing her dissertation. Lauren received her BA in English Literature and Philosophy from Assumption University in 2019 and her MA in English from Boston College in 2024.