Michelle Chihara
Associate Director
mchihara@whittier.edu
Wardman Hall 102
Michelle Chihara, PhD is an Associate Professor of English whose scholarship exemplifies the interdisciplinarity and entrepreneurial spirit that are hallmarks of the Whittier Scholars Program. Michelle comes to this position with significant experience in the Program, having served as a research sponsor for more than twelve WSP senior projects in recent years. As Associate Director of WSP, Michelle will teach interdisciplinary courses at all levels of the program, help guide students in the conception and design of their own pathways of study, serve on the Whittier Scholars Council, and collaborate in the administration of the Program.
Michelle teaches contemporary American literature, media studies, and creative writing at Whittier. Her book project’s working title is Behave! — Science, Economics, & Influence in American Popular Culture. Recent publications appeared in Postmodern Culture, American Literary History, Post45: Contemporaries and a chapter in New Directions in Print Culture Studies from Bloomsbury. Her recent co-edited volume, The Routledge Companion to Literature and Economics offers a collection of authoritative essays at the juncture of two disciplines. Recent nonfiction pieces appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, as well as in the volume Slouching Towards Los Angeles: Living and writing in Joan Didion’s light. In a former life, she was a reporter, and has published fiction, nonfiction, reportage and essays in a variety of publications, online and off. In addition, Michelle currently edits the Econ & Finance section at The Los Angeles Review of Books, where she has also mentored a number of Whittier student interns.
