Mary Ann Addy Maxwell

Mary Ann Addy Maxwell’s degrees include a Bachelor of Arts, 1978-1982; a Master of Arts, Comparative Literature, 1982-1986; a Doctor of Philosophy, Comparative Literature, 1987-1993; and a Master of Library Science, 2011-2012. Her first job was as a bibliographic clerk in a university library. As a master's student, she was a research/editorial assistant for several different professors. Later, she taught introductory courses in Western civilization and classical literature.

She entered university with three passions directing her choice of study: love of literature, a talent for learning foreign languages, and a deep interest in the culture and history of early modern Europe. She found that comparative literature enabled her to combine these interests. As she pursued her studies, she began to focus on the use of rhetoric in Renaissance drama, and thanks to her background in French literature, she chose to write a thesis on a play by the 17th-century classical dramatist Pierre Corneille. During this time she also began to teach university-level courses in Western civilization.

In 1987, she entered the comparative literature doctoral program at the University of Toronto. She became interested in the work of the humanist Erasmus and how his ideas about language played out in the work of later authors. This became the center of the subject of her dissertation. Although she worked as a research assistant in the last year of her doctoral program, teaching remained her focus. She worked as an adjunct professor for most of 1993-2012, with the occasional hiatus.

She has always loved libraries, so when at mid-life she decided to change careers, library school was an easy choice. She completed the MLS program of Emporia State University in 2012.

Source: Portfolio of Mary Ann Addy Maxwell