Scott Cleary, Ph.D.

Professor of English

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Office:
32 Hubert
Phone:
(914) 633-2156 (914) 633-2156
Email:

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., New York University, 2005
  • MA, English Literature, New York University, 2002
  • BA, English Literature, St. Francis Xavier University, 2000

Teaching interests: 18th-Century British literature, Law and Literature, Science Fiction and Poetry. Dr. Cleary teaches a wide variety of courses in his areas of expertise and interest. Along with graduate and undergraduate courses in eighteenth-century British and American Literature, poetry and poetics, and book history (the expertise), he has taught courses on Law and Literature, Science Fiction, and the modern superhero film (the interests).

At the turn of the twenty-first century, Scott Cleary earned an Honours Degree in English Literature from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Lured by the bright lights of the big city, he crossed the border under cover of night to attend New York University where he earned his Master’s in English Literature in 2002 and Ph.D. in 2005. After teaching for a year at Providence College in Providence, RI, he came to Iona in 2006.

While at Iona, Dr. Cleary has taught a wide variety of courses in his areas of expertise and interest. Along with graduate and undergraduate courses in eighteenth-century British and American Literature, poetry and poetics, and book history (the expertise), he has taught courses on Law and Literature, Science Fiction, and the modern superhero film (the interests). He has published articles on Alexander Pope, Christopher Smart, Benjamin Franklin, Walter Savage Landor and the eighteenth-century Catholic Cisalpine movement, and has served on Faculty Senate, The Committee on Academic Affairs, the 2012-2017 strategic planning committee and Honors Council.

Since 2013, Dr. Cleary has been the faculty director of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies. His article “Thomas Paine and Poetic Liberty” was published in 2013, and his current project is a monograph on Thomas Paine and eighteenth-century poetry. His current hobby is explaining to anyone who will listen that the 1970s cult classic Death Race 2000 is the best modern representation of Paine’s political ideology.

In between teaching and writing, Dr. Cleary enjoys making up stories about rocketships and big robots for his three-year old son.