Dr. Jesse Ulmer

Specialization:
American film and literature; transnational higher education

Education

Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, Minnesota, USA)

Master of Arts, English Literature, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia, USA)

Doctor of Philosophy, English Literature & Criticism, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA)

Biography

Jesse teaches writing, literature, and film courses as part of the Liberal Arts & Sciences Program at VCUarts Qatar, where he also directed the university’s Honors Program for nine years. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Minnesota State University Moorhead, a Master of Arts in English Literature at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature & Criticism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His research interests are diverse and deal with topics in the fields of American film and literature as well as transnational higher education.  Jesse’s has been honored and recognized by several faculty leadership awards including, most recently, the VCUarts Qatar Distinguished Achievement Faculty Award for Service. In 2011, he was the co-recipient of a Qatar National Research Fund Undergraduate Research Experience Program Grant, and he has received several faculty awards, including the Distinguished Achievement for Research in 2023.

Research Interests

American film and literature; transnational higher education

Publications

The Coen Brothers and American Roots Music. McFarland & Company, 2023.

“Same Same, But Different:” Trans-nationalizing Honors in a U.S. Branch Campus.” Internationalizing Honors, edited by Mary Kay Mulvaney and Kim Klein, National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series, 2020.

“Shane and the Language of Men.” Arcadia: International Journal of Literary Culture. vol. 53, no. 1, 2018, pp. 72-88.

“’Just like a Fly in a Pan of Molasses’: Farming the Midwest in Hamlin Garland’s Main-Travelled Roads.” Midwest Quarterly. vol. 58, no. 3, 2017, pp. 318-32.

The Donkey Lady and Other Tales from the Arabian Gulf, edited by Patty Paine, Jesse Ulmer, and Michael Hersrud, Berkshire Academic Press, 2012.

Presentations

“‘Same Same, But Different:’ Trans-nationalizing Honors in a U.S. Branch Campus.” National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, 8 Nov., 2019, Sheraton New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA.

“The Music of Noah Hawley’s Fargo.” 2018 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, 2 Feb. 2018, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Albuquerque, NM, USA.

“’Let us make beautiful music together:’ the music of The Ladykillers.” Music and the Moving Image Conference, 27 May 2017, New York University, New York, NY, USA.

“Hell, they ain’t even ol’ timey!:” O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Politics of Old-Timiness.” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Conference, 26 March 2015, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“No Country for Some Men.” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, 19 April 2014, Chicago, IL, USA.

“Shane and The Language of Men.” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, 21 Feb. 2014, Albuquerque, NM, USA.

Exhibitions

Funded Research Projects and Grants

The Donkey Lady and Other Tales from the Arabian Gulf, Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) Grant, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), 2011