Keat Murray, PhD

Dr. Keat Murray is Professor of English in the Department of English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages. He specializes in early American and nineteenth century literature, with particular interest in James Fenimore Cooper, Native American studies, animal studies, environmental literature, and humor studies. He teaches introductory and topic courses in American literature, world literature, writing, and areas of his scholarly interest. He holds degrees from Lehigh University (Ph.D. in English) and two PASSHE institutions, Shippensburg University (B.S. in English Education) and Millersville University (M.A. in English).

Research Interests and Publications

Much of Professor Murray's scholarship has focused on the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, stemming from his doctoral dissertation at Lehigh University (2008). He has delivered and published many papers on Cooper, pedagogy, and other areas of interest. He has published a book with MLA on teaching Cooper’s novels, which he co-edited with fellow Cooperian Stephen
C. Arch. Murray also contributed a chapter to the volume, with an essay that rethinks Cooper’s fiction through animal studies and pre-Darwinian natural history. He is editing a forthcoming scholarly edition of Cooper's political satire The Monikins (1835) for the SUNY Press and will follow up with an edition of Cooper’s The Crater; or, Vulcan’s Peak (1847), a survivalist novel that frames the brief life of a republic in cataclysmic environmental events. A project on animal studies in Cooper’s oeuvre is in progress.
His work has been published in various journals and reference collections, such as Early American Literature, Journal of the Early Republic, Oxford Bibliographies, Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, The Midwest Quarterly, and various other journals, periodicals, and reference publications. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Cooper Edition (Writings of James
Fenimore Cooper, SUNY Press) and has been the Membership Secretary and Treasurer of the James Fenimore Cooper Society since 2013.

Undergraduate Research and Applied Teaching Method

Developing undergraduate research projects has been a staple of Murray’s time at California. He has directed many students pursuing original research in humor studies, literary studies, and digital archiving. For instance, under Murray’s advisement, more than one hundred students have developed original research in humor studies, which, in turn, they have presented at PennWest’s premiere undergraduate conference, California’s annual Strike a Spark event. Murray has likewise directed many archival projects to enhance education at the university, giving students opportunities to work with manuscripts from the eighteenth century to the
early twentieth century. Three large projects involved transcribing archival materials of cultural and linguistic importance to the Haudenosaunee and for databases at the Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Six Nations Polytechnic, in Ohsweken, Ontario. These projects, which are assisting the Haudenosaunee to revive traditional names and knowledge, were built on collaborative relationships among Six Nations Polytechnic, the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society, the University of Pennsylvania, and California University of Pennsylvania. One of the projects was funded by a PASSHE grant for $8,100, which Murray wrote to complete the work. Professor Murray has also fostered working relationships with various archives for purposes of undergraduate research. Students in Murray's literature courses have worked with manuscripts housed at a major Quaker archive in eastern Pennsylvania (Friends Historical Library) and at historical societies in western Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. These projects produced digital transcripts of a variety of
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century texts for the archives and their researchers. Students have, for instance, transcribed eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Quaker journals and the handwritten memoir of a Civil War veteran from Robinson Township, in Allegheny County.

University Service

Professor Murray has served on numerous department and campus-wide committees, chairing several at various times. He has served on conference- and event-planning committees for the university and regional educational communities. He has proudly served the California campus’s Strike a Spark Conference on Student Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity
since its inaugural event in 2015. This annual conference boasts an average of 140 student presenters. Additionally, he was an active member of the English Education Collaborative, which planned several annual conferences for middle school and high school English educators in Washington and contiguous counties.

Life Outside PennWest California

Outside of his professional life, Murray enjoys indigenous gardening, making music, hiking, fitness, baseball, and simply being with family and friends.