Tammy Birk

Tammy Birk

Phone
614-823-1759

Email
tbirk@otterbein.edu

Office
Towers 329

Associate Professor of English & Director of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
Department of English

Tammy Birk is an Associate Professor of English and has been director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program since 2009. She regularly teaches in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies foundational core as well as courses in experimental women’s writing, contemporary graphic narrative, gender and madness, and seminars in topics as varied as Disability Cultures and Human/Animal: Seminar in Critical Animal Studies. Her research interests are centered on critical cosmopolitanism and its radicalizing impact on global learning pedagogy. Birk also advises a number of student organizations, including the WGSS honorary and Otterbein’s feminist and queer-friendly zine, kate. Outside of work, Birk is involved in local political activity and activism, Buddhist meditation and study, pit bull rescue, and leading a monthly discussion series called ‘Seekers and Healers’ at Wild Goose Creative. She is the mother of one daughter.

Education

  • Ph.D., English,  The Ohio State University, 2011
  • M.A., Feminist Theory, The Ohio State University, 1993
  • B.A., Philosophy, History, & Political Science, Miami University, 1987

Research, Creative, & Professional Work

  • Critical cosmopolitan pedagogy
  • Feminist praxis and dissent
  • Experimental women’s writing
  • Graphic narrative and medicine
  • Gender and madness
  • Critical animal studies
  • Transgression

Publications

  • Globalization and Global Citizenship: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Eds. Irene Langran and Tammy Birk. London: Routledge, 2016
  • ‘Critical Cosmopolitanism as a New Paradigm for Global Learning.’ Globalization and Global Citizenship: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Eds. Irene Langran and Tammy Birk. London: Routledge, 2016. 38-55.
  • ‘Mother, Come Home: Traumatic Loss and ‘Groundskeeping’ the Disaster.’ American Imago. Spring 2020.
  • ‘Critical Cosmopolitan Teaching and Learning: A New Answer to the Global Imperative.’ Diversity and Democracy. AAC&U Publications. Spring 2014.

Affiliations & Awards

Professional Affiliations
  • National Women's Studies Association
  • Women's and Gender Studies et Recherches Féministes
  • Modern Language Association
  • Comic Studies Society
Awards
  • Citizen Faculty Award, 2016