Rebecca Umland

Professor

Office: THMH 205B   |    Phone: (308) 865-8697   |    Email: umlandr@unk.edu

Rebecca Umland

Education

  • Ph.D. English, University of Iowa

Professional Organizations

  • Mythopoeic Society
  • Popular Culture Association
  • The International Arthurian Society
  • The Tristan Society


Courses Taught

  • ENG 467/869 Romantic Literature
  • ENG 468/880 Victorian Literature 
  • ENG 872 English Literature to 1500 
  • ENG 330 European Literature In Translation: Saints and Sinners 
  • ENG 337 Popular Literature: Arthurian Legends, Then and Now
  • ENG 252 Western Civilization: Love in the Western World

Publications

  • “The Face of Robin Williams and the Enigma of Stardom,” in Robin Williams: Essays on the Films, Ed. Johnson Cheu, McFarland Publishers. Forthcoming 2019. Co-authored with Samuel J. Umland. Invited contributors.
  • Outlaw Heroes as Liminal Figures in Film and Television. McFarland, 2016. 
  • "Lillie Langtry: From Professional Beauty to International Icon," in Essays on the Female Artist in the Early Twentieth Century, Ed. Paul Fryer, McFarland, 2012.
  • Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side. Co-Author, with Sam Umland, 2006.
  • The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings. Co-Author, with Samuel J. Umland, Greenwood Press, 1996.
  • "Burn, Witch, Burn: A First Look at the Scandinavian Horror Film," in Horror International. Co-Author, with Samuel J. Umland, 2005.
  • "The Straight Story on The Straight Story," Wrapped In Plastic 62 (January 2003): 8-16.
  • "Unrequited Love in We Can Build You," in Philip K. Dick: Contemporary Critical Interpretations, Greenwood Press, 1995.
  • "The Snake in the Woodpile: Tennyson's Vivien as Victorian Prostitute" in Culture and the King: the Social Implications of the Arthurian Legend, 1994.

Awards

  • Martin Distinguished Professor of English
  • Faculty Research Mentor Award
  • Outstanding Teaching Award, Mortar Board Society
  • Pratt-Heins Distinguished Research Award
  • Honorary Member for Teaching Excellence, Phi Eta Sigma

Conference Presentations

  • “‘Coming Full Circle’: Redemption for John Rambo?” presented at the Society for the Academic Study of Social Imagery Conference (SASSI), University of Northern Colorado, March 2018.
  • “Re-envisioning Marriage in European Cinema after 1970.” presented at the European Studies Conference, University of Nebraska at Omaha, October 2017.
  • “The Problem of Eros in Rohmer’s Love in the Afternoon and Cavani’s The Night Porter,” presented at the European Studies Conference, University of Nebraska at Omaha, October 2014.
  • "The Liminal Space of the Road and the Transformative Quest," Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery (SISSI) Conference, Colorado Springs, CO, March 2012.
  • "'That's not all, Folks': The Reinvention of Arthurian Legend," Panel Presentation: Arthur's Afterlife and the Dialectics of Adaptation, PCA/ACA Conference, St. Louis, MO, April 2010.
  • "Runescape, or Athena Meets the Lady of the Lake: Arthurian Legend in the Electronic Age," PCA/ACA Conference, New Orleans, LA, April 2009.