Faculty Spotlight: Kisha Tracy & Adem Elveren
Welcome to the Library’s Spotlight on Fitchburg Faculty Scholarship! Learn more about what our faculty are researching by reading below and also visit the main level of the library to see our display of their work. You can learn more by viewing this list of books published by other Fitchburg State faculty.
Kisha Tracy, Ph.D., was born in Southern Illinois and discovered her passions in life very early on. At just four years old, she fell in love with Robin Hood, and eventually discovered she could have a career studying life in the Middle Ages. After earning her B.A. in English, she found that the University of Connecticut was one of the only institutions that offered the educational opportunities she was looking for, so she made the decision to move to the East Coast and never look back. A few years later, she had earned both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies.
Kisha has been an English Studies professor at Fitchburg State University for nine years and has numerous research interests including medieval and early world literature, memory and recollection, disability, among other topics. One of the many articles she wrote includes “Julian of Norwich and the Sin of Forgetfulness” which was published in 2015 through the Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures. In 2017, she published a book titled Memory and Confession in Middle English Literature, which is part of the FSU library collection. Just this year, Kisha wrote an article for the Washington Post regarding cultural heritage in response to the tragic fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France. Kisha had actually visited this famous landmark just 5 years prior.
Kisha lives in the New England region with her two cats. In her free time, she enjoys photography and studying martial arts at the Concord Self-Defense Academy. She has black belts in Seirenkai karate and jujitsu and serves as a sempai (junior instructor) to other martial arts students.
Some of Tracy’s publications include:
Tracy, K. (2015). Julian of Norwich and the Sin of Forgetfulness. Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, 41(2), 148-162.
Tracy, K. (2015). Memory, Recollection, and Forgetting. In A. Classen, Handbook of Medieval Culture. Volume 2 (E-Book) Berlin/Boston : De Gruyter.
Tracy, K. G. (2019). Why you don’t need to be French or Catholic to mourn the Notre Dame fire. The Washington Post (Online), Washington, D.C.: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post. Apr 17, 2019.
Adem Yavuz Elveren, Ph.D., was born in Turkey and grew up to become both fascinated and concerned with the social and economic issues surrounding him. He decided he wanted to learn more about these specific issues and eventually earned his B.A. in Economics at Ankara University, and afterwards moved to the United States to further his education. He went on to earn his M.A. at Boston University, and later his Ph.D. at the University of Utah, both degrees being in Economics.
Adem started his career at Fitchburg State University as an assistant professor in 2015, and teaches courses in economics, political science, history and other subjects. Along with teaching, Adem is an avid researcher. One of his many fields of study concern the economic issues in Turkey including the gender gap and the effects of militarization. In 2018, Adem launched his first book Brain Drain and Gender Inequality in Turkey. Just this year, he published his second book The Economics of Military Spending: A Marxist Perspective. He is currently working on his third book which pertains to the high military spending across the globe and how it negatively impacts the lives of civilians, mainly women and children. He hopes to have this released within year or two. Aside from his books, Adem has also had several articles published and has served as an editor for other written works.
Adem lives in Fitchburg, MA, and his hobbies (aside from research) include playing soccer with his fellow colleagues and students, and also running and walking. He also enjoys traveling to various locations inside the U.S. as well as other countries. His favorite places to travel include New York, China and Europe.