Mary Maxfield (she/they) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s and Gender Studies at Saint Louis University (SLU), where they engage in research, teaching, and curriculum development. In 2022, Mary earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from SLU, having completed fields in LGBT history, queer theory, and cultural studies. Their current research builds on their dissertation and examines the use of media and arts to form LGBTQIA+ community in St. Louis and beyond.

In 2023, Mary received the Distinguished Dissertation Award, an annual award bestowed by SLU’s College of Arts and Sciences to a single PhD graduate. Her previous acknowledgments include a SLU Dissertation Fellowship in 2021 and a Divided City Summer Graduate Fellowship in 2019. Mary’s research has also been featured in Feminist Media Studies, Frontiers, and They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing.

As an instructor, Mary has taught classes in women’s and gender studies, American studies, history, sociology, and literature to a variety of student populations. In 2019, they were one of six American instructors to teach in Shanghai, China, in partnership with the Chinese University Summer School Association (CUSSA). Most recently Mary has developed and taught courses in “Feminism in Action,” “Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies,” “Introduction to Sexuality Studies,” “Gender, Race, and Social Justice” and “American Places: Freedom and Danger on the Internet” for SLU.

Outside of work, Mary enjoys creative pursuits and community-building. They’ve been a featured spoken-word performer at events including the Missouri History Museum’s 2023 “Queer Writes” showcase, and their fiction has been featured in Catapult and Strange Horizons. In 2021, Mary was a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction, as well as the recipient of the Stone Soup Community Press Scholarship.

In all her work, Mary strives to bridge academic research, creative arts, and practical social change.