Curriculum vitae

LES K. WRIGHT, PH.D.
Tel: 707-444-2835
e-mail: LesKirkWright@gmail.com

EDUCATION
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
2009-2010 Master’s level studies in Ethics and Social Theory

University of California, Berkeley
1992 Ph.D. in Comparative Literature
• Anglo-American, German, French, Russian, Dutch literatures
• Dissertation: “The Chiasmic Bind: Comparative Studies in Contemporary Gay Male Subjectivities.” Prof. Avital Ronell (chair), Prof. Anton Kaes, Prof. Kenneth Weisinger

University of California, Berkeley
1984 M.A. in Comparative Literature
• German, Russian, French literatures

State University of New York, Albany.
1975 B.A. in Comparative Literature
• German, Russian literatures
• cum laude

LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION
1985 LIFE California Community College Instructor credential, German, Humanities, Language Arts and Literature

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2010–, Tutor, multiple subjects, WyzAnt (https://www.wyzant.com/Tutor/)

2007-2010, Professor of English (adjunct), Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
• Expository writing (College Writing Development, Freshman Composition, Critical Thinking)
• Faculty Advisor, German Club

1993-2005, Associate Professor of Humanities and English, School of Liberal Arts,
Mount Ida College, Newton Centre, MA. Full-time, with tenure (1998)
• English Department Chair (2003-04), Curriculum Coordinator (1995-98)
• Taught eight courses per academic year, including Composition, Introductory and Advanced Literature (English, world, and classics), and Humanities electives (including World Religions)
• Developed curriculum, signature courses including: Aesthetics (for visual artists); Cultural Diversity in Film; Literature of Death and Dying

1998-2001, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Health Science, Worcester State College,
Worcester, MA. “Material Histories and Sexual Communities” (graduate
seminar), Summer 2000, Summer 2001; “Human Sexuality and Sex Education”
(upper division), Spring -Summer 1998.

1989, Visiting Fellow, Western Societies Program and German Department, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY. “Disease and Sexuality in German Culture,”
Fulbright/DAAD post-doctoral seminar, summer 1989.

1988-1989, Visiting Instructor, Department of German and Russian, Hamilton College,
Clinton, NY. Full-time one-year appointment. Taught German language and
literature (in German), Russian language (in Russian), Russian literature in
English translation.

1985-1989, Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Taught first-year composition and introduction to comparative literature 1985-86, 1986-87, Summer 1987, 1987-88; Fall 1989.

1985, Part-time Instructor, Inlingua, San Francisco, CA. Taught German; ESL to business
professionals.

1984, Part-time Instructor, Academy of World Studies, San Francisco, CA. Taught ESL
to international students, all levels.

1981-1983, Graduate Student Instructor, German Department, University of California,
Berkeley, CA, 1981-82, 1982-83, Fall 1983.

1977-79, Instructor, ESL, German American Institute, Tübingen, Germany. Taught
beginning, intermediate, advanced levels in evening division. Fall 1977; Winter
1978; Spring 1978; Fall 1978; Winter 1979; Spring 1979.

1978-1979, Instructor, Department of English, University of Tübingen, Germany. Team-
taught conversation and composition. Winter 1978/79; Summer 1979.

AWARDS AND HONORS
Empire Who’s Who, 2002-2003 edition.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, partial underwriting for Cultural Studies program development / sabbatical research on trauma and masculinities, Fall 2002.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, underwriting reprint fees for two articles in Bear Book II (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2000), Fall 1999.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, partial underwriting for production of “Bear Icons: Collective Artists’ Work, 1984-99—Gay Male Masculinity in Two-Dimensional Art Forms,” Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, New York, New York, April 1999.
President’s Faculty Award, Mount Ida College, May 1998.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, to develop a new interdisciplinary course “AIDS: Science and Society” as an upper-division General Education elective, Spring 1998.
Supplemental Faculty Development Grant Program, Mount Ida College, for Phase II (research support) in “History of The Castro” project, Spring 1997.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, to study “First-Person Survival Narratives from Traumatized Communities,” Fall 1995.
Faculty Development Grant, Mount Ida College, to study “bears as a community response to the trauma of AIDS.” 1993-94.
Foreign Language and Area Studies/UC Regents Fellowship, Netherlandic Studies, UC Berkeley, 1990/91.
UC Regents Fellowship, UC Berkeley, Spring 1990.
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley, 1989-90.
DAAD Stipend, DAAD/Cornell Summer Seminar, Summer 1989.
Heller Travel Grant, International Scientific Gay and Lesbian Studies Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 1987.
Vollstipendium, University of Würzburg, 1974-1975.
Rotary Club Stipend, Mülheim-an-der-Ruhr Rotary Club, 1974-75.
National Merit Scholar, SUNY Albany, 1971-75.
New York State Regent Scholar Incentive Award 1971-75.
SUNY Albany Alumni Association Scholarship, 1971-72.
Honor Societies:Phi Beta Delta (international scholars), Phi Theta Kappa (honorary member, junior college), Phi Sigma Iota (international foreign language)
Alpha Mu Gamma, Dobro Slovo (Slavic scholars),UC Berkeley Honor Societies.

LECTURES AND TALKS
“What’s a Drop-In Support Group for GLBT People?” True Colors XI: Opening Minds/Opening Doors.” Presenters” Allan Arnaboldi, Les Wright, Dennis Bushey, Aedric Frechelle. Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, March 26-27, 2004.
“Neither Leather Nor Lace: ‘Naturally’ Masculine Male Bears and the Homo-Masculine Tradition in America,” (1) sponsored by Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. November 17, 2003; (2) Rainbow Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, November 3, 2004.
“Bears 101: A History of Bear Identity and Community,” Stonewall Library and Archives, Fort Lauderdale, FL. June 13, 2003.
The Raleigh Summit multiple presentations: National Gay Men’s Health Summit 2003. Raleigh, North Carolina, May 7 11, 2003:
(1) “Building Better Bears: Healthy Bears through Better Community” Pre-Summit Institute, sponsored by Nashoba Institute, co-led with Ric Kasini Kadour;
(2) “Surviving or Thriving? Emergent Issues and Identities for Gay Male Long-Term Survivors of HIV/AIDS,” lead presenter.
“Homosexuality: An Introduction to Its History.” Mount Ida College, Newton Centre, MA December 6, 2002.
“The ‘Forgotten Generation’ of PWAs: A ‘First-Wave’ Survivor Returns to Activism.” Kickoff Address to AIDS Awareness Week. Harvard Student Global AIDS Awareness Coalition, Harvard U., Cambridge, MA, August 5, 2002.
“BEARS 101: The Rise of a Gay Male Identity, Subculture, and Community, 1986 to Today” lecture and slide show. Rainbow Center “Out to Lunch” series, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, February 13, 2002.
“Published Authors Round Table,” Panelist, Faculty Forum, Mount Ida College, December 3, 2001.
“Bearly Visible: A Visual History of Gay Bears,” Stonewall center LGBT Lunch Lecture series, U Mass / Amherst, November 8, 2001.
The New England Regional Gay Men’s Health Summit multiple presentations. Hartford, Connecticut, September 20 – 23, 2001:
(1) “Outreach to Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM Outside the ‘Gay’ Community: Part 1: Exploration and Discussion of Issues,”
(2) “Outreach to Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM Outside the ‘Gay’ Community: Part 2: Brainstorming Solutions,”
(3) “Open Relationships, Non-Monogamy, and Polyamory: Discussion and Skills Building.”
Council on Diversity and Pluralism forum participant and Diversity Literature Display 2000 contributor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, September 18, 2001.
“More Tales from the City: Narratives of Sexual Transgression in the 20th Century Metropolis” panel, invited commentator, American Historical Association/Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, AHA 2001, Boston, January 2001.
Council on Diversity and Pluralism forum participant and Diversity Literature Display 2000 contributor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, September 26, 2000.
Conference organizer, panel organizer, and presenter. Lavender Languages VIII, “Beartalk” panel, “From Anthropometry to Star: The ‘Natural Bear Classification System’ in Theory and Practice.” American University, Washington, DC, September 22-24, 2000.
“Where Do Bears Come From?” slide show. Maine Gay Men’s Health Conference, Samoset Resort, Rockport, ME, April 29, 2000.
“Bearly Pictured: A Photographic History of Gay Men’s Bodies” slide show. Gallery Talk for Bear Icons 2 (Boston), Mount Ida College, March 7, 2000. Repeated at the Queer Masculinities conference, Mount Ida College, April 21, 2000.
The Boulder Summit multiple presentations: The Boulder Summit: Launching a Multi-Issue, Multi-Cultural Gay Men’s Health Movement. Boulder, Colorado, July 29 August 1, 1999:
(1) “Trauma Theory and Homophobia: Understanding and Treating Alcoholism in Gay Men;”
(2) “How Do We Deal With Trauma in Developing Programs for HIV Risk Reduction, Alcohol/Drug Use, and Mental Health?” with Jay Paul, PhD;
(3) “Bearly Pictured: A Photographic History of Gay Men’s Bodies’ slide show;
(4) “Bears and Health” with Lawrence Mass, MD.
“Apocalyptic Narratives” presenter and panelist. OutWrite ’99, Boston, MA, February 1999.
“Bears: Icons of Gay Male Masculinity” Sexuality Series, Gay and Lesbian Center of New York City, main presenter and panelist (with Jim Sibal, Larry Mass, John Outcalt, Eugenio Giusti, and Martin Manlansan), New York City, December 4, 1998.
“Fassbinder and the New German Cinema.” History and Memory: Gay and Lesbian Literature Since World War II. Allegheny College, Meade, PA, April 1997.
“Stereotypes” panel discussion. Invited panelist, Alpha Chi and the Multiracial/Multicultural Committee. Mount Ida College, February 26 and March 5, 1997.
“The Bear History Project” affinity group presenter, IBR97, San Francisco, February 1997.
“Living with HIV: A Long-Term Survivor’s View,” G/SA program, Mount Ida, December 1995.
“‘Female’ Trouble: Reading Symbolic Gender Dysphoria in Cult Films as Gay Male Coming Out Parables.” Literature/Film Association conference, Towson State U, MD, November 1994.
“Humanistic Approaches to AIDS: Talking about AIDS in the Humanities or English Classroom.” NEATE conference, Nashua, NH, October 1994.
“Gay Men’s Affirmations of Home and Family” panelist, San Francisco Book Festival, 1992.
“Het Homomonument and Gay Assimilationist Politics in the Netherlands.” Netherlandic Studies seminar, UC Berkeley/Antwerp, December 1990.
“Gay Genocide as Literary Trope: Recent Gay American Fiction Under the Pink Triangle.” Fourth Annual Gay and Lesbian Studies Conference, Harvard U., October 1990.
“Pathognomic Difference: The Cultural Semiotics of AIDS.” Politics of Medicine seminar, UC Berkeley, August 1990.
“Virology of ‘Degeneration’: Protecting the Body Politic from Infection.” Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies, CSU Long Beach, March 1990.
“Fascist Sexuality and Homophobia in Germany.” Seminar on Disease and Sexuality in German Culture, Cornell U, August 1989.
“The Social Construction of the Paradigm of ‘Degeneration’.” AAUP Journal Club, Hamilton College, April 1989.
“AIDS Discourse: A Disease of the Other.” Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 1987.
“Gogol and Kleist: Toward a Psychology of Narratology.” UC Davis, November 1987.
“Insurrection in the Crystal Palace: Anti-Oedipal Transgression in Crime and Punishment.” UC Santa Cruz/San Jose State University, April 1987.
“Self-fulfilling Prophecies: A Comparative Study in the Fictionalization of Desire.” Scripps College, March 1986.

BOOKS
The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male
Subculture. Les Wright, ed. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2001.

The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture. Les
Wright, ed. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 1997.

EDITED COLLECTIONS
Queer Masculinities, special issue of Men and Masculinities. Guest editor. 7:3 (January
2005): 243-320.

Verisimilitude: An Online Cultural Journal Engaging Masculinities. Managing Editor.
Issue 1 (2002), Issue 2 (vol. 2, no1) (2003), Issue 3 (vol. 2, no 2) (2003), at
.

ESSAYS, ARTICLES
“Notes on Bear History and Cultural Memory.” “Memorializing Queers / Queering Remembrances” special issue of torquere: Journal of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Studies Association, Sharon Rosenberg, guest editor. Volume 6 (2004): 66-90.
“From Cult to Subculture to Couture: Evolving Bear Community: A Discussion with Les Wright” (Chapter 8), Bears on Bears, Ron Suresha, ed. Los Angeles: Alyson, 2002.
“Alcohol and Drugs”; “Bears”; “The Castro”; “Clone”; “Harvey Milk”; “Rosa von Praunheim”; “San Francisco” in Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia (George Haggerty, ed. New York: Garland, 2000).
“San Francisco.” Queer Sites: Urban Histories of Gay Male Experience, David Higgs, ed. New York: Routledge 1999.
“AIDS Literature,” Encyclopedia of AIDS. (R. A. Smith, ed. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998) 328-32.
“The Genre Cycle of German Gay Coming-Out Films, 1970-1994.” Queering the Canon: Defying Sights in German Literature and Culture. Chris Lorey and John Plews, eds. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1998 (311-339).
“Jonathan Ned Katz,” St. James Press Gay and Lesbian Biography. (Michael Tyrkus, ed. Detroit: St. James, 1997) 263-266.
“Resurrection.” Out in the Workplace, R. Rasi and L. Rodríguez-Nogués, eds. Boston: Alyson, 1995 (76-81).
“George Whitmore.” Fifty Contemporary Gay American Novelists, E. S. Nelson, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993 (395-400).
“Gay Genocide as Literary Trope.” AIDS: The Literary Response. E.S. Nelson, ed. New York: Macmillan/Twayne, 1992 (50-68).
“Clinton, New York.” Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong. John Preston, ed. New York: Dutton, 1991 (137-52).
“Exploring the ‘Bear’ Phenomena” Seattle Gay News, August 3, 1990: 20-21.
“Kleist, Heinrich von,” Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, Wayne Dynes, ed. (New York: Garland Press, 1989) 666-667.
“On the Topic of AIDS.” Lambda Philatelic Journal 7 (March 1989).
“Moral Mortality” guest editorial, Bay Area Reporter (November 12, 1987) 6.
“A Surrealist Tragedy: Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852).” Lambda Philatelic Journal 6 (Sept 1987) 2-4.
“Berlin Revisited: Jewel on the Spree.” San Francisco Review of Books 12 1 (August 1987) 35-36.
“The RFSL and Gay Liberation in Sweden.” Gay Books Bulletin 5 (Spring 1981) 25-27.
“Einer alten Stimme neuer Klang: Anmerkungen zur Gay-Literatur in Nordamerika.” Exempla: Eine Tübinger Literaturzeitschrift 3 1 (1977) 63-65.

REVIEWS
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: Pioneer of the Modern Gay Movement [e-book] by Hubert Kennedy and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs; Leben und Werk by Hubert Kennedy Menso Folkerts, translator). Journal of Homosexuality, [Journal of Homosexuality 45: 1-2 2003) 188-193.].
The Soul Beneath the Skin, David Nimmons. Voice Male, Spring 2003 (15).
Der imaginierte Findling: Studien zur Kaspar-Hauser-Rezeption (Ulrich Struve, ed.), German Studies Review 21:3 (October 1998) 659-60.
“Goethe in the Company of Men,” review of Die Liebkosungen des Tigers, Karl Hugo Pruys. Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 5:2 (Spring 1998) 43-4.
“German, Jewish, Married, Gay,” review of Thomas Mann: Eros and Literature, Anthony Heilbut. Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 4:1 (Winter 1997) 42.
“A Huge (but relatively private) Hell,” review of In the Shadow of the Epidemic, Walt Odets and Reviving the Tribe, Eric Rofes. Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 3:2 (Spring 1996) 35-36.
“Yet Another Way Out,” review of All-American Boy. Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 2:3 (Summer 1995) 15.
“Anima muliebris virili corpore inclusa or Ulrichs’ German Literary Legacy,” review of “We of the Third Sex”-Literary Representations of Homosexuality in Wilhelmine Germany, James Jones. Lesbian and Gay Studies Newsletter 19:2 (July 1992) 25-7.
“Life and Art: Gay Male Culture Today,” review of Gaiety Transformed by David Bergman and Gay Culture in America, Gilbert Herdt, ed.: OurStories 7:1/2 (1992) 21-2.
“Looking It in the Eye,” review of Personal Dispatches, John Preston, ed. In: Bay Windows, September 1990.
“Looking the Horror in the Eye,” review of Personal Dispatches, John Preston, ed. In: OurStories 6:1 (September 1990) 9.
“Mysteries of Boston,” review of Music I Never Dreamed Of by John Gilgun. In: SFBAGL Historical Society Newsletter 5: 4 (June 1990) 8.
“Homosexual Psyches in Wilhelminian Germany.” Review of Jones, J., The “Third” Sex in German Literature from the Turn of the Century to 1933 and Haerle, G. Die Gestalt des Schönen: Untersuchung zur Homosexualitätsthematik in Thomas Manns Zauberberg. In: Gay Studies Newsletter 16:1 (March 1989) 17-20.
“The Social Construction of Reality: And the Band Played On.” In: Out in Academia 2:1, UC Berkeley (June 1988) 38-39.
“Three From Gray Fox Press.” In: Gay Books Bulletin 7 (Spring 1982) 2-3.
“Unfähig zur Empanzipation? : Udo Hoffmüller and Stefan Neuer.” In: Gay Books Bulletin 4 (Fall 1980) 9-10.

TRANSLATIONS
Oosterhuis, Harry. The First Gay Journal in the World: Readings from Der Eigene. [Dutch translations; for German: Hubert Kennedy, trans.], Haworth Press, 1990.
Pfefferkorn, R. “Corinth’s Graphic Art.” In: The Graphic Work of Lovis Corinth. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1985.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Committees
All-College Curriculum Committee (ad hoc), Fall 2003.
Curriculum Committee, Mount Ida, 2002.
Faculty Teaching and Learning Center, programming, Mount Ida, 2002.
Tenure and Promotions (formerly Tenure Committee / Faculty Rank & Status) Committee, 2001.
Curriculum Committee for School of Liberal Arts, 2000.
Curriculum Committee, elected member, 1994-96, co-chair 1996-99; 2000-01.
Learning Resources (Standard Seven) Self-Study, NEASC Accreditation, appointed co-chair, 1996-97.
Programs and Instruction (Standard Four) Self-Study, NEASC Accreditation, appointed member, 1996.
Grievance Committee, elected alternate, 1997-99.
Learning Resources Committee, elected member, 1994-95; elected chair, 1995-97.
Honors Council, appointed member, 1996.
Task Forces
First-Year Experience (CO 100) Redevelopment, Fall 2003.
College Planning Committee on Developing the Baccalaureate College, 2001.
Strategic Planning Task Force on Academic Issues, 1998.
Community Activities Network, 1996-97.
Writing Across the Curriculum, 1996-97.
Diversity/Multiculturalism, faculty liaison, 1994-96.
Technology Task Force, 1995-96.
First-Year Experience Planning Group, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97.
Liberal Arts Self-Study Task Force, Fall 1995.
Master Degree Program Feasibility Study Task Force, 1994-95.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Historical Association
American Men’s Studies Association
California Historical Society
Committee on Lesbian and Gay History (Co-Chair, 1995-98)
Commonwealth Club of California
Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California (past Board co-chair)
Gay Men’s Health Coalition (national)
German Studies Association
Men’s Resource Center of Western Massachusetts(Amherst, MA)
Modern Language Association
Nashoba Research Institute for Non-Hegemonic Masculinities (founder and executive director)
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

LANGUAGES
English, German: fluent
Russian, French, Dutch: very good
Latin, Swedish: reading knowledge
Spanish: currently studying