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Jennifer Smith Faculty Profile

J.A.T. Smith

Associate Provost
Associate Professor of English
Associate Director of the Center for Faith and Learning
Humanities/Teacher Education Division, Seaver College
CAC 103E

Biography

J. A. T. Smith (PhD, UCLA) is Associate Provost, Associate Professor of English, and Associate Director of the Center for Faith and Learning. Professor Smith works on the intersection of language and learning in late medieval England with an emphasis on the theological writings of the reformist educator, Bishop Reginald Pecock. She most recently published The Book of Faith: A Modern English Translation (UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2020). She is currently working on a manuscript entitled, The Book of Reginald Pecock, which seeks to reconstruct Pecock's corpus (even those texts that were burnt in the aftermath of his conviction of heresy). 

When not working on medieval manuscripts, Professor Smith also researches in the areas of digital pedagogy and rhetoric and is developing a Christian pedagogical app called The Vineyard. Since 2021, she has served as the Media Officer for the Medieval Association of the Pacific. She is also the founding Convener for the Pepperdine Dialogue Dinners, a program intended to foster intellectual friendship among faculty through close reading and robust conversations. 

Education

  • PhD, Medieval English Literature, University of California, Los Angeles, 2012
  • PhC, Medieval English Literature, University of California, Los Angeles, 2009
  • MA, Medieval Rhetoric, Middle English, Old English, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
  • BA, English, University of California, Berkeley, 2003

 

  • Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence, Pepperdine University, 2018-19.
  • Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Lecture. “Human Sin and Divine Love,” Stauffer Chapel, Pepperdine University, 9 March 2022.
  • “Reconsidering the Pedagogy of Grading Structures: Mercy, Justice, and Prudence in the University Classroom.” Pedagogy of the Good Life. Pepperdine Center for Faith and Learning and the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School, “Pedagogy of the Good Life,” Pepperdine, August 2019. (in partnership with Christopher Heard)

  • “The Stranger on the Wave.” Baccalaureate Homily, Pepperdine University, April 2019.

  • “Broken Links: Reginald Pecock, Medieval Hypertext, and the Wayback.” Keynote. Medieval and Renaissance Student Association of Cal State Long Beach, March 2019.

  • “Cyndia Clegg’s Reading Audience: Shakespearean Criticism and Disciplinary Interpretation.” Pepperdine University Round-Table, March 2019.

  • “The Manuscripts of Reginald Pecock." UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Round-Table, Los Angeles, March 2019.

  • “A Method for Dating Reginald Pecock's Lost Works," Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and 53rd Annual Medieval Association of the Pacific Joint Conference, Scottsdale, February 2019.

  • “Tech and Text in the Liberal Arts: Weaving New Curricular Patterns.” Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and 53rd Annual Medieval Association of the Pacific Joint Conference, Scottsdale, February 2019.
  • “Loss and Logic: Reconstructing the Missing Part of Reginald Pecock’s Book of Faith.” 52nd Annual Medieval Association of the Pacific and Rocky Mountain Medieval Association Joint Conference, Las Vegas, 2018.
  • “Reginald Pecock as Editor: Corrections to the Book of Faith." After Chichele: Intellectual and Cultural Dynamics of the English Church, 1443 to 1517, Oxford, June 2017.
  • "Sacramental Syllogisms: Reginald Pecock and Formal Thought." 51st Annual Medieval Association of the Pacific, Los Angeles, 2017. 
  • Sabbatical Research Fellow, Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2022-2023.
  • Waves of Innovation, “The Vineyard: An Education App,” $100k, Pepperdine University, 2019-2022.

  • Seaver College Faculty Fellow, Pepperdine University, 2018-19.

  • Harris Manchester Summer Research Institute Fellow, Oxford, July 2017.

  • Huntington Library Exchange Fellowship with Corpus Christi College, Oxford, May-June 2016.

  • IT Tech Grant, Pepperdine University (Digital Humanities), 2015-16.

Topics

  • Digital Pedagogy
  • Middle English Literature
  • Philology
  • Reginald Pecock
  • Vernacular Theology

Courses

  • Introduction to Digital Humanities
  • Arthurian Literature
  • Shakespeare
  • The Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (GE)
  • Western Cultures (GE)