The Marilyn K. Cory Series brings celebrated authors and public intellectuals to campus throughout the year. Each year, a team of English faculty choose a theme and slate of speakers to bring to campus. Their books and articles are taught in classes, too, which generates a department-wide (and often a campus-wide) dialogue around that topic.
To learn who our next speaker is, check out our department calendar.
View Calendar
Who Was Marilyn K. Cory?
This speaker series was made possible by a very generous donation in honor of the late Marilyn K. Lowery Cory, an English Education graduate of Ball State University in 1967. She later received an accounting degree from Ball State as well, and worked as a deputy auditor for the Delaware County Auditor’s office in Muncie, followed by 20 years in California as an executive secretary, and then retirement in Oklahoma. She passed away in 2010.
History of the Series
2021-2022
Theme: Counterstory
Dr. Aja Martinez
2020-2021
Theme: Rewriting Mental Illness Narratives
Dr. Margaret Price
Author Sarah Fawn Montgomery
Poet Sabrina Benaim
2019-2020
Theme: Antiracist Pedagogy & Assessment
Anti-racist pedagogy scholar Asao Inouye
2018-2019
Theme: Literature and Social Justice
Poet, essayist, and music critic Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
2017-2018
Theme: Literature and Social Justice
Poet and Activist Mahogany L. Browne
2016-2017
Theme: Poetry and Social Justice
Poet and Critic Tiffany Austin
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess
2015-2016
Theme: Crossing Boundaries
Linguist Susan Herring
YA author Eliot Schrefer
2014-2015
Theme: Graphic Narratives & Comic Books
Cartoonist Scott McCloud
Comic book author, instructor, and business owner Christina Blanch
Graphics scholar Rachel Williams