Joseph Bartolomeo

After completing his Ph.D. in 1986, Joseph Bartolomeo joined the UMass Amherst English Department, which he chaired from 2007 to 2013. He also served from 2010 to 2013 as chair of the Rules Committee of the Faculty Senate, and from 2003 to 2013 as the faculty representative to the UMass Amherst Foundation Board. From 2013 to 2020, he was Associate Dean for Operations and Planning in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. His principal research interest is eighteenth-century British literature, with particular focus on the novel, gender, and transatlanticism. 

As a first-generation student, Joe remains very grateful to his parents for recognizing the importance of something they couldn’t have, and for making sacrifices that helped make it possible for him to have it. His college experience not only led to his eventual career, but also exposed him to ideas, cultures, imagined worlds, and ways of thinking that have shaped his life ever since. He has found his career at UMass, and most recently his work at UWW, so rewarding in part because we provide the same transformative opportunities for so many who might not have had them otherwise.

Educational Background

B.A., Georgetown University
M.A. and Ph.D., Harvard University