Teaching Experience
Dr. Rowan teaches courses that focus on American Literature, literary criticism, urban studies, and the environmental humanities. In all of his courses, he strives to help students sharpen the competencies that will help them find success and satisfaction in their personal, civic, and professional lives, and to help them learn to narrate the value of those competencies for others.
Research
Dr. Rowan operates at the intersection of literary studies, urban studies, and the environmental humanities. He is the author of The Sociable City: An American Intellectual Tradition (2017) and is currently at work on his next book project, “The Anthropocene’s Urban Imaginary.” His work has been supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Archive Center and has appeared in journals such as American Literature, Studies in American Fiction, and The Journal of Urban History.
Selected Publications
• The Sociable City: An American Intellectual Tradition. U of Pennsylvania P, 2017.
• “The Hard-Boiled Anthropocene and the Infrastructure of Extractivism.” American Literature (forthcoming)
• “Sidewalk Narratives, Tenement Narratives: Seeing Urban Renewal through the Settlement Movement.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 39, no. 3, 2013, pp. 392-410.
• “The New York School of Urban Ecology: The New Yorker, Rachel Carson, and Jane Jacobs.” American Literature, vol. 82, no. 3, 2010, pp. 583-610.
Service
Dr. Rowan is particularly invested in developing curriculum, programs, and initiatives that provide students with opportunities to translate their academic competencies to professional, civic, and personal contexts. He contributes at the departmental, college, and university levels to increase the quality of experiential education at BYU.
Citizenship assignments
• Humanities+ Faculty Fellowship, 2020-2021
• Harold B. Lee Library Creativity, Innovation, and Design Advisory Committee, Winter 2019 – Present
• Department English+ Coordinator, 2015 – present
• Civic Engagement Faculty Advisory Committee, 2015 – present
• American Studies Faculty Advisory Council, 2010 – present