The Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for Regional Studies is an annual appointment that supports outstanding teaching and research on the upstate New York region.
The appointment is for both ´ó·¢²ÊƱ faculty and leading scholars in the upstate New York region. The Burke Chair teaches two courses during his or her appointment and provides lectures open to the campus and the community. Established in 2006 by Stephen Burke ’80 and Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81, this chair is supported by an endowment fund created to support and recognize outstanding scholars whose research interests focus on upstate New York.
Professor of English and Creative Writing Jennifer Brice has been appointed to serve as Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair in regional studies for the 2025–26 academic year.
Brice is the author of three books: The Last Settlers, a work of documentary journalism; Unlearning to Fly, a memoir-in-essays; and Another North: Essays in Praise of the World That Is. She teaches courses in creative writing and contemporary literature, including True Crime and Living Writers.
This fall, Brice will teach ENGL 374: Creative Nonfiction Workshop, with a focus on writing about place and the natural world, especially in relation to the upstate region of New York. The workshop will include the reading and writing of creative nonfiction, with an emphasis on the memoir and the personal essay. As part of the course, students will also present a community reading of their writing about the region. Robert Cowser’s anthology, Why We’re Here: New York Essayists on Living Upstate, will serve as a central text, along with a selection of writing from The Best American Science & Nature Writing series, as well as some classics of nature writing by such writers as H.D. Thoreau, Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, John Burroughs, Terry Tempest Williams, John McPhee, and Sherry Simpson. In addition to readings and discussions, students will also journal weekly and conduct research to create essays of their own as part of a final portfolio of a single or several shorter essays.
Brice plans to use the funding and support provided to the Burke Chair to create additional opportunities for the students taking the course, including inviting local experts and colleagues in the biology, geology, geography, and environmental studies departments to speak about the natural history of the region. The course will also include a weekend of hiking and canoeing at Camp ´ó·¢²ÊƱ in September with Brice’s students in ENGL 217: Introduction to Creative Writing. At the conclusion of the course, Brice said she plans to include a reading by the students in downtown Hamilton which will be open to the local community, and produce an anthology of the best student writing from the semester.
