Gwen McNeill Ashburn, Ph.D.
Chair of UNC Asheville’s Literature and Language Department, author
Gwen McNeill Ashburn is Associate Professor of Literature and Language at UNC Asheville. She graduated from Queens College with a bachelor’s degree in English and from UNC Chapel Hill with a doctorate in Linguistics. Her doctoral research focused on the development of and variations of the English language. Dr. Ashburn has been published in “The International Journal of Psycho Linguistics,” “Kentucky English Bulletin,” “The Thomas Wolfe Review,” “The Companion to Southern Literature” and Reader’s Guide to Literature in English. Her recent publications focus on Sharyn McCrumb’s The Ballad of Frankie Silver in “Literature and Law” and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in a volume for English teachers. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Modern Language Association and the Appalachian Studies Association. Her interests include southern and Appalachian literature, linguistics, travel writing and women's history.
