Betty T. Bennett (1935–2006) was

Distinguished Professor Distinguished Professor is an academic title given to some top tenured professors in a university, school, or department. Some distinguished professors may have endowed chairs. In the United States Often specific to one institution, titles such ...

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and

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the

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(1985–1997) at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. She was previously

of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and acting provost of

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

from 1979 to 1985. Among her numerous awards and honors, Bennett was a fellow of the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

and fellow of

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. She won the Keats-Shelley Association of America - Distinguished Scholar Award in 1992 and was Founding President,

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, Zeta Chapter at

. Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Bennett graduated from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

''magna cum laude'' and later received a master's degree (1962) and PhD (1970) in English and American literature from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Bennett was an internationally known scholar on the life of ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

'' author

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also e ...

and her circle of friends. She is best known for her three-volume ''The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,'' which she edited and published from 1980 to 1988. In a 1988 review of Dr. Bennett's final volume of the letters, author

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for ...

declared her work "a great contribution to scholarship, and one that never need be done again.""AU Dean, Professor Betty Bennet, 71"
Washington Post. Retrieved January 10, 2007 The books contain nearly 1,300 letters, some 500 of which were previously unpublished. For several years before her death, Bennett worked on a much anticipated

literary biography When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for i ...

of Shelley, which is scheduled to be released by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

Major publications

As author: *''British War Poetry in the Age of Romanticism, 1793-1815'' (1976) *''The Evidence of the Imagination: Studies of Interactions Between Life and Art in English Romantic Literature'' (1978) *''

Mary Diana Dods Mary Diana Dods (1790–1830) was a Scottish writer of books, stories and other works who adopted a male identity. Most of her works appeared under the pseudonym David Lyndsay. In private life she used the name Walter Sholto Douglas. This may hav ...

, a Gentleman and a Scholar'' (1991) *''Shelley: Poet and Legislator of the World'' (1996) *''Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction'' (1998) *''Mary Shelley in Her Times'' (2000) As editor or co-editor: *''The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley'' (1980–88) *''The Mary Shelley Reader'' (1990) *''Mythological Dramas: Proserpine and Midas'' (1992) (works by Mary Shelley) *''Selected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley'' (1995) *''Lives of the Great Romantics'', Volume 3, ''Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Mary Shelley by Their Contemporaries'' (1999) (editor)

External links

Betty Bennett's Faculty Page

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Betty T. American University faculty 1935 births 2006 deaths Brooklyn College alumni