Evelyn Funda

Biography

Dr. Funda arrived at USU in 1995 to teach American Literature/Studies. She has published widely on Willa Cather, focusing on the writer’s interests in oral narratives/performance theory as well as Czech culture. Additionally, her book Weeds: A Farm Daughter’s Lament is an award-winning cultural memoir. Her interest in agrarian literature is evidenced in her co-authorship of Farm: A Multimodal Reader. Deeply involved in graduate education during her tenure— on the departmental, college, and university level— she won awards for her service from USU (Graduate Mentor of 2014) and the Western Literature Association (Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring award in 2014). She retired in 2021 after serving as Associate Dean in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies. In retirement, she continues an active research agenda with continued work on a book about Willa Cather’s engagement with Czech people and culture. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, and she writes for their quarterly magazine and presents at their international conferences on Czech cultural topics and writing family history inspired by heirlooms and artifacts. More information about Dr. Funda is available here: https://evelynfunda.com/.