Kevin Dalton joined the Barrett faculty in 1994 and has offered over 100 sections of Barrett’s signature introductory seminar, “The Human Event.” He came to Barrett from Millsaps College, where he taught English literature and film. He received his B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University and his Masters of Philosophy in Shakespearian Drama from Oxford University; he attended the University of Virginia for his doctoral work, receiving the Ph.D in 1992.
In addition to "The Human Event," Dr. Dalton teaches several upper-division honors seminars abroad and on the Tempe Campus. The curriculum for the
“Paris, Normandy and Loire Valley” Honors Summer Study Abroad Program, which Dr. Dalton developed and has directed since 1999, asks students to define and understand their own cultural identity through readings, activities and exercises which treat the life of the region or city as our text. His “Victorians and Moderns” seminar, taught on the British Isles Study Abroad trips in 1997, examines writings in which the lived environment becomes an actor in the narrative, such as London for Charles Dickens or the Lake District for William Wordsworth. Tempe campus honors seminars include “The Black and White Atlantic,” which investigates issues related to the Atlantic slave trade during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
”The Ecocritical Imagination” offered for the first time in 2006, emphasizes recent work in the philosophy of place and environmental studies, engaging both literary and filmic narrative.
As an enthusiastic participant in the “living and learning” community Barrett offers its students during the academic year, Dalton mentors those students who have received a Flinn Scholarship. He is committed to partnerships between ASU and our neighbors, and regularly welcomes various community groups into his classroom. During his tenure at Barrett, he has chaired the college’s Curriculum, Study Abroad, and Personnel committees.
Currently, Dalton is revising his forthcoming article on Charles Dickens’s travel narrative to America, American Notes. He has spent part of the last two summers in England researching William Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes at the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere and the author’s home at Rydal Mount.
Important Files
Dr. Dalton Class Requirements Handout
Dr. Dalton Critical Thinking Handout
Dr. Dalton Fa07 HON171 The Human Event
France Facts 2008 (Learn more about the
Barrett Summer Study Abroad Scholarships which can help fund your trip.)