Wendy Martin is currently Chair and Professor of American Literature and American Studies at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). She is also the first holder of the George and Ronya Kozmetsky Chair in Transdisciplinary Studies and remains as primary instructor for the transdisciplinary study at CGU.

Wendy presided as Chair of the Department of English for 11 years and as Executive Faculty for three years. Before coming to CGU in 1987 Wendy taught at Queens College, CUNY, Stanford University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA (visit her complete timeline of academic experiences at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/1367.asp). 
 
Wendy’s professional interests are mainly in short stories, stylistic analysis, historical sources, and context of the genre. Her primary focus is on American literature in terms of the various writing styles such as fiction, autobiography, essays, and poetry in a historical sense. Wendy has published eight books with respect to these areas (a full listing is available at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/1367.asp).

In 2002, Wendy published the acclaimed The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson, composed of 14 essays by leading international scholars that provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and widely read American writers. These essays, examine all of Dickinson's writings, letters and criticisms, and place her work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. In 2006, Wendy completed work on The Art of the Short Story with colleagues Danielle Hinrichs and Sharon Becker.

Wendy’s course listings at CGU are interesting and diverse. As an English instructor, Wendy offers courses in creative writing with emphasis on the short story as well as the various facets of American literature including culture, drama and historical perspectives in the 20th Century.

Wendy has also developed interests in literary works surrounding the westward migration of the American people from East Coast to West Coast. Since the time of the discovery of the Americas, frontiersman continually promoted the migration of the American people from the East to West. This migration also consisted of many American writers who have written on the geographical and psychological experiences in these endeavors. 

Theatrical dramas and literary works of fiction have also peaked Wendy’s interests. Her classes in higher education look to observe works from such writers as Miller, Williams and Albee, to name a few. In her American fiction writing class, she investigates literary movements such as the emergence of modernism, romanticism, realism, postmodernism, various genres, such as, the ghost stories, documentaries, and detective and protest novels.  Writing genres such as identity politics including race, gender, class and publishing history also saw gradual emergence during the 20th century.

As a whole, Wendy’s classes offer various styles and methodologies of writings while presenting various famous writers over time.  Her focus on the short stories and American literatures also makes her flexible and trans-disciplinary with exciting readings and her focus on both imaginative and non-fiction writing methodologies.

Wendy has also taken an innovative approach to learning. She is largely responsible for the installment of the ClaremontConversation.org website, which looks to provide transdisciplinary students with a virtual and collaborative web tool to foster transdisciplinary study. Additionally, Wendy works closely with individual students to help develop personalized portfolios of various literary components for students as they progress through their academic programs at CGU. 

As Chair of Transdisciplinary Study, Wendy is responsible for overseeing the direction transdisciplinary study at CGU. The goal of transdisciplinary study is to provide an advanced experience to prepare doctoral students for high-level discourse, research, and inquiry and also practical experience working with colleagues from different fields. The course also provides an opportunity for doctoral students and graduate faculty to work collaboratively and across traditional disciplines on a common set of questions and issues, while drawing on their own individual disciplinary training (more information available at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/2241.asp).