James Ryan
James Ryan
Provost Liaison, Academic Honesty

Dr. Ryan serves as the Jean Wickstrom Liles Endowed Professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts, and he has held administrative appointments in the Office of the Provost since 2019. Since 2000, he has been a member of the Auburn University English Department, where he held several leadership positions, including two years as interim department head.

A native of rural western Pennsylvania, Ryan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English Literature. He later completed course work at Harvard University before receiving masters and doctoral degrees in Early American Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has held teaching appointments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, Auburn University, and Nanjing Normal University in the People’s Republic of China, where he served as U.S. Fulbright Lecturer.

Dr. Ryan’s research in early American literature and religion has led to publication of books such as Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Culture (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009) and Faithful Passages: American Catholicism in Literary Culture (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013). A prolific scholar with broad interests, his research appears regularly in prominent journals such as American Quarterly, Religion & American Culture, American Literary History, New England Quarterly, Leviathan, Journal of Modern Literature, Comparative American Studies, Film & History, Journal of American Studies, Studies in Travel Writing, Early American Literature, and Quaker Studies.

As Provost Liaison, Dr. Ryan is assigned to multiple roles. Working with campus leadership, he coordinates all senior administrator reviews for the university. In support of academic effectiveness, he also supervises AU academic honesty proceedings and collaborates with the Student Government Association, Academic Honesty Committee members, Auburn Global, and the AU faculty to maintain university-wide academic integrity. New undergraduate and graduate programs at Auburn University require state-level approval, and Dr. Ryan serves as the university’s liaison to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) to facilitate those approvals.