Auyoung Named McKnight Land-Grant Professor

Assistant professor receives award to further her research on narrative technique
Assistant Professor Elaine Auyoung presents on Austen to crowd
Professor Elaine Auyoung talked about in and out groups and reading Jane Austen for our fall 2017 "Austen at 200" series

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Elaine Auyoung, who has received a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship! The University of Minnesota program aims to advance the careers of new assistant professors at a crucial point in their professional lives. The designation of "McKnight Land-Grant Professor" is held by recipients for a two-year period: Auyoung is among the 2018-2020 cohort of nine professors across the University's colleges.

Professor Auyoung uses cognitive research on reading to uncover the relationship between narrative technique and literary experience. Her current book project explores and illuminates cognitive biases that have shaped longstanding narrative conventions. By demonstrating how the stories we tell ourselves can delimit our capacity to understand the world, this project seeks to cultivate broader critical awareness about the habits of mind that hinder us from comprehending and addressing global challenges. Auyoung's debut monograph, When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind, is forthcoming this year from Oxford University Press.

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