Royals Hall of Fame
Dr. Emily Seelbinder came to Queens as a professor of English in 1989 (ahead of Hurricane Hugo) and remained for 30 years, retiring in 2019. Among her students she was reputed to be “the meanest, baddest English teacher on the planet.” Despite this distinction, Dr. Seelbinder twice received the Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award.
In 2007, Dr. Seelbinder received the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award, which came with a generous fund that she deployed to provide opportunities for Queens students to enjoy close encounters with creative writers, artists, scholars, and musicians. Following her retirement, she established a new fund to launch the Seelbinder Literary Arts Series (an annual event) and to enhance the study of and appreciation for the literary arts at Queens and in our community.
As a teacher, Dr. Seelbinder sought whenever possible to expand the scope of Queens course offerings in literature, American studies, and general education. Among the courses she developed were The Harlem Renaissance, The US Civil War in American Imagination, African American Literature (now in the permanent rotation of course offerings), The Social Construction of Race in the Americas (with Linda Miller), Jazz and Democracy (with Connie Rhyne Bray), The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, and an internationally recognized course entitled “Emily Dickinson & Her Descendants.”
Her scholarly pursuits have often combined her love of poetry, especially that of Emily Dickinson, with her love of music. She has published numerous articles on musical settings of Dickinson’s work, most recently a piece on artist Lesley Dill’s opera Divide Light, which appeared in The Emily Dickinson Journal in 2021. She has also been a frequent speaker in Charlotte, most notably for Opera Carolina’s production of Margaret Garner (libretto by Toni Morrison), and across North Carolina as a lecturer for the North Carolina Humanities Council.
Throughout her career, Dr. Seelbinder has been a strong advocate for student-athletes, especially women, whose opportunities have increased significantly since the days Dr. Seelbinder played college field hockey and basketball in a skirt! At Queens, she served as faculty liaison to the women’s basketball team and as a faculty leader for two international tours for Queens basketball teams. For over a decade, she also announced women’s basketball home games and numerous women’s and men’s tournaments, including the 2002 NCAA Division II Men’s Eastern Regional, during which she was behind the microphone for all but two of the seven games. “It was the best seat in the house,” she says. “The only drawback was not being able to cheer lustily for the home team. Now I can shout it from the rooftops: GO, ROYALS!”
Education
Ph.D., M.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
B.A., Hollins College (now Hollins University)
