English professor elected to the Learned Society of Wales

English professor Elaine Treharne, a Welsh medievalist who specializes in manuscript studies, information technologies, and early British literature, has been elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. As the national academy for arts and sciences for Wales, the society celebrates, preserves, and encourages excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines.

Photo by Andrew Fryett

“I’m from Aberystwyth, Wales, and strongly identify as a Welsh academic, albeit an expatriate,” said Treharne, the Roberta Bowman Denning Professor of Humanities in the School of Humanities and Sciences. “I am so delighted to be honored by a society whose function is to promote learning and excellence that’s specifically devoted to benefiting Wales.”

Treharne specializes in manuscript studies, archives, information technologies, and early British literature. She has published widely in the areas of religious poetry and prose, and manuscripts from c.600 to c.1300. In recent years, she has taught 20^th-century Welsh poetry and early Latin and Welsh poetry, and her latest book contains comprehensive discussions of medieval Welsh manuscripts.

Treharne has also led two Bing Overseas Seminars in Wales for Stanford undergraduates. She will study early pilgrimage in Wales for her next book, Wandering by the Way: Spaces, Places and Times of Pilgrimage through History. “This Fellowship, for which I am so grateful, is a most meaningful highlight in my career,” she said.

A virtual induction ceremony for the fellows will take place on May 20.