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• African American Literature and Culture
• Multi-ethnic literature of the United States
• Religion and Literature
• Higher Education
• Liberal Arts in the United States
• Public Humanities

PhD. English. Duke University 1991
MA. English. Duke University 1988
MFA. Creative Writing. Duke University. 1985.
BA. English. Wheaton College. 1982

• ENGL/LANG 495 LLW Senior Seminar
• ENGL 110 Critical Reading and Writing
• General Education and Major literature courses in American Literature

Peter Kerry Powers is a Professor of English and Director of the Center for Public Humanities at Messiah University. For 15 years he served as an academic dean, most recently as the founding dean of the School of Arts, Culture, and Society at Messiah University. His leadership has been characterized by three primary areas of concern: advocacy for global engagement and inclusive excellence, engagement of the liberal arts with the sciences and emerging technologies, and enlarging our understanding of the liberal arts to include engagement with experiential learning and with professional programs. He is returning to the faculty in 2024-25 and is excited about the prospect of connecting again with students.

Prior to becoming Dean, Powers served Messiah University as Department Chair of English for six years and Director of Writing for three years. He co-chaired Messiah University’s first campus committee on racial justice and reconciliation. Prior to coming to Messiah University, he was a visiting assistant professor at George Mason University and at Hampden-Sydney College. This year he was named President of the Conference on Christianity and literature.

Institutionalizing Public Humanities.” Public Humanities (Forthcoming 2024).

Co-Editor. Special Issue—African American Literature and Christianity.  Christianity and Literature. Forthcoming, June 2024. With Jennifer McFarlane Harris, Seattle Pacific University.

Goodbye Christ? Christianity, Masculinity, and the New Negro Renaissance. University of Tennessee Press, 2017.

Recalling Religions: Resistance, Memory and Cultural Revision in Ethnic Women’s Literature. University of Tennessee Press. 2001.

Work in Progress—Provincializing Plato:  the Liberal Arts, Americanism, and Social Purpose.

For a full list of Professor Powers publications you may see his complete vitae at his website,