Teddi Chichester

A photo of Teddi Chichester
E-mail: chichester@humnet.ucla.edu Office: Kaplan Hall 105

Dr. Teddi Lynn Chichester earned her PhD in English from UCLA in 1992, with a pychobiographical dissertation on Percy Shelley’s views of love and sexuality, a study published by SUNY Press in 1999 as Shelley’s Mirrors of Love: Narcissism, Sacrifice, and Sorority. This project, as well as later writings on Shelley and on environmental literature, generated her central themes for Writing Courses ranging from English 2 through 5W: family dynamics, romantic love, and nature/environmental writing. Intellectual underpinnings of Dr. Chichester’s courses include psychoanalytic theory, literary ecocriticism, and gender studies. As the daughter of a long-time community college professor, she finds work with transfer students particularly rewarding. Her childhood and adolescence in California’s Central Valley instilled a deep connection with Bruins–many of whom are first generation college students–from this often marginalized region. For the last three summers, Dr. Chichester has taught a summer writing course for high schoolers eager for a preview of college life and learning. English 50 focuses on the intricately overlapping themes of family life, education, and (social) media, and introduces students to various modes of academic reading and writing, as well as offers them a chance to draft and receive advice on their college personal statements.