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I'm a scholar of American literature, and my research focuses on poetry. I'm especially drawn to poems with political lives--poems of protest, war, nationhood, and public policy--and I try to understand how their rhymes and rhythms filter through our past and shape our future.

I teach Literature and Writing courses at Georgia Tech, where I am a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Before arriving at Georgia Tech, I held an NEH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Poetics at Emory University's Fox Center for Humanistic Research, and I've taught English at the University of Oregon in Eugene and Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Born in a small logging community in rural Oregon, I grew up in the Portland area, and I left to study English and Music at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. I returned to Oregon to pursue a PhD in English Literature at the University of Oregon, which I completed in 2017.

I'm currently in residence at Georgia Tech's European campus, Georgia Tech Lorraine, located in Metz, France, where I serve as Assistant Director for the new First-Year Fall Abroad (FYFA) program. Follow our adventures as we explore Europe, learning to navigate its long histories of exile and diaspora, nationhood and belonging, creative arts and sciences, natural beauty, and diverse cultures. For more, check out our student-run Instagram account, @gtfyfa

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Contact me via e-mail: elerud3@gatech.edu

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Image attributions (top to bottom)
"FYFA at La Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany," photo by Ben Wenzel, 2021
Headshot of Lizzy LeRud, photo by Willamette University, 2017
"FYFA at l'aqueduc cote Ars-sur-Moselle," photo by Ben Wenzel, 2021