Assistant Professor Carol Tilley will join more than 130,000 of her fellow comic book fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego July 24-27. This annual convention is considered by many to be the premier comics and entertainment event in the world. It focuses on creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related artforms and celebrates the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.
Tilley will share her expertise in comics and comics history through her participation in the following events:
- “Using Graphic Novels in Education” (July 24, 12-1 p.m., Room 30CDE), in which she will join other experts from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) to discuss the use of comics in classrooms and strategies for combating the confusion that often leads graphic novels to be targeted by censors.
- “Dr. Wertham's War on Comics” (July 25, 12-1 p.m., Room 30CDE), where she will present a talk about Fredric Wertham, who nearly destroyed the comics artform in the 1950s through his efforts to discredit the medium.
- “Reading With Pictures—Getting the Most out of Graphic Novels in Your Classroom & Library,” (July 25, 4-5 p.m., Room 29A), where she will serve as a special guest on a panel addressing the latest research and proven practical strategies for using comics and graphic novels in the classroom or library.
- “Sixty Years of Seduction: Right, Wrong, and Wertham” (July 25, 8-9 p.m., Room 9), in which she will again discuss her research on Frederic Wertham.
- “Banned Comics” (July 26, 1-2 p.m., Room 30CDE), in which she will once again join colleagues from the CBLDF for a panel session to discuss some of the greatest comics—and those most frequently targeted for bans. Panel speakers include well-known comics creators Jeff Smith and Gene Luen Yang.
Tilley has received recent press coverage for her work through interviews in Comic Book Creator #5, DiamondBookshelf, Baltimore City Paper, and in the documentary Diagram for Delinquents.
At GSLIS, Tilley teaches courses in comics’ reader’s advisory, media literacy, and youth services librarianship. Part of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Additional research interests include history of youth services librarianship, children's print culture, information inquiry and instruction in school libraries, information seeking and use, and media literacy. Tilley's research has been published in journals including the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information & Culture: A Journal of History, and Children’s Literature in Education. Her research on anti-comics advocate Fredric Wertham has been featured in the New York Times and other media outlets. This fall Tilley will receive tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor.