Read more about the professors in Millersville’s English department in this Professor Profiles series!

Professor Andie Petrillo is one of the new professors to join the English department this semester. She is currently teaching ENGL 110, Section 28.

Professor Petrillo’s education journey began at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD where she received her Bachelor of Arts. “While I was there, I was a member of the French Club and starred in two plays: The Eumenides (as a Fury) and Clybourne Park (Bev/Kathy)”

After her undergrad program, Professor Petrillo attended Millersville University as a graduate student in the Master of Arts in English Program. While at MU, Professor Petrillo worked in the English office as a graduate assistant, participated in University Theatre’s Fall Musical 2018 Production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and published two of her graduate essays in MUsings: The Graduate Student Journal, and much more. Her graduate essays focus on the “New Woman” in Victorian England and the success of multi-platforms like Pemberley Digital’s “Emma Approved,” respectively.

Professor Petrillo is especially passionate about British Literature (“Jane Austen & James Joyce are amongst my favorite authors”) and American Literature (“F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway are some other faves”). In the future, she hopes to earn her Ph.D. in British Literature and teach British Lit as a tenured professor.

When asked about her favorite aspects of the English major, Professor Petrillo said she loves how the English major creates opportunities for reading different genres of literature and writing creatively. If she could meet any writer, past or present, Professor Petrillo thinks “it would be a tie between Jane Austen (I wrote my grad thesis on Pride and Prejudice), James Joyce (just to pick his brain), or Ernest Hemingway (because he had such a colorful life/interesting personality).” Besides English, Professor Petrillo is interested in history and foreign languages. “Growing up I had an obsession with learning about the Civil War and the Holocaust, so I was pretty interested in history too. I’m also fluent in French so foreign languages interest me too.”

Some of Professor Petrillo’s favorite past-times include reading, watching Netflix, and snuggling with her two guinea pigs named Peanut and Elsa.