Rich Cook became Shippensburg’s faculty athletics representative in August 2011. Cook joined Shippensburg University’s English Department in 2001 after teaching at Kenyon College, Miami University, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a charter member of the Teach For America national teaching corps.
Dr. Cook earned regional and conference honors as a cross country and track athlete at Colby College. He also worked for several years as an licensed high school basketball referee in Maine, California, and Ohio. Occasionally, you can find him out on the roads preparing for his next marathon or training at the Carlisle Kung Fu Center working towards his black belt.
Around campus, Dr. Cook serves as the co-chair of the APSCUF Student Affairs Committee and hosts a weekly show on WSYC-FM, the campus radio station. He teaches courses in writing, literature and globalization. Cook served as the interim department chair for English for a five-month period in 2010.
In 2016-17, Cook was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study in India. From January — July 2017, Cook was hosted by Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and granted opportunities to lecture and research. His project was called, “The New Readers of Global India: Popular Fiction and National Identity.”
Beginning with the 2018-19 academic year, Shippensburg University debuted its Faculty-Athletic Mentor program, under the direction and leadership of Cook, that partnered a faculty member with each athletic team.
Cook earned his bachelor of arts in English from Colby College in 1990 and his master of arts in English from Miami University (Ohio) in 1995. He earned his PhD in English from Miami (Ohio) in 2000.
