Toni A. H. McNaron was born on April 3, 1937 in Alabama. She earned her B.A. degree in 1958 from the University of Alabama, her M.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1960 and her Ph.D. in 1964 from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. McNaron was an instructor at All Saints' College (Vicksburg, MS) (1959-1961) and a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin (1961-1963) before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota as assistant professor of English in 1964. She was promoted to associate professor in 1967 and professor in 1983. Dr. McNaron also held an appointment as the first chair of the women's studies department (1973-1976) and director of the graduate program in women's studies (1980-1984).
Dr. McNaron's teaching and research interests are on Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Lesbian poetry, Feminist criticism, Feminist pedagogy and Milton. She is a Lesbian author of many books and articles, including Poisoned Ivy: Lesbian and Gay Academics Confronting Homophobia and New Lesbian Studies: Into the 21st Century . Dr. McNaron has been awarded the Morse Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award (1969), CLA Distinguished Teacher Award (1967), CEE Outstanding Teacher Award, Center for Independent Studies of Writing Excellence in Teaching Award (1999), Ruth Christie Award for Teaching and the Technology Enhanced Learning Award. In 1998, Dr. McNaron developed the Voices from the Gaps, a website devoted to North American women writers of color. Toni McNaron retired from the University of Minnesota as professor emeritus in 2001.
From the guide to the Toni McNaron papers, 1980-2007, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies [scrbt])
