Maegan P Brooks

Maegan Parker Brooks is a teacher-scholar whose work integrates academic research with publicly engaged scholarship. Her teaching and research explore how people communicate about challenging subjects—such as race, death, grief, and social injustice—to foster more compassionate, equitable, and just societies. Brooks is an award-winning teacher whose scholarship has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, edited collections, and books published by a university press. She has also presented her work at major international, national, and regional conferences about grief, rhetoric, communication, and public humanities. Her scholarly work extends beyond the academy through public-facing projects. These include a biography for general readers, a PBS documentary, a BrainPOP animated video, a children’s book, K–12 curricular materials and educator workshops, as well as training for grief support professionals. Brooks’s research informs–and is informed by–her teaching and community engagement. She facilitates grief support groups on Willamette University’s campus and has been a facilitator with The Dougy Center, the National Center for Grieving Children & Families in Portland, Oregon. Certified in Arts-Assisted Grief Therapy and Grief Therapy for Non-Death Loss, she integrates expressive arts methodologies into both her pedagogy and group support services. Presently, she is engaged in grant-funded research studying evidence-based strategies for incorporating expressive arts into the college classroom and grief support contexts. Throughout these projects, Brooks mentors undergraduate students in research, grief support facilitation, and creative expression, embracing the civic role of the scholar and advancing the public mission of the humanities.