George Handley

Professor BYU

My research and teaching focus on environmental humanities. My undergraduate and graduate training in comparative literature focused on the literatures of the Americas, with a special interest in comparing how the history of slavery was imagined in novels from the US and the Caribbean. I then ventured into the emerging field of ecocriticism and published work in postcolonial ecocriticism. After being hired at BYU in 1998 I also began writing about Mormonism and environmental values, leading to a sustained interest in theology in its relationship to environmental attitudes and to literature itself. I publish in literary criticism, public humanities, Mormon Studies, and as a creative writer. I have previously served as Department Chair, Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, and Associate Director of the Faculty Center. I am the past co-president of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), founding president of Mormon Scholars in the Humanities, co-founder of LDS Earth Stewardship, and the designer of the College of Humanities Humanities and Belief Workshop for graduate students in the humanities. I currently serve as the coordinator for the Global Environmental Studies minor in the Kennedy Center and in the community as a member of the Provo City Council. I am planning a GE study abroad in Latin America for the winter of 2026. My wife, Amy, is a nurse practitioner in oncology and together we have raised four children and now have four grandchildren. When I am not otherwise engaged, I enjoy family time, serving in the church, as well as flyfishing, hiking, and biking.

Sessions