Donald McQuade, professor of English

Donald McQuade is professor of English at UC Berkeley. He recently returned to full-time teaching, research, and writing following nearly eight years as vice chancellor for University Relations. A member of UC Berkeley’s English faculty since 1986, McQuade teaches courses in writing, American literature, and American Studies.

He has written, edited, and co-edited numerous books on writing, on American literature, as well as on American culture, and especially on advertising. He has served as the guest curator of an exhibition entitled "Advertising America" at the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt Museum and has written the chapter on advertising in The Handbook of American Popular Culture.

He also served as the general editor of the revival of the Modern Library series, for which he prepared an edition of the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He served on the Advisory Board of the William James Project, and he wrote the Introduction to volume 9 of The Correspondence of William James. His most recent publications include “The Writer’s Presence” and “Seeing & Writing.” He is currently working on a project entitled “The Culture of Efficiency,” which analyzes the implications of Frederick Winslow Taylor's principles of scientific management on twentieth-century American culture. He has also written about the interrelations of patent medicine advertising and the rhetoric of evangelical religion.