Director of the Westover Honors
Assistant Professor of English

434.544.8572
[email protected]

Education

• MFA, Creative Writing: Poetry & Fiction — Randolph College
• BA, Theatre Arts: Production — Liberty University

Biography

Aidan Perkins began–and loved–teaching classes in Westover Honors in 2024, and joined the department as the Associate Director in 2026. Prior to joining Westover, she also taught English composition at Randolph College and in the DELL curriculum at the University of Lynchburg. Aidan earned a Bachelor of Arts in technical theatre at Liberty University and has worked contracts as a stitcher, dresser, and costume shop manager. From there, she earned her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at Randolph College, where she focused on poetry and fiction. While at Randolph, Aidan was the assistant managing editor–as well as a proofreader and fiction reader–at Revolute, the program’s literary magazine. Her degree culminated in a critical thesis on adapted and visual forms in literature and a book-length poetry project. She has also taught poetry classes, led banned book clubs, and worked in book retail in the Lynchburg community. Aidan’s varied experiences greatly inform her approach to the classroom and serve as a point of connection between her and her students.

Outside of her role at the University of Lynchburg, Aidan enjoys being outdoors, cooking, and watching movies

Aidan is grateful to be part of the Westover Honors community, and considers it a privilege to work and learn with such curious, rigorous, and kind students.

Publications

• Daniel, Aidan. “Virginia Possum Rages.” Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology, edited by Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Gray Street, Trinity University Press, 2025, p.52.
• Daniel, Aidan. “Roadkill Astronaut.” Ninth Letter, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Winter 2024, https://ninthletter.com/2024/01/aidan-daniel-roadkill-astronaut/.
• Daniel, Aidan. “How to Do the Scorpion.” Shenandoah, Washington and Lee University, Fall 2022, https://www.shenandoahliterary.org/711/how-to-do-the-scorpion/.
• Daniel, Aidan. “American crow (contrarian).” Booth, Butler University, 21 October 2021, https://booth.butler.edu/2021/10/01/american-crow-contrarian/.
• Willis, R. (2026). “Gender Trouble: The Myth-Making Power of Country Music Playlists.” Ex-Centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media, 9. 62–83.

Conference Presentations

• Craft Lecture, “Crawling into the Shell: an Overview of Hermit Crab Forms”; The Poetry Society of Virginia Centennial Festival; Richmond, VA; May 4, 2023.
• Craft Lecture, “Crawling into the Shell: An Overview of Hermit Crab Forms”; Randolph College MFA Summer Residency, Lynchburg, VA; June 22, 2022.
• “Negotiating Traumatized Masculinities in Ezekal Alan’s Disposable People,” South Atlantic MLA Conference, Virtual, 13-15 November 2020.
• “‘“Where Have All the Women Gone?”: Rhetorical Circulation of Old Hits and the Missing Women of Country Music.” Words, Music, and Marginalization, University of St. Andrews, UK, 1-3 September 2020.
• Accepted but deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, “Conspicuous Consumption and Social Capital on Instagram: The Case of Caroline Calloway.” Popular Culture Association, Philadelphia, PA, 15-18 April, 2020.
• “Podcasting in the Classroom,” with Jay Proffitt, Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy, Blacksburg, VA, 5-7 February 2020.
• “Podcasting as Composition: The Risks and Rewards,” with Alissa Keith, UNC Writing Studies Conference, UNC Charlotte, NC, 25 October 2019.
• “Instead of a Paper: Practical and Inclusive Teaching with Digital Tools,” with Julie Sorg Way, HASTAC Digital Fridays, 10 May 2019.
• “’I Wouldn’t Be a Man if I Didn’t Feel this Way’: Rhetorics of Masculinity in Country Radio Playlists,” Popular Culture Association National Conference, Washington D.C., 17-20 April 2019.

Awards

• Phi Kappa Phi: “Love of Learning Award,” $1000– 2023-2024
• Delta Kappa Gamma: “DKG International Award,” $10,000– 2022-2023
• Sigma Tau Delta: “Edwin L. Stockton, Jr. Graduate Scholarship,” $4,000– 2021-2022
• University of Lynchburg Westover Honors College: “Faculty Appreciation Award”– 2020-2021