• Science fiction
• Fantasy

As Associate Dean of Juniors and Sophomores, Philip Ray acts as adviser to fifty percent of upperclass students, including transfer students. He assists them with selection of their majors and assigns their advisers.

Dean Ray also is in charge of scholarships and fellowships, such as the Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall and Truman scholarships.

An associate professor of English, Professor Ray has taught science fiction and fantasy courses at Connecticut College for 25 years.

He teaches one course each semester. "Alien Beings, Alien Worlds," open to freshmen and sophomores, presents fantasy and science fiction as diametrically opposed genres of popular literature that arise at the same time and in the same place, Britain during the 1880s and 90s, and offers fantasy writers ranging from Robert Louis Stevenson to Anne Rice; and science fiction writers, from H.G. Wells to Orson Scott Card.

"Advanced Fantasy, From Treasure Island to Bluebeard's Castle: American and British Fantasy,1883-1979" in the spring semester, for sophomores, juniors and seniors, is a study of the development of fantasy in Britain and America from Robert Louis Stevenson to Angela Carter. Its emphasis is on the sub-genres of fantasy such as Christian fantasy (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien) and historical and mythic fantasy (T.H. White).

Visit the Dean of Studies Web site and the English department site.