Dr. Darcy Zabel, Ph.D.

PLC Instructor

Dr. Darcy Zabel, Ph.D., is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mount Holyoke College, a women’s college in Massachusetts.  She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Connecticut, a public research University founded in 1881 as both a Land Grant and Sea Grant college.  At the University of Connecticut, in addition to her work with first year students and the institution’s TRIO programs, Dr. Zabel’s research focused on the multi-ethnic literature of the United States, world literature in translation, post-colonial theory, and the teaching of both creative and autobiographical writing.  In addition to her academic degrees, Dr. Zabel also completed an executive program for university presidents through the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2015.

Prior to joining the PLC team, Dr. Zabel served as the interim president of Friends University, a Quaker heritage school in Wichita, Kansas known for its commitment to embracing an education that goes beyond the classroom, combining the values of a liberal arts education with professional and pre-professional studies, based on the belief that men and women are most successful when they can integrate their intellectual, social, and spiritual lives in ways that make a difference.  Serving as the first female president in the institution’s 100+ year history, Dr. Zabel’s appointment was the culmination of 17 years of service at the university as a tenured professor of English, director of the honors program, humanities division vice-chair, vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer, faculty sponsor for the institution’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and service as the institution’s accreditation liaison officer.

Dr. Zabel’s previous work experience also includes a stint in New York City working for the college publications acquisitions division at St. Martin’s Press, housed in New York’s historic Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue; and with the editorial division of Garland Publishing’s New York office. 

An active member of Rotary, in 2004, Dr. Zabel served as part of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange Team for professionals under 40, designed to provide specific, practical, and meaningful opportunities for international service in an increasingly global workplace.  This team was posted to a tri-state area of India, which included the states of Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.  Dr. Zabel also served as an American Field Service exchange student studying in Portugal. 

A member of the Modern Language Association and the Association of Leadership Educators, Dr. Zabel’s conference presentations most often focus on service learning and the scholarship of teaching while her books and publications focus on the multi-ethnic literature of the united states, literature in translation, and women’s studies. 

Born in Montana, but raised in Maine, Dr. Zabel’s extended family lives in Loveland, Colorado where her son, Bob, will soon start elementary school.  Her elder son, Quinnehtukqut, graduates this spring from Bard College in New York.