Mary McCay trained as an Olympic swimmer, but gave it up because she could not read while swimming. Instead, she earned a B.A. (from Catholic University of America), M.A. (from Boston College), & Ph.D. in English (from Tufts University). That led, by a rather circuitous route, to Loyola University New Orleans. She teaches American Literature, Film, Travel Writing and Irish Literature. Reading leads to writing, and her books, Rachel Carson and Ellen Gilchrist, are the result, as well as numerous articles on American literature and culture and Irish Literature and film.

Dr. McCay also directs Loyola's Irish Studies Summer Program at Trinity College, Dublin; the Americans in Paris Program in Paris; and two exchange programs: Keele University in the UK and Radboud University in The Netherlands. One day, she might swim the Channel. Meanwhile, she received the Dux Academicus in 2004 and The Landrieu Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2006. She spent 18 months (July 2007- December 2008) serving as Interim Dean of HNS and is on sabbatical from January 1, 2009-December 31, 2009.

She will be teaching American Literature as a Visiting Professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in fall 2009. She is currently working on a grant from the Marquette Fellowship to study the lives of Anne Bradstreet and Anne Hutchinson. Professor McCay may be contacted at 504-865-3389 or by email. Professor McCay's homepage.