Dr. Elaine Tuttle Hansen became the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth on August 1, 2011. She is the third person to lead CTY since its founding in 1979. Elaine has devoted her career to the education of bright young minds and the pursuit of academic excellence. Prior to her arrival at CTY, she served for nine years as president of Bates College, Me. Elaine also served as provost at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa. from 1995 to 2002 and professor of English beginning in 1980. A specialist in Middle English literature and the author of numerous scholarly articles and three books, she has taught a wide variety of courses in Middle English literature and contemporary women’s writing.
Elaine is the recipient of research grants from sources including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. She is also a member and past president of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship and a member of the Modern Language Association. While at Haverford she was the recipient of the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2009 she was awarded the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Outstanding Educator Award from Mount Holyoke College. Since 2007, Elaine has served on the board of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Elaine earned her A.B. with greatest distinction at Mount Holyoke College, and attained her M.A. at the University of Minnesota and her Ph.D. at the University of Washington. Early in her career, she worked as associate editor of the Middle English Dictionary at the University of Michigan and taught at Hamilton College.