Casey McKittrick Memorial Excellence Endowment

The LGBTQ Studies Program is extremely grateful to have received a generous donation from Alexandra Barron (UT PhD 2005) to establish the Casey McKittrick Endowed Excellence Endowment in LGBTQ Studies.

Casey McKittrick was a scholar, a writer, a teacher, a beloved son and unforgettably warm and hilarious friend. During PhD studies in the English department at The University of Texas at Austin from 1998-2005, Casey was part of an important cohort of queer studies students (including Alex Barron) who helped start the LGBTQ Studies Research Cluster in the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. The LGBTQ Studies Program grew out of the Research Cluster, and Casey’s dissertation was co-directed by the Program’s Founding Director, Ann Cvetkovich, and Janet Staiger, CWGS Director from 2001-2004.

Your donations to the Casey McKittrick Endowed Excellence Endowment will be used to support students in the LGBTQ Studies Program through scholarships and programming. UT is a better and more welcoming place for queer students and students interested in queer studies in part because of Casey’s work. Our goal is to raise the $25,000 needed to establish the fund so that we can begin disbursing the money to students next year.

Casey was the author of a work of film criticism, Hitchcock's Appetites: The Corpulent Plots of Desire and Dread, and the LGBT mystery novel Murder on Faux Pas Island, featuring drag queen detective Pancetta Brulee. Casey also wrote a feature film entitled Pray For Me and a TV pilot script for a drama entitled Destiny Design.  At the time of his death, he was at work on a second novel, Murder on the Sunset Limited, a monograph on Agatha Christie and LGBT reception, and a poetry collection called The Poaching of Bliss.

Casey was a committed and powerful teacher, teaching Film Interpretation, American Literature, and African American Literature courses at Western Michigan University, where he was a member of the Department of English faculty for fourteen years, until his death in 2019.

Casey was born June 28th, 1973 and passed away June 8th, 2019. It has been said of Casey McKittrick that he left an indelible mark of grace on this world.