Joe McDowell has his Ph.D. in Medieval literature and Medieval studies from the University of North Carolina. His main research and teaching interests lie there and in Irish and Post-colonial studies. Like most members of large departments at liberal arts colleges, though, McDowell's reading and teaching habits are eclectic and often driven by student need. He often leads small groups of students in independent studies of Old English, Old Irish, and Modern Irish language as well as readings of Joyce's "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake." He continues to teach a course, Visions and Visionaries, in the First Year Honors program. Other interests and courses include the serious study of religion and faith through literature, Celtic literature and mythology, and the works of several modern writers, such as Umberto Eco, David Lodge, and Salmon Rushdie.