FACULTY PROFILE
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I am a Park Forest native who never dreamed I would one day work at Governors State University—a place where my neighbors worked and taught, where friends and family earned degrees, and where I visited the library for research field trips as a high school student. The University has changed a lot since I first came to know it as a young person but, at its core, it remains the place I know and appreciate for the opportunities it affords its staff, faculty, students, and communities. Since joining GovState in 2011, I have witnessed the University’s significant transformation in ways that almost seem unimaginable now, but it still feels familiar in ways I’ve not experienced elsewhere.
As a faculty librarian, I liaise with a host of academic programs from both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health and Human Services. In this role, I support the academic endeavors of CAS and CHHS students and faculty primarily through teaching and collection development as well as service to the University Library and on dozens of college- and university-wide committees. For AY 24-25, it is my privilege and honor to be currently serving as the 21st Faculty Senate President at GovState.
My research involves work in three primary realms: academic librarianship (student veterans), popular culture (music, beer and wine culture), and sports (particularly boxing) in literature and film. I am an area chair for the Midwest Popular Culture Association, and I present annually at the Popular Culture Association and the Sport Literature Association conferences. I am currently responsible for the University Library’s research guide on Artificial Intelligence and higher education.
Each day at GovState is different. It’s a place where challenges, more often than not, become opportunities. I grew up in the shadow of GovState and know its communities intimately. And, after many years away, I am happy I found my place here once again. "
- Josh Sopiarz, M.A., M.S
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Sopiarz, Josh. “Grudgement Day: Stallone and De Niro are ‘Two Old Guys Fighting.” In “All I Wanna Do Is Go the Distance”: Essays on Rocky as a Cultural Phenomenon, edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson and Philip L. Simpson, McFarland. Forthcoming.
Sopiarz, Josh. “Hostess, Ghost, and Apocalypse: Reconsidering Alice Munro’s ‘Carried Away.’” American Review of Canadian Studies, vol. 51, no. 2, 2021, pg. 237-250.
Sopiarz, Josh. “Schulberg vs. Robson: Adapting The Harder They Fall.” LFQ: Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 2, 2021, online (no pagination).
Sopiarz, Josh. “Transitory Indignities": Trauma and the Commuter Train in The Man in the
Gray Flannel Suit.” War, Literature & the Arts, vol. 32, 2020, pp. 1-20
Sopiarz, Josh. “Fighters and Fathers: Managing Masculinity in Contemporary Boxing Cinema.” Popular Culture Studies Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, 2019, pp. 257-272.
Sopiarz, Josh. “This Machine Kills: Guitars and Guns in America.” Rock Music Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2018, pp. 161-179.
Sopiarz, Josh. “Ghosts of Prizefighters Past: ‘Ring Talk’ and the Specter of the Black Champion in Ellison’s Invisible Man.” Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, vol. 35, no. 2, 2018, pp. 11-22.
Sopiarz, Josh. “Dueling Perceptions: The Five-String Banjo in Contemporary American Popular Culture.” Popular Music & Society, vol. 44, no.1, 2018, pp. 1-15
Sopiarz, Josh. “Library Outreach to Veterans: Opportunities, Challenges, Examples.” The Active Librarian, vol. 1, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1-14.
Sopiarz, Josh. “Enriching the Experience for Government Documents Student Workers.” DttP: Documents to the People, vol. 44, no. 2, 2016, pp. 19–22.