Dr. Hawley has spent much of his academic time with medieval and renaissance literature, especially the epic poem Beowulf, vernacular translations of the Bible, Chaucer's tales and poetry, Milton's major works, and various other religious poets. His dissertation on The Boethian Vision of Eternity in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English Translations of De Consolatione Philosophiæ includes analysis of works by King Alfred the Great, Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I. In addition to his courses in Composition, Literature, and Technical Writing, he also enjoys studying and teaching film—his M.A. thesis was over Scottish nationalism and Braveheart.
While at the University of Kentucky, Kenneth earned a graduate certificate in Electronic Texts, with an emphasis on Computing for Humanities, a discipline interested in addressing teaching, learning, and research in the Humanities with the tools, methods, and technologies of Computer Science. He was associated at that time with organizations and projects such as the Collaboratory for Research in Computing for Humanities, The Digital Atheneum, ARCHway, The Electronic Boethius Project, and The Student Edition of Electronic Beowulf.
His most recent scholarly work has been in collaboration with the International Boethius Society, having developed the organization's online newsletter in 2012: boethius.blogspot.com. In the spring of 2015, Dr. Hawley was named co-editor of Carmina Philosophiae: the Journal of the International Boethius Society, joining Dr. Harold Kaylor (Troy University), the founding editor of the journal. He and Professor Kaylor traveled to Sheffield, UK, in the spring of 2016 to gather and ship back to LCU a collection of rare books and scholarly volumes related to the life, work, and influence of Boethius—a remarkable library generously donated by the estate of Professor Brian S. Donaghey, a Trustee of the International Boethius Society. The books from that collection, as well as hundreds of books recently given by Professor Kaylor, are now housed in The Brian S. Donaghey Center for Boethian Studies, located in the LCU Library.
Dr. Hawley teaches Composition (ENG 1301), Composition and Literature (ENG 1302), Masterpieces of Literature (ENG 2301), Writing About Literature (HON 1302), Making Connections: Literature and Life (HON 2307), Classical and Contemporary Rhetoric (ENG 3307), Technical Writing (ENG 3308), Christianity and Literature (ENG 4306), Comparative Literature (ENG 4314), Introduction to Film Studies (ENG 3326), Research Writing (ENG 4318), Major British Writers to 1800 (ENG 4315), and Literature and Film (ENG 4326). Kenneth and his wife Deborah have three children: Will, Ben, and Cole.