Alison Dean is a lecturer in English Literature and Histories of Photography. Alison has a PhD in English from Simon Fraser University and she is an alumna of the School for Criticism & Theory at Cornell University and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art Independent Study Program. Her academic research focuses on the politics of portraiture and the portrait’s opposite – images of atrocity and torture. Alison currently trains and competes in kickboxing and boxing. She has a bad habit of dropping her left hand and her best punch is a straight right.