Jane Chance facts for kids

Jane Chance (born 1945), also known as Jane Chance Nitzsche, is an American expert. She studies old English literature, gender, and the famous author J. R. R. Tolkien. She spent most of her career teaching at Rice University. After retiring, she became a special Professor Emerita there.

Learning and Degrees

Jane Chance worked hard in her studies. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (BA), from Purdue University in 1967. She graduated with very high honors in English.

She then continued her education at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She received her Master of Arts (MA) in English in 1968. In 1971, she earned her PhD in Medieval English Literature. A PhD is the highest degree you can get in a field of study.

Teaching and Leadership

Jane Chance began her teaching career at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1973, she moved to Rice University. There, she taught Old English literature, which is the study of English writing from a very long time ago. She was the first woman to get a permanent teaching job in the English department at Rice.

In 2008, she became an Andrew W. Mellon Professor. She retired in 2011 and became a professor emerita. She also helped start the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages. This group helps people learn about the Middle Ages.

At Rice, Jane Chance created the Medieval Studies Program. This program helps students learn about the Middle Ages. She also led the first Women's Studies program in the English department. This program was well-known across the country. In 1982, she was the first woman on the faculty at Rice to get maternity leave. This meant she could take time off after having a baby. In the late 1980s, she was the first president of the Rice Commission on Women. She worked to make sure women faculty members were treated fairly. In 1995, she created a special award. It is called the Julia Mile Chance Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She named it after her mother. This award honors women teachers who are excellent at their job.

Studying Old Stories and Gender

Jane Chance has written many books about old stories and how women are shown in them. In 1975, she published The Genius Figure in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This book was based on her earlier research.

Starting in 1994, she wrote a three-book series about the history of medieval mythography. This is the study of myths and how they were written down. Her books looked at how myths were told from ancient times to the Middle Ages.

She also focused on medieval women and gender studies. In 1986, she wrote Woman as Hero in Old English Literature. This book explored how women were seen as "peace-weavers" in old stories. In 2007, she published The Literary Subversions of Medieval Women. She also edited books like Gender and Text in the Later Middle Ages (1996) and Women Medievalists and the Academy (2005). These books explored the roles of women in medieval times and in academic studies.

Tolkien Scholarship

Jane Chance is a very important scholar who studies the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien wrote famous books like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Her books about Tolkien include:

• Tolkien's Art: A 'Mythology for England' (1979; updated in 2001)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power (1992; updated in 2001)
• Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader (2004)
• Tolkien, Self and Other: "This Queer Creature" (2016)

Her book, Tolkien's Art: A 'Mythology for England', is seen as one of the first serious studies of Tolkien's writings. She looks at Middle-earth, the world Tolkien created, through a medieval lens. This means she uses her knowledge of the Middle Ages to understand Tolkien's stories in a new way.

Jane Chance also appeared in a 2001 episode of National Geographic. The episode was called "Beyond the Movie:The Lord of the Rings". An interview she did with National Geographic was also included in the special DVD edition of Peter Jackson's movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Awards and Honors

Jane Chance has received many awards and honors for her work. In 1980, she was given a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is a special award that helps scholars do important research. She also became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1998, Rice University gave her the IMPACT Award. This award recognizes outstanding women faculty members at Rice.

She received many fellowships over the years for her research on medieval myths. Some of these include:

• The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the late 1970s.
• A residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio in Lake Como, Italy, in 1988.
• A Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh in the late 1980s.
• An Eccles Research Fellow position at the University of Utah in the mid-1990s.

She won awards from the SCMLA for her Medieval Mythography series and for The Literary Subversions of Medieval Women.

In 2013, Purdue University gave her an honorary doctorate degree. This is a special degree that honors a person's achievements. She was also honored at a special meeting called the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Film and TV Appearances

Film