SAA Office
The Shakespeare Association of America is located in the English Department of the University of Mississippi.
Shakespeare Association of America
Department of English
University of Mississippi
C-128 Bondurant Hall
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 662.915.2477
Facsimile: 662.915.5787
Executive Director
Karen Raber
University of Mississippi
Karen Raber is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Mississippi. She is author of Shakespeare and Posthumanist Theory (2018), Animal Bodies, Renaissance Culture (2013) and Dramatic Difference: Gender, Class and Genre in the Early Modern Closet Drama (2001). She has edited or coedited seven collections, including Performing Animals: History, Agency, Theater (2017), The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Animals (2020), Shakespeare and Animals: A Dictionary (coauthored with Karen Edwards, 2022), and an edition of Measure for Measure; and has written over 30 articles and book chapters, as well as serving on the editorial board of several presses and journals and editing a book series for Routledge Press. More information about her research is available at https://www.karenraber.com/. Raber was honored with the University of Mississippi Faculty Achievement Award in 2014 and the Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award in 2019. For the SAA she organized and presented on a 2017 plenary panel and led a seminar in 2015.
Assistant Director
Bi-qi Beatrice Lei
Bi-qi Beatrice Lei has been the SAA’s Assistant Director since 2016, and has launched several significant technological upgrades and renovations to streamline workflows, revamp data security, implement conference and website functionality and accessibility, and enhance member experience. Prior to joining the SAA Office, she facilitated a live performance in 2012, led a seminar in 2013, and exhibited a digital project in 2014. Lei founded the Asian Shakespeare Association and the Taiwan Shakespeare Database, and has published on Sidney, Shakespeare, early modern culture, intercultural performance, and digital humanities. She is a co-editor of the Arden Bloomsbury book series “Global Shakespeare Inverted,” and currently serves as Chair of the Asian Shakespeare Association and Vice-Chair of the International Shakespeare Association.
Program Associate
Donna Even-Kesef
Stanford University
Donna Even-Kesef started with the SAA at Georgetown University in June 2007. She has been actively involved in all facets of SAA operations over the years. Currently, she works with the Executive Director in the area of finance, with the LAC on fundraising, with vendors and exhibitors, and of course the annual conference. Donna’s fulltime role is with Stanford University as the Division Manager for Stanford Global Studies (SGS).
Project Coordinator
Anne Freeman
University of Mississippi
Anne Freeman joined the SAA in May 2021 by way of the University of Mississippi English Department where she served as the department’s Administrative Assistant for nearly a decade. She is responsible for the SAA’s day-to-day operation including member service, correspondence, and the management of various SAA programs. She is the prime mover for the annual conference from hotel liaison, A/V order and printing, to transportation and catering. She also takes charge of the biannual bulletins.
Treasurer
Melody Fetske
Melody Fetske is an experienced non-profit manager and CPA, familiar with all administrative functions. She retired from her position as CFO of the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2019. She has deep experience in managing priorities, establishing strategic plans and managing change. Her specialties include: human resources, accounting and finance, information technology, facilities management and operations, construction project management, budgeting, fund-raising, and working with volunteer boards. Other experience includes serving as controller of a Washington D.C. law firm (1979-1981) and working in two credit unions (1972-1979).
Social Media Intern
Anna Hegland
Carthage College
Anna Hegland joined the SAA staff in October 2021 as Social Media Intern. She is an adjunct professor and Director of the Brainard Writing Center and Peer Tutoring at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Since earning her PhD in Medieval and Early Modern Studies from the University of Kent in 2022, her work has been published in the British Shakespeare Association’s Teaching Shakespeare magazine, Shakespeare Bulletin, and Symbolism, and a chapter on Middleton and pedagogy appears in the edited collection Boundaries of Violence (Routledge, 2023). She is also a co-editor of and author in the recent collection, The Theatrical Legacy of Thomas Middleton, 1624-2024 (Routledge, 2024). She participated in SAA seminars at the 2021 virtual meeting and in-person in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and exhibited a digital project at the Virtual Pre-Conference of the 2022 Annual Meeting.
Graduate Student Assistant
Diego Fleitas
University of Mississippi
Diego Fleitas is a Ph.D student in English at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. His interests are early modern epic, prose romance, and animal studies.
