Janet Chwalibog

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Berklee Online
Faculty Bio E-Mail
jchwalibog@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-2041

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Janet Chwalibog teaches postcolonial, psychoanalytic, and feminist literary theories at Berklee College of Music. Her courses focus on writing and reading as creative acts that produce new knowledge as part of ongoing, centuries-long conversations that shape the world in which we live. Students in her classes explore practices and establish habits that remove barriers to creative work and unleash the creative unconscious. 

Chwalibog has worked extensively with creative artists, particularly musicians. Prior to her current position, she directed Berklee's faculty development program and led the creation, assessment, and revision of programs designed to create transformational learning experiences for faculty and enhance the available pedagogy, interdisciplinary collaborations, artistic expression, and professional opportunities. She developed $200,000 in faculty grants and fellowships as well as created one of the most rigorous faculty development programs in the country. Collaborations have included works with Steelgrass Recording Studios, Cindy Blackman, Terri Lyne Carrington, George Duke, and Siedah Garrett, among many others.

Career Highlights
  • Primary academic interests include fields of power, analysis of institutions and power structures, and how we relate to those systems and structures
Awards
  • Dean's Award for Innovation and Service, 2017
Education
  • M.Div., Harvard University, comparative literature and cultural studies
  • B.A., Loyola University, philosophy and theology; minor in gender studies
In Their Own Words

"My teaching style is student-centered. I prioritize getting to know my students, learning their reasons for being at Berklee, and producing a shared understanding of how the courses I teach are relevant in their lives." 

"My courses are reading and writing intensive. In writing and literature courses, we focus on developing close-reading skills, learning feminist and queer interpretative practices, and exploring the production of meaning that can occur when a reader interacts with a text."

"I teach postcolonial, psychoanalytic, and feminist and queer literature at Berklee. All examine systems of power and oppression, the mechanisms through which power is exercised, and forms of resistance that groups can take toward self-actualization. All students are welcome."