Ohio University mourns the loss of English Professor, Boyd Scholars Board Member Carey Snyder

The Ohio University community mourns Professor Carey Jean Snyder, who passed away on March 20, 2025, at the age of 56 in Athens, Ohio.

A brilliant, vibrant, caring soul, Carey would have described herself first as the mother of Zach and wife of Mark. The wider community knew her as a Professor of English Literature at Ohio University since 2001; a soccer player of inexplicable speed; a runner and hiker of the woodland trails in southeast Ohio; a knitter and crafter; an intrepid cook; an inspired planner of lively gatherings and globe-spanning adventures; a lover of cats; a person endlessly curious about the arts, literature and the lives of those around her. Carey was a magnetic and radiant presence in any constellation of people, as many across the university community experienced.

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Beyond her role as a passionate, enthusiastic teacher and mentor who inspired many students’ interests in modern British literature, the suffrage movement and the writings of Virginia Woolf, Snyder also served as a member of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program Faculty Advisory Board.

“I first got to know Carey when we were both invited to join the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program Advisory Board in the fall of 2019. In that capacity, we co-taught four semesters of the Freshman and Senior Seminars together,” said Miriam Intrator, head of archives and special collections of Ohio University Libraries. “Over the course of that collaboration I learned so much from Carey about her areas of expertise and scholarship, but perhaps more importantly, she taught me through example the value of her positive outlook and extremely warm and caring approach to teaching and mentoring students.”

As a scholar, Carey wrote numerous articles, and her first book was British Fiction and Cross-Cultural Encounters: Ethnographic Modernism from Wells to Woolf (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). In recent years, her research and writing focused on British writer Beatrice Hastings and New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield, culminating in a book manuscript entitled The Feminist New Age: Beatrice Hastings, Katherine Mansfield, and Modernist-Era Periodical Culture (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming). With the help of three fellow scholars and an enthusiastic editor, she was able in her last months to ensure that the book will be published.

“Carey Snyder’s scholarship demonstrated a curiosity about what she called the ‘modernist-era’ that led her to field-changing insights. Her work demonstrated a generosity of spirit that forged new connections between fields and scholars,” said Barbara Green, Professor of English and Director of the Gender Studies Program at the University of Notre Dame. “Her forthcoming work, The Feminist New Age: Beatrice Hastings, Katherine Mansfield, and Modernist-Era Periodical Culture, promises a significant impact on the field of feminist periodical studies, an impact that is in keeping with her positive influence on other scholars throughout her career.”

In addition to her scholarly activity, Carey put much work and care into--and got great satisfaction from--her mentoring relationships with students. She spent countless hours planning her courses, and reading, commenting on and discussing student work. With pride, Carey followed her students’ success in their careers: writers, editors, teachers, lawyers, dancers, a rabbi. Some of them visited Carey in Athens when they returned, and she met up with them in New York, England and elsewhere when she traveled. In OHIO’s English Department, Carey also served stints as the director of undergraduate students and the director of studies for the HTC-English program.

“Throughout my time at Ohio University - both as a doctoral student and an adjunct instructor - she had gone out of her way to support me and my research, offer irreplaceable opportunities and experiences for career growth, and welcome me into the local and departmental community,” said Sayan Chatterjee, English Ph.D. 2022. “Graduate school can often be a difficult and unkind experience to a lot of people, especially international students. But for me, they were some of the greatest years of my life, and Dr. Snyder was one of the biggest reasons that made it so.”

In 2018, Carey began working on her first study abroad trip to London. This first trip was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but she was able to go during spring break 2023. She planned to go during spring break 2025, but her health worsened in late February.

“Dr. Snyder had meticulously planned each event, each day tour of the trip for months in advance to complement the students' course readings. I got to witness first-hand the transformative impact that each museum, or show, or experience had on them. I have rarely seen students so invested in the course material amidst all the fun of traveling to a foreign country for the first time,” said Chatterjee of the 2023 trip. “Dr. Snyder always made sure to strike the perfect balance between the curricular requirements and the joy of travel and exploration, between structure and freedom for the students. That's what made it such a success. It was the most intellectually fulfilling and exciting trip of my academic career, and I remember several students expressing that the trip, and above all Dr. Snyder, would color their career choices and goals forever.”

Carey thrived by seeking out and embracing interesting challenges. One year alone saw her push out a book, a tenure dossier and a baby, and also learn to swim a very fine butterfly stroke. In the end she only ever lost two battles. The first, against plant-munching Athens deer, she fought relentlessly, year after year, armed with undimmed optimism that the next “deer-proof” plant might really be. The second battle, against cancer, she fought heroically, assisted by fine and compassionate doctors in Athens, Columbus, and Houston, and fueled by deep inner, and impressive physical, strength. But this battle against cancer was also one that she could not win.

Carey is survived by her son Zach Barsamian, husband Mark Barsamian (Professor of Instruction in the Math Department), sister Pamela Snyder (Warren Leggett), brother Matthew Snyder (Karla Galdamez), mother Nancy Huguenard, and father Dave Snyder (Joanna Snyder). She also leaves behind a close and nurturing community of friends and colleagues, both near and around the world, who struggle to comprehend the loss of her.

Carey’s last wishes included two charitable causes. She left money to establish a scholarship fund at Ohio University, to support English majors wanting to take part in Study Abroad programs. She also left money to support the Athens Conservancy, a local organization whose forward-looking vision and hard work has preserved stunning and vulnerable natural areas throughout southeast Ohio and set in place a strong framework for further preservation in the future.

In lieu of flowers, please make memorial gifts by joining Carey in supporting these two causes listed at the bottom of the obituary https://www.ehwfh.com/obituaries/carey-snyder.