Max Rayneard - University of Houston
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Staff Person

Max Rayneard

Honors College Faculty
Associate Director, 
Creative Work

Email: mjrayneard@uh.edu

Max Rayneard completed his bachelor’s degree in english and philosophy and his master’s degree in english literature at Rhodes University in South Africa. He lectured at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University before earning a doctorate degree in comparative literature at the University of Oregon. His dissertation, which explores literary, theatrical, and pedagogical implications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was entitled "Performing Literariness: Literature in the Event in South Africa and the United States." While at the University of Oregon, he co-created the process and aesthetic for what would become The Telling Project, a national performing arts non-profit that staged stories told by military veterans, refugees, and war-adjacent populations. In 2011, Rayneard was appointed a visiting assistant professor in english at Colgate University, where he taught Anglophone African Literature. In 2014, he was appointed the senior writer/producer and director of Research and Outcomes for The Telling Project. Rayneard has written and/or directed productions across the United States, including such venues as The Library of Congress in Washington DC, The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis MN, and the Alley Theatre in Houston TX. He is the recipient of a number of awards and grants, including a Fulbright Scholarship (2004-2006), a University of Texas at Austin Humanities Institute Community Sabbatical Grant (2015-2016), and a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for "Planting the Oar," a literature-based discussion series between military veterans and civilians (2016-2018).

Rayneard joined the Honors College in fall of 2018 to teach in the Human Situation course and Medicine & Society minor. He has since been appointed Associate Director of the Creative Work minor and is the founding director of The FrameWorks Program.