Lawrence Koval
Doctoral Student
Pronouns: he/they
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About
Lawrence Koval is a Ph.D. student in Communication at the University of Illinois Chicago. He holds a B.A. in Biology and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he went on to pursue his M.A. in Folklore.
He entered his graduate studies from a background in fitness, having worked in the industry since he was a teenager. His M.A. thesis (“Explorations in the Inclusive Fitness Movement: Community Voices & Visions”) focuses on grassroots efforts of trainers, instructors, and gym owners in what is termed the “inclusive fitness movement.” With their colleagues in this space, they edited and contributed to an anthology titled Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex: How to Resist, Disrupt, and Reclaim What it Means to be Fit in American Culture, published by North Atlantic Books in May 2023.
Lawrence has a background in library and cultural work, currently working full-time as a Library Specialist at UIC’s Daley Library. He teaches classes through the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) and is invested in prison abolition and inmate advocacy, access, and education. His academic research focuses on exploring the intersection of sports and physical culture with race, gender, sexuality, ability, and ideas of citizenship/nation—with a particular focus on the connections between carceral systems and surveillance technologies, the sports industrial complex, and the body.
Education
M.A. in Folklore from UNC-Chapel Hill (2021)
B.A. in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill (2017)
B.A. in English from UNC-Chapel Hill (2017)