Q: How many years have you taught at Ashland?
A: This is my twelfth academic year here.
Q: What are some of the courses that you teach?
A: Eighteenth-Century
English literature, Seventeenth-Century English literature, Themes and Topics in
Literature (Satire), Studies in Shakespeare, The Poem, A History of the English Language,
British Literature, and Composition I and II
Q: What do you enjoy most about being a professor?
A: I love to witness the process by which students move from
confusion to comprehension and even enjoyment--the essence of intellectual
growth. I teach many older works, and it’s often a struggle to understand what
is happening on the page, let alone build an interpretation. Seeing students
put effort into this process is infinitely satisfying, and it never gets old
for me. Working together on challenging
texts allows us to explore the beauties of language and the deep questions of
our existence through literature. We are often reaching across centuries to
encounter worlds that are both familiar and strange, and it’s a delightful way
to spend our time.
No matter the subject, one of the most important aspects of
my job is to identify and help bring out students’ intellectual potential. I
like to tell students that their ideas matter, and that I’m genuinely
interested in what they have to say, because it’s the truth. Interacting with
students never fails to make me consider ideas and issues through fresh sets of
eyes. I can’t count the number of times a student has, for example, brought my
attention to a new detail, or offered an innovative interpretation, of a text
I’ve read dozens of times. It’s a testament to the richness of language and the
human mind that this can happen with such frequency, and I’m so grateful that I
have the privilege of learning from my students every day.
Q: What made you decide to become a professor?
A: I’ve always been an extremely curious person, and from an
early age I was a voracious reader. I simply wanted to learn about anything and
everything, and so I read not only literary works, but any printed matter that
happened to be sitting around my relatives’ houses--The Farmer’s Almanac, Popular
Mechanics, newspapers, encyclopedias, etc. My parents got me a library card
in kindergarten and let me loose there, too, where I would wander through the
stacks and set my mind free. Exploring imaginary worlds was a central part of
my childhood experience, especially because I come from a small town—a place
where it was necessary to make our own fun and be inventive about entertaining
ourselves. Eventually I understood that I could make a career out of reading,
writing, and talking about books. A teaching career always appealed to me, but
I also realized that I had the patience and drive to do research as well.
Q: What scholarly (or creative) projects are you working on?
A: As I think about my early love of imaginary worlds,
researching eighteenth-century literature allows me to immerse myself in both
the real and imaginary worlds of the past. My current large-scale project is a
book on the representation of the justices of the peace in eighteenth-century
British literature. I’ve already written a chapter on Tobias Smollett’s depictions
of these legal figures, and now I’m drafting one on Joseph Addison’s periodical
The Spectator and presenting parts of it at academic conferences. The
book project involves interpretation of literary techniques as well as research
into law and various branches of history.
Q: What else would you like to share with the readers of this
blog?
A: This is my sixth year as chair of the English Department,
and although this administrative position takes me out of the classroom for a
significant portion of my work week, I get to interact with students regularly
and in a variety of settings and, most importantly, help solve problems. I do a
great deal of work behind the scenes to keep the department running smoothly
and ensure that students can move through their programs with as few obstacles
as possible.
I’ll end by letting students know that I’m accessible, ready
to listen, and willing to help with any question or concern relating to the
English Department!
