Elizabeth Williamsen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | English Literature & English Studies
201B Armstrong Hall (AH 201B)
507-389-1273
elizabeth.williamsen@mnsu.edu
Schedule an appointment with dr. Williamsen:
Education:
- Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Indiana University, Bloomington
- M.A. in English Language and Literature from Indiana University, Bloomington
- Graduate Certificates in Medieval Studies and English and Germanic Philology from Indiana University, Bloomington
- B.A. in English from Denison University
Biography:
Liz Williamsen turned a childhood crush on the Disney Robin Hood (yes, the cartoon fox) into an academic career in early English literature and historical linguistics. She has research interests in early travel writing, Middle English romance, Shakespeare, and literature pedagogy. She is particularly interested in the portrayal of political treason and the literary negotiation of collective identity in a fractured polity. She has participated in an NEH institute on teaching Beowulf with Old Norse sagas and received a Faculty Improvement Grant to study performances at the American Shakespeare Center. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in early British literature and English linguistics, as well as literature courses at the general education level, and has been nominated by students for the Dr. Duane Orr Teacher of the Year Award.
Recent Publications:
Williamsen, Elizabeth. “Foreign Territory: Teaching the Middle Ages through Travel Writing.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching vol. 23, issue 2, Fall 2016, 49-74.
Recent Research Presentations:
“Me Too, Mariana: Teaching Measure for Measure in 2018.” Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, 2018.
“Political Shakespeare: Treason and the Blood of Kings in Richard II.” 9th Blackfriars Conference, 2017.
“Marriage, Mimicry, and Murder: Unwilling Wives and Feminine Feigning in Bevis of Hamtoun.” 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2017.
“Bloody Encounters and the Body Politic in Richard II.” Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, 2016.
“Charlemagne Fanfiction and Collective Identity in Late Medieval England.” 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2016.
“Treason and the Blood of Kings in Shakespeare’s Richard II.” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, 2016.
“Roadblocks on the Penitential Highway: Geographic and Social Obstacles to Redemption in Sir Isumbras.” 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2015.
“William of Rubruck and the Christian Other.” Mid-America Medieval Association 38th Annual Conference, 2014.
Recent Courses Taught:
- ENG 146: Introduction to Shakespeare
- ENG 275: Introduction to Literary Study
- ENG 320: British Literature to 1785
- ENG 381: Introduction to Linguistics
- ENG 405: Shakespeare’s Comedies and Histories
- ENG 406: Shakespeare’s Tragedies
- ENG 426: Literature of the Viking World
- ENG 481: History of the English Language
- ENG 605: Seminar: Shakespeare
- ENG 606: British Literary History and Criticism
- ENG 608: Arthurian Literature
