Heather Wright, Ph.D.

Heather WrightAssociate Professor of Political Science
Political Theory
Hollenbeck Hall 212
(937) 327-7992
hwright@wittenberg.edu

Academic Background

  • B.A. Smith College
  • M.A. Fordham University
  • Ph.D. Fordham University, 2006

Awards and Recognitions

  • Director, FY 2023 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) grant, “Exploring the tension between democratic pluralism and nationalistic exclusion of the ‘other.’” Award funded by the Department of Education.
  • Wittenberg Woman of the Year (Faculty) 2019
  • SOCHE (Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education) Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, 2013
  • Collegium Award for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching, 2013
  • Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, 2010-2011, University of Łódź, Poland (Lecturing)
  • Laatsch Faculty Scholar, Wittenberg University, 2010-2011, 2017-2018, 2022-2023
  • Wittenberg Gay Straight Alliance Safe Zone Award, 2009
  • Outstanding Wittenberg Woman, 2008
  • Senior Teaching Fellow, Fordham University
  • Bradley Dissertation Fellowship
  • Bradley Teaching Fellow
  • Earhart Teaching Fellow
  • Presidential Scholarship, Fordham University

Publications/Works in Progress/Research Interests
My research and teaching focus on politics and literature (including popular culture), the history of political philosophy, and gender ideology. My dissertation, "Plato's Erotic Politics: A New Feminist Reading of the Symposium" engaged Luce Irigaray's critique of Western philosophy and argued for the relevance of Platonic political theory in thinking about contemporary feminist politics. I have published on Machiavelli, Plato, Irigaray and Don Delillo, and am currently at work on The Politics of Addiction: Neoliberalism and Narrative in Poland and the United States.

Courses Taught

  • POLI 211 Ancient & Medieval Political Philosophy
  • POLI 212 Modern Political Philosophy
  • POLI 215 American Political Thought
  • POLI 216 Family Values: The Politics of Virtue, Care, and Equality
  • POLI 217 Ideology and Identity in Polish Culture (field study)
  • POLI 315 Feminist and Postmodern Political Thought
  • POLI 319 Men, Politics and Popular Culture
  • POLI 322  American Constitutional Law
  • FYS POLI The Human Rights Project
  • POLI 319 Holocaust Politics
  • POLI 319 Ideology and Emotion

Other Positions

Other Interests/Info
I joined the Wittenberg faculty in 2004. I enjoy spending time with my husband Michael and our Polish-American French Bulldogs, have served on the Yellow Springs Human Relations Commission, and am a member of the Yellow Springs Havurah.

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