
Dr. Heather Wright

Academic Background
B.A. Smith College
M.A. Fordham University
Ph.D. Fordham University, 2006
Awards and Recognitions
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, 2010-2011, University of Łódź, Poland (Lecturing)
Laatsch Faculty Scholar, Wittenberg University, 2010-2011
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 (broadly understood), feminist theory, and the history of political philosophy. My dissertation, "Plato's Erotic Politics: A New Feminist Reading of the Symposium" was an engagement with Luce Irigaray's critique of Western philosophy and an argument for the relevance of Platonic political theory in thinking about contemporary feminist politics. I have published on Machiavelli, and have forthcoming publications on Irigaray and Don DeLillo. I have presented work at both national and international conferences (including those of the American Political Science Association, the Western Political Science Association, and the Polish Association for American Studies), and have established ongoing research collaboration with colleagues at the University of Łódź , Poland (where I was Fulbright Professor during my sabbatical in 2010-2011). I am currently at work on Amazons and Moms, Reporters and Artists: Women and Politics in the Novels of Don DeLillo, among other projects.
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 315 Feminist and Postmodern Political Thought
POLI 319 Fatherhood and Masculinity in Politics, Literature and Film
POLI 322 American Constitutional Law
Other Positions
I am the Pre-Law advisor.
Other Interests/Info
I joined the Wittenberg faculty in 2004. My husband Michael and I parent two wonderful children: Olivia and Noah. I enjoy spending time with our Polish-American French Bulldogs, have served on the Yellow Springs Human Relations Commission, and am a member of the Yellow Springs Havurah.
