Associate professor of English Erin Webster did not plan on teaching when she started her undergraduate degree. However, she has taught at the College of William and Mary since 2016 and is now director of the College’s English Honors program.
“I went to university knowing that I liked reading, I loved writing,” she said. “I wanted to be a writer, which in a way, I am. But I wanted to be a different kind of writer than I ended up being.”
Being a first generation student, Webster did not know the path to being a professor or that academia was a viable career option.
“I was first generation, and at the time, I really didn’t know where professors came from,” she said.
Webster attended Trent University, a small liberal arts college in Ontario, Canada. She recalled taking as many humanities classes as she possibly could, especially in German and English. The small seminars and classes Webster took provided her with the opportunity to develop her scholarship. Eventually, her professors suggested that she explore a career in academia and teaching.
“It was through interactions with my professors there who took an interest and said, ‘You know what? You seem to be good at this, and you seem to enjoy the analysis and the writing,” Webster said. “Have you thought about going on to graduate school or going on for a career in academics or academia?’”
At the time, Webster remained firm in her conviction that she did not want to be a teacher.
“I’ve thought about teaching, and no, I don’t want to be a teacher,” Webster said.
In the end, the enriching conversations and scholarship Webster experienced throughout her undergraduate tenure in the English department inspired her to stay in academia.
“Obviously, I did,” Webster said. “It came out of my experience as an undergraduate student and just loving my classes and in particular liking my English classes and the conversations that we had there.”
One of Webster’s favorite aspects of the College’s undergraduate program remains the lively discussions found in English classes and humanities more broadly.
“That’s what I see as a major benefit of being in a humanities class, being in an English class,” Webster said. “Particularly here at William and Mary, being in an English class, because we have the luxury, in a way, of having small seminars.”
Webster believes the opportunity to talk reflectively and thoughtfully with others is an increasingly rare opportunity in today’s world. These conversations are exactly what Webster works to preserve in her role as director of the English Honors program and in her own classes.
“What I would want to preserve, it would be those forums,” she said. “Places where people can get together and talk with each other about interesting ideas.”
Webster became director of the English honors program this year, taking on the responsibility of guiding students through writing proposals, crafting funding applications and advising students’ honors theses. As director, Webster works hard to provide her students opportunities to view their research from a different perspective and develop their ideas.
That goal originated from her experience as a graduate student when one of her professors encouraged her to view literary analysis from a whole new perspective.
“As part of that class, we were given a task of researching something from that time period that wasn’t in English literature specifically,” Webster said. “What I ended up researching was perspective.”
Webster’s research from that class and newly-learned approach to research formed the basis of her book, “The Curious Eye: Optics and Imaginative Literature in Seventeenth Century England,” published in 2020.
“The Curious Eye” traverses the field of English literature studies from multiple perspectives, incorporating research and scholarship on imperialism, optics, theology, baroque architecture and poetry. Webster said this interaction between subjects came naturally.
“Taking that class, I started to see how what I had thought of as sort of distinct subjects were actually very intertwined,” she said.
Former English professor at the College, Paula Blank, conducted interdisciplinary research that combined literary analysis and mathematics, before passing away in 2016. Her work deeply inspired Webster’s own scholarship, serving as a reference for Webster’s dissertation, which was also rooted in an interdisciplinary approach.
“When I was doing my research and my dissertation, I had actually read books and articles by Paula Blank,” Webster said. “I thought her work was brilliant.”
Webster helped to complete Blank’s unpublished book on the misunderstandings between Shakespeare’s Early Modern English and Modern American English — affectionately called “Shakesplish.” Webster collaborated with professor of English Emerita Elizabeth Barnes and associate professor of English Erin Minear to fully render Blank’s scholarly vision.
“The premise of Paula’s book was that actually we should celebrate some of those misunderstandings because they create new meanings,” Webster said. “And so it was very empowering for readers and also for students. And she does talk a lot about her experience in the classroom.”
Webster also touched on the personal aspect of working on Blank’s book.
“Helping to complete the book, I felt like I was getting some kind of introduction in my own first semester teaching here from, you know, a colleague who had taught here before,” she said. “For me, coming here in my first semester was actually really enjoyable but also really helpful because it was such a kind of teaching focused book, and in some ways, I think a William and Mary focused book.”
Webster emphasized that the quality of students is her favorite part of teaching at the College.
“I can say honestly that the students are just terrific,” Webster said. “You know, I have taught at three different institutions. They all have their good and bad points. But here, teaching is a sincere pleasure.”
Despite not wanting to be a professor originally, Webster shared that teaching at the College is a true joy, which she largely attributes to her students’ commitment.
“The students are curious and bright but engaged, and they’re there in class having done the readings and wanting to talk. They have ideas, and they’re excited about that, and they’re passionate. And that’s really wonderful. And it is actually quite, quite rare,” Webster said.
