Eighteenth-century literature (especially prose fiction, drama, women’s writing, and satire)
Jane Austen
The novel
Harry Potter
YA Fiction
Shakespeare
Adaptation
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992-99
Area of Concentration: Eighteenth-Century British Literature
Minor: Latin
M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991-92
B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Boston University,1987-91
Majors: English Literature and Classical Civilization
Dr. King is currently working on two lines of inquiry in eighteenth-century fiction by women: 1) moments of moral reflection, in which mirrors become tools of seeing the state of one’s character, rather than one’s coif, and 2) economics – as articulated by Adam Smith – in the novels of Jane Austen. She is also undertaking research with students about Children’s Literature, specifically 1) the symbolic function of baseball in middle-grade fiction, and 2) how talking mice and rats in middle grade and young adult fiction suggest what it means to be human.
Eighteenth-century literature (especially prose fiction, drama, women’s writing and satire)
Jane Austen
The novel
Harry Potter
YA Fiction
Shakespeare
Adaptation
The Eighteenth Century: Regicides, Libertines, Bluestockings, and Fops
Single Author Seminar: Jane Austen
Women’s Literature
Images of Women in Literature
Shakespeare in Adaptation: The Restoration Era
Children’s Literature (including courses on Harry Potter and Fairy Tales)
Comic Books
Literary Traditions
Johnston courses
Lecturer at University of Wisconsin 1997-2000
“Domestic Virtues and National Importance: Sailors, Commerce, and Virtue in Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and The Wealth of Nations in The International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, special issue on “Economics and the Novel” (February 2016).
“Harry Potter and the Invisible Hand: The Virtue of Business That is Not Serious,” accepted for inclusion in Capitalism and Commerce in Imaginative Literature: Perspectives on Business from Novels and Plays, ed. Edward Younkin (Lexington Books, 2016)
“Pictures of Women in Frances Burney’s Cecilia and Camilla: How Cecilia Looks and What Camilla Sees,” in Beyond Sense and Sensibility: Moral Formation and the Literary Imagination from Johnson to Wordsworth, ed. Peggy Thompson. (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2014)
“Shakespeare in the Restoration Theatre: ‘Staging’ Assignments.” Digital Defoe, Special Issue: Eighteenth Century Studies and the State of Education (2011)
“Domestic Virtues and National Importance: Persuasion, Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The Wealth of Nations,” International Adam Smith Society panel at American Society for Eighteenth-
Century Studies, Los Angeles (2015)
“Men of Feeling: Gender and Sensibility in Frances Burney’s Novels,” Western Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, San Luis Obispo (2015)
Multidisciplinary Faculty Seminar (recruited members, proposed topic, coordinated group, reading list, and subsequent meetings for internal grant)
2015: aTUG Grant (internal technology grant, providing ipads for students)
Hunsaker Teaching Grant (internal grant for travel related to course development)
2014: Invited to attend workshop on Restoration Shakespeare at the Folger Library, Washington D.C.
2012: Nominated for Mortar Board Professor of the Year, Named English Professor of the Year by Sigma Tau Delta
2010: Received Visiting Research Fellowship at Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin (in residence April, 2011)
2009: Nominated for Mortar Board Professor of the Year Received Outstanding Service Award from Faculty Review Committee
2005: Received Gwin J. and Ruth. Kolb Research Travel Award from American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies to conduct research at Huntington Library
2004: Campus nominee for NEH Summer Fellowship
2004: Received research grant from University of Redlands Banta Center for Business, Ethics, and Society for project on eighteenth-century women’s writing and moral philosophy
2003: Received Neal K. Pahia Advisor of the Year Award for work with University of Redlands Women’s Center and Sigma Kappa Alpha
2003: Nominated by students for Mortar Board Professor of the Year (one of five nominees)
2002: Nominated by colleagues for an Outstanding Faculty Award in Innovative Teaching
1991: Distinction in English for Senior Thesis: "To Virtue and her Friends a Friend"
1991: Dean's College Prize for Excellence in Classical Studies
Heather King is the Faculty Advisor for Sigma Tau Delta, an English Honor Society.