Education

• Ph.D., English, University of Missouri
• M.A., English, University of Missouri
• B.A., English, University of Oregon
• B.A., Communicative Disorders, University of New Mexico

Biography

Sharon Emmerichs specializes in early modern drama, poetry, and prose with specific emphases on Shakespeare, feminist theory, and ecocritical studies. Her secondary area of specialization is medieval literature and her research spans everything from Beowulf to Milton. She received her MA and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri and holds two bachelor's degrees, one in Speech-Language Pathology/Communicative Disorders from the University of New Mexico and the other in English literature from the University of Oregon.

Dr. Emmerichs' published research focuses on landscape in Shakespeare's plays and examines how when Shakespeare's characters transgress the culturally known and accepted meanings of various landscapes, they suffer moral degradation. She explores the link between humankind and its environments in the context of early modern culture and belief. Her publications include "Shakespeare and the Landscape of Death: Crossing the Boundaries of Life and the Afterlife" (Shakespeare: Journal of the British Shakespeare Association, 2012) and "Playing God: The Landscape of Resurrection in Romeo and Juliet" (Cahiers Élisabéthains, 2013). Her current book project, however, looks at Shakespeare and the seven deadly sins and argues that Shakespeare uses the rhetoric of sin not to emphasize humankind's separation from God but rather as a method to unite people in conflict and forge lines of communion and recognition.

Dr. Emmerichs enjoys teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, drama, poetry, and writing. She likes to challenge students and explore multiple modes of access into texts, including multimedia presentations, popular culture, technology, and the visual arts. She has also written and published two novels under a pseudonym and is in the process of finishing two more. 

Teaching Responsibilities

• Shakespeare
• Early Modern Literature
• Renaissance Literature
• World Literature
• Drama
• Special Topics Course