Associate 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
- Director of Women's Studies
- Co-Director of Wittenberg in Poland (study abroad program)
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.