Heather Mitchell-Buck

teaching, technology, & medieval stuff

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cv

career & education

  • Associate Professor of English, Hood College (August 2017 – present)
  • Digital Learning Coordinator, Hood College (August 2017 – present)
  • Assistant Professor of English, Hood College (August 2011 – July 2017)
  • Lecturer in English, Guilford College (January 2010 – June 2011)
  • Lecturing Fellow in English, Duke University (August – December 2010)
  • Ph.D., English, Duke University (2009)
  • B.A., English with Highest Honors, Rutgers University (2002)

publications

  • In preparation: Mysteries Past, Mysteries Present: Medieval Plays for Modern Audiences. (Multimedia online project)
  • “#IYKYK: The Convergence of Past and Present in the 2025 York Plays.” Forthcoming in Early Theatre (2026)
  • “‘We Fight for Roses Too'”: The 2022 Lincoln Mystery Plays.” Research Opportunities in Medieval and Renaissance Drama 60, 4  (2023) [available here]
  • “Chester Mystery Plays 2018: A New Mystery,” in Chester Chronicle, 3 July 2018. [available here]
  • “Who wrote the Chester Mystery Plays?” in Chester Mystery Plays 2018 souvenir booklet.
  • “Restored, Remixed, Revived, Reified?: Our Devotion to the Medieval Past,” in Devotional Interaction in Medieval Britain and its Afterlives, eds. Foster, Perratore, and Rozenski (Brill, 2018).
  • “Tyrants, Tudors, and the Digby Mary Magdalen.” Comparative Drama 48:3 (Fall 2014): 241-59. [available here]
  • “Maintaining the Realm: City, Commonwealth, and Crown in Chester’s Midsummer Plays.” Chapter Thirteen in The Chester Cycle in Context, 1555—1575: Religion, Drama, and the Impact of Change. Ed. Helen Ostovich, David Klausner, and Jessica Dell. Surrey: Ashgate Press, October 2012. 179-92.
  • “Playing to the (21st Century) Crowd: On the Ground at Chester 2010.” Early Theatre 13.2 (December 2010): 97-104. [available here]

selected presentations at academic conferences

  • “How Theatre Can Change the World.” Conference on Interdisciplinary Dialogues in Education, Hood College (2026)
  • “’Friends, not Customers’: Medieval Drama as Modern Resistance.” 51st Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, University of the South (2026)
  • “Communities and Connections: Voices of the Mystery Plays.” 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (2025)
  • “The Hamlet Voyage: Critiquing colonial ambition through cross-cultural performance” (Special Session). Southeast World History Association Annual Meeting, Charleston, SC (2023)
  • “Thee to comfort and solace”: Cosmic Journeys in English Mystery Plays,” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL (2021 – panel rescheduled from 2020)
  • “Shambling through Time: The 2018 York Mystery Plays in the Shambles Market.” 45th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, University of the South (2019)
  • “Medieval Drama and the ‘Myth of Communal Life’ in the 21st Century.” 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (2018)
  • “‘Information Wants to be Free’: Humanities Scholarship in the Digital Age.” Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts Annual Conference, Johns Hopkins University (2017)
  • “Modern Mystery Plays in York and Chester” Société Internationale pour l’étude du théâtre médiéval/REED-NE Colloquium, University of Durham, UK (2016)
  • “Steampunk, Feathers, and Rock & Roll: Mystery Play Devils for a Modern Audience.” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, Harvard University (2016)
  • “Medieval Drama in a (Post)modern World: The 2014 York Mystery Plays.”  Wilson College Humanities Conference, Chambersburg, PA (2015)
  • “Spectacle and History: The 2013 Chester Mystery Plays.” Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts Annual Conference, Greensboro, NC (2013)
  • “The Culture of Tyranny in the Digby Mary Magdalen.” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, UK (2013)
  • “Old School Vampires, Young Adult Audiences, and the Allure of History.” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, Brown University (2012)
  • “’Agaynst the Right’: The Tyrants of Chester Cycle” (Invited Presentation). Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Seattle, WA (2012)
  • “Enacting the Common Good: Chester and the Crown in 1575.” Chester 2010 Symposium, University of Toronto, ON (2010)
  •  “Royal Power vs. Civic Identity in The Chester Mystery Cycle.” 36th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, The University of the South (2009)
  • “Scholar or Subject? Vernacular Politics and the Tractatus de Regibus.” 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (2007)
  •  “’The Censures of the Carping World’:  Political Gossip in Two Tudor Histories of Richard III.” North Carolina Colloquium in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Chapel Hill, NC (2006)
  • “Challenging Morality: Fanfiction as Community Dialectic.” The Witching Hour: A Harry Potter Symposium, Salem, MA (2005)

public & professional presentations

  • “The Joy of the Real in a Digital Age.” Hood Talks series (2026)
  • “Heather Mitchell-Buck in conversation with Roger Lee.” Voices of the York Mystery Plays podcast. Audio available on Spotify.
  • “iPad U: Strategies and Tools to use iPads in the Classroom.” Co-Presenter with Hood College Center for Teaching and Learning. The Teaching Professor Conference (2016)
  • “Building a more accountable, engaged, and equitable learning environment with the iPad.” Invited by Apple for education outreach at Jacksonville University (2016). Video available on YouTube
  • “Planning Professional Development Activities for an Ever-Busier Faculty.” Co-Presenter with Hood College Center for Teaching and Learning. Shippensburg University Professional Development Conference (2015)
  • “’Just Wild About Harry’: The Fans and Foes of Harry Potter.” Invited Talk at Durham County (NC) Public Library Banned Books Week Celebration (2009)

selected grants & awards

  • Hood College McCardell / Board of Associates Grant (2026, 2020)
  • Hood College Summer Research Institute Grant (2018, 2016, 2013)
  • Shirley Connor Hardinge Global Studies Grant (2018, 2014, 2013)
  • Apple Distinguished Educator (2015)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Grant (2014)
  • Guilford College Research Grant (2010)
  • Duke Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Dissertation Fellowship (Fall 2009)
  • John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Grant (2007)
  • Stephen J. Horne Graduate Teaching Award, Duke University (2007)
  • Folger Shakespeare Library Travel Grants (Spring and Fall 2007)
  • Fellow, Preparing Future Faculty Program (2006-07)
  • G. Stuart Demarest Award: Highest Achievement in English, University College, Rutgers University (2002)
  • Member, Sigma Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, and Golden Key Honour Societies

professional development

  • Digital Pedagogy Lab (2019, 2018)
  • Teaching Medieval Drama and Performance Colloquium, Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library (2016 – 2017)
  • Apple Distinguished Educator Institute (2015)
  • Shippensburg University Professional Development Conference (2015, 2014)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, “Arts and Devotional Interaction, 1200 – 1600” (2014)
  • Grant Writing Workshop with Dr. Stephen M. Ross, Director, NEH Office of Challenge Grants (2011)
  • The Second Shepherds’ Play and Early Drama Studies Workshop, Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library (2007)
  • Staging Political Thought Seminar, Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library (2007)

courses taught

@Hood College

  • ENGL 501/401: Pop Culture Theory and Practice
  • ENGL 405: The English Language
  • ENGL 400: Old English Language, Literature, and Culture
  • ENGL/HON 364: Exploring Utopia
  • ENGL 318: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
  • ENGL 311: Critical Approaches to Literature
  • ENGL 301: Medieval Drama
  • ENGL 299V: The Undead: Vampires in Folklore, Fiction, and Film
  • ENGL 284: Medieval Romance
  • ENGL 269: Arthur: The Once and Future King
  • ENGL 267: Good and Evil in Literature and Culture
  • ENGL 259: Medieval Magic and Mysticism
  • ENGL 253: Power and Dissent in Medieval Literature
  • ENGL 250: Avatars of the Past: Narratives of Rome and Britain
  • ENGL 248: The Past is a Foreign Country
  • ENGL 247: Global Shakespeares
  • ENGL 237: Young Adult Literature
  • ENGL 232: (Re)Writing the Popular
  • ENGL 222: British Literature through the 18th Century
  • ENGL 114: Medieval Texts, Modern Expressions
  • FYE 102: Heroes and Monsters
  • FYS 101: Fairy Tales: Transformations and Transgressions

@Guilford College

  • British Drama, Everyman to Evita
  • King Arthur, Then and Now
  • Medieval Literature
  • Shakespeare
  • College Reading and Writing: Many Voices

@Duke University

  • Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
  • Historical Fictions
  • Mr. President, Your Majesty: Political Leaders in Popular Culture
  • Writing the Academy Inside Out

additional teaching experience

  • Instructor for Duke University Talent Identification Program: Accelerated summer and academic-year courses for academically gifted secondary and primary school students (2008 – 2011)
  • Online Writing Lab Instructor for Smarthinking.com: Online tutoring service for undergraduate, graduate, and high school students (2009 – 2011)

selected academic service

to the profession and community

  • Historical and Literary Consultant, The York Mystery Plays (2018-2026)
  • Historical and Literary Consultant, The 2018 Chester Mystery Plays (2016 – 2018)
  • Seminar Co-organizer: “Devils in the Details: Demonic Horrors, Devilish Afterlives, and Infernal Desires.” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, Cambridge, MA (2016)
  • Reviewer, Early Theatre Journal (2015)
  • Co-Organizer and Public Relations Chair, Prophecy 2007: From Hero to Legend – International academic/fan conference on Harry Potter, Toronto, ON (2007)

@Hood College

  • Faculty Executive Committee (2023-2026)
  • Director, First-Year Seminar Program (Summer 2018 – Fall 2021)
  • Member, President’s Council on Transgender Inclusivity (2018 – Present)
  • Member / Chair, Faculty Development Committee (2026 – 2028; 2020 – 2021; 2016 – 2018)
  • Chair, Hood Humanities Council (2015 – 2017)
  • President, Hood College Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi (2015 – 2017)
  • Advisor, Hood College Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta (2015 – Present)
  • Member, MBA Advisory Committee (2015 – Present)
  • Member, Presidential Inauguration Planning Committee (2015)
  • Primary writer, The iPad @Hood, for which Hood College was designated an Apple Distinguished School (2014)
  • Co-Organizer, “Richard III: Shakespeare’s Murderous Machiavel” (Humanities Colloquium, Spring 2014)
  • Founding Member, Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory Board (2013 – Present)
  • Faculty Member, Academic Judicial Council (2013 – 2015)
  • Member / Chair, Academic Technology and Infrastructure Group (2012 – Present)

@Other Institutions

  • Presenter, Guilford College Faculty Development Workshop on Educational Technology, 2010
  • Coordinator, Duke University Graduate School Teaching/Professional Development Workshop, 2010
  • Coordinator, Duke University English Department Pedagogy Workshops, 2007-08
  • Graduate Student Advisor, Duke University English Department, 2004-2007
  • Department Representative, Duke University Graduate and Professional Student Council, 2005-2006