2016 Metcalf Award Recipient: Erin Murphy

Erin Murphy is an Associate Professor of English and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Director of Graduate Studies, English. Her teaching and research focus on the intersection of literature and politics, with a specialization in early modern literature, seventeenth-century politics and political theory, and gender and sexuality studies.

Since arriving at Boston University in 2003, Professor Murphy has proven herself a versatile, gifted, and innovative educator. She has taught sixteen different courses, from undergraduate offerings on Shakespeare for non-majors, to advanced English classes on theories of family and kinship, to graduate seminars on John Milton and seventeenth-century women writers. She also teaches a graduate seminar in the Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program that draws students from across the University. She believes strongly in classroom discussion and has introduced many pedagogical innovations, including the use of live -performance, film, and new media in the study of literature.

Reviews by students commonly cite Professor Murphy’s “enthusiasm,” which they find “infectious,” “-invigorating,” and “inspiring.” She elicits comments such as “brilliant,” “best course ever,” and “awesome instructor,” but students also paint a picture of a committed and rigorous teacher who pushes students beyond their self-expectations. Her courses are “challenging, rewarding, and surprisingly enjoyable”—taught with a “meticulous clarity” in a “charged intellectual atmosphere.”

As an administrator within the College of Arts & Sciences, she has been a leader in curriculum development and academic education, and served students tirelessly as Placement Director and Director of Graduate Studies for English. A colleague summarizes, “Creative, resourceful, and generous, she does not just teach great classes; she strengthens the educational environment at BU.”

Professor Murphy earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Vassar College, with a Correlate Sequence in Political Economy, and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in English from Rutgers University. She was a New York City Urban Fellow from 1993 to 1994. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, she has published widely in academic journals, co-edited a special journal issue and a collection of essays, and authored a book.