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Biography

Jessica C. Murphy is Associate Professor of English at ����vlog. A first-generation college graduate from the Bronx, Jessica earned her BA from Hunter College and MA/PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to Montclair, she spent fifteen years at The University of Texas at Dallas, serving seven as Dean of Undergraduate Education. Dr. Murphy's dedication to student success is rooted in her belief in education's transformative power. 

Dr. Murphy's scholarship examines gender, authority, medicine, and representations of women's experience in early modern England, with additional contributions to Shakespeare studies and digital humanities. More recently, this work has expanded to include collaborative leadership, undergraduate education, and institutional transformation in higher education. Jessica's scholarship has resulted in a scholarly monograph, peer-reviewed journal articles, edited collections, book chapters, conference proceedings, and invited presentations in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and England.

Currently, Jessica is serving as an editor for and as a board member for (UERU).

 

 

Research

Academic: Early modern English literature and culture, including medical texts and ephemera; digital humanities for access (see the English Broadside Ballad Archive as an example of such a project: ) ; and collaborative leadership. 

Administrative: Student success, change management, leadership, connection, and collaboration.

Publications

Book

Murphy, Jessica C. Virtuous Necessity: Conduct Literature and the Making of the Virtuous Woman in Early Modern England. University of Michigan Press, 2015.

Edited Works

Kris McAbee, and Jessica C. Murphy eds. “Regulation and Resistance: Gender and Coercive Power in Early Modern Literature.” Special issue, Humanities 7, no. 4; 8, no. 1, no. 2, 2018-2019. 

Gniady, Tassie, Kris McAbee, and Jessica C. Murphy eds. New Technologies in Renaissance Studies II, volume 4. Toronto and Tempe, AZ: Iter and ACMRS, 2014.

Journal Articles

Murphy, Jessica C. “Feminine Virtue’s Network of Influence in Early Modern England,” Studies in Philology 109, no. 2: 258-278, 2012.

Murphy, Jessica C. “‘Of the sicke virgin’: Britomart, Greensickness, and the Man in the Mirror,” Spenser Studies 25: 109-127, 2010.

Book Chapters

Murphy, Jessica C. “Worldmaking and Leading from the Middle: Collaborative Leadership in Higher Education,” in Strategic Shakespeare: Transformative Leadership for the Future of Higher Education, edited by Ariane Balizet, Natalie K. Eschenbaum, and Marcela Kostihová, 2025.

Murphy, Jessica C. “Greensickness and Shakespeare,” in Shakespeare / SEX: Contemporary Readings in Gender and Sexuality, edited by Jennifer Drouin, 11-25. London: The Arden Shakespeare, 2020. 

Murphy, Jessica C. “‘Greensickness carrion’: Re-reading Capulet through Broadside Ballads,” in Ballads and Performance: The Multi-Modal Theatricality of the Early Modern Stage, edited by Patricia Fumerton. Santa Barbara: The EMC Imprint, 2018. 

Honors & Awards

The University of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Fellow 2020-2024, President-elect 2023-2024.

The University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award (2013)