FB Pixel Skip to Main Content
Heather Nelson

Heather Nelson

Distinguished Scholar in English Literature

Education

Ph.D., Purdue University, English, 2015
M.A., Wake Forest University, English, 2005
B.A., Yale University, English, 2003

Biography

Employment

  • Colorado State University-Pueblo, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, 2017-2018
  • Antioch College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Literature, 2015-2016

Courses Taught at Western

Fall 2022:

  • ENG 102–Academic Writing: American Short Stories
  • ENG 148–Film and Culture: Hitchcock’s Adaptations
  • ENG 250–Critical Approaches to Literature: Feminist Theory
  • ENG 493–Senior Seminar I: Jane Austen

Spring 2023:

  • ENG 102–Academic Writing: American Short Stories
  • ENG 250–Critical Approaches to Literature: Feminist Theory
  • ENG 371–Literary Theory and Criticism: Shakespeare
  • ENG 494–Senior Seminar II: Futures

Fall 2023:

  • ENG 103–Writing and Rhetoric II
  • ENG 370–Myth and Culture: Greco-Roman Literature
  • ENG 373–British Literature: Milton through the Romantics

Spring 2024:

  • ENG 103–Writing and Rhetoric II
  • ENG 358–Global Literatures: Marriage
  • ENG 463–Major British Authors: The Brontës and Gaskell

Publications

  • I Do?: Women, Consent, and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England. University of Toronto Press, 2025 (advance contract).
  • Elizabeth Bennet’s Proposal Scenes and Nonconsensual Consent.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, no. 42, 2020, pp. 194-206.
  • “‘Nothing That She Could Allege Against Him in Judicious or Judicial Ears’: ‘Consensual’ Marital Abuse in Victorian Literature.” George Eliot-George Henry Lewes Studies, vol. 69, no. 1, 2017, pp. 89-119.
  • “‘She Sins While She Remains Away’: Marital Consent, Restitution of Conjugal Rights, and Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Novels.” Victorians: A Journal of Culture and Literature, no. 129, Spring 2016, pp. 98-111.
  • “‘When a Daughter Elopes to Gretna, Generally It Is a Wicked Thing’: Female Consent, Clandestine Marriage, and Susannah Frances Reynolds’s Gretna Green; Or, All for Love.ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, vol. 28, no. 2, April-June 2015, pp. 79-86.
  • “‘You Could Be Judas’: Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Black Slaveowner.Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South, vol. 22, no. 1, Spring/Summer 2015, pp. 16-44.

Awards at Western

  • Men’s Basketball Team Faculty and Staff Appreciation Award, 2023 
  • Professional Activity Fund Award, 2023
  • Women’s Basketball Team Faculty and Staff Appreciation Award, 2023 
  • Wrestling Team Faculty and Staff Appreciation Award, 2022 

Service at Western

  • Co-Director, Humanities and Diversity, 2022-present
  • Founder and President, Women of Western, 2023
  • Member, Career Champions Network, 2023
  • Member, Graduate Programs Committee, 2022-present 

Take the Next Step

Apply to
Western
Students pose for a photo on top of Mount Crested Butte in the summer

Apply to
Western

We understand that applying to a university can be daunting, which is why we make our admission process as simple and straightforward as possible. Learn more about applying to your program of choice at Western.

Visit
Western
Colorado Hall with the Palisades in the background on a bluebird day.

Visit
Western

The best way to find out what makes Western such a special place is to experience it for yourself. Our student-led tours give you an insider’s perspective on everything from academics to student life.

Alumni
Community
A group of four alumni look at an old photo that one of them picked up from a selection of photos that were printed and laid out for the Ski Team Social event.

Alumni
Community

We keep the Mountaineer spirit going strong within our alumni community. Whether getting together with friends at an annual event, making a donation or mentoring a student, graduates continue to play an important role in the Western community.

Request
Information
A few students pose for a photo behind the Multicultural Center table at the Admitted Student Day Club Fair.

Request
Information

Want to discover more about Western? Request information today to get in touch with the admissions team.